Miniwing 1/144 Dornier Do 18G
By Don Joy
Built as a development of the Do 15 flying boat, the Do 18 appeared in 1935. Military variants were in use as a patrol plane at the outbreak of the war, but were considered slow and obsolete. A Do 18 had the distinction of being the first German aircraft shot down by the British (and talk about embarrassment - it was done by a Skua...). The Germans relegated the Do 18s to patrol work in the North Sea and Baltic, then finally reduced them to Air Sea Rescue. The BV 128 replaced the Do 18 as a patrol aircraft and by mid 1941, only 1 operational squadron of Do 18's remained.
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The Miniwing Do 18 is a clean kit and doesn't present any major construction challenges. The instruction sheet is done as an exploded drawing of the parts and can be a little vague in a few places. I recommend double checking against photo's of the real thing.
1) There were some air bubbles in this one. Those need to be hunted down and fixed.
2) Be sure to do the cockpit BEFORE assembling the fuselage. (Silly me...)
3) The flying elevators are very thin and delicate. Also, you need to clean out the film connecting them to the wings. This takes a lot of care and is time consuming.
4) Another note, I dropped a wing and broke one of the elevators. Like I said - very delicate and care is needed when handling them.
5) The wing cross section and the stub wing on the engine unit don't match. Additional filling is required there.
6) The instructions show the little round bit being used as the turret ring. I'm not sure that is correct. That bit may be the ADF loop. A good picture of the nose gun installation is needed if you want to be 100% accurate. Since I'm never 100% accurate, I followed the instructions.
7) There is a V strut below the wing and behind the engine pylon. Again, the instructions are vague on placement and I had to find some pictures to be sure I had it in the correct place.
8) The decal film is a bit thicker on this kit than other Miniwings kits I have done. Not really a problem except for the big white crosses on the upper wings. I had one that silvered pretty badly on me, so I had to go back, prick the film and re-apply Solvset a couple times.
9) The white on the big crosses is also a bit thin. This can be a problem where the camouflage pattern changes. The white is thin enough you can see the differences thru the decal.
I painted the wings/engine combination separate from the fuselage and attached them afterwards. Struts were added and hand painted. Clear bits were attached with white glue and the frames hand painted. Decals are straight forward and markings are provided for two aircraft. Photo's show bracing wires and antennae that can be added as a last step in construction for the hard code.
Like the previous Miniwing I have reviewed, this went together well with no major problems. Probably not a prize winner, but will go well with the other 1/144th sea planes I am accumulating.
Things I would change:
1) The turret ring and ADF loop needs more definition and I would probably replace both with different parts. Maybe something from an etched brass sheet?
2) Deadlines (modeling and publishing) are a bear. You will note I still need to paint the canopy frames...and maybe some other touch ups... to be finished with this.
Thanks to Miniwing for the review sample.