Woohoo! UPS dropped a box at my front door today! Don't you love coming home with presents under the tree?
When shopping for a 1/48 D-9, I considered offerings by Tamiya, Eduard and Hobby Boss. All of them seemed to be in good standing among modelers with the Tamiya being noted for its Tamiya-like ease of construction (but with some shortcomings like landing gear length and closed wheel wells), the Eduard being the most detailed of the bunch and the Hobby Boss being a basic and (mostly) accurate kit at a good price. I was swayed by the box art... the perspective is unique and shows off the proportions of the D-9 perfectly.
Hobby Boss packs the Dora in a very sturdy box and encloses each sprue in its own protective bag. The decals and clear parts are further protected by a sheet of frosted paper and a foam wrap, respectively. First class packaging!
The first thing I noticed is the plastic. The surface has a very fine texture to it, which is unlike the perfectly smooth surfaces of every other kit I've experienced. It looks great but I wonder if it will be noticeable when that finish needs to be sanded.
Detailing is very good and the panels lines are nicely done... recessed and fine. No rivets depicted.
Two types of wheels are provided and I've gone and taken pictures of the wrong set. I'm pretty sure the non-spoked wheels are the ones that will be used for 500570. Wheel detailing is nice and crisp with just a hint of flash.
The exhaust pipes are solid on the end, which is typical. Time to sharpen up the X-Acto blade!
Decent detail in the wheel wells.
The instrument panel comes in two pieces. No molded detail for the instrument faces so I'm forced to use the decal approach. I personally like handpainting the instruments so this is a bit of a negative for me.
Two ring cowlings are provided: flaps closed and flaps open. Going the open route will require some surgery as flaps are all connected. Need to remember to close the one starboard flap per the reference photo.
One of the reasons, the Hobby Boss offering was selected was that it offered the correct "open" wheel well view into the rear of the engine. What's presented is well detailed but it's probably overly simplistic compared to the real maze of ducts and tubes. I may dabble into some scratchbuilding here, if I can stoke up enough confidence.
The prop looks ok to me. I haven't compared it to any references but it has the wide-bladed look of Dora prop.
The gun cowling is a separate piece with the gun barrels NOT molded in. Definite plus on that point. I've run into internet discussion of the inaccuracy of the gun cowling shape (too flat) but I don't think I will attempt a fix since I think it would be beyond my abilities to correct cleanly.
The supercharger intake has its own tree!
One of two trees devoted to ordinances. I don't think I'll be hanging anything from this Dora but will be putting on the ETC rack as evidenced in the reference photos.
The clear parts are nice and clear with the non-glass portion of the canopy finished in that interesting texture.
The decals look crisp and clean and appear to be thin. The "12" and the dash are presented in black with a white outline. However, based on analysis of the reference photos some experts including Jerry Crandall have concluded that these markings are blue not black. I have a copy of Monogram's Close Up #10, which was the first publication to show the single color photo of 500570. Based on my inspection of that picture and the other pictures that have been posted here, I must say that I agree with that assertion. But... I really don't want to spend $10-$20 on a decal sheet just to use four markings. I'm going to have to think about this one.
The instructions come with a color rendition of the two color scheme choices. A very nice touch! The top view shows the 81/grunblau 76 coloration on the wings that may not be universally accepted as accurate. I like it though!
Time to start diving in! I'll probably start like I always do... opening up the exhaust pipes and gun barrels and also thinning the cowl flaps and separating them.
One request that I do have for any Dora experts out there is... does anyone have any pictures of the wheel well opening view into the back of the engine? I think my Japanese Model Art reference has some line drawings of that area but I'd like to start thinking about how to dress that up somehow.