Hasegawa 1/72 Dewoitine D.520

HASEGAWA 1:72 DEWOITINE D.520

Reviewer: Dave McDougall (CrustyOldSeadog@aol.com)
Kit Review submitted: November 2000

Some additional boxart images of Hasegawa 72nd D.520 releases
(thanks to Marcelo Rabello for supplying)

Dewoitine D.520 ‘Vichy Air Force’ (Hasegawa 1/72^nd #51348)

Few people have ever disputed that this neat little fighter was the best produced in France prior to the Armistice; it was certainly the best to reach the squadrons. Unlike so many other hopeful types which just failed to be ready in time, the D520 made it – but only just. The great Marcel Doret did not help when, having made a splendid first test flight, he forgot about the retractable landing gear and put the first prototype out of action.

The five groups using this fighter in 1940 were credited with 147 kills for the loss of 85 aircraft and 44 pilots. The aircraft was well-armed with a 20mm Hispano-Suiza 404 cannon in the nose and four 7.5mm MAC1934 machine guns, in the wings.

Subsequently, the Vichy government restored the D.520 to production, 740 being built in all. In 1942, the Luftwaffe seized 411, passing many to Italy, Romania and Bulgaria. But in 1944 GC 1/8 was reformed under Doret and, after painting out the German insignia, went into action against the last German pockets of resistance in southern France.

The kit’s supplied in a typical Hasegawa box. Open this and you’ll find two sealed bags. One with four sprues of light grey molded plastic, the other with one sprue of transparent plastic and a decal sheet. The instructions are the usual small folded (but comprehensive) sheet. On this you get the following:
- One side giving basic background and data for the aircraft (in English and Japanese).
- Three sides showing an eight-stage exploded construction diagram. This is up to Hasegawa’s usual high standard and seems clear enough.
- One side shows a sprue diagram; useful in the unlikely event a part is missing and information on what paint you’ll need.
- Two sides show the paint schemes and tell you where to stick the decals (and boy there are a lot of the latter!)
- The last side is the usual warnings to not eat the kit etc…

The painting guide gives you a choice of ‘Gunze Sangyo’ or ‘Mr. Color’ paint numbers to choose from. Hasegawa have also kindly provided generic colours to choose from (e.g. Light Gray). If your preference is for a different brand of paint then you’ll need to get a colour comparison chart. There are plenty of these on the web; indeed I think there’s a link to one on this very website.

Detailing is up to the usual Hasegawa standard. The moldings are typical of a new mold Hasegawa kit. Crisp and you get lots of lovely detail and finely engraved panel lines. The cockpit canopy is commendably thin and clear. No distorted canopy here – Nice!

Hasegawa have presented you with the choice of two aircraft. One 1940 and one in Vichy colours. You need to decide prior to starting building which one you’re going to go for as a different spinner and tail wheel is provided for each.

The kit built up well thanks to a combination of clear instructions and good-fitting parts. I didn’t encounter any problems at any stage of construction, but a brief run-through is in order.

I followed the instructions and started with the cockpit interior. A reasonable amount of detail is provided for this; a basic chair, a control stick and an instrument panel. A decal sheet is provided for the latter. Once this was all built up and painted it fitted easily into the fuselage. I also painted and fitted the engine exhausts at this stage, according to the instructions, but on reflection it would have been easier to fit these after I’d painted the fuselage rather than have to paint around them. Anything for an easy life!

Wing and tail assembly was next. You get separate port and starboard top wing pieces and a single piece for the bottom wing. The top wings fit onto the bottom leaving a space for the fuselage to slot in. I prefer this type of construction to the having to attach the wings to the side of the fuselage as this way you don’t have to worry about getting the wings fitted at the correct angle. Having fitted the wings, I then fitted the tail and then slotted the fuselage nicely into the completed wings.

The final stage was to build the undercarriage and attach various other bits and bobs such as the air intake, aerial etc. The undercarriage is nicely detailed. I was also pleased to see that sidewalls are molded in the wheelbays. I’m also glad to be able to report that the three-part cockpit cowling was nice and this and I had no trouble fitting it into position.

A note now about the tail wheel. – It wasn’t clear to me from the instruction sheet which of the two wheels provided was supposed to go with which of the two variants of this aircraft. Luckily there’s a photograph of a completed model on the side of the box lid so I was able to use that as a reference to work out which wheel to use. There’s another point to note if you choose to model the Vichy version of this aircraft. – There is a decal provided for the underside of the tail which covers the location of the tailwheel. A slot is provided in the decal so that you can fit the tailwheel. If you’re choosing to model the Vichy version, you’ll therefore need to leave the tailwheel off until after you’ve attached the decals.

Speaking of which, you get a lot of decals in this kit. If you’re building the Vichy version be prepared to spend a considerable amount of time applying tail and engine cowling stripes! I found the decals to be typically Hasegawa. They are crisply printed and you can even read the text on the smallest of the decals. However, like most Hasegawa kits I’ve worked with, I found them a tad reluctant to settle down on the kit without wrinkling. I had to whack on a fair bit of setting solution.

Accuracy wise the kit’s pretty spot on. It captures the look of the real thing. A good aggressive-looking fighter. I checked the fuselage length and wingspan. These measure 121/142mm respectively and scale out exactly to the dimensions of the actual aircraft (8.75/10.2m if anyone’s interested.) It’ll look good sitting next to my MS406 and Bloch MB152.

Recommended? Definitely. It’s a another excellent kit from Hasegawa. As far as I’m aware, the other D.520s available in injection molded 1/72^nd are the ancient Frog and Heller offerings and they’re both long out of production. The bottom line? – If you’re a fan of WW2 French aviation or just want a change from all of those Fw190s/P51s, go out and buy this kit now!

Related Reviews:-

Tamiya 1/48 Dewoitine D.520

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