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Ardpol 1/72 Morane L 'Parasol'
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History
Roland Garros, nowadays known rather from the tennis cup, was the worldıs
first fighter pilot. On his airplane, the Morane-Saulnier L, he installed
the first fixed machine gun that fired through the propeller arc. It was
revolutionary but still primitive design, as Garros hadnıt invented an
interrupter gear, but simply armoured the propeller with steel plates
to deflect the bullets which struck it.
With this airplane Garros scored three victories in three weeks of
April, 1915, which for that time was an outstanding success.
The Morane L, called "Parasol" for the appearance of its wing, was
a fragile two-seat reconnaissance aircraft. Although a pre-war design,
Morane L was very popular with the French, Russian, and British air services
during the first years of WWI. This design was known also in Germany,
as the Pfalz company had purchased licence rights for the 'Parasol' before
the war and produced it under the designations 'Pfalz A.I' (unarmed) and
'Pfalz E.III' (armed version).
The Kit
Another nearly perfect Ardpol kit. This Polish company is definitely
one of the leaders in the resin kit production. Ardpolıs products are
not only accurate and well-buildable kits, but are also packed in the
very solid top-and-bottom boxes with the beautiful colour profiles of
the airplanes, painted by Zygmunt Szeremeta. Inside of the box the resin
parts are additionally placed in the small zip bags, and the relatively
big wing is taped to the piece of cardboard for the additional safety.
Resin parts are moulded in light tan, rather hard high quality resin
in vacuum technology, which minimizes the appearance of the airbubbles
and similar casting problems. In average Ardpol kits one can find only
very few small airbubbles this kit has three of them, one on the rudder
trailing edge, and two in the skis, nothing difficult to repair with a
drop of putty. Level of the detail is amazing: even the smallest and the
most thin parts are crisply detailed (look at the scan!).
The wing is very thin and has very nice, subtle imitation of the ribs
and the sagging fabric between the ribs. Trailing edge is very sharp.
Fuselage is divided into the two halves and has very good internal
details, including fuselage structure and some additional equipment, like
throttle lever (not a real throttle lever, as Morane is powered by the
rotary engine, but it looks like a throttle) and fabric pockets for the
maps or other stuff.
All the other parts are similarly fine (I especially like the undercarriage
legs) and include two variants of the undercarriage: normal, wheeled one,
and the winter variant with the skis for the Russian front thatıs cool.
Pity that the producer did not provided the other variant of the undercarriage
legs, and the earlier version of the engine, but it is possible that these
things would need different, shorter fuselage.
Finally, the kit includes small photo-etched fret containing the seats,
detailed seatbelts and the spoked wheels.
Kit decals are very precisely printed on the very thin film. Decals
include two options, French and Russian, both airplanes in unpainted fabric
colour.
Conclusion
A beauty. And not very difficult for the resin kit. Only the attachement
of the ³parasol² wing may be tricky even for the more experienced modeller.
Highly recommended, probably the best Morane kit on the market. I also
love the possibility of painting this plane as a Bavarian Pfalz A.I used
in the Alps in some kind of special operation against Italians, with fake
Austrian white and red markings. Just find some German crosses in spare
box!
Thanks to Ardpol for the
review kit!
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