Azur 1/72 Martin Baltimore Mk.I/II

AZUR/SPECIAL HOBBY 1:72 MARTIN BALTIMORE MK.I/II
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: Simon Skinner (rec.models.scale)
Addendum supplied at end by myself on the Special Hobby boxing

A new release that I picked up in the last few days (Sept 2002) and thought I would whack a few lines together to put up on SMAKR. The Azur Baltimore is the follow up, and probably logical choice, to the Maryland the company released a couple of years ago. If you have seen that kit, then this will not be much different to you. The only other Baltimore produced in this scale - at least in injection molded format - is the old Frog kit. This one is new tooling from Azur and features very finely engraved surface detail. In fact very fine. Level of detail is basically no more and no less than what you would probably expect from a limited run moulding.

There are just over 100 parts total in this kit, around 90 of which are limited run plastic. The clear parts in this kit, which are about 10, are injection molded and are a bit on the thick side - again typically Limited Run type quality. There is also a small bag containing resin parts mainly for the wheels and engine areas.

The cockpit consists of the standard seat, instrument panel, control column and floor. There is some structural detail molded onto the sidewall as there is in the wheel bays, nothing spectacular but better than nothing. The front nose glazing is somewhere some detailing work needs to be done, although a bomb sight and floor are included along with a makeshift seat. Twin machine guns are also supplied for the upper fuselage turret.

Engines are resin and are effectively one-piece cylinder blocks and are installed inside cowling covers made up of two halves. The engine intakes are separate and the choice of two options are provided in the kit. Annoyingly (I think so anyway) the props are separate and will probably give many modellers a frustrating moment or two to put together. Detail as already mentioned in the wheel wells is not bad, more structural than anything else, but the bays are separate and will probably need to be sanded down to fit inside the wing/engine compartment cavities. The doors also have some small amount of detail on them, with separate actuating jacks for them to be held open. The undercarriage includes resin wheels and looks quite good in this scale.

Decal options consist of three RAF aircraft from 1942, based in the Middle East, Malta and Western Desert theatres. The decals are well printed, thin and should settle onto the model surface very well.

As with most limited run kits, and especially Azur, there are no locating pins on the major components, they are butt joined. Filler will probably be called upon in different areas such as the wing to fuselage join and around the engine areas. Fit will probably be of typical limited run type - a bit of trimming around the cockpit et al.

Overall this kit looks like it will be much in the same vain as what the Maryland was, so if you have built that kit I would hazard a guess that you will already have some idea of how this one will go together. Recommended for Baltimore fans and those with some limited run kit building experience.

Addendum - SPECIAL HOBBY Boxing: This kit is also just released (Oct 2002) in a Special Hobby boxing. It is the same kit as the Azur, as both contain parts to make all versions, and is identical in every respect inside the box other than the decal sheet which contains markings for Mk.III test machine; Mk.IV from RAF Coastal Command and Mk.V French.

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