Wings of Intent: De Havilland DH88 Comet - Clear Prop! from Ukraine 1/72nd scale injected plastic

Very nice boxart.

For many years, decades even, we have been treated to Airfix’s and Frogs’ (and its clones) DH88 Comet in 1/72^nd scale. Recently we had the superb resin from SBS Model and the injected KP (Kovozávody Prostějov) version for those not comfortable with resin. As we all know, when it rains it pours, so now we have the Clear Prop new iteration of this truly iconic plane. I have built all the former, more than once actually, and have just acquired the latter. This release caught my attention when I saw images of the sprues, which looked very sharp and detailed. Besides the kit, you can buy separately a 3D-printed DH Gipsy Six engine perfectly matched to it, and a mask set (in paper and not in vinyl, fortunately). They are not included in the kit. Surely the final cost was a concern, but they could have released two boxings, one standard (as it is) and one of those so-called “pro” including the mentioned extra items. That way it wouldn’t be needed to pay three times for separate S&H. I think it is not an unreasonable observation. The kit has one of the engine nacelles especially molded for that extra engine (with a plug part in case you opt-out of the aftermarket engine). The kit decal sheet covers just one scheme: G-ACSS, yes, the red one. It is possible that modelers would have appreciated more choices, like those offered by the rest of the manufacturers.

Now, how’s the kit? Well, it looks very nice, so we’ll see how things go as we build it. The kit comes in an ingenious, sturdy and practical box, with a separate lid (with beautiful box art) covering a good gage cardboard packing that has to be opened in turn. Contents are bagged separately in re-sealable sleeves. A photo-etched set is included, very clear transparencies, and sharply molded parts with a good level of detail. All-in-all impressions are really good. Everything looks very “professional”.

Clear Prop Models is a Ukrainian manufacturer, and as such it deserves all the support it can get. These guys have to endure the attacks of their Neanderthal neighbor, and the unhelpfulness of our local Neanderthals. If I am not mistaken this is Clear Prop’s first civil kit. I wish they would release more of those, and perhaps something equally beautiful and interesting, either already kitted before but below current standards or not already kitted.

Here is a link to the aftermarket engine post:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2024/10/clear-prop-172nd-3d-printed-photo.html

So, let’s see what we got:

Sturdy box:

There is an errata sheet:

Nice instructions:

The molding is very clean with just a smidgen of flash in a few small spots:

Subtle ribbing:

The molding includes the mass balances, they are a bit off-scale, but perhaps welcome by those modelers that rather don't have to scratch them:

One of the wings as mentioned is prepared to lodge the aftermarket engine, but if you don't want to use it, there are plugin parts (the one at the bottom left is with no A.M. engine, the ones to the sides are with A.M. engine):

Clear transparencies, the P.E. fret, what looks like well-printed decals:

Some of the detail on the other side of the sprues:

After a wash with soapy water, rinse and let dry, separation of some of the parts begins. The sprue gates are a sweet deal, small, unobtrusive, their remnants easy to clean. The fuselage has some little tabs that go on slots, and the result is frankly superb, a perfect match, an almost invisible seam that will probably not need the usual putty. Kudos to Clear Prop!

Now, this is a different matter. I get it that they wanted to render a sharp trailing edge and a thin wingtip, but I am not sure this is good way to do it:

Why not?, well, first this created a step, quite visible, that will need adjusting by careful sanding and repeated checking, needless extra work...:

...And most importantly, because that is the area where the ribbing effect is. Now tell me, how do you fill that seam and still preserve the ribbing? Much careful work will have to be done here. BUT, if instead of in the middle of the ribbing, the part line would have been where my pencil line is, voila, much easier to deal with, n'est pas?:

The tip seam is very easy to hide, no problem there:

The overall quality of this kit is evident, and much care has been put into details that we will be reporting on as we go.

Now a weird thing. You get two sets of ailerons. They second set is not depicted on the instructions:

But it is there:

And here is the other set in a different sprue:

They are not exactly the same, and the "phantom" set has a beveled LE, while the other has two prongs (with tiny notches matching on the wing). Surely one of those sets will be a good fit anyway.

