Morane-Saulnier
MS.230/C.23

Dora Wings, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

The Morane-Saulnier MS.230 aircraft was the main elementary trainer for the French Armée de l'Air throughout the 1930s. Almost all French pilots flying for the Armée de l'Air at the outbreak of World War II had had their earliest flight training in this machine. It was the equivalent of the Stearman trainer in the United States air services and the de Havilland Tiger Moth in the Royal Air Force.

The MS.230 was designed to meet French Air Ministry requirements. The MS.230 was a parasol wing monoplane of metal tubular framing with fabric covering throughout, except the forward area of the fuselage, which was metal covered. The instructor and pupil occupied two tandem cockpits. It had a wide fixed landing gear that made it very stable in take-off and landing. As a monoplane the MS.230 was unlike other trainers of the time, which were mostly biplanes.

It first flew in February 1929 and proved to be an excellent and stable machine that was very easy to fly. It saw service with military flight schools throughout France and was exported to the air forces of numerous other countries. It also became a popular aircraft for sporting aviation. An example won the Michelin Cup in 1929.

Numbers of MS.230s survived for many years after the war and became civilian trainers and civilian flying club aircraft. One was used in 1967 to act as camera-ship for air-to-air filming of Darling Lili at Baldonnel Aerodrome, Ireland. Examples are preserved on display in museums in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Spain and the United States of America.*

We modellers are indeed blessed. Who would have thought that we would ever see a 1/48 scale Morane-Saulnier MS.230 as an injection moulded plastic kit?

It was therefore a nice surprise to see Dora Wings release a brand new 1/48 scale Morane-Saulnier MS.230/C.23.

The kit comprises 94 parts in grey plastic, two parts printed on clear acetate sheet, 40 photo-etched parts on a single fret and decals for three marking options.

Note that this is a limited run model, so you'll want to take a little extra time and care when cleaning up the parts and aligning them without the luxury of deep locating pins on the major assemblies

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Thumbnail panels:

Surface textures look really good. They are made up mainly from stretched fabric effect with fine recessed panel lines around the forward fuselage where appropriate.

The cockpit comprises 27 plastic parts and a photo-etched instrument parts for details and harness straps.

The instrument panels are plastic parts with raised dials and decals overlays.

The engine is nicely detailed with ta ring of pushrods, finely detailed cylinder banks, manifold pipes and crankcase. The absence of an engine cowling means all that lovely detail will remain on display.

The wings are made up from a full span upper and lower halves. The rudder and ailerons are separate parts that may be posed to taste (don't forget to offset the control columns!) but the elevators are moulded in the neutral position with the horizontal stabilisers.

The big parasol wing is supported by cabane struts on the upper fuseage and some long struts stretching from roughly the centre of each with to the lower fuselage. The long struts are moulded in one piece that will assist with alignment.

Windscreens are supplied on a simple printed acetate sheet.

You'll need to cut these out.

Instructions are supplied on a 12-page, glossy booklet. There are 25 illustrated construction steps.

The marking guide is in full colour.

Markings

The decal sheet is printed by Decograph from Ukraine. The decals are satin in finish and they look very nice.

Markings are supplied for three options, one Czech operated aircraft in overall mid blue-grey, one French bird in green fabric with bare metal nose, and one in blue and white as seen in 1932.

The instructions have not called out the colours either by name or by model paint equivalents.

This is a nicely detailed kit of a perhaps lesser-known trainer.

As a limited run offering, some modelling skills will be required for parts preparation and alignment, but experienced modellers should be able to handle that big parasol wing and its struts. At least there is not much rigging!

Dora Wings' 1/48 scale Morane-Saulnier MS.230/C.23 will be warmly welcomed by trainer aircraft and interwar aviation fans.

*Historical summary adapted from Wikipedia

Thanks to Dora Wings for the review sample.

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2021 by Brett Green
Page Created 1 April, 2021
Last updated 1 April, 2021

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