Miniwing 1/144 Percival Provost T.1
By Matt Bittner
Introduction
Taken from Wikipedia:
"The Percival P.56 Provost is a basic trainer aircraft that was designed and manufactured by British aviation company Percival.
"During the 1950s, the Provost was developed for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a replacement for the Percival Prentice. Designed by Henry Millicer, it was a single-engined low-wing monoplane, furnished with a fixed, tailwheel undercarriage and, like the preceding Prentice, had a side-by-side seating arrangement. First flying on 24 February 1950, the prototypes participated in an official evaluation, after which the type was selected to meet Air Ministry specification T.16/48.
"The Provost entered service with the RAF during 1953 and quickly proved to be more capable than the preceding Prentice. It was a relatively successful aircraft, being exported for multiple overseas operators. Various models were developed, both armed and unarmed, to meet with customer demands. The Provost later adapted to make use of a turbojet engine, producing the BAC Jet Provost. During the 1960s, the type was withdrawn from RAF service in favour of its jet-powered successor. It continued to be used for decades after with various export customers."
The Kit
The Miniwing 1/144 Percival Provost T.1 consists of 23 pieces of gray, injected plastic per kit (there are two kits in the box) along with one clear, injected canopy. Decals are for the following four aircraft:
- Sudanese Air Force with green on the tops of the wings, a red spinner and front of the cowl, along with an orange stripe on mid-fuselage
- Irish Air Corps with orange on the fin, non-moveable portions of the horizontal tail, spinner and wing-tips
- Iraqi Air Force with a green spinner
- Royal Air Force, Central Flying School with yellow stripes on mid-fuselage and wings
Aside from the color mentioned for each aircraft above, the rest of all options has the aircraft overall in aluminum. Decals are nicely printed and appear in register. Unfortunately, and I think this is a first, there are no instrument panel nor seat belt decals included. Such a shame with the large canopy. Also not included - again, unfortunately - are masks. Another shame given the amount of clear that needs to be covered.
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Construction, as with most aircraft models, starts with the cockpit. Added to the cockpit floor/rear bulkhead is a rear support and connecting rod; two seats; the center console; instrument panel; and two control sticks. Another unfortunate item is there are no color call-outs for the cockpit. Some images I've seen on-line show a black cockpit, others a gray one. So check your resources for the aircraft you plan to model.
Once the cockpit is assembled you add it and the engine to the fuselage before gluing the fuselage halves together. Nose weight is NOT mentioned in the instructions so I'm unsure if any is needed. One thing that might be considered is with the large cockpit opening and large opening for the wing, you could place the cockpit into the fuselage AFTER gluing the fuselage halves together.
Now it's time to finish the airframe. Add the single-piece wing and single-piece horizontal tail, along with the canopy (after masking, of course). While the instructions show the prop/spinner being added at this time, it's best to wait until the end of construction and painting.
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Once painting is finished, the last step of instructions has you add the landing gear and rockets, if using those.
Conclusion
Miniwing definitely has another hit on their hands. Building their 1/144 Percival Provost T.1 shouldn't take long at all and the schemes included are a nice addition. Very quickly you can have a built Provost - or two, if building both of the kits at the same time - on your shelf.
Huge thanks to Miniwing for sending this for review.