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Seversky P-35

 

 

"Upgraded Kit" by MPM

 

S u m m a r y

Catalogue Number: No.72138
Scale: 1/72
Contents and Media: 1 sprue in "limited run" injected plastic, 1 injected plastic canopy, 8 resin parts, 1 sheet of decals, 1 photoetched sheet, 1 instrument panel film.
Price: USD $13.96 from www.squadron.com
Review Type: FirstLook
Advantages: Finely engraved wing and fuselage detail. Some poorly detailed injected parts now replaced by resin pieces.
Disadvantages: Small areas of flash that will need removing. No locating pins on parts. Some small molding imperfections. Very fragile undercarriage.
Recommendation: Recommended to more experienced modellers due to the parts fitting requirements, flash removal and very fine fit of some of the parts.

 

Reviewed by Dale Smith

 

Background


I
n response to a USAAC Materiel Division contest for a new single seat fighter, designer Alexander Kartveli and Maj. Alexander P de Seversky of the Seversky Aircraft Corporation entered a 2 seat aircraft during 1935 designated the SEV-2XP, that they felt would outperform any other single seat designs then available.

Unfortunately, this prototype was damaged in an accident en-route to the contest. Upon rebuilding the aircraft at the factory, the original design was re-worked into a single seat configuration and designated the SEV-1XP. Initially powered by the Wright R-1670 14 cylinder radial developing 735hp, the AP-1(Army Pursuit No.1) as it was now designated, eventually achieved acceptance by the USAAC and production powered by the Pratt & Whitney R-1830-9 Twin Wasp rated at 950 hp.

The aircraft model covered in this review is actually the Republic EP-1 (Export Pursuit No-1) that differed only slightly to the AP-1 in that it was powered by the Pratt & Whitney R-1830-S1C1-G 14 cylinder Twin Wasp that developed 1050 hp, had an armament of 2 cowl mounted 7.9 mm KSP M/22 and 2 wing mounted 13.2 mm AKAN M/39 machine guns, and had a lengthened rear fuselage.

60 of these aircraft were supplied to Sweden and utilised designated the J-9 fighter. Many of the design innovations in the P-35 were passed on to the later Republic (As Seversky became known) P-43 and P-47 fighters.

 

 

FirstLook

Conclusion

 

Supplied in MPMs' usual style grey "limited production" plastic, most of the parts will require cleaning up with small amounts of flash.

The gates on all the parts is also quite large, so careful removal of the parts and cleaning up will be required before construction.

Detail is of the engraved variety and very finely done on all the parts. There are no location pins, so careful dry fitting is strongly recommended. A number of injected kit parts are duplicated in resin and these include a cockpit tub, sidewalls, pilots seat, control column, engine and undercarriage cowlings. These resin parts are a real improvement over the injected items. The detail on the aircraft engine is superb!

 

 

 Photoetch parts by "Eduard" covers items such as the instrument panel, rudder pedals, seat harness as well as a number of cockpit boxes and levers. You'll need to be careful with these etched parts as some are really small and I can see them going into orbit and disappearing into the shag pile carpet.

A small film is also supplied to cover the flight instruments and dials in the cockpit.

Decals are provided to cover 3 aircraft:

  1. P-35 A of the USAAC, 34th Pursuit Sqd, Philippines, Dec. 1941 in Olive Drab and Medium Grey.

  2. P-35A of the USAAC, 17th Pursuit Sqd, Nichols Field early 1941 flown by the first American Ace of the War, Pilot Lt. Boyd D "Buzz" Wagner in Overall Aluminium.

  3. Seversky J-9 Royal Swedish Air Force F-8 Unit 1943 in a Overall Sand with Green blotches and Light Blue undersurfaces scheme.

 

 

The decals are printed by "Propagteam" and are up to their usual standard. They are in perfect register and demostrate good colour density. Painting instructions are given during construction with reference to the Humbrol range of paints.

 

 

 

 

With care and patience, this kit should build up to a convincing little replica of the P-35. The flash and parts fitting issues aside, I can recommend this kit to the more experienced modellers out there.

Recommended.

Many thanks to 'Squadron Mail Order' for supplying the review kit.



MPM's 1/72 scale Seversky P-35 is available online from Squadron.com


Review Copyright © 2001 by Dale Smith
Page Created 06 September, 2001
Last updated 22 July, 2003

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