Siga 1/72 Martin AM-1 Mauler

SIGA/MM 1:72 MARTIN AM-1 MAULER

Reviewer: Trevor Boxall (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 29 December 2003

Aircraft History:

Early experience in the Second World War allowed the US Navy to draft a requirement for an advanced carrierborne attack warplane, and prototypes were contracted from four companies. One of the more promising designs was the Martin Model 210, of which two XTBM-1 prototypes were ordered. The first of these flew in August 1944 as an all-metal type of aggressive appearance with a low-set wing including folding outer panels, retractable tailwheel landing gear, a bubble canopy over the cockpit, and a 3,000-hp P&W radial engine driving a four-blade propeller.

The flight trials were generally quite successful, and in January 1946 the navy placed an order for 750 examples of the TBM-1 (later changed to AM-1 Mauler) with a different engine. The first of these production aircraft flew at the end of the same year but, as the war had ended and the Douglas AD Skyraider was already being produced, Mauler production was terminated three years later after the delivery of 149 Maulers.

The Kit:

As far as I know this kit has also been released under the MM banner, perhaps as a different marketing campaign to the FJ-1 Fury which was, from all reports I received, a shocker. Still, I don’t subscribe to manufacturer bashing on the basis of one attempt, we all need a start somewhere and the first MPM kits are not ones I would build nowadays. So, I picked up the Mauler without hesitation but with some trepidation! I wanted to have this aircraft next to my Douglas Skyraider and this is the only injection molded offering in this scale that I am aware of. The contents include limited run plastic, thick canopy and etched brass along with the instructions, decal sheet etc. The plastic is white and reminds me of the older, cheaper Airfix molds – the soft stuff, not the brittle stuff. The sprue attachment points are fairly thick, minor flash and a few mold imperfections need to be fixed but otherwise the moldings aren’t too bad. Surface detail is engraved and would be rated as reasonable in quality.

Instructions:

The instruction sheet is basically an A4 double sided set of instructions with assembly on one side and the three-view marking schemes on the other. Painting information is very generic, with no paint range quoted, and only sufficient information for the schemes and some interior. A sprue diagram is included which is helpful for identifying parts, and those not used in the kit but there is no diagram supplied for the etched fret which makes me think that this might have been an afterthought to add this to the kit.

Construction:

This starts with a fair bit of preparation work with the parts carefully removed from the sprues and the imperfections dealt with. The instructions deal with the plastic parts but from what I can tell not the etched brass. The basics are all supplied in plastic for the cockpit including seat, stick and instrument panel but the detail is sparse. The etched fret helps spruce it up with seat belts and some other bits and pieces but the modeller is required to interpret what is what.

After completing the interior the cockpit tub was installed into the fuselage half which was then mated with the other, trapping the propeller sub assembly which presented little problem, although the smaller parts needed cleaning, careful detaching and assembly.

The wing section is broken down into five parts being two upper halves and three lower wing pieces, in such a way I gather so the modeller can perform surgery to fold the outer wing panels, but no provision is supplied for this in the kit. The centre lower wing piece is installed first into the fuselage upon which the upper halves are affixed to the overlapping spars, before the outer lower wing panels are attached underneath. This allowed for only a slight gap at the wing roots that was dealt with by feeding in some super glue but the gaps on the underwing surface were larger and needed putty. The tail fin proved to be a challenge to fit precisely on the rear of the aircraft but the tailplanes were straight forward, needing a pinch of putty to deal with any small gaps.

The one piece canopy fits quite well but is thick, so is not very clear. The smaller components of the kit are a little crude and basic in detail. The wing mounted cannons and the probes under the tailplanes suffered from both these problems more than most other parts, and are best replaced. The undercarriage is very basic but workable and is straight forward to install whilst the gear doors need a dry fit and a trim to fit properly.

Colour Schemes:

Three examples can be built from the kit, all finished in the same overall Glossy Sea Blue FS 15042 scheme. Two of these are North American Tactical Command (NATC) birds wearing the acronym in white and based at Patuxent River, USA, 1948 and 1950. The third example is a bird from the Plant Flight Test Unit, USA, 1947.

Decals:

The medium sized decal sheet looks better than what it actually is. All the items are white, other than the red in the USAF insignia and there is only a small amount of stencilling in addition to the serials, codes and insignia. Applying the decals was a frustrating challenge, they tended to curl up as soon as they were taken from the soaking water and I employed different tactics, such as cold, warm and hot soaking water but nothing worked. They were difficult to move once they were placed on the model and did not bed down that well in parts. The larger decals were worse than the smaller ones, which was a relief in some ways because the insignia, letters and code numbers were easy to replace from spares. Overall the decals are best replaced.

Overall Recommendation:

This kit is a bit of a mixed bag affair, with a fairly straight forward construction in the main, and a definite improvement over Siga’s earlier Fury (which lived up to its name in what it gave a modeller trying to put it together!) but still providing a few frustrating challenges along the way. Add to this a poor decal sheet and you have to say that there are much better limited run kits on the market. But if you must have a Mauler then the finished product looks the part very well. I’d recommend it to modellers who have sufficient limited run building skills, a healthy spares box for the smaller parts and decals, and who are looking to add a Mauler to their collection.

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