Dora Wings 1/48 P-43A Lancer, 1943
This is my first Dora Wings kit, which is produced in the Ukraine. I really enjoyed building this P-43 Lancer. It's very well executed for the most part but one has to keep in mind this is a limited run model with delicate recessed panel lines, soft plastic and fiddly parts. No locator pins. Not a problem, because the overall kit fit is excellent and so are the molded details. The build moves along rather quickly. It's not a slam dunk, but if you take your time, you will be rewarded with a fine looking replica of the predecessor to the P-47.
Construction Notes:
No need to construct the complicated but fragile engine mount as it serves no purpose and you won't be able to see any of it. The engine itself is quite impressive with lots of fragile miniscule parts but again, you won't see most of it so don't bother with the stuff that goes on the rear. The molded front push rods tubes are thin as can be. Most of them broke and I replaced them with Evergreen rod which was much easier.
The kit PE belts looked too chunky to me and I used Eduard steel ones instead. Installing PE cowl flaps is never fun and neither are these. Why Dora Wings didn't mold these in styrene is beyond me. I didn't have any thin gauge styrene around to make my own so I used them anyway. I installed one flap at a time from the cowl inside with very little attachment/glue space trying hard not to mar it up. It was a real struggle. Aside from that, everything else fit together just fine. I used hardly any filler during this build except to smooth out the 2 piece underside wing flaps.
Watch Out! Delicate Parts Ahead!
All of the parts, most of which are very small and easily broken, have precise sprue attachment points. Lots of them. These must be removed entirely and carefully cleaned up to get a precise fit when installed. There is a bit of flash here and there that's easily scrapped off.
Heads up on the rear tail wheel gear, brace and needle-thin wheel fork, because these guys are really fragile. Fortunately, the whole assembly can be beefed up with CA glue. Even so, I managed to snap off the wheel fork into Never-Never Land right as I approached the finish line. I heated up some previously stretched sprue and made a close enough replacement. The kit tiny gunsight got gobbled up by the carpet monster and I grabbed another one from my spare parts box that will do for now. I had no problems with the main gear installation but left off a couple of tiny fiddly parts.
Painting and Finishing
I painted the interior using Vallejo chromate green darkened up. For the OD topside I went with Tamiya RAF dark green XF-81 overall and then hit it again lightening it up with a bit of AeroMaster OD 41 mixed in and misted the areas subject to UV fading. I tried not to go overboard with the weathering as I don't think this P-43 saw much action. The rest of the paint used is Tamiya neutral gray for the undersides and Ammo yellow chromate in the wells and doors.
I am not fond of vinyl canopy masks but the set included in the box performed flawlessly and so did the decals.
My only real gripe (other than those cowling flaps) is that Dora Wings' instructions are extremely vague along with the paint call outs. There are times when you must figure it out yourself. Thankfully Dora includes a sprue tree map and the parts are suprisingly numbered. Do yourself a favor - check out TC's Lancer build tips prior to tackling this kit and look at other P-43 models here on iModeler and elsewhere. If you do, your build will go smoothly.
I had a great time working on my little "Jug-ette" P-43 Lancer and look forward to the Dora Wings Curtiss Jeep I have on the pile waiting it's turn.
Thanks for ogling!
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- 1. the Achille's heel
Well done, Eric.
Thanks and same to you for your big brother build.
Excellent results Eric! A very tidy build.
Thanks for the compliment Andrew @pb_legend Andrew!
I like it! ? That is a handsome, well-done model Eric! It looks great in the pics and I enjoyed your write-up a lot too. Thanks for the tips (and links!) in case I want to try my own jugalo! Very fine scale modeling sir. ?
“Jugalo”. I love it Gary @garybrantley. Gonn’a forward that one to Dora Wings. Cheers.
This is a super build out of the very good but challenging Dora kit, Eric!
The model looks gorgeous, all your quality work done is evident.
Loved your article, as well, with your construction notes being clear and helpful.
Congratulations on yet another "Eric Berg" excellent model!
You're always such a nice guy Spiros @fiveten. Thanks. I’ll bet you built at least half a dozen planes in the time it took me to build this “Jugalo”.
Nice work. I enjoyed that one too.
You did a great job on your Lancer as well John @j-healy. I checked yours out thoroughly before starting mine.
Thanks.
Amazing result, Eric @eb801
You can clearly see that you enjoyed this build.
The result is magnificant and your description is very helpful.
Well done.
thanks John @johnb. "Magnificent" is way too generous.
Very nice result here. Good save on the tail wheel fork. I'm glad my review helped.
@tcinla yes Tom, your review and WIP really was a big help plus the tip on the Tamiya paint color. Much thanks.
Nice job on the ancestor to the line of thunder craft!
Glad you liked it Robert @roofrat. When you put the 43 and the 47 side by side the ancestry is so obvious. I like Gary's @garybrantley nickname for the Lancer: "Jugalo"! Perfect!
Great build! I built this and encountered the same issues with the delicate push rods and in trying to assemble the engine mount. Not a fan of the PE cowl flaps either. I would like to try their P-35 next.
Hey there Scott @spearre, thanks. Dora Wings’ P-35 has those same awful PE cowl flaps and it looks to me those fragile push rod tubes as well. I built the HobbyCraft kit and from 2ft away it looks ok to me despite its accuracy deficiencies.
Awesome build on what appears to be a very challenging kit. It is a great P-35/P-47 hybrid. Looks fantastic.
Thanks Bob @bobd56az. This kit is not that challenging. Sure beats the heck out of the old Classic Airframes limited kit for example by a long shot.
Well built and finished. I built their J9 and had every issue you referred to plus no engine mounts at all. It was pressed into the cowl ring. Nothing like 200+ parts in a 1/48th single engine model.
200+ parts? Yow! Sounds like it’s a tad over engineered. The P-43 engine also presses into the cowl ring which is why you don’t need the mounts. Thanks for looking Al @aloisious.
Excellent build, this is a great looking P-43.
Thanks a lot Bob@v1pro. This is a good kit worth building.
Looks great! A 1/72 Lancer is on my wish list - Pavla used to be the only option around, but people really want lots of dough for those... I think Dora did one in 72, right?
Thanks Greg@gkittinger. Yes, Dora Wings put out a Lancer in 1/72nd scale right after they released this one.
I don't know anything about it but I have seen online reviews.
https://www.scalemates.com/kits/dora-wings-dw72027-republic-p-43-lancer--1359916