The seats have their edges a bit thick:

They are sanded thinner:

The impressive level of precision and clean molding is evident in the parts:

Here are the components of the landing gear:

I am trying to assemble them in a practical sequence (you don't have to follow this, you may find a better way). The parts are very good, but care is of course needed in spite of the good fit and clean molding:

Assembly proceeds without a single problem. Parts are cleanly molded, the fit is good, the engineering sound:

Good, clear, well-sized instructions, cleanly molded parts, god fit. Many manufacturers could take a page from that book. Notice the part (A8) at the back of the nacelle intended to resemble the front of the oil tank. Nice detail:

It's nice for a change to build a kit that is so well behaved.

Now to the step created by the approach to the wing halves engineering. I had to remove quite a bit of material to eliminate the step, and more work will be necessary to hide that seam. The kit overall is fantastic, pity this misstep on part of the designer:

The sub-assembly comprising spinner, prop, the small disk related to the change of prop pitch, the back of the spinner and the axle went together well too. Had to shave the prop a little where it contacts the spinner, to get a good fit for the back plate. The little plastic disk will benefit from some thinning (it's off scale) and could have been better rendered as a photo-etched part in their fret. In fact, if you have a couple of the right size PE disks in your spares, that could be a better option:

We already mentioned that some aftermarket articles were released by the manufacturer to complement this kit. Among them is a very nice 3D-printed + PE parts engine (link to that article at the beginning). The instructions are very small and quite vague regarding the exact positions of some of the parts:

The kit's instructions do not mention the possibility of the A.M. engine, in spite that the parts are molded to cover the eventuality:

In fact, some of the parts needed to be able to install the engine are rendered as "not for use" (see below*). The engine bearers are also included in the sprues, but again not mentioned in the instructions. True, you do not need to acquire the engine, all the parts are there to complete the model without it, but wouldn't be in Clear Prop's best interest to include it in the instructions as an option?:

*This is the reverse of the "errata" slip. Notice that it includes those spare ailerons missing in the booklet instructions.

The kit has a flat plastic part for the nose light representing the light and diffuser lens. I will be replacing it with a home-made "light", although the difference will be negligible. This below is how the arrangement was:

The light (which was adjustable) usually had a very slight downward tilt, exaggerated in this sketch:

One of the nacelles is cut following a panel line to be able to incorporate the engine (is the right wing one, parts A1 and A2):

The mudguards had an edge that was a bit thick, but these were formed from metal sheet:

So using a few small rotary bits the thickness of the mudguards is carefully reduced. A piece of sanding paper around a round stick may be used too for the same job:

Many parts are prepared and grouped for a session with the airbrush:

The wing halves are now glued. Again the seam line passing through the middle of a ribbed section created a problem that is difficult to fix cleanly. This was a bad design call (and bad fit), the only such to be found, though:

Applying some additional color:

The small details that go inside the cockpit are being added. At least for me the throttle parts resulted impractical, too small and with no real anchoring for the levers. I substituted those for aftermarket PE items. The rest went on well:

The two small parts (provided in the spues) that prepare the leading edge for the modification to add the after-market engine are glued. Their fit is good:

The fixing of the ill-placed seam line at the bottom is done:

I am toying with the idea of maybe converting this one to "The Orphan", the plane that participated in the Istres-Damascus-Paris race as "G-16" (the first letter denoted nationality; for example, here is my converted Fiat Br.20 "I-10" (I for Italy) that also participated in that race:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2018/08/fiat-br20a-istres-damascus-paris-racer.html

And the I-13 and I-12 SM.79s that also participated in the Istres-Damascus-Paris race:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2015/04/savoia-marcehtti-s79-corsa-completed.html

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2015/04/savoia-s79-corsa-adaptation-from-172nd.html

But to modify this Comet kit for that, mods needs to be done on the nacelles, adding a teardrop bump on the side and an extended airscoop at the front:

Unfortunately that would also involve making decals for it...sigh.... SBS Model has this one (and others) in one of their "Australia" boxing with the necessary mods, but their decals represent the plane before the race (it already had the race number on the nose, without the black outline) and not as it flew in the race (with black outline and "G-16" also on the center wing bottom).

