Batplane 1941 (Retro SF 1/72)
Batman is well-known for his very nice cars « batmobiles » ; but he also owned some aircrafts. It was the case in 1941. The « Batplane » was very similar to the American Curtiss P40, with some adaptations like « wombat » wings…
Retro SF (part of RetrokiT) just released that aircraft.
There are 24 resin parts and a clear, plastic injected canopy. The resin is very nice with very few bubbles. The only difficulty when removing the parts from the carrots is the spinner : the extremity is to be redone with Evergreen. Not really a problem…
The fuselage is in one part. Cockpit interior is separate and fit into the cockpit by the undersurface. Easy to introduce.
As the aircraft is completely black, I have airbrushed the cockpit interior with Interior Green ; so we will have a little bit of life and light…
Canopy was provided by AZ Models and is very clear. To place it can be delicate due to the top of the fuselage but with patience, it’s done without any problem. Some miliput was often used for the jointure canopy/fuselage.
Assembly is easy for the rest.
Painting : the aircraft is black and only black. I have used Tamiya XF-1. For the exhausts, Model Colors « Dust » was perfect and to differentiate the tyres with the aircraft, there were painted in « Dark Rubber » from Panzer Aces.
No decals needed. So I didn’t use any varnish and just used Tamiya black pastels on the crests on the wings and for the exhaust smoke, a little bit of any dark brown pigment from MiG.
Conclusion : a very nice and easy kit ; it was fun to build that Batplane !
Daniel Clamot
