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Liberty L12 engine
 for Airco DH.9A

Clear Prop!, 1/72 scale

S u m m a r y :

Catalogue Number:

Clear Prop! Kit No. CPA72086 - Liberty L12 engine for Airco DH.9A

Euro 7,00 plus shipping available online from Clear Prop!

 

£7.20 EU Price (£6.00 outside Europe) plus shipping available online from Hannants

Scale:

1/72

Contents & Media

Two 3d printed resin parts and instructions.

Review Type:

First Look.

Advantages:

Exquisite 3D printing that produces a fine replica of this engine, excellent painting instructions. 

Disadvantages:

None noted except that some surgery will be required to view the engine in the DH.9A or Breguet14 model.

Conclusions:

This is a beautiful little engine that will look spectacular on any model, but especially those that had them externally mounted. Recommended..


Reviewed by Graham Carter

 

Background

 

The Liberty engine was what allowed Airco to change the poor Puma-powered DH9 into a very successful DH9A which was produced in vast numbers in the late 19teens and early 20s. Almost 21000 of these 27-litre 12-cylinder water-cooled 400hp engines were produced, later developed into both marine and tank (by Nuffield) versions that saw use in racing boats and AFVs such as the Christie and Crusader tanks.

 

 

In aviation it was used in a wide variety of machines such as the DH.9A, DH10, Breguet 14, Curtiss H-16 and Felixstowe flying boats and various Douglas and Handley-Page aircraft.

 

 

Copied by the Russians it was used on the DH.9A  copy, the R-1 as well as a few other aircraft and tanks.

 

 

FirstLook

This 3D printed gem comes in a small zip-lock bag inside a clear plastic cover attached to a card backing sheet with a set of instructions on a small sheet. The resin is a pale pinky-orange colour and provides the familiar cobweb of pillars and panels to support the item. Attachment points are tiny and will be easy to remove.

 

 

The engine comes as a single piece with an exhaust pipe to be attached at the upper rear and is designed to fit into the plastic engine brackets in the bay of the DH.9A kit. Each cylinder is separated so that one can look right through the bank of cylinders!

 

 

The engine is just exquisite with rocker cover details, pipework and cylinders all there. This certainly is a fine replacement for the kit item. My only reservation is that some surgery will be required on the kit’s cowling area in order to display this little gem, or it could be displayed beside the model on a stand. The instruction sheet gives detailed painting instructions and refers to eight different colours by name and A-Mig numbers. Two of them would look spectacular on the Roden Felixstowe or Curtiss H-16 models if you have one, or on the Eastern Star vacform DH10 if you can find one!

 

 

Conclusion

 

Highly recommend to any modular who is building any of the several aircraft that used this engine, but especially those where it was exposed.

Thanks to Clear Prop! for the review sample.

Review Text Copyright © 2023 by Graham Carter
Images Copyright © 2023 by Brett Green
Page Created 20 June, 2023
Last updated 21 June, 2023

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