Frankly, I am not sure at this point, and I may end up just building the model with its traditional G-ACSS red finish as it won the MacRobertson, even if I already have this one (done with the vintage Airfix kit).

I found extremely difficult to deal with the kit's smallest P.E. parts. Clear Prop! provides -for example- multiple Ratier logos in their decal sheet, as they are very tiny and challenging to handle, but they don't provide additional spares for these minutest, impractical P.E. parts like the rudder pedals, the throttle levers, or the "brakes" (parts PE12) for the levers present in the cockpit. I lost most of them. Some loses I fixed with spares. Same for the "wiring" and arched upper "structure" (parts 3/5/7 on the fret) for their aftermarket engine, practically impossible to handle in an effective, credible way in 1/72. More like wishful thinking for me and perhaps many other modelers.

In case you are unfamiliar with this very practical tool to deal with recalcitrant paint caps:

The "kinked" lever on the cockpit doesn't fit in its place, being its locating cavity too small. The firewalls do not fit comfortably in their "furrows" on the sides of the nacelles, being them too narrow -or the firewall too tick. Get the sanding stick out. One more gift from computer-designed kits that don't contemplate molding tolerances. This kit is actually pretty good in general regarding fit, but that "computer design/molding process uneasy marriage" is quite visible for example on Dora Wings kits, where only a few parts fit properly:

The nacelles in turn are not a comfortable fit on the wing leading edges, some sanding being needed too.

I say it again, LOUDER: computer design too-tight tolerances do not translate well on the actual molded parts. In general, the fit can be too tight, or not good requiring thinning/sanding etc. Reality is not like the computer screen. Ever. This is nothing terrible, but unnecessarily increases the workload, the building time, and often forces the modeler to have to repaint parts.

There, my two cents, from a modeler with about 500 models built in the last 14 years or so and posted here on this blog.

It was stated above that the fuselage halves fit was magnificent, in fact: perfect. Dry-fitting of all the interior parts showed that the two bulkheads and the I.P. did not fit comfortably and prevented the fuselage from closing tightly as it should. It's the same problem again and again with computer designed kits, the cavities where the prongs on the parts should fit are not large/deep enough (or the prongs are too large). What's needed is a smidgen more of space, a fraction of a millimeter, but it's not there. Tolerances is an ongoing issue across the board. Slight sanding/shaving will ensue to provide a better fit, nothing terrible, all easily fixable, but a little of a bummer.

I would say that around 95% or more of the kits I ever build had interiors that won't fit properly, preventing the fuselage sides from closing.

You would think that after decades of doing that, the hobby industry would have taken a hint. Sigh...

I repeat: this is a VERY NICE kit, well above average no doubt, but it irks me that being mostly excellent, some of the endemic fit problems in the industry persist. In this case, all minor. But still...

After a few easy adjustments, the fuselage is ready:

The fit of the wing is good, leaving only a hairline gap:

The manufacturer kindly molded the mass balances. I think they are just a tiny bit overscale:

I usually replace or add those with home-made ones (removing the ones on the part and carefully drilling the location):

But there is a simpler solution, just very carefully and gradually scrapping the molded ones. Here is one already thinned down (on the rudder):

Still toying with the idea of converting it to the Istres-Damascus-Paris racer. I went as far as making the new spinners of a different shape and playing a bit with the possible decal design. Not sure I will follow or revert to the kit's decals:

There is some debate about the colors of "G-16". I found two contemporary accounts describing it as "light blue" (B&W photos show a mostly grey plane, which could indicate that color, since it doesn't look like aluminium/silver at all. The problem is that the account could also be referring to the regs, fuselage turtledeck and nacelle decoration, which were colored too. I am inclined for a very light blue overall and a darker blue for the reg and decoration.

The aftermarket engine once assembled and painted is really nice:

The ailerons with the arrow are the ones to use, as they have a beveled LE that is a perfect match to the wing. The fuel and oil caps on the top fuselage, somewhat deleted during the seam sanding, will be restored with die-punched decals:

The transparencies are washed and given an acrylic floor polish bath. There has been some discussion about the shape of the fuselage cockpit opening and therefore of the canopy. I share the view that the width should be constant, and not narrowing to the back, like in these plans: