Gloster G.40 Pioneer

Pavla, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Glen Porter

 Pavla's 1/72 Gloster G.40 Pioneer is available online from Squadron.com
 

I always though this aircraft was called the Gloster Whittle, so I didn’t know what Brett was offering me when he said he had a Gloster Pioneer for me to review.

Well, this model comes as a pleasant surprise. Apart from being a very significant aircraft historically, it’s another rarity in the modelling world. And haven’t the Eastern European short run kit manufacturers improved the quality of their product. A few years ago, these kits would have been very hard for an experienced modeller to build. Now, I could almost recommend this one to a novice.

Almost.

It’s a pity some of the manufacturers from other parts of the world don’t take note.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

The Pioneer is a very small aircraft therefore a very small model in 1/72 scale. It is not much bigger than a W.W.1 biplane and fewer parts, in fact there is more resin than plastic. The cockpit and front wheel well come as one piece and this also forms the splitter in the front intake. Other resin parts include, instrument panel, seat with belts, fun stick, wheels, legs and two types of jet exhaust. Two vac-formed canopies are supplied but they are different so you don’t get a spare.

The decals are for one aircraft only but in three different periods of its life and three different colour schemes, first flight, early war and mid war. Of the usual high quality offered by Pavla, printed by Etech, their colours look right and film is minimal.

The instructions as usual for Pavla, are easy to follow and very complete, in fact the whole kit is so good that I would recommend it to anyone with a small amount of experience or as a first try at a short run kit.

Recommended.

Thanks to Squadron for the review sample.
 

Thanks to Squadron.com for the review sample.

Review Text Copyright © 2004 by Glen Porter
Images Copyright © 2004 by Brett Green
Page Created 07 October, 2004
Last updated 08 October, 2004

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