Eduard 1/48th Morane-Saulnier Type N By Matt Bittner

The Kit

The Eduard Morane-Saulnier (MoS) Type N consists of 37 injected molded pieces, along with a set of Express Masks and decals for two options, both French - a Type N from MS 393 in 1916 and a Type N from MS 394, also in 1916.

This kit is very well done. While "the truth lies in the pudding", and in the building of it, I have no doubt that it should build into an excellent kit, with little to no fuss. Plus, the kit is broken out in a way that Eduard could easily come out with a Type I, since one of the major differences between the Type N and Type I lies in the area in front of the pilot - an area that Eduard has molded separately.

Now I'm not going to put this model "on plans" to see if it's accurate. For some people that's important, for others it isn't. One thing I have learned over the years of modeling is that it's more important if the model looks like what it's supposed to represent. So, while there's nothing that would suggest otherwise - the wing tips look to be the right shape, the lack of a sweep in the wing appears correct, etc.- this model captures the look and "feel" of the MoS Type N.

Be that as it may, there are three areas of this kit that I question - but only a little - and all of these areas reside in the cockpit. There are close-up photos of an aviator sitting in the cockpit (smoking, of all things) and these photos show that the "stringers" on the side of the cockpit - at least towards the top - are made of metal, perforated angle. Eduard chose to represent the entire cockpit structure as tubular. In addition, Eduard provides a complete floor for the cockpit - the current thinking is that there wasn't a floor and in all actuality the bottom of the fuselage was the "floor". Finally, Eduard supplies a "bulkhead-type" piece for the back of the cockpit. Again, current thinking is that there was nothing behind the seat, and it was open to the rear of the aircraft. However, there are important factors to take into effect in Eduard's defense. There are no photos that show the inside of the cockpit in its entirety - especially the bottom. In addition, there are no MoS Type Ns nor Type Is left in existence. So, you can either worry about the current thinking, or have faith in Eduard and rely on what they provide. It's your call.

Construction starts with assembling the engine, which consists of three separate pieces, and looks wonderful. With the right amount of weathering the engine will definitely look the part. Once that is assembled and put aside, then cockpit construction starts. Everything you need for the cockpit - as far as we know - is provided by Eduard, with the exception of seat belts (and this aircraft could have flown without them). The cockpit pieces are all assembled into this nice package - that includes back and front bulkheads - which will then fit easily into the fuselage halves prior to gluing them together.

Now that the fuselage halves are together the wings and horizontal tail are added. From here you have to make a choice - glue the rest of the pieces on, or wait until the major parts are painted first. I personally would deviate from the instructions by gluing on the front, forward fuselage piece, paint, then follow up by adding the rest of the pieces - landing gear, upper and lower struts, etc.

One very nice inclusion with this kit are the separate bullet deflectors for the propellor. The Type Ns all flew with Hotchkiss machine guns with no interupter gear. Instead, metal deflectors were added to the propellors to deflect any bullet that might have shot off the propellor.

Once painting is finished and all of the final small pieces added, then rigging can commence, and I must commend Eduard for including a rigging diagram. Also nice are the masks that Eduard provide, which include masks for the horizontal tail pieces so they will have an outline to them. However, one doesn't have to use these masks - Eduard also provides the outlines in decal form.

There are a couple of pluses to the decals. MS 394 has a large tri-color band on the fuselage sides, but it can't be proved if it's actually a tri-color - the colors of the French flag - or if it's actually two colors, red and white only. So Eduard provides both, letting the modeler decide. Plus they include some "weathering/chipping" decals that you can place on the front of the fuselage and/or cowl (as these are the only metal parts of the aircraft). In addition, they provide rudder decals in one of two ways - with or without the French national colors. This way, if you're the type of modeler that paints his or her rudders, then you still have the decals to cover the aircraft number found there.

Conclusion

This is an awesome kit. If I were to build in 1/48th (not very likely) I would definitely be working on this model now. It's very well done and will look wonderful built up. Now if Eduard would only scale it to 1/72nd, I would be an extremely happy modeler. Definitely, highly recommended.

My thanks to Eduard for the review sample.