I consider myself a novice to intermediate builder. My patience doesn't allow me to take as much time as many others seem to have. There are many unbuilt models screaming at me from the closet and I can hear them. Being fairly new to the hobby (I did some as a kid, but you didn't have to worry about the models being accurate or even painted!), I am in a hurry to see the subject I am working on in 3-D. Thanks to this and other modelling sites, I am incorporating more techniques as I progress. This and the fact that many of the subjects I choose (PZL 11's, Boomerangs, IAR 80's, etc.) are done in the "Limited-run" fashion cause to slow up the constructive process somewhat.

Spitfires, Mustangs, Me 109's, Thunderbolts - they're nice, but make on and move on to the lesser known creatures is the directive that I have responded to. But as I said, when you start looking at CR 32's, He 51's, Vindicators, etc. you start hearing things like, "... it's the only game in town" and your choices are limited to one. Say "limited-run" to some modellers and they cringe. Many modellers much more able than I won't even consider anything from Classic Airframes because their enjoyment decreases with the "limitedness" of the kit.

Maybe it has something to do with the power of their bifocal add or their Optivisor or maybe it is because they get tired of carving their fingers up when trimming flash, seams or simply trying to make those stubs on the trees look something like what they are supposed to. Anyway, that brings me to my latest project, the French DeWoitine D-501 from a French company, Hi-Tech.

Ever since I built a 1:72 Heller D-510 (Now that is a far from perfect fitting kit!), I have been intrigued by the series of fighter. It seems like such an ungainly thing - supposedly state-of-the-art when first designed in 1932 but out-of-date by 1935 when it was finally produced. The D-501 was the original and an upgrade in engine brought the D-510. Most of the series served in the French armed services though some D-510's were exported and 14 of the D-501's were sent to Lithuania where with another squadron of Gladiators, they made up Lithuania's most modern fighter wing at the start of WWII.

After reading a preview from Tom Cleaver on another websight for the new kit from Hi-Tech, I decided to pick one up. As Tom wrote, "... you probably won't see another." Naturally, since then Fonderei Minatures has produced two other kits of the D-510 in its export and domestic versions. All three kits are basically the same kit and from what I am told, they all come from the French JGMT company originally.

To the D-501. First, the people or person at Hi-Tech should be complimented for the subject matter, but the model is a bit problematic. The best part of the kit is the photoetch parts which allow a reasonably "busy" cockpit. However, there are missing pieces and that can be a problem for the relatively high cost of this kit.

Now, "limited-run" can also mean you will use unlimited time to clean, file and sand. The resin piece that make up the bottom floor for the front of the fuselage requires a lot of filing, sanding, some good music and more than one beer (A nice doppelbock and a little Randy Newman will make this experience feasible). As I have found out the hard way with a few LTD and Classic Airframe kits, you really need to do some drilling and put in some wire stubs with which to mate pieces for a better fit; pieces like fuselage, wings, elevators and maybe struts. I elected to forgo the struts - there were some small attachment holes already and I wanted to get on with it.

Another useful item is a razor saw. You have to lop almost half of the supplied resin radiator to get it within the instructions mandated "5 mm" height (It will fit!). You can also use the razor saw to evenly cut aluminium tube into exhaust stubs for which you must also drill holes in the fuselage for, but I jump ahead. "Limited-run" can mean "limited-part". This is the area I don't like much. Besides the instrument panel missing dials and the exhaust stubs (here the aluminium tube stubs of 1/16" diameter flattened out just a little will do the trick better than the called for "sprue"), you are called upon to make a fuselage foothold of wire - OK, that's not too hard; a few little essential stubs in the cockpit assembly of the seat (here is that quick thinking and luck); a bicone-shaped pitot head (this is beyond what I have done, but what is this in the parts bin? an oversized pitot head of the same shape from a 1:72 model? looks pretty good to me!); four struts for the back elevators ("sprue" in the instructions, I used some planks cut from .04x.06 plastic planks); and two curved cone-shaped cooling ducts for the front of the fuselage (mine are paper).

So, we have a cockpit and the fuselage was closed. After the wings and elevators are fitted and you have gotten just a little tired of puttying and sanding, here come the struts. Included, but not stated in the instructions, are options to attach the underwing strut directly to the top of the wheel spat (from pictures I have seen, this seems more common with the D-510 than the D-501) or the inward side of the spat where the fuselage struts come in. Oh, by the way, you get to make the hole in the spats where the struts come in to attach to the wheel. The wheels provide are "flattened" which I though was a nice touch until I notice they didn't fit into the spats far enough and had to do some more carving. Also, remember how the plane sits on the ground before gluing the wheels or your "flattened" stick up in the air like mine. :(

By now, we have a plane. There are a few other little parts like gunsights and radio mast, but now it is time to paint and decal. There is only one version provided for: an ex-Aeronavale plane with Maritime crosses still present that must have been seconded to the 2eme Escadrille - GC 1/8, or at least, so I think - the instructions are unclear. The decals are fuzzy and do not have the French blue needed for the rudder and middle of the roundels. Hi-Tech also claimed there were none of the large interwar French underwing letters/numbers present on this plane, although the boxcover photo clearly shows these in place - the mystery is not cleared up at all in the instructions. I didn't like the decals nor did I want to mix French blue, so I chose to portray one of the 14 D-501's supplied to Lithuania. Now, I don't think Aeromaster is going to do a set for the D-500 series (although they did one for the LTD Boomerangs!) and I don't have any fancy printers or knowledge of decal making, but the double cross insignia employed by Lithuania seemed to be just at the limits of my artistic abilities - especially after seeing some photos of Lithuanian A/C which showed the double crosses to be of almost freehand quality. My results were so-so. The paint pattern was natural metal which is similar to the kit's French fighter, though there is a fairly intricate antiglare pattern called for on the French plane - no such problem with the Lithuanian!

Oh, you get a white metal propeller that needs to be drilled so you can both attach it to the fuselage and (I am guessing here) put on another aluminium tube stub to represent the 20 mm cannon which fired through the propeller of the D-510. Maybe it fired through the propeller of the D-501, as well, though I have read the D-501 may have had a pair of 20 mm cannons which sat atop the front of the fuselage between the engine cylinder heads and fired through the propeller. A quick aside; Hi-Tech says that there were a lot of differences between the D-501 and the D-510, "they are two different figther". Hmmm. If so, why is everything almost the same between the Hi-Tech D-501 and Fonerei Minature D-510 kits? Again, from the "Complete Book of Fighters", Bill Green thinks the D-510 was fundamentally the same plane except for an upgrade in the engine department. The lower radio mast also was fixed in the D-501 and not retractable like in the D-510. I bet they broke a few of those!

Persevere and the kit does come together and looks like a D-501. Much like when you look at a Hawker Fury fuselage you can see the future Hurricane, with the D-501, you can see the future "French Spitfire", the D-520. I enjoyed the subject and was aware of Tom Cleaver's second thoughts on his semi-positive preview before starting - so I took more time. Now, I have a Lithuanian D-501; it won't win any contests, but I bet you don't have one!  :)