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Polar Lights Batplane |
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Reviewed By Jeff Forster, #30833 |
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Polar Lights latest trend in reissuing old Aurora kits is the Batplane. I find it reassuring to see these old kits from my childhood being offered again nearly 35 years since I built them as a kid. My hat’s off to Polar Lights for reissuing these old kits again. The kit comes in a nice sturdy box with the parts enclosed in two separate bags. It’s a nice touch having the clear parts in a separate bag; I wish some of the other model companies would start doing this. The first bag has a two-part clear stand, canopy and decal sheet inside. The second bag contains 18 pieces for the aircraft. The instruction sheet is laid out in the old 1960’s format with the parts drawn out in comic book fashion. The wings and fuselage are really easy to build; you’ve got to remember this is a reissue of the Aurora kit. The only problem item I found on the kit was the wings, they were incredibly warped, and had some massive seams along the length of the wings that required filling. I had to treat the wings to several hot water baths followed by about 10 pounds of books placed on top of them to straighten them. I had to spend a great deal of time filling and sanding the wings. There are very few recessed panel lines to worry about so after taking care of the wing problem you’ll be on your way to finishing the kit. I shot some primer on the kit to check for bad spots and took care of them before moving onto the next step. The rest of the kit, wheels, pitot tube, canopy and stabilizers go together quite nicely. The instructions indicate you should paint the Batplane in black, but being an avid comic book reader I seem to remember Batman’s vehicles being a shade of dark blue. I elected to paint my Batplane in Model Master Arctic Blue metallic paint, with a flat black cowl symbol for the nose. The decal sheet consisted of 7 decals, which slide on very nicely and are not very thick. The Batplane is not a difficult kit to build and most newcomers to the hobby should have little problem building it. It does require some advanced skill to make a show quality model out of it. It was a fun kit to build, something different from the usual models I build. Thanks to Polar Lights for the review kit! |
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