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Platz 1/72 T-33 Shooting Star

By Matt Bittner

Introduction

Believe it or not, the Platz 1/72 T-33 has been one of the most-looked-forward-to 1/72 kits for some time. Announced maybe a year-and-a-half ago, and given the high level of detail and finesse Platz is known for, 1/72 modelers have been looking forward to this kit since it was announced. Yes, Sword did "beat them to the punch", but Platz' reputation for excellent kits has jelled this kit as the "one to have".

The Kit

The Platz 1/72 T-33 consists of 58 pieces of grey, injected plastic and one clear, injected canopy. Decals are for 9 JASDF T-33s:

• T-33, 81-5360, 304 TFS, Tuiki AB, 1992
• T-33, 61-5206, 305 TFS, Hiyakuri AB, 1978-1992
• T-33, 91-5406, 103 TFS, Chitose AB, 1959-1968
• T-33, 81-5378, 3rd AW, Komaki AB, 1959-1968
• T-33, 81-5360, 304 TFS, Tuiki AB, 1977-1995
• T-33, 81-5360, 301 TFS, Hiyakuri AB, 1973-1985
• T-33, 61-5206, Aggressor Group, Tuiki AB, 1981-1995
• T-33, 81-5378, 5 TTS, Komaki AB, 1978-1995
• T-33, 91-5406, 203 TFS, Chitose AB, 1964-1995

Decals are perfectly printed, in register and the colors look superb.

Construction naturally starts with the cockpit. The seats provided by Platz are excellent in every way. In fact, there are decals for the seats as stencils, although seat belts aren't included. Nice. The only thing missing from the instructions is any color information for the cockpit (which, in general, should be painted grey). Included in the out-of-the-box cockpit is a nicely detailed tub, two seats, two control sticks and two nicely detailed instrument panels. Add some belts and if you close the canopy, then that's about all you need. Speaking of closed-vs-open canopy, it would take some work to open this one. That's because there is extra detail inside the canopy, between the two cockpits, that Platz doesn't include. So, if you do want to open the canopy (and I recommend it especially if you purchase their separate photoetch set for it) then you'll need to do some research to come up with how this area looked under the canopy.

Now that the cockpit is finished it is inserted into one forward-fuselage-half, along with a rear bulkhead and the nose gear well. At this point the forward-fuselage-halves are joined together, and once that is finished then the single-piece, separate intakes are attached. (This is a huge difference between the Platz and Sword kits. The Sword T-33/P/F-80 have the intakes split in half and are molded in situ with the fuselage, leaving a nice seam on the inside of the intake that must be addressed. The single-piece Platz intakes eliminate that chore.)

The next two steps consist of gluing the wing pieces together, along with attending to the rear fuselage halves. First the jet exhaust tube halves are glued together and inserted into one rear-fuselage-half prior to gluing those halves together. To this assembly is added the horizontal tail pieces along with the tail pipe (which could probably be left off until the end).

The next sequence in the instructions has you assemble the landing gear (all the separate pieces) as well as the speed brakes (which can be positioned open) and wing-tip-tanks. Following these steps you build the entire airframe together – glue the wing to the forward-fuselage and the rear-fuselage to the forward-fuselage. In addition the instructions have you glue the wing-tip-tanks on now as well, but depending on the scheme you want to build (if there's any chance of needing to mask these in any way) I would hold off adding these until closer to the final assembly steps).

The final steps to construction is adding all the landing gear and speed brakes, but again, all that is best left off until after painting and decaling.

Conclusion

Is the Platz T-33 everything it's been made out to be? Yes, I have no problem stating so. The level of molding is sharp and extremely well done. The break-down of parts ensures not only other variations of the T-33/F-80 family, but also ensures no seam inside the intakes. That is crucial in my opinion. The only possible let-down is in the canopy and the fact it can't be easily opened. For one thing the canopy and windscreen are all one piece, plus the inside of the canopy (that will be very visible when open) isn't 100% complete. You'll need to track down references for this area if you plan on opening the canopy. Maybe we'll see some aftermarket to help with this area.

Be aware that Platz has released a photoetch set for their T-33 that can be purchased separately and which adds some further finesse to the build.

I sincerely want to thank Platz for sending this wonderful model in for review.