Azur FRROM DB-7 in French Service (FR0052) 1:72

[Mike]

DB-7 in French Service (FR0052)

1:72 Azur Frrom

 

 

The Douglas DB-7, otherwise known in US service as the A-20 Havoc, and better known to those with an interest in the Royal Air Force as the Boston, was a light bomber developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company of Long Beach, California to a US Air Force specification issued in 1937.   The aircraft’s initial customer was the French Air Force, who had been impressed by its performance whilst visiting the USA as part of a pre-war purchasing commission. The order was not able to be delivered in its entirety to the French however, as by that time they were overrun and the armistice with Germany had been signed in 1940, so the remainder of the contract was taken up by the RAF instead, who needed every aircraft they could lay their hands on.  In RAF service it was known by the name Boston, and by the service code DB-7, with no fewer than 24 British and Commonwealth squadrons operating the Boston, either as a light bomber or night fighter such as the Havoc I Turbinlite, which was fitted with a powerful searchlight in the nose.

 

The French DB-7s were amended to their own needs by the fitment of metric instruments, French machine guns, radio gear and other equipment, the initial shipment handed over to French crews for delivery to France where a few squadrons began working up to combat capability.  Due to the parlous state of the war in France, they decided to send their more modern aircraft to their North African colonies, with the DB-7s amongst them, fighting against the Axis forces until the Allies landed in 1942, at which point the remaining airframes joined the Allied forces, with at least one still in existence in 1944.  The rest of the contract taken over by the British were renamed as Boston or Havoc I and IIs to confuse everyone, playing their part in the war as a capable light bomber.

 

 

The Kit

This is a new tool from Azur-Frrom in collaboration with Special Hobby of this niche early variant of the Boston/Havoc.  The kit arrives in a blue themed top-opening box, and inside are five sprues of grey styrene in a resealable clear plastic bag, plus a clear sprue in its own bag within, a decal sheet that is also separately bagged with a sheet of paper to keep moisture at bay.  The instruction booklet is printed on glossy paper in colour with a portrait A5 format, and colour profiles in the rear to assist with painting and decaling.  Detail is good, extending to all the usual places, and including fine engraved panel lines, internal details inside the fuselage and gear bays, as well as the rendering of the individual cylinders of the twin Pratt & Whitney engines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the cockpit, starting with a stepped floor that comprises two parts, onto which the front bulkhead, instrument panel with decal, nose gear bay underneath, pilot seat, control column and rudder pedals are fitted.  The upper gun position is an oval opening that is glued to a pair of lightened rails, gluing it into the starboard fuselage half, then adding the compartment floor, ammo storage and pedestal seat, plus a stepped three-part bulkhead at the front.  This permits closure of the fuselage halves, fitting detail inserts each side of the cockpit after detail painting the relevant sections of the fuselage interior. 

 

 

The wings are built next, comprising top and bottom halves, making the lower engine nacelles from halves, that have bulkheads at each end of the gear bay opening, all of which is painted in green primer before they are set aside while the engines and main gear are built.  Each gear leg is made from a lower strut with twin uppers, a cross-brace and complex retraction mechanism, plus separate scissor-links near the bottom.  They are positioned on the underside of the wing after priming it green, then the lower nacelles can be lowered over them and joined by the engines in their cowlings.  The engines have both banks depicted with good detail throughout, sliding them inside the cowlings and adding an intake on the top, closing it from behind with the firewall that is keyed to ensure correct alignment.  An exhaust is fitted along with the cowlings to the front of the nacelles, building the nose gear from a two-part strut with separate scissor-link and Y-shaped retraction jack leading aft.  The wheel is flex-fitted between the two arms of the yoke, and installed in the bay, which you will have hopefully already painted.  The main gear are finished by installing two-part wheels and bay doors on each side of the opening, fitting two to the sides of the nose gear bay.  Additional intakes are added under the engine nacelles, then the model can be set on its wheels to complete the build.

 

The nose is entirely clear out of the box, and should be weighted with 10g of nose weight inside, bearing in mind that this aircraft was an early adopter of tricycle landing gear, the bane of forgetful modellers everywhere!  There’s should be enough room, but the bomb aimer’s station, sight and cushion need space within the nose, so take care when installing it.  The upper gun station has a machine gun with large drum mag fixed to the short pedestal mount, fitting its canopy around it in the open or closed position.  The cockpit canopy is in two parts, comprising the windscreen with moulded-in side windows, plus a top section that hinges to the side, with lightening holes moulded into the rear portion.  That too can be posed open or closed as you wish, finishing the model by inserting the two three-bladed props into the fronts of the engine nacelles.

 

 

Markings

There are three decal options on the sheet, all wearing variations on the typical three-colour scheme of grey/green/earth over a light bluish grey underside.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

• No. 83, 3rd Sqn. of GB II/32, Casablanca, Morocco, June 1940. Sgt Duhamel
• No. 45, GB I/32, North Africa (Aircraft Group Commander) Coded Red 0
• No. 2, 4th Sqn. GB II/32, Laghouat, Algeria, 19 March 1941, Adj-Chef Picard. Coded 5, with BR 219 Crest.

 

 

 

The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas.  This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film.  It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain.

 

 

Conclusion

This kit is a slightly more left-field variant of the usual Havoc/Boston kits in 1:72, so should appeal to Francophile modellers, but it could be re-purposed as an RAF airframe that was part of the remainder of the French order, simply by picking up additional decals and camouflage profiles.

 

Highly recommended.

 

Review sample courtesy of

[3DStewart]

I believe the DB-7 was the first production military aircraft with retracting tricycle undercarriage.