Monogram 1/72 Curtiss P-6E
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Introduction
I thought that since I was writing a First Look
on the Accurate Miniatures (AM) re-release of the Monogram Curtiss
P-6E I would also provide a First Look on the original Monogram offering
(well, actually, the second release of the original Monogram offering
- I can't find the 1968 boxing I have floating in the house somewhere).
The Monogram kit is still viable but becoming more difficult to find.
So I was happy to see AM re-release the original Monogram mold.
The Kit
 The
1973, second release of the Monogram Curtiss P-6E is unfortunately molded
in yellow. I suspect because they try to match the yellow/orange of the
USAAC flying surfaces and that way the modeler would only have to paint
the olive drab. But even so, trying to cover that yellow plastic was very
difficult when we were younger and didn't use airbrushes.
Even though my kit is 35 years old it still is a wonderful kit. Monogram
not only did their homework with their P-6E but also did a wonderful job
molding it. Imagine, a biplane kit where adding the upper wing takes very
little effort at all. This is due to Monogram molding the center-section
struts in-situ with the fuselage. Glue the upper wing to these struts
as part of the last part of assembly, then glue the interplane struts
between the wings after that. Nothing is more simple!
 The
kit consists of 20 pieces of yellow plastic along with a nicely molded,
clear, injected windscreen. Decals consists of one scheme, "Black
44" with the 17th Pursuit Squadron in the famous "Snow Owl"
scheme. I won't mention again my feelings on this scheme, since I did
so in the AM P-6E preview...
Assembly for the Monogram kit is the same as for the AM kit so I won't
go into any details on that. Fortunately the decals have held up well
over time, but for me that's moot, especially with the release of the
Starfighter Decals
set for the P-6E. As I stated in the AM First Look, I do hope someone
releases a resin and/or photoetch set for these kits, especially the cockpit
since there is nothing in the P-6E's model cockpit. Hopefully since AM
is re-releasing these kits we'll see someone release something.
Conclusion
 If
you see a Monogram release of the Curtiss P-6E out there for hardly any
money, do yourself a service and pick it up. The last one I picked up
at an estate sale I did so for one yew-ess dollar. A definite bargain.
And now that Starfighter has released his sets of decals we have plenty
more schemes for these kits. Excellent! I'm still waiting, though, for
some other aftermarket for this kit, especially in the area of the cockpit...
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