PO-2, Best Paper model 1/35

[cjwalas]

This is a slide over from Chris Coyle's review of the Kartonowa Kolekcja kit of the PO-2. for the whole story, go here;
Polikarpov Po-2 Kartonowa Kolekcia 1:33
That's a great thread with lots of info on the plane from Charlie and Leif; definitely worth a look.
This, however, is a quick, "test" build of another kit, the downloadable model from a company called "Best Paper Models" (at least I think that's their name). Leif tracked this one down! They have a wide selection of kits, including a good number of free ones;
Paper Models & Colouring Books - The newest models
I've built a few of their kits and they tend to be simpler, but well designed and with good paintwork.
This is a model of the most produced biplane in the world, the Russian trainer/cropduster PO-2.
Polikarpov Po-2 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It's a good looking kit.

Unfortunately, my A4 paper isn't very good and my printouts came out light and my camera didn't get the color right at all, so you should judge the color by the images on the website, not this photo.
Paper Models & Colouring Books - Polikarpov PO-2
The camo scheme is similar to the Kartonowa Koleckcja, but more brown and green, versus two green tones on the KK.
The coloring is perhaps a little better on the BPM version, with a light weathering that looks good. The cockpit interior is less detailed and prehaps less accurate than the KK kit. The BPM kit is definitely a step down in detail level and parts, but perhaps not so much as you might think. The BPM version has very few formers by comparison, and many of the parts are more complex than the KK version. For example, the basic fuselage shell is at least 5 parts for the KK kit, but only one, more complex, part in the BPM version.
Where the difference really stands out is in the details like separate control surfaces, the machine gun and, not surprisingly, the engine. There are no bombs included with the BPM version. The KK kit is definitely the better more detailed model, but this BPM kit looks like it could build up into a nice looking model as well.
I'm building this one as delivered (and rather quickly as well) because I'd like to scan it and rescale it up to 1/33. There are also a number of elements of the kit design that I'd like to improve or embellish.
The cockpit goes together easily;

Details are minimal, but presentable. One of the things I don't care for in this kit is that rods like the joystick are mere flats.
The fuselage goes together well. This is an interesting and different approach than most kits; the fuselage is one piece and requires careful gluing, but it comes out straight and true.

I ran into a fit problem at the tail, but this may be my fault. There's an odd tab-thingie on part 14, the fuselage, and it's somehow supposed to interact with part 15, which is a kind of internal box former. Unfortunately, the part does not appear on the instruction illustrations. What I wound up with was a tail that had a slight gap between it and the fuselage. But then I didn't use either the tab-thingie or part 15.

It's not all that noticeable and with better paper I probably could have made the fit better.
The engine is simple and would benefit from more detailing, or even a different engine altogether, but it's adequate for a simple kit. I haven't added the lifters yet, but here you can see where the exhausts are flat when they should be pipes. I'll save that fix for the next round.

That's it so far, more to come later...
Chris

[Don Boose]

This looks good so far, Chris.

I had not heard of this company before. They have some nice-looking Japanese Ki-61s and late-model Zeros in 1/35.

Don

[member_3]

Strangely enough, a Tony, Zero and something that looks like a Corsair just showed in my download area?? Perhaps early St. Paddy's Day presents? 1:35 is just a couple clicks from 1:33 - that way the Tony wouldn't appear out of scale to the others in my stack.

[GreMir]

Couldn't resist - two Zeros, two Hiens and a Spit :D

[Don Boose]

A Spit in a very unusual color scheme with a tri-color nose reminiscent of the yellow and red Vichy markings.

Don

[cjwalas]

:DYou guys crack me up! I'm not even saying what I bought!:o I was very tempted by the corsair, as the paint job looks pretty nice on that one. How about some kit reviews for this recent supplier, guys?

I moved on to the lower wing. I was very worried about this because I knew I'd made a mistake when I glued the cockpit in. I really didn't check the fit in my haste and I glued it in too low. The funny box formers the kit has need to fit the space correctly and I knew I was going to have to do some chopping to hide my boo-boo.
I assembled the box, very straightforward;

I'm not sure the slight dihedral of the lower wing is designed into the kit or not, as I had to chop the box to fit. What I will say is that the box uses two large tabs to set the wings and it was very easy to control the dihedral with them. In fact, it was a joy;

I was really pleased with how easy it was. The wings themselves use a number of normal formers in the outer wing. I'm dealing with two ear infections after a rough week at the moment, and as this is just a test build, I only used two formers in each wing.

Once glued together, the wings simply slide into position and the fit is quite good. I was again surprised... and pleased! I've only done one other model using this box former approach and I wasn't very happy with the results; it was the Me109 from the same company. I rushed through that one as well, so maybe it was all my fault. This one is... so far... a very different story. I'm really enjoying it.

The propeller is, however, pretty disappointing as Leif points out in the other thread. It's the wrong shape and mere paddles. Can't wait to fix this one!
So far, I have to say, I'm liking this one more and more. I've made a number of mistakes, but they seem easier to remedy than many other models. I'm already drawing up my list of "enhancements". I'd love to see what real modeler like Leif would do with this one. It really cries out for individual details and embellishments.
The real challenge for me is coming up, the upper wing. I've only done a very few, four actually, biplanes. I screwed up the upper wing on three of them. If anyone has any secret tricks for getting the wings right, please let me know!
Chris

[Don Boose]

Fast progress, Chris!

I await the appearance of your replacement Ohlsson Airscrew.

I'm in no position to give advice, but many modelers seem to have success by fastening the top wing upside down to the work surface (temporarily, of course) and then attaching the pre-strutted fuselage and lower wing, beginning with the cabanes.

I look forward to seeing how you do it.

Don

[cjwalas]

Thanks, Don, that's exactly the kind of help I need!
The good news is that the upper wing went together without incident. Here are the wings sliding onto the box former;

It appears that the dihedral is designed into the kit. I assembled the upper wing without massive surgery. The fit is good and the dihedral looks right, to my untrained eye. The test will come when I try to fit the two together..."Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet..."
Chris

[Art Deco]

I don't build planes, but I just want to say I really admire the engineering of those "box formers" - the simplicity and speed of assembly, especially the way the outer skin just slides into place around them. It looks like you can get accurate results very easily. Seems a more clever and sensible approach to building all those internal frames that I usually see. Great idea!

Thanks for letting us follow your work!

[ccoyle]

I dunno, but this build seems a tad on the slow side. :D