MPM 1/72 Sikorsky R-4B

MPM 1:72 SIKORSKY R-4B

Reviewer: Richard Stracey (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 6 November 2002

Kit Details:

MPM Sikorsky R-4B #72045

Aircraft History:

One hundred and thirty one Hoverflies were built of which the US Navy had