Dewoitine D.500

Dora Wings, 1/32 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

The Dewoitine D.500 was an all-metal, open-cockpit, fixed-undercarriage monoplane fighter aircraft designed and produced by French aircraft manufacturer Dewoitine.

Developed from a specification issued by the French Air Ministry during 1930, the D.500 was developed to be a more capable replacement to the Nieuport 62. Ordered by the French Air Force during November 1933 and introduced in its initial model during 1935, the design was developed into several variants, most notably the D.510, which was re-engined with the more powerful Hispano-Suiza 12Ycrs powerplant.

It proved to be a relatively popular aircraft during the Interwar period.

In France, in addition to the French Air Force's units, a specialised model of the type, the D.501, was also procured by the French Naval Aviation for carrier operations.

Beyond its use in France, the D.500 saw several export sales and evaluations by prospective major customers including the Empire of Japan, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom.

The D.500/D.501 saw combat with several operators. During the Spanish Civil War, it was surreptitiously supplied to the Spanish Republican Air Force; it was also flown by the Republic of China Air Force against the invading Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

During the late 1930s, the type was largely superseded by a new generation of French fighter aircraft, these typically featured further innovations such as enclosed cockpits and retractable undercarriages, and included the design's direct successor, the Dewoitine D.520.

Despite being largely obsolete, both D.500s and D.510s were operated by the French Air Force during the initial months of the Second World War, the latter remaining in use up to the end of the Battle of France and signing of the Armistice of 22 June 1940 between France and Nazi Germany.*

As far as I am aware, this is the first Dewoitine D.500 to appear in 1/32 scale.

Dora Wings' 1/32 scale Dewoitine D.520 comprises 84 parts in grey plastic, five parts in clear, 50 photo-etched parts on a single fret, markings for four aircraft.

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Thumbnail panels:

Although this is still technically a limited run kit, the quality really is very good. The plastic parts are well moulded with no sink marks or other obvious flaws. Flash is minimal

Surface texture is particularly good. The fuselage accurately depicts overlapping panels, while the rest of the kit features crisp and consistently recessed panel lines and rows of rivets.

Raised detail is moulded wherever appropriate too – blisters, scoops, vents, hinge lines and more.

This kit does not include locating pins, so a little more care will be required with aligning major parts.

There are a lot of sprue attachment points and they extend onto the mating surfaces of the major wing and fuselage parts, so you will need to be thorough and careful with clean-up.

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 halves for each side, a lower centre section, outer lower wing panels and long ailerons. The elevators and rudder are separate parts that may be posed to taste.

The cockpit is nicely detailed and includes brass photo-etched instrument panel, harness straps and other smaller parts. Decal dials are included for the instrument panel too.

A plastic instrument panel is supplied as an option and I think I will use this in conjunction with the decal dials. The three-dimensional impression looks better than the PE part to my eye.

Cockpit sidewall detail is moulded on the inside of the fuselage halves.

The windscreen and navigation lights are supplied on the small clear sprue.

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

Instructions are supplied in a 12 page booklet. There are 26 illustrated construction steps.

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

Markings

The decal sheet is printed by Cartograf. They are glossy in finish and the colours look great.

Four aircarft in natural metal are covered.

The decal sheet also supplies dials for a couple of the instrument panel options.

Colour callouts are made for Mr Hobby, Tamiya, AMMO MIG, Hakata and LifeColor.

Dora Wings' 1/32 scale Dewoitine D.500 is an impressive debut in this scale.

The surface textures, including overlapping fuselage panels and rows of recessed rivets, are particularly nicely done.

I look forward to seeing what else Dora Wings has in store for us in this larger scale.

*Historical summary adapted from Wikipedia

Thanks to Dora Wings for the review sample.

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2020 by Brett Green
Page Created 9 June, 2020
Last updated 9 June, 2020

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