PZL P.11c LTD 1/48

[Second Air Force]

This kit came from the "orphan" kit shelf at a local hobby shop this weekend. I picked it up for very little money so decided I could spend some extra time fixing the shortcomings of the kit that I'd read about on the web. It turns out that it isn't really all that bad for the more experienced modelers to tackle, though the Mirage P.11 looks a lot nicer.

PZL P.11c LTD 1/48

The decals are a bit waterstained but I think they'll be salvageable with some clearcoat.

The engine is pretty simple but the cowling is another matter. There is quite a bit of flash and some HUGE sprue attach points to trim. The exhaust inlets are obscured by two of the sprue tags and are pretty difficult to repair. The propeller and spinner are also marred by the sprue attachments. However, with some patient use of the files and sandpaper, all of these problems can be repaired. I intended to use a resin Wright 1820 to replace the kit engine, but so little of the engine is visible when the crankcase fairing is installed, that I'll use the LTD part.

PZL P.11c LTD 1/48

In just a couple of hours of "relaxation" I was able to roughly fit the engine and cowling parts for the first time. More needs to be done, but you can see that it does look like a Bristol Mercury with all that sheetmetal on it.

PZL P.11c LTD 1/48

The final hour or so was spent assembling the wing and taping the fuselage halves together. Here's a photo, I'll offer more information later.

PZL P.11c LTD 1/48

And thanks to LetLetLet for the nice photos of the beautiful museum airplane!

[No.1]

Nice and interesting bird at all! I read some fighter stories and they have managed to down Bf109 and Bf110 during the Poland campaign 

[Second Air Force]

Yes, I think it is a very historic fighter in that respect. All things considered, the airplane was bravely flown by the Polish pilots even though it was an older design.

If I were wealthy I would add a P.11 or P.24 to a list of 1/1 airplanes to build from scratch. It seems they would be a fun "warbird" to fly!

[draken35]

Good to see such a build... I will follow your work, Scott!

[No.1]

I have P.Z.L. 24 in resin, 1/72 scale and if I would built it, I would make Greek machine with three topside colors (most known are with two...)

[Second Air Force]

The 24 is really a nice looking airplane with the full cowling, in my opinion.

As to paint schemes for mine, I haven't yet decided which machine to build. I have an old magazine here (somewhere in a box) that has many, many photos of Polish aircraft from just before the War.

[Sall]

Interesting story in your review.I learn something!
I have no doubt that this will be interesting build!

[POMPEO]

nice, i love this plane...i looking forward

cheers

[Second Air Force]

A brief update--here is the assembled wing in the process of finishing. The surfaces have nicely molded, very delicate, corrugations on the upper and lower skins. In order to make the seams as invisible as possible, the moldmaker placed each seam at an area that is easy to fill without losing the grooving that represents the corrugations. The wing is molded in five pieces, the gull-shaped center section and four outer panels. After tweaking the center section just a bit to get the dihedral right I glued it all together.

Here are two photos of how I applied the filler to each seam. I masked the corrugations off on either side with thin tape and applied the filler, sanded, repeated, etc. By using this tape I kept my sanding and filling operation from obliterating the surface detail.

PZL P.11c LTD 1/48

PZL P.11c LTD 1/48

[No.1]

For short run kit this look so good!!!

[Second Air Force]

It truly is better than some of the reviews I've read about it. There is a lot of flash on some of the parts and the sprue attachments are quite large, but if you are careful these flaws clean up rather nicely. The details, especially on the wing surfaces, is really nice, and the other parts just need some rescribing and clean-up to be very useable. I suspect that some of the reviewers were "spoiled" by the Tamiya-type models of today. When I started not every kit was perfect!

[Profa]

What's that rusty red puty? BTW, I use the same technique when trying to "control damage"...

[Second Air Force]

Profa, that is "Bondo" brand spot finishing putty for auto body refinishing.

PZL P.11c LTD 1/48

 It's really just red lacquer primer in a paste form and it works very well. Testors used to market the exact product in their modeling line and my tube lasted for over a decade before it finally got too stiff to use.

[Sall]

 

[Second Air Force]

I'm going to title this entry as "Don't throw anything away". As seen earlier, the decal sheet that came with this kit had some promise until it was water damaged during its life in storage. When I bought it I was disappointed that the decals were no good, but I decided to take a chance today to see what would happen.

PZL P.11c LTD 1/48

I finished filling and sanding on the wing and painted the lower surface with a mix of ancient Humbrol 65 and some white. Then I shot both the national insignia and the wing with a liberal coat of clear. I had to soak the decal for fifteen minutes in water, another five in Microsol decal solution, and a further five minutes in water before the backing came loose. I didn't expect much when I applied the decal to the delicate corrugated surface of the wing, but, to my amazement, it laid down wonderfully with a little Microset. I'm pretty confident that I can use the rest of the sheet and now it's time to go back to work on the cockpit and fuselage.

PZL P.11c LTD 1/48

The moral of the story is don't give up on even damaged materials as patience will sometimes surprise you!