Pitts review

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Racoon 1/32 Pitts S2A, 7000 Yen

The kit consists of the following parts:

Resin: fuselage halves, less tail and vertical stabilizer/rudder
onepiece left & right lower wings
onepiece upper wing
onepiece left & right horizontal stabilizers
cowl
fuselage tail section w/vertical stabilizer & rudder
wheel pants w/moldedin wheels/tires
seat
blank instrument panel
prop spinner
canopy mold
cabane strut jigs
white metal: interplane struts
prop blades
l/g struts
control column
tailwheel & strut
vacformed: canopy

Decals and cabane strut material are not included. The wellillustrated instuctions are in Japanese only.

The Resin parts are well formed, with very nice recessed panel lines and excellent representation of the rib detail on the wings and fuselage no phony "fabric texture" is molded in. The only defects present in the resin parts on my example are bubbles at the trailing edges of the wing roots molded on the fuselage. Disguising the joint between the main fuselage and the tail section may be difficult without damaging the rib effect. The cockpit will need further detail (a drawing of the instrument panel is on the instuction sheet), and there is no engine detail included, so something will have to be cobbled up to fill the area visible through the scoops in the front of the cowling.

The white metal parts are very smooth, and the prop blades should polish up nicely, while the canopy is very clear and thick enough for easy handling, but still could use a dip in Future/Klear/Klir. It's supported by a resin buck which could be used for making a replacement a very nice touch.

Dryfitting of the major parts didn't reveal any major pitfalls.

Allinall a nice little kit, but I wish that: (1)the wheels had been separate pieces, (2)some representation of the engine had been included, (3) there had been some detail on the instrument panel, and (4)decals were included (most Pitts have elaborate color schemes).

It's fairly pricey at 7000 Yen (about $53.66 at current exchange rates) for what you get, but I think it's the only game in town in this scale.

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