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Pro Resin 1/72 Martin MS-1

By Matt Bittner

Introduction

After WW1, the United States tried their hand at producing an aircraft that would take off from a submarine. Doesn't matter the Germans tried it and found it was next to impossible at the time, the US wanted to try just the same. There were a few aircraft they looked at for the task, including the Macchi M.16 as well as the Martin MS-1.  The MS-1 was the only one they actually were successful with, but even so, there were only sixe MS-1s produced and they didn't see much active service from a sub.

There are excellent photos in and around 'the web' that shows MS-1 A-6525 being assembled, flown off the sub, and then flown back to the sub, disassembled and stored in its "hanger". So it did work, but why the US Navy didn't keep going with the concept is unknown to me.

According to the Pro Resin instructions, the first Martin MS-1 was flown from Lake Erie.  If this is indeed true, then I'm on a hunt for definitive information of this event, and photographs if possible. Being born and raised in the Northern Ohio region - very close to Lake Erie - I would like to finish my MS-1 as the aircraft that took off from Lake Erie.

The Kit

The Pro Resin 1/72 Martin MS-1 consists of 42 pieces of resin and decals for one scheme, A-6525, the aircraft that flew from the sub SS-1. Decals are nicely done and in register, and the scheme is typical US Navy for the era - overall gray with a yellow upper wing.  I'm almost positive the US Navy didn't go to aluminum-doped fabric yet, instead making the whole aircraft light gray.  However, the top of the upper wing would have been finished in yellow.

The resin pieces are extremely well done.  The flying surfaces are too scale with the trailing edges nice and thin!  Excellent! Construction starts with the interior, specifically the cockpit.  There is some really nice molded-on sidewall detail, and to that you add the floor, a control column, seat and two-part instrument panel - the second part being a decal.  While the instructions would have you mount the engine cylinders now, I would hold off until after painting to avoid masking. Get the fit perfect before hand so all you have to do is glue them in place. You also build up the tail in this step. The rudder is separate from the fin and once glued together you add the separate, resin control horns to it and the horizonta tail, then glue the vertical tail to the horizontal and that whole unit to the fuselage.

The rest of construction is included as the last step of the instructions. However, leave off the upper wing until after painting, as well as the floats. You'll definitely want to use epoxy when gluing the floats to the fuselage to be sure everything is lined up correctly.

Conclusion

Another excellent kit from Pro Resin. Since the MS-1 was originally released by Esoteric as a vacuform long ago, it's great to see it back in kit form, this time as a resin. If you enjoy US Navy 'tweeners, then you'll want to pick this one up. In the right hands it could be a quick build.

Many thanks to Pro Resin for supplying the MS-1 for review. I'm looking forward to starting it.