PZL P.11c Kresy

Arma Hobby, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Graham Carter

A most significant Polish design that saw extensive service before and at the very start of the second Great Unpleasantness, the P.11 appeared in a number of minor variations and was used bravely by the Poles in their short-lived resistance to the Blitzkrieg. Several pilots managed to bring down the odd attacker. 

The gull-winged design has attracted a few previous kits in several key scales , the most widely available in 1/72 being the Heller kit of the late 70s. This new kit from ARMA Hobby easily supersedes this early offering, and represents further excellent machining by this new company from Poland.

A flimsy end-opening box reveals a sealed bag containing one large spruewith 41 pieces in a matt mid-grey, a very small clear sprue, decal sheet and an 8-page A5 instruction booklet. Decal schemes are shown in four-view colour at the rear of the instructions.

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Thumbnail panels:

Parts are beautifully moulded with next to no flash beyond an easily cleaned up seam. Panel lines are restrained , although I do feel the demarcation of the elevators, ailerons and rudder could be a little deeper.

Interior detail is excellent. It includes nice detail in the fuselage halves which correctly goes all the way around to the lower edges as, like nearly all inter-war aircraft, there was no solid floor as such ( drop your gold Parker fountain pen and you have to turn the aircraft upside down to get it back! heh heh!). There is a separate fine tubular structure as well, a seat, control panel with decal for instruments, rudder pedals, control stick and foot boards - very nice.

Seat belts are PE, as are the ring and bead sights and two radiator grills (?) for the fuselage sides. 

After joining the fuselage halves and the undercarriage section there is nicely detailed Bristol Mercury engine to place inside the three-piece cowling - how good is it to see the cooling tubes moulded into the Townend ring at the front of the engine - this will require careful alignment to the cylinder fronts. 

The distinctive spinner and propeller are catered for in an interesting way but I do think that a retaining ring inside the engine would have been useful for those who like to spin their props.

Tailplane and wings come next, the latter are two full span parts with what looks like a commendably thin trailing edge. These slot into a recess in the fuselage top and the support struts also fit into holes in each surface. Colours are called out in each step by FS number and in HTK Aqueous and HTK-C numbers.

Marking Options

A 90x50mm decal sheet printed by Techmod appears to be nicely done, gloss, fine colour rendition and alignment, and offers four choices, all in the regular Polish greeny-brown over pale blue/grey.

The choices are:

1. ‘4’ of 161 Fighter Squadron , Sarny, in spring 1939 with KOP on the fin and a white upper wing stripe, with a turkey on the starboard side and a small bird on the port.

2. The same aircraft in September 1939 but with the white markings overpainted in fresh dark khaki, with the same birds on the fuselage

3. the same aircraft again during military exercises in August 1938 with the rear fuselage either painted dull grey with a bird emblem on it, or was this the original finish and the airframe was part-painted with the camouflage colours? This one has a small bird on each fuselage side,

4. ‘6’ 647-L, of 152 Fighter Squadron in September 1939. Each fuselage side has a cross with a plunging eagle on it.

A small errata sheet is also included.

This looks like a splendid kit, well detailed and with sufficient decal choices to make the modeller of that pre-WWII era very happy.

If this is your interest area, get one or two while they are available as this new kit is just lovely, well detailed and presented..

Thanks to Arma Hobby for the sample

Review Text Copyright © 2020 by Graham Carter
Images Copyright © 2020 by Brett Green
Page Created 8 April, 2020
Last updated 9 April, 2020

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