PZL P.1/I. and P.1/II. fighter prototypes – SBS 1:72 resin kit double build.
Hi All! I reviewed this kit earlier so it’s time for the second step: build it. SBS owner Csaba Bordacs kindly asked me to build one for him and I decided to make a double build as I’d like to have one too for myself. To make things a bit more interesting I chose to build the first and the second prototype at the same time and let him to choose.
If you are interested in here’s my earlier review with the history of the PZL P.1 also: https://imodeler.com/2019/03/review-on-sbs-172-pzl-p-1-prototype-fighter-kit/
Now about the build: the kit is simple and well made so the preparations took nearly as much time as the assembly itself. The parts generally fit well. The nose is a bit smaller than should be but some creative clamping helped to align the parts correctly – hint: if you are leave about 2-3mm from the moulding block of the engine it helps a lot. I didn’t like the approach that the spinner is moulded as part of the engine cowling so I separated it on the red plane and left it alone in the NMF one – to see the difference. In reality after some careful painting and touch with a panel line pen the difference is minimal, but I still like the separated spinner much more. Also a good idea to strengthen the joins with some wire because especially the wings are quite heavy (yep, they are one piece resin) and the joins are small. I broke up them twice after that I added some steel wires so now they are bulletproof. The wing struts helps a lot aligning the wings – I used them as “jigs” and this trick worked very well however i glued them in place at the and of the build as painting is much easier without them. Minimal filler was needed around the tail joins but nothing dramatic. The assembly was quite stress-free in general.
The painting was a bit challenging process. The natural metal finish is always a bit problematic, fortunately the minimal need of filler and the good fit made this a bit easier than usual. I used Alclads this time. The red/white were a more interesting one as the pattern is quite difficult. SBS sent me a laser cut mask based on the decal graphic as an experiment because I complained earlier that to find the red matching with exactly the colour of the decals is very difficult task. The idea is good but the heavily ribbed surface (which is beautifully mimic the corrugated aluminium sheets the plane was made from) is not a masking-friendly environment. If you ever used masks on such surfaces you may know that large masks don’t work well so I chose an interesting solution: inverted the normal painting steps. I painted the reds first. I used Gunze Mr. Color range as their coverage abilities are excellent even when you make such a ridiculous thing as me – paint white onto red! Finally I had to make some corrections and touch ups but the approach worked quite well.
That’s all. If you’d like an interesting (and I think beautiful) aeroplane into your collection or just want a well buildable resin kit I can recommend it without any hesitation. Hope you like them. Oh, nearly forget: Mr. Csaba Bordacs chose the red/white one.
Many thanks for Gabor Foth for making the beautiful pictures of the finished models. See you soon on Moson Model show. You can see the red/white one on the SBS stand and the “silver” PZL on the 1:72 section. Cheers! Gabor
Many thanks for Gabor Foth for making the beautiful pictures of the finished models.
35 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Phil Steele said on April 9, 2019
Fantastic builds !!
Gábor Szabó said on April 9, 2019
Thanks a lot, Phil!
Robert Royes said on April 9, 2019
Two great builds!
Gábor Szabó said on April 9, 2019
Thank You! 🙂
Tom Cleaver said on April 9, 2019
Superb. I have this kit (the 1/48 version), half finished, but lost the vertical fin. I have to find some way to recreate that corrugated surface detail.
Your two look wonderful
Gábor Szabó said on April 9, 2019
Thanks Tom! I suggest just drop a mail to Csaba Bordacs at SBS ([email protected] or maybe write to him on facebook) and I’m sure that they will help you with that lost part.
dale travis said on April 9, 2019
Very sharp work Gabor.
Gábor Szabó said on April 10, 2019
Thank You, Dale!
Greg Kittinger said on April 9, 2019
Beauties Gabor! You did a fantastic job on getting that red/white scheme on the wings – kudos!
Gábor Szabó said on April 9, 2019
Thank you Greg! 🙂 That corrugated surface was a real masking challenge.
Bogdan Ionete said on April 9, 2019
Beautiful!
See you at Moson 😉
Gábor Szabó said on April 9, 2019
Thank You! You can find me where they have Krusovice Cerny 😉
John Healy said on April 10, 2019
Nice work! Great painting.
Gábor Szabó said on April 10, 2019
Thanks John!
David Mills said on April 10, 2019
Lovely work Gabor!
Gábor Szabó said on April 10, 2019
Thank You David!
Editor said on April 10, 2019
That you have manually masked and painted the upper wing lettering & decor is nothing short of amazing. Were the masks laser-cut or did you print & cut them out manually? Details kindly wanted 🙂
Gábor Szabó said on April 10, 2019
Hi Martin! They are laser cut masks based on the original decal artwork. It was the test for an actual product. I suggested some minor modifications and – AFAIK – it is on (or will be) sale by SBS as an add-on for the kit.
bob mack said on April 10, 2019
perfection
Gábor Szabó said on April 11, 2019
Thank You, Bob!