Bellanca 28-70 MacRobertson racer - Dekno 1/72 scale, resin and 3D-printed parts + Arctic Decals

 

Dekno’s Bellanca 28-70 "The Irish Swoop" is a much welcome addition to any modeler’s racers/record planes stable, or for the ones that just love civil airplanes in general. Looking elegant yet powerful, this Bellanca design piloted by the Irish Fitzmaurice arrived at Croydon but was not allowed to participate in the MacRobertson England to Australia famous race for reasons that may have not been the right ones (see the building post). In any case, with some mods after a bad landing, later on and as the “Flash” crossed the Atlantic proving its worth at the hands of Mollison.

For more information please refer to the step-by-step building post:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2024/10/bellanca-28-70-macrobertson-racer-dekno.html

Now the Bellanca 28-70 can be added to my growing collection of MacRobertson racers, and one day I should photograph them together “at Croydon”:

Ye ole Airfix Comet kit: 

Pander Postjager, Execuform + scratch:

SBS Comet resin kit:

Miles M2F Plastic Passion/SBS kit:

Granville QED, Plastic Passion/SBS kit:

KP kit:

Heller + scratch parts DH89 "Tainui":

That's without counting the Northrop Gamma plane commissioned especially for the race by Jackie Cochran with a Conqueror engine, that never made it into the race due to mechanical problems (modified WB kit with scratched nose and top fuselage back, but Dekno/Arctic Decals now sell a nice conversion set -parts + decals- for the original kit) :

Dekno’s kit comes in the format of its later releases: main parts in cast resin with good surface detail and smaller parts 3D-printed. A sheet produced by Arctic Decals and a vac canopy (with spare) accompany the set together with well-printed instructions. If you have followed the building process you have seen that the model was built in a fairly short time (even shared with other modeling projects) only necessitating a few adjustments. If you are building it, again the step-by-step post may help you sort out some minor interventions to smooth the ride.  Every new release of Dekno is a joy, and I now just pre-order them as I am confident of their quality, which has greatly improved over time. Still, they need a modelers’ touch, but nothing uncomfortable or beyond average experience. Dekno should be congratulated for their commitment to present modelers with beautiful designs of the Golden Age, an area practically dismissed by most manufacturers, with some honorable exceptions.

With just a bit of care this Dekno kit will be turned into an appealing model to enhance your collection.

 

You often discover something you have forgotten after taking the photos of the "completed" model. In this case wires associated with the LG mechanism: