Dora Wings 1/48th Morane Saulnier MS230

[keithjs]

Something a little different is this new model from Dora Wings. As soon as I saw it advertised I knew exactly which one I wanted to do. Growing up around Booker in the 70's this was always flying around the house on finals so I couldn't resist building it as operated by Personal Plane Services and usually flown by Tony Bianchi. I was very often over there looking around the hangers and it was always one of my favourites.

The model is very nice but also a little 'strange', if that's the right word. For the most part its very finely moulded in a dark grey plastic except for the wings and struts which are quite poorly moulded in white plastic and surrounded by flash. All is not lost tho' because the struts are also moulded very delicately again in the dark grey plastic. The wings however do take extra time to clean up and remove the flash. It's almost like the model was moulded by 2 different companies?

Also, in my opinion, I think the cockpit flooring is too shallow .With not having any interior photos to hand but, I would have thought the pilots seats should have been pretty much on the bottom of the fuselage? Maybe there isn't even a floor as such if you see what I mean? The seats are also quite basic too.

Fitting the struts is also quite challenging as there are no locating holes whatsoever, just 'butt joints'. I replaced the two round struts (pt. no C23 & C24) by drilling location holes and using some stainless steel rods. It then gives the whole assembly some rigidity.

Anyway and interesting build and a touch of nostalgia for me in the process. I believe the aircraft went to the US for a while and now resides in France (with a much more interesting colour scheme).

Thanks for looking.

 

MS1

 

MS2 

 

MS3 

 

MS5 

 

MS6 

 

MS7 

 

 MS 1 (2) 

Edited April 21, 2021 by keithjs

[Michael51]

Fine work with a context-rich account of the 1/1 version,

 

Michael

[RichieW]

Love the reason behind the build as much as the finished model itself. 

[RMCS]

Superb 

[theskits62]

A great rendition of an unusual subject - well done !!

[hopkp]

4 hours ago, keithjs said:

Something a little different is this new model from Dora Wings. As soon as I saw it advertised I knew exactly which one I wanted to do. Growing up around Booker in the 70's this was always flying around the house on finals so I couldn't resist building it as operated by Personal Plane Services and usually flown by Tony Bianchi. I was very often over there looking around the hangers and it was always one of my favourites.

The model is very nice but also a little 'strange', if that's the right word. For the most part its very finely moulded in a dark grey plastic except for the wings and struts which are quite poorly moulded in white plastic and surrounded by flash. All is not lost tho' because the struts are also moulded very delicately again in the dark grey plastic. The wings however do take extra time to clean up and remove the flash. It's almost like the model was moulded by 2 different companies?

Also, in my opinion, I think the cockpit flooring is too shallow .With not having any interior photos to hand but, I would have thought the pilots seats should have been pretty much on the bottom of the fuselage? Maybe there isn't even a floor as such if you see what I mean? The seats are also quite basic too.

Fitting the struts is also quite challenging as there are no locating holes whatsoever, just 'butt joints'. I replaced the two round struts (pt. no C23 & C24) by drilling location holes and using some stainless steel rods. It then gives the whole assembly some rigidity.

Anyway and interesting build and a touch of nostalgia for me in the process. I believe the aircraft went to the US for a while and now resides in France (with a much more interesting colour scheme).

Thanks for looking.

 

I completely agree with your comments on the kit. I got mine in the post a couple of days ago and comparing it to other more recent Dora Wings kits I was a bit disappointed. Like you, I have the definite impression that the wings were made by another company (or by Dora Wings a long time ago!) and this is compounded by the fact that someone obviously felt it was a good idea to include a second set of (much improved) struts. I also feel that the cockpit's too shallow and to me at least the seats look more like 1/72 than 1/48. Definitely some research needed before I try to build it.....

 

Anyhow, I'm heartened by your post, in that it's obviously possible to make a very nice model out of the kit!

Edited April 21, 2021 by hopkp

[hopkp]

There's a useful 'walkaround' gallery here: http://svsm.org/gallery/ms230 with a lot of close-up photos. Though the cockpit shots aren't great, they seem to support the notion that the kit's cockpits are a bit shallow; it looks to me like the cockpit floor should be level with the top of the big fuel tank that forms much of the underside of the forward fuselage. While the seats do look to be quite small in the photos, I think that they may be a bit bigger than Dora Wings suggest?

 

I'm not having a go at Dora Wings, by the way, I'm quite happy to see them producing kits of 'between the wars' subjects, I just don't think the MS.230 is as good as - for example - their 1/48 Lockheed Vega and 1/32 D.500, hence my disappointment.....

Edited April 21, 2021 by hopkp

[keithjs]

7 hours ago, hopkp said:

There's a useful 'walkaround' gallery here: http://svsm.org/gallery/ms230 with a lot of close-up photos. Though the cockpit shots aren't great, they seem to support the notion that the kit's cockpits are a bit shallow; it looks to me like the cockpit floor should be level with the top of the big fuel tank that forms much of the underside of the forward fuselage. While the seats do look to be quite small in the photos, I think that they may be a bit bigger than Dora Wings suggest?

 

I'm not having a go at Dora Wings, by the way, I'm quite happy to see them producing kits of 'between the wars' subjects, I just don't think the MS.230 is as good as - for example - their 1/48 Lockheed Vega and 1/32 D.500, hence my disappointment.....

Thanks for that! Thats a very useful link. Not quite as bad as I thought but it could be a bit deeper and more detailed considering how large the actual openings are I think? Maybe somene will produce a resin set? If they do I'd certainly be happy to build another one. 

[hopkp]

7 hours ago, keithjs said:

Thanks for that! Thats a very useful link. Not quite as bad as I thought but it could be a bit deeper and more detailed considering how large the actual openings are I think? Maybe someone will produce a resin set? If they do I'd certainly be happy to build another one. 

I agree, it looks like they skimped a bit on the cockpit detail alright. It'll be interesting to see if someone does any aftermarket sets for the kit, I'd certainly be interested if they did. (Eduard, maybe?)

[wellsprop]

Lovely model of an unusual aircraft in equally unusual colours