Noorduyn Norseman Mk.IV

Dora Wings, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Graham Carter

It has been a while since I have had the pleasure of looking at one of Dora Wings kits out of the Ukraine, and this one does not disappoint. Arriving in a fairly flimsy top-opening box with an interesting glossy image of a RCAF all-yellow example superimposed on a matte aerial scene the kit contains 120 plastic parts, a small PE fret, masks, a decal sheet for four examples and a nice 16-page A5 instruction booklet.

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Thumbnail panels:

The main parts are moulded in a pale olive plastic on four sprues and there is a 20-part transparent sprue as well. Moulding is exemplary with great surface and interior detail, very fine details such as seat frames, struts and engine components all attached by minuscule gates to their sprues. Some care will be needed removing the main components from their sprues as the gates do, however, intrude onto the exterior surfaces, especially on the flying surfaces. There is no flash anywhere in sight. Being a short-run kit there are no locating pins/holes so do take care with alignment. The roof is a separate clear piece to allow for the windows there and will require careful masking and painting of the interior and exterior.

Some of the construction steps look to be quite fiddly and care will be needed here and there. Particularly, the engine is made up of seventeen parts, nine of which are the exhausts from each cylinder! As well, each of the four passenger seats has four separate legs, tiny wee things that I would suggest could be best glued into the holes on the floor and then attach the seat pan to the tops rather that try, as the instructions dictate, to add them to the seat first and then prod them into position on the floor. Just a thought. A peek at the images of the sprues will show just how fine many of the parts are, with many pieces around 0.5mm thick. For this reason I would not recommend this kit to a youngster or someone clumsy of fingers!!

The photo-etched fret provides seatbelts, wing tabs, flap attachments and a couple of interior details. The instrument panel is a decal and not photo-etched. 

The instruction booklet is in 32 steps and the clear drawings are accompanied by colour details at each step. The parts map shows that there are no superfluous parts. 

Markings

The final pages show four-views of each example provided in the decals, which are very nicely printed in a high-gloss finish with great density and negligible carrier film on a pale blue background.

The four choices are:

1. No. 2485 of No. 2 Training Command , No. 3 B&G, RCAF, March 1942, in overall yellow with red cross markings on the fuselage and early type C roundels,

2. No.2471 of the same unit and scheme but without red-cross markings, in November 1942,

3. No.2487 of Luftkommando Ostelandet, Jarlsberg, Royal Norwegian AF, 1954 in overall yellow, and

4. No. 24471 of the United Nations in Rygge in 1956 in overall white

    

An interesting set of schemes and a kit that will appeal to modellers world-wide as it served with many airforces and civilian operations. I am sure that some of you will be digging out your Matchbox stash examples to get the skis and floats to build any of the myriad variations in service. Or you can wait for the cottage industry to get into gear with the same. Or maybe Dora Wings themselves will answer your cries. Regardless, this is a lovely kit and deserves to sell well as it fills a gap that the Matchbox /Revell kit only partly provided for. As such it comes highly recommended.

Thanks to Dora Winga for the review sample.

Review Text Copyright © 2024 by Graham Carter
Review Images Copyright © 2024 by Brett Green
Page Created 22 May, 2024
Last updated 23 May, 2024

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