Mraz M-1D Sokol

AZ Model, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Mark J. Davies

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According to Wikipedia:  “The Mraz M.1 Sokol (Czech: "Falcon") was a light aircraft built in Czechoslovakia in the years following the end of the Second World War. Designed in secret by Zdenek Rublic at the Benes-Mraz factory during the German occupation, the type was put into production in 1946. It was a conventional, low-wing monoplane that took the pre-war Benes-Mraz Bibi as its starting point. Two seats were provided side-by-side in an enclosed cabin, and the main units of the tail-wheel undercarriage were retractable. Construction throughout was of wood.”

AZ Model is produced by Legato of the Czech Republic. Legato will be known to some for their range of sometimes unusual and rare subjects in resin kit form.  AZ Models have recently been prolific with new releases mainly consisting of inter-war types and Czech light aircraft.

The 1/72 scale Mraz M-1D Sokol is one of AZ Model's smaller and simpler kits.

It consists of a quite cleanly moulded sprue of limited run parts, mainly for the airframe. Two tailfins & rudders are included, one being surplus as it is for the Sokol M-1C boxing. Surface detail is a nice combination of raised surfaces where required, with recessed panel lines that are quite fine. Typically for this type of kit there are no locating pins; but who needs them anyway?

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The engine cowl is nicely cast in resin, as is a second propeller (leaving you with a reasonable spare styrene propeller as they are the same type). The resin parts are on what look to be easily removable casting blocks.

A small PE fret provides seat belts, the two control wheels, oleo links, one or two other small details, and an instrument panel complete with photo-film for instruments.

Two vac-form canopies are supplied. They have slight signs of dust contamination on the mould, but it is not too serious. The instructions suggest cutting the curved rear windows out, although this could possibly make for tricky fitting. An alternative would be to cut the canopy out with the roof section over the rear windows intact. A corresponding part of the styrene fuselage would need to be removed leaving a straight edge for fitting and blending into the rear fuselage.

Decals for Czechoslovakian Police, Italian Civil, GDR military and Swedish civil schemes round the package out. The decals look to be well registered with good colour density.

The instruction sheet has a parts map which clearly shows that they are shared by both AZ Models Sokol M-1C & D kits. But the differences are clear enough form the instructions. The aircraft history is in Czech only. The assembly diagram is concise and quite adequate for the task. Interior colour call-outs are in Czech. The need for the modeller to use stretched sprue, fine rod or wire for undercarriage leg braces and pitot is indicated.

The resin and PE parts each have their own zip-lock bag and the all parts and decals are sealed in a cellophane bag.

The box has nice artwork on the front and coloured painting guide on the back with decal locations indicated. Colour call-outs are in English, but with the exception of RLM 02 these are generic (i.e. light-blue, red, dark-green etc). I recommend this kit to light aircraft fans, or anyone who wants an attractive and different subject in their collection.

Thanks to AZ Models for this review sample.

Review Text Copyright © 2008 by Mark Davies
Page Created 1 December, 2008
Last updated 1 December, 2008

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