MPM 1/72 Northrop A-17A

MPM 1:72 NORTHROP A-17A
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: Carlos Giani (carlos_giani2002@yahoo.de)
- A Built up review of a very similar kit exists on this site - see the respective fully built kit review index to locate review

Kit: MPM 1/72^nd scale Northrop A-17A (Kit N° 72521). Produced in the Czech Republic

Aircraft: The performance of its Gamma light transport persuaded Northrop to use this as the basis for a light attack bomber which was developed as the Gamma 2C with a Wright radial engine. The US Army Air Corps bout the type for evaluation as the YA-13, and this was redesignated XA-16 when fitted with a Pratt & Whitney radial engine. Successful trials produced an order for 110 Northrop A-17 production aircraft.

The first A-17 was delivered in December 1935, and in the same month the company received an order for the A-17A with more power and retractable landing gear, with the base model of A-17 differing mainly with fixed landing gear.

Parts: Inside an end-opening box, there's a bag containing three sprues with 48 parts in light ocean grey, a sprue with the canopy and a resin propeller hub. The decals are bagged separately. The styrene parts are flash-free, with good surface quality, finely engraved panel lines and no ejector pin marks on visible areas. The canopy is very transparent, only a little distorted and with raised, very well defined framing.

You get a well-detailed cockpit for both the pilot and the gunner, with floor, bulkheads, seat, pedals, control stick, instrument panel (recessed dials), machine gun with mounting ring and ammunition boxes. Since the canopy is very large, it could benefit with some extra detail (i.e. belts). The offices are trapped between the two fuselage halves, which have framing detail on the inside. The engine is trapped between the two cowling halves and this is glued to the fuselage. There's a sketch on page 6 of the instructions to help with the right position of the inner parts.

The wing consists of seven parts, including a central lower section with molded-on enclosed wheel wells and two little parts for the wing root/leading edges. This is necessary due to the dihedral of the outer wing sections. This part of construction is sure to be delicate (no locating pins), and a frontal sketch is also given in the instructions to help get the right angle. The stabilizers are one-piece each and are butt-joined to the fuselage.

The propeller consists of three separate blades which are glued to the resin hub, this having a short pin to be inserted into the engine. Some air intakes, the landing gear (two-halves wheels), the tail leg and wheel, the antenna and the pitot tube complete the construction.

Instructions: An A5, ten pages booklet. Page 1 brings the history/technical data in Czech, English, German and French, page 2 the sprues layout and the symbols explanation. Pages 3 to 6 shows the construction in twelve steps, clear enough for the experienced modeller but with a couple of the usual „guess were exactly“ puzzles. Finally, pages 7 to 10 brings four-view painting/decaling diagrams for 4 versions. Painting details and main colours are from the Humbrol range.

Versions:

1) USAAF; AC 85; 90th Attack Squadron, 3rd Attack Group; 1938; all natural aluminium with bronze green anti-glare (H75), red cowling (H153) and black walkways (H33).

2) USAAF; E 75; 90th Attack Squadron, 3rd Attack Group; 1937; colours as above.

3) USAAF; HQ 6; General Headquarters Air Force; colours similar as above (no red cowling)

4) USAAF; 57; 13th AS Anti-aircraft Exercises; May 1938; upper camouflage sea green (H78), dark green (H149) and olive drab (H116), lower nature aluminium.

Decals: Printed by Cartograf, look great. No stencils.

Detail: High, as expected.

Options: The only real option is the machine gun's position.

Impressions: Another good choice from MPM. Looks great, and a few dry fit tests showed no major problem.

Recommendations: Recommended for everybody with average skills and above. Not for beginners.

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