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Spiros Pendedekas
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Hobby Boss 1/72 M.S.406

April 3, 2024 · in Aviation · · 40 · 265

The M.S.406 was Morane's first low-wing monoplane, as well as the first to feature an enclosed cockpit and a retracting undercarriage.

Upon entering service in early 1939, it was the French Air Force's first "modern" fighter aircraft. Sturdy, highly maneuverable and initially capable of holding its own, it quickly proved underpowered and weakly armed, with the contemporary Bf 109E giving it a hard time when met.

Upon the invasion of France in May 1940, around 150 examples were lost to enemy fighters and ground fire, another 100 were destroyed on the ground during enemy air raids and 250 were deliberately destroyed to prevent them from falling into German hands.

French M.S.406 squadrons achieved 191 confirmed victories, along with another 83 probables.

Limited production of the petite Morane continued in France for sometime after the Armistice under German supervision, with 1176 examples built in total.

After the war it was quickly withdrawn from all Services, leaving only a few Finnish examples as advanced trainers, which had all been withdrawn by 1952.

Starting from February 1940, Finland received in total 87 machines (including 11 M.S.410 derivatives, bought from Germany).

The French fighter was put to good use by the skillful pilots, amassing 121 kills till the end of the war. With the potent airframe screaming for extra power, the inventive Finns wasted no time modifying and strengthening it, in order to accept the powerful Klimov M-105P, as many of these engines were captured by the Germans and offered to them. But that's another story.

This is another fine example of the Hobby Boss “Easy Assembly” series: cheap, easy to build, modern-tooled and with adequate level of detail, it is a simpler, yet decent alternative compared to more detailed multi-part and certainly more expensive kits.

Should you wish to read the full build review, you may do so by visiting my beloved site Modelingmadness:
https://modelingmadness.com/review/allies/fr/pen406.htm

Happy Modelling!

Reader reactions:
18  Awesome

40 responses

  1. It may be a relatively less expensive kit compared to some of the competition, Spiros, but you’ve made it look just as good.

  2. Good job, Spiros!

  3. Great group work with this EZkit, Spiros.
    Glad that you were able to ‘Finnish’ this one.

  4. Nice work, Spiros. That’s an attractive scheme .

  5. Well done, Spiros!

  6. Nicely done Spiros.

  7. A wonderful result, Spiros @fiveten
    Although a spartanic kit, you really got a nicely detailed result of of it. Especially the scheme is very nice. Not that easy to achieve in this scale.

  8. Nice piece of work Spiros!
    A lot of detail despite the tiny scale. I'll stick to 1/48 though which seems a nice compromise between 1/72 and 1/32 (too big).

  9. Very nicely done. I will be going to the build thread in hopes of finding out more about the camouflage masking medium.

  10. Often times it's the modeler who makes or brakes a kit. This build really stands out Spiros. For folks who are on a budget or are cheap you can stretch the Euro along way.
    Two thumbs up.

  11. Nice build! That scheme, with the eyes especially, is very interesting. Well done!

  12. Nice looking build Spiros.

  13. Profile Photo
    said on April 3, 2024

    Looking good Spiros! Nicely done working with your boys too!

  14. Excellent work - the MS.406 was weak and underpowered until you looked at the Blochs and Koolhavens the French were also using. A very nice build.

  15. You did a very nice job on this one, Spiros. @fiveten

  16. Nice one matey. Didn't the Poles fly these in France as well?

  17. G'day Spiros (@fiveten),
    This is one of those aircraft that was just a bit too early in its development so that it was a mix of the old construction techniques and modern monoplane with retracting landing gear - a bit like the Hurricane.
    Hopefully, Hobby Boss will scale it up and give us a 1/48 version one day.
    You've done a great build, as usual.
    Liked!

  18. Great little build, Spiros!

  19. Very nice result. The Finns were pretty good at making mediocre airplanes successful - take what you can get and make it work!

  20. Very nice build! This is this simple Hobby Boss Kit?

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