Arma Hobby, 1:48 Scale, PZL-11c
This is a fantastic little kit of a historic and very underrated aircraft.
Arma Hobby has really knocked it out of the park with this 1:48 scale beauty. It is not an 'easy' kit. I found it to be a challenge and at the same time a lot of fun too. I was especially impressed with the overall fit of the kit. There were no real problem areas except with some of the PE, which I cannot stand anyway, no matter whose kit it is. Still in all it does add to the overall appearance and I used as much as I felt comfortable with.
In short, a great kit, loved the build and I highly recommend it!
Paint is overall Polish Dark Khaki with Polish Blue Grey on the undersides of the wings and tail planes. I used Hataka paints and I was not impressed with them. The paint came from a set of Polish Air Force colors from 1939. There are six choices of markings, and I chose to use a scheme provided in the old Mirage kit. I only used what I needed to from the Mirage as the decals were old and I was afraid they would not work correctly. I was wrong, they were fine, but I used a combination of Arma and Mirage markings.
The kit is built OOB, and I used Infini Scale Aero Rigging for the aerials. Weathering was kept to a minimum as these aircraft were fairly new. Since the war was days away, I did not want to do too much of it, just the usual operational and training stuff.
Markings are those of Lt. Stanislaw Skalski, Number 142 Squadron, 4th Air Regiment, Torun Poland, late August 1939. Lt. Skalski would be the highest scoring Polish pilot during the September Campaign, and also the highest scoring Polish Ace of the war.
Very, very coll Frederick. A rarely seen build of this important aircraft
G’day Frederick (@fjs3),
Very nicely done.
I have this kit I the stash and am thinking sbout doing the same scheme - if I can find the decals.
Liked!
A fantastic result, Frederick!
Well done!
Excellent result, Frederick @fjs3
Sounds like a great kit, challenging and still fun to work on.
Well done.
Nice work, Frederick!
Very good looking kit. I like this design, even if outdated for the time. looks like a bird in flight.
A great-looking build!
Nice one. I have it in my stash as it goes, along with Skalski's Mustang which he flew out of Holmsley during Dday, just down the road from here.
I'm surprised you didn't like the Hataka paint. I found it worked beautifully on a smaller "11" although that was the acrylic lacquer.
The PZL11 is an important type of its time, being all metal construction. Jaki Jakimuik (sorry for the spelling) went on to design the DHC1 Chipmunk and had a pivotal role in the most iconic (and first) purpose designed and all metal bush plane, the DHC-2 Beaver. I am lucky enough to crew an AL1 and you can see PZL11 in it, particularly the control surfaces.
That's a great little model chap. They were actually pretty worn by the start of the war and sadly the majority were destroyed, either by the Nazis, or by the Poles themselves. What the Polish crews then went on to achieve though...amazing.
3 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Looks good, Feitz. I got your message a couple weeks ago. Let me know when You are up.