Northrop Alpha - Dekno 1/72nd resin

 

 

Here is the snappy Northrop Alpha, the first in a family of the then newly-conceived, all-metal, single-engine, stressed-skin monoplanes of which the Gamma and Delta are arguably the most well-known. Fortunately for us Golden Age and civil plane lovers, Dekno kitted this iconic plane and also the technically-similar Boeing Monomail that I have also posted here.

For some notes and graphic material please visit the step-by-step building post:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2022/08/northop-alpha-dekno-172nd-resin.html

With its sort of chubby and stumpy charm, the Alpha can be seen on the tarmac with a proud stance, ready to carry passengers and mail from coast to coast like a gleaming arrow.

Different versions can be done starting with the Dekno kits, as they were released with naked LG legs or trousers, and the windows -and many other details- can be treated accordingly in respect to the specific plane one would like to represent. Provided you are willing to do some work and have a pinch of ingenuity, this kit has potential, but I think this would be better suited for the more experienced. I used the fantastic decal sheet + masks from Arctic Decals specifically designed for this kit.

 Fellow modelers may notice the uncommon lighting in some of the photos, very unusual for California, but there were special circumstances:

Piero Magni PM-2 Experimental plane - Choroszy 1/72nd resin

 

The Piero Magni PM-2, successor of the previously posted PM-1:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2022/07/piero-magni-pm-1-choroszy-172nd-resin.html

is now ready to take to the air.

In the step-by-step building article you will also see contemporary photos and some articles upon which some color and detail changes were based (confirming the wing was a very light color, not dark brown, and the plane had registrations on the widened struts, and no regs. on top of the wing) :

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2022/07/piero-magni-pm-2-successor-of-pm-1.html

As the decal sheet in the kit was missing the strut registrations and some details were not completely accurate, and alternate set from Arctic Decals was commissioned, which as usual worked perfectly. 

These two nice little kits are resins by Choroszy Modelbud that require some work and attention from the modeler, but anyone with experience and familiar with resin kits and their peculiarities should be able to obtain a nice replica. 

The two models side by side. In reality the planes didn't coexist: