MPM 1/72 Vega DL-1/YC-12
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History
The history of the Vega has been covered in Internet Modeler in reviews
of the first three releases of this kit in the issues for October 2003,
April 2004 and September 2004. Details of the, awkward to understand,
balanced ailerons are set out in the May 2004 issue. The big difference
in the version offered in this third release is the all metal, rather
than wood, monocoque fuselage; you get both in the kit. In 1929 Lockheed
was bought by Detroit Aircraft Corporation, which ran Lockheed as a subsidiary
and built the ten metal fuselages. The Vegas with metal fuselages were
model-numbered "DL" for Detroit-Lockheed. The fuselages were shipped by
rail from Detroit to Burbank where they were mated with their standard
Lockheed built wooden wings and tails and finished for delivery. In my
opinion the prettiest of the DLs was the USAAC's Y1C-17 (DL-1B Special),
msn 159, Speed Vega with its polished bare metal fuselage and chrome yellow
wings and tail and the wire braced undercarriage peculiar to the Speed
Vegas.
The Kit
 The
kit is essentially the same as the three prior releases with the addition
of the metal fuselage, which is characterized by several longitudinal,
raised, skin joints. DO NOT sand these off and scribe lines to replace
them; they were actually raised, extruded, aluminum, strips used in fastening
the skins.
 Consistent
with kit makers' universal belief that only subjects with military colors
and markings will sell, MPM have provided same for two USAAC Y1Cs which
appear to be accurately rendered although there is some question about
whether the background for the 36th Pursuit Squadron's panther was yellow
- as on the box art - or white -as on the decal sheet. You'll have to
do your own research because I don't know. The other military offering
depicts a plane of the 14th Bomb Squadron. Both have blue fuselages with
yellow wings and tails.
 The
third set of markings, provided in a nod to the civil fraternity, is where
MPM's train fell off the track. They purport to depict Vega DL-1A, G-ABGK,
msn 155, built for Lt. Cdr. Glen Kidston of London in September 1930.
He and Owen Cathcart-Jones set a London to Paris speed record with the
plane on February 21, 1931 and later - March 31/April 6, 1931 - after
modification for long range flying, they set another record from London
to Cape Town. Whilst in Africa, following this flight, Kidston was killed
in the crash of a D.H. 60 Moth. G-ABGK was shipped back to England and
sold, in July 1933, to "Horrie" Miller, Managing Director of MacRobertson
Miller Aviation Co., Ltd. of Perth.
Miller's intent was to fly the plane in the 1934 Centenary Air Race
from England to Melbourne as part of the celebrations of the centenary
of the state of Victoria and the city of Melbourne. This race was sponsored
by Miller's partner Sir Macpherson-Robertson a wealthy Melbourne candy
manufacturer. As Miller became too busy to fly the plane himself he hired
Capt. James Woods of West Australian Airways for the job. Jimmy then hired
Flt. Lt. D.C.T. "Don" Bennett of the RAAF as navigator.
As an aside - in WWII Don Bennett founded and led the RAF's Pathfinder
Force, ultimately rising to be an Air Vice-Marshal. To make this long
story shorter, it will suffice to say that after leaving Mildenhall, Suffolk
on October 20, 1934 and staging through Marseilles, Rome and Athens, the
team crashed on landing at Aleppo, Syria due to a seized oleo strut in
the undercarriage. Woods suffered cuts about the face and head and Bennett
an injured knee and three crushed vertebrae.
  Where
MPM got it wrong with the markings for this historically significant airplane
is that they, along with almost everybody else, picked up and repeated
the error from Bill Kelly's masterful 3Q3 1968 issue of IPMS-USA's Quarterly
where the markings on this overall white airplane are called out as being
black. They were red. Incontrovertible evidence of this is provided by
a static scale model commissioned by Glen Kidston of his new Lockheed.
This model is still owned by the Kidston family and shows the markings
to be red. The photo, herewith, is courtesy of the Kidston family via
Tim Kalina. There is also a small omission from the kit's markings for
the MacRobertson race and that is the name "Puch", in black , on both
sides of the engine cowling.
A significant physical error is in the fifth window in the passenger
cabin. MPM gives it as a duplicate of the other four windows on each side
but it was, in fact, square on the DL models not rectangular as on the
wooden models. The box artist got this right but the maker of the metal
fuselage master got it wrong.
A parting shot: The box art, as you can see, just does not look right.
the proportions are close but not convincing and the airplane, though
shown in flight, has the landing gear compressed as it would be on the
ground.
Conclusion
In spite of my negative comments, I think this is a really fine kit
for an enthusiastic model builder and I've already bought two. It's not
very good, however, for an assembler of Tamigawagram kits. Keep 'em coming
MPM - we love you for it!
Now when can we expect to see your Air Express, Sirius, Altair and
Orion kits?
References
The references given in the reviews noted in the HISTORY section above
are all relevant to this plane. I would add:
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Aviation heritage - The Journal of the Aviation Historical Society
of Australia; Vol. 24, Nos. 1 & 2 combined, 1984. A special edition
on the Centenary Air Race.
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Internet Modeler:
- October 2003 - First release of this kit as Shell Oil 5C and UC-101.
- April 2004 - Second release as Winnie Mae and Little Red Bus
- May 2004 - Sprue Bits Section; the balanced ailerons.
- September 2004 - Third release as NC47M on floats.
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