Pend Orielle Model kits
Me 109G6 in 1/35 scale
This is not exactly 1/32 scale, but the kit might apeal to 32nd scale modeler, so I decided to make an exception an review the kit on the site. First of all I must thank Lionel at POMK for the free review sample.
No history lesson is needed here, we all know Me 109G6, very well, so let's get down to the basics. The kit has 33 resin parts, 2 metal parts and 4 clear vacuform canopies. It also includes one decal sheet with the option of two aircrafts
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| The right radiator is in place, while the left is in the center and you can also see the where is goes in the wing |
First to the resin parts. The wing is casted in one piece of white coloured resin. The details for the wheel well are very nice, and so are the external details. The panel lines are engraved and are exellent. The thing that I like best about the wings are the way wing radiators are made. See the photo.
BUT the wing is the biggest error of the kit. Compare the follwing photos:
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You can see the POMK wings. They look like they are in a hard pylon turn |
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| This photo (with a bit of imagination) shows the angle of the wing. A smaller angle then in the above photo. |
You can see that the wing's dihedral is too big. Please note that this might be a maulformed part in my sample.
*it has been pointed out to me that this dihedral thing is wrong only in my sample, and it doesn't exists in the other samples*
The fuselage has the same level of details as the wing. It is cast as two halfs with a seperate tail unit. The halfs have no placment pins, so take yout time when fitting the model. As you can see the buele is correct. There are two items to be added to the fuselage. That is the supercharger intake and the lower oil cooler. Both are the right sizes.
The spinner and the propellor blades are cast as one, and I don't like that, BUT I didn't notice any perticular failuries or inaccuracies with this part, so I guess it is OK!
The tail assembly is a bit tricky, but that is so because POMK offers two sets of tails-the tall wooden one and the normal metal part. With this you also have the option to reposition the tail control surfaces. Sand it carefuly, dry fit it often, and you will make a very nice tail unit from it.
A thing worth mentioning here is that the wing to fuselage joint is a made in a very unusual way, that look that it will prove a great truble maker, but when the kit is dryfited it proves itself that this is a high-light of the kit-exellent fit!!
The big parts are varpage free and are cast without bubles
Then to the smaller parts:
The cockpit is made up of five parts. The back console and the floor are one part. This part is well detialed, but I think that the pan seat is a bit to low. The seat belts are molded on and require a bit of cleaning. Othervise all the parts in the cockpit are well detailed, but maybe they fit better for the early G standards. Also a nice touch would be a PE panel and rudder pedals.
Other smaller detail range from exellent to not so hot.
Here is the example of both.
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| here you can see the wheel-whic is of exellent quality... | ...and the smaller parts, whic require clean up, but are better built from scratch |
Smaller detail includ the gunsight, airleon counter balances, pitot tubes etc.
The struts require cleaning, but are othervise good. They also seem strong enough.
The decals provide the option for two aircraft one of Erich Hartmann and one from JG 3 'Udet'. They appear to be OK, but the swastika is a bit complicated and the tulip nose emblem might require quite a fair amount of setting solution. It is higly advisable that you spray the whole decal sheet with matt varnish. They seem to disintegrate when eased of the backing sheet. The matt coat will provide aditional support, but of course you will have to cut through the coat to be able to remove the decal from the rest of the sheet.
One of the high lights of the kit is the choice of two types of canopies (Erla haube and the normal grean house one), and you have two of each, so there are 4 vac canopies.
Conclusion
This is not a kit for the exclusive 1/32 scale modeler. I selotepled the parts together and found that it does stand out when put on the shelf with other 1/32 scale models. But if you like big scale aircraft, this is a very nice kit for you. It has very, very nice details, but I guess that you should have a few resin kits under your belt before grabing this one. If you can correct (or simply ignore) the angle of the wings, then you will be fine.
If you are a diorama builder-GO FOR IT!!!