Dewoitine D.510

Dora Wings, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Special Hobby’s Mirage F.1B/BE is available online from Squadron.com

The Dewoitine D.500 was an all-metal, open-cockpit, fixed-undercarriage monoplane fighter aircraft, used by the French Air Force in the 1930s.

Introduced in 1936, the design was soon replaced by a new generation of fighter aircraft with enclosed cockpits and retractable undercarriage, including the 510's successor, the Dewoitine D.520.

The D.500 and D.501 entered service in July 1935, with the more powerful D.510 joining them in October 1936.

The Dewoitine D.510 was re-engined with the Hispano-Suiza 12Ycrs producing 640 kW (860 hp), armed with a 20 mm Hispano cannon and with 2 × 7.5 mm (.295 in) MAC 1934 machine guns in the wings. Its first flight was on 14 August 1934, 120 D.510s were built.

They were the primary fighters employed by the Armée de l'Air until their replacement by the Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 in 1939. As of September 1939, the D.500/501 had been relegated to regional defense and training squadrons.

At the start of World War II, D.510s were still in operation with three Groupes de Chasse (Fighter Groups), two Escadrilles Régionale de Chasse (Regional Fighter Squadrons in North Africa), and two Escadrilles de Aéronautique Navale (Naval Aviation Squadrons).[1] In Morocco, one escadrille of D.510s (ERC571) was activated in November 1939. These planes lacked cannon. In May 1940, this escadrille merged with ERC 573 to form GC III/4. This groupe was disbanded by the end of August 1940. At Dakar, one groupe designated GC I/6, remained in service until being replaced by Curtiss H-75s at the end of 1941.

Fourteen D.501s (named D.501L), originally sold to Lithuania, and two D.510s ostensibly intended for the Emirate of Hedjaz saw service in the Spanish Civil War, arriving in mid-1936. When the French government found out about the delivery of the D.510s, they demanded the return of the 12Y engines. The aircraft were then refitted with Klimov M-100s (a Soviet-built copy of the 12Y) from a Tupolev SB bomber. The aircraft served with the Republican forces. The two 510s were posted to the 71st Coastal Defense Group. Neither engaged enemy fighters. In 1938, one was irreparably damaged while landing and the other was destroyed on a runway during a bombing attack.

In 1938, 18 Chinese D.510s saw action against the Japanese, including the defense of Chengdu and the Chinese wartime capital Chongqing.*

Dora Wings

Dora Wings is part of the Ukranian AMG Group. Whereas the AMG label has released some classic fighters including the Hawker Sea Fury and Jumo-powered Messerschmitt Bf 109s, Dora Wings has until now focussed on more esoteric types (see Luke Pitt's review of Dora Wings' recent 1/48 scale Gee Bee Racer and my review of their 1/48 P-63E King Cobra).

This release appears to signal a change of direction however, as the Dewoitine D.510 was used operationally by a number of nations during the late 1930s.

This is not the first Dewoitine D.510 to appear in 1/48 scale. Hi-Tech from France released a limited run kit of this type around 20 years ago. This would have been a typical limited run kit of its day - lots of preparation of the fairly primitive plastic parts and plenty of fit challenges.

Dora Wings' kit represents a vast improvement over the older release.

Dora Wings' 1/48 scale Dewoitine D.520 comprises a modest 62 parts in pale grey plastic, 16 parts in grey resin, seven parts in clear resin and markings for four aircraft..

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 

Thumbnail panels:

Although this is stil certainly a limited run kit, the quality looks very good - almost to the level of the AMG Jumo Bf 109s.

The plastic parts are well moulded. Panel lines are crisply recessed and consistent throughout.

This kit does not include locating pins, so a little more care will be required with aligning major parts. Assembly breakdown is quite conventional with the fuselage halves trapping the forward cockpit bulkhead that is moulded with a wing spar in place. The wings are made up from upper and lower halves for each side, plus long ailerons. The horizontal stabilisers are supplied as one piece each an the rudder is a separate assembly.

There is a bit of fine flash that will require cleanup on many parts, but the presentation of the plastic is otherwise good.

The cockpit is comprehensively detailed and includes photo-etched instrument panel, harness straps and other smaller parts.

Printed acetate dials are included for the instrument panel too.

Wheels and tyres are resin parts. Other resin parts include the cowl gun deck, machine gun barrels and the pilot's seat. The exhaust stacks are included too, although these are not mentioned in the body of the instructions.

Interestingly, clear parts are supplied as cleanly cast transparent resin. The windscreen and and navigation lights are included.

Options include two styles of wheel hub - spoked and covered, two or three bladed propeller assemblies and spatted or unspatted wheels.

Instructions are supplied on a simple four-page, single glossy folded A4 sheet. There are12 illustrated construction steps although some descriptions appear to be oversimplified, most notably the sequence and parts required for the undercarriage struts and the optional wheel fairings.

A second folded A4 sheet provides the painting and marking guide.

Markings

The decal sheet is printed by Decograph from Ukraine. The decals are fairly flat in finish.

Registration and printing look good.

Markings are supplied for three Republican Air Force machines used in Spain in 1938, and one in Japanese markings.

This is a good looking and well detailed kit of a neglected subject.

Dora Wings' 1/48 scale Dewoitine D.510 is cleanly moulded, features crisply recessed surface textures and useful resin and photo-etched parts.

If you have a few models under your belt you won't have any trouble with this kit. Just take your time cleaning up, aligning parts, test-fitting frequently, and you'll have an attractive and quite unique result.

I do hope that we will see this aircraft in French markings soon too. There were some pretty spectacular schemes!

*Historical summary adapted from Wikipedia

Thanks to Dora Wings for the review sample.

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2018 by Brett Green
Page Created 28 June, 2018
Last updated 28 June, 2018

Back to HyperScale Main Page

Back to Reviews Page