Czech Master Resin 1/72
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Introduction
CMR continues to reissue “revamped” versions of their “oldie but goodie” WW1 kits and included in the latest batch of offerings is the Hansa Brandenburg W20.
My sole reference to this little flying boat is what’s written in page 54 of Harleyford’s “Marine Aircraft of the 1914-1918 WAR” published in 1966 and there we learn that this tiny aircraft, less than 6 metres long and with a wing span of 6,7m was designed to be carried onboard a submarine, so as to be employed for reconnaissance missions over the ocean.
The product of the prolific pen of Mr. Ernst Henkel, the HB W20 would never see operational use since the carrying platform, i.e. a waterproof shed carrying submarine, was not developed in time before the German surrender. As such, only three W20s were produced, the first one, 1551, having an even smaller span of 5,8 m, having been written off in tests, due to lack of rigidity between the wings, something that was solved by the introduction of an extra pair of struts between the wings on the second prototype, 1552.
The powerplant used was the 80 hp Oberursel rotary, and being a reconnaissance aircraft there was no provision for any onboard armament.
CMR kit
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The only drawings I could find for this diminutive flying boat were those in the opus mentioned above, which are just about the same as those that are provided with the kit. As usual, I ran a quick check of the main parts against the drawings and I came to the conclusion that the only discrepancy I could find between the two concerned the “hump” on the fuselage top centre, which in the kit’s fuselage parts terminates some 2 mm earlier that what’s shown in the drawing. This is not hard to mend if you feel so inclined, being just a question of filling in the rear of the “hump” with some scrap plastic and miliput and sanding to shape once dry.
The rest is just another faultless gem from CMR, with all parts being cleanly and perfectly moulded. I did find evidence of a single and tiny air bubble on one of the fuselage parts, but that was the only one.
There are enough detail parts to make the cockpit look busy but one might want to replace the “pedals” with a better looking rudder bar. Having no photo of the cockpit, I can’t say if the true thing carried an instrument panel or not (which the kit does not provide) but the side walls have a pump and a lever moulded in (the lever is probably meant to replicate a throttle, though, something rotaries such as the Oberursel didn’t need, since the rather limited degree of control over the engine regime was achieved by means of a switch, usually placed on the control stick, that could cut the ignition off, the so called blip switch)..
One of the things that I always didn’t like in resin kits were resin struts. They are usually overthick, hard to clean and prone to bubbles, and most of the times have no locating pins. Well CMR has found a way round this: the kit struts are now moulded in a completely different material that looks much more like plastic than resin, and the struts are all commendably thin, with excellent locating pins. They should pose no trouble at all. Extra points to CMR for this.
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Moving on to the decals, they are as usual first rate in terms of printing and colours and if they are true to CMR standards should pose no problem in terms of application and be perfectly opaque.
The only remark I have to make concerns the size of the polygons and as had already happened with CMR’s HB W.12 kits, these have sides that are about 1,5 mm long, when they should be about 2 mm, since the sides of original hexagons were 15 cm wide.
All this said, I’m sure CMR HB W20 in competent hands will turn into another jewel of a model and to prove this you just have to take a peep into CMR’s own site and browse through the catalogue of W1 aircraft. There you’ll find photos of a built up example by my friend Eric Gallaud that clearly illustrates what I’ve just written.
All and all I recommend this kit to WW1 and flying boat fans.
Thanks to CMR for the review sample.