Fairchild PT-19 Cornell

Planet Models, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

 Planet Models' 1/748 scale Fairchild PT-19 is available online from Squadron.com
 

For those who don't know, Planet Models is a division of Czech Master's Kits or as they are more commonly know, CMK. CMK are based in the Czech Republic and have been producing very high quality resin detail seats and conversions for many years. As such, they really have risen to the peak of the resin-casting business and have an excellent reputation for well produced and packaged models.

Amongst their later releases is kit No 142, a 1/48 scale complete resin kit of the Fairchild PT-19 Cornell, and it lives up to CMK's deserved reputation.

In all, nearly 5,000 PT-19s were produced, and whilst the PT-19 was primarily utilized by the United States Army Air Corps to provide basic flight training during WWII, it was also used by the armed forces of Canada, Norway, Brazil, Ecuador and Chile.

The kit comprises 34 resin pieces, four vacformed canopies and a comprehensive decal sheet. The undercarriage legs are cast in a different and harder type of resin which is a good thing as the maingear legs will have to bear a fair bit of weight.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

The resin is light tan in colour and completely warp free. The casting is very, very well done and without any miscasts and I was only able to find a single pinhole – not bad for such a complex kit!

The casting on this kit really is good! Seats exhibit cast in seat belts with sharp relief and the ends of the exhaust pipes are cast hollow. Surface detail on the wings and fuselage are a mixture of scribed rivet and panel lines and scalloped ribbed fabric.

The wing is cast as a solid one-piece affair with built-in dihedral which should considerably ease the construction no end. Whilst I'm sure that the detail fanatics amongst us will want to add more detail, the parts provide sufficient detail straight out of the box to ensure that the finished product will stand up to closer than the standard "six foot test" that most modellers subscribe to.

Some flash is evident but a quiet hour with wet and dry sandpaper and a sharp modelling knife will put paid to it. Casting blocks are also evident but the vast majority of them seem to have been removed for you, yes, you will still have to remove all evidence of them but the lion's share of the work has been done for you. Fit of parts seem to be pretty good as a quick dry fit, once the remains of the casting plugs were removed, proved there was no need for filler at all.

The canopies, well windscreens really, are vacformed but don't let that worry you too much as the only cuts required are straight ones and Planet have cast sufficient frame line detail to make the cutting easy. You also get two sets in case you goof. To make the separation easier, first fill the canopy with plaster of Paris. This will give you something hard on which you can cut – works for me!

The instructions are of the simple "exploded view" type. As well as showing you how to put the kit together, they also provide detail and overall painting instructions.

Decals are provided for three machines. Two blue fuselage and yellow winged USAAC versions as well as a Norwegian Air Force one. The decals themselves are beautifully printed and in sharp, clear register. They look to be every bit as good as those produced by Superscale.

The kit comes packed in a single, large plastic bag that has been crimped into compartments to separate the parts. The plastic bag the decals and the instruction sheet are then placed in a rather flimsy cardboard box.

All up, an excellent product from Planet Models.

Recommended.

Thanks to MPM/Planet Models for the review sample.

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2005 by Rodger Kelly
Page Created 10 June, 2005
Last updated 09 June, 2005

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