Czech Master Resin 1/72 TBY-2 Seawolf

By Chris Banyai-Riepl

This kit just came in the door and I wasn't able to do much research on it, so I'll just talk about the kit. The sample I received was the very first test shot of the kit, and some of the smaller parts weren't quite perfect. I have since seen a second pull from the molds and the quality is much better.

Following on the heels of their 1/72 Morane Saulnier A.I is this beast of a plane from Czech Master Resin. There is probably more resin in the fuselage and wings than in the entire MoS A.I kit. Make no mistake about it, this is one large model. The castings are very well done, though, and assembly looks to be pretty straightforward.

The interior is made up of a cockpit floor, separate seats, an instrument panel, rudder pedals, and a control stick. Sidewall detailing is molded into the fuselage halves, making this interior fairly well detailed. This is good, considering how much glass is overhead. The rear turret is made up of a right, a seat, and a gun mount, along with the machine gun. Detailing is a bit basic here, and it might be wise to replace the gun with something a little more detailed, as again, with all the glass around it everything will be very visible.

Moving to the front of the plane, the engine is provided for as a front half of cylinders. This fits into the front cowling piece, which then fits onto the forward fuselage. With the small frontal area visible behind the propeller, the halved engine will be more than adequate. The propeller is molded as one piece, so you don't have to worry about getting the blades aligned like you do in some other resin kits.

The wings are the most surprising aspect of this kit in that they are solid instead of having an upper and lower half. This makes them heavy and adds to the weight of the finished model, but luckily the landing gear on the TBY-2 was beefy in real life, so the resin versions should be able to handle it. The landing gear is made up of three pieces, plus the wheel and doors, with ample bracing and support provided, so as long as everything is glued down solidly there shouldn't be any problem.

There are two sets of vacuformed canopies provided, guarding against possibly screwing up the first one in removing it from the backing sheet. Just looking at the canopy gives me nightmares in masking, and probably the best way to paint this thing up would be to use decal strips. Since most TBY-2s were painted in overall glossy sea blue this will be very easy to do.

The decals are printed by MPD and offer a total of three choices. The first one is the three-color scheme as seen in the profile above. No markings other than the star and bar are present. The other two choices are in the typical glossy sea blue scheme. The first one is one of the test birds with a white "461" on the nose. The other choice is from the only operational squadron of the TBY-2 Seawolf, VT-154. Flying out of NAS Quonset Point in 1945, this Seawolf is depicted in the second profile and carries white numbers on the fuselage and tail.

Conclusion

If you're wanting to build a large Navy plane that is covered in glossy sea blue and an Avenger or Helldiver is just too common for you, this is definitely the kit for you. It will definitely turn heads when you set it down on the table, and the straightforward build should pose no problems in construction.