Pavla Vacform Canopies

Pavla, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Phil Parsons

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All the canopies come in a zip locked bag that protects the vac formed canopies. The plastic used is clear and firm, with the canopy frames being well defined, so removal should be straight forward, remember though, use a new blade and don’t rush. There are no instructions provided.

V72-91 Super Mystere

Designed for the AZ Model, this canopy is moulded in the closed position, if you wish to have the cockpit opened then a good set of eyes or magnification to see the fine demarcation in the canopy bow will be needed.

The canopy is nicely formed and crystal clear.

V72-92 L-200 Morava

I must admit I had no idea what a L-200 Morava was, I now know it’s an Eastern European light twin, of which AZ models produce a 1/72 scale version. This replacement canopy has all the windows raised and appears to be a drop fit part, replacing the individual clear plastic parts.

I do not have access to an AZ Models L-200 Morava, so if I’m wrong, please contact Hyperscale with any corrections.

V72-94 Aermacchi MB 339

Designed for the Italeri/Supermodel MB 339, this canopy comes in two parts with about 4mm separating the main canopy from the forward windscreen, so unfortunately it’s the same amount of effort to remove the canopy if you wish to pose it opened or closed. It’s a pity that it is not moulded like the Super Mystere canopy.

I guess the main drawback of this item is that when you view the overhead image you can see that the centre canopy frame is not symmetrical; I covered the canopy with Tamiya tape and traced the canopy over the forward cockpit to see where the error is. It appears that what should be the high point of the frame is offset by a few mm towards the hinge side, when closed this will be very noticeable.

If you are picking one of these up in from your local hobby shop please check if you can, as I’m sure that Pavla don’t make these canopies one at a time using only one master however, I cannot recommend this item due to the aforementioned defect.

I do tend to use vac form canopies when displaying opened cockpits, as they are not as thick as the kit supplied plastic and they are generally clearer. These are nice additions from Pavla, and I do hope they can fix the error in the MB 339 canopy.

Thanks to Pavla Models for the review samples.

Review Text & Images Copyright © 2013 by Phil Parsons
Page Created 8 January, 2013
Last updated 8 January, 2013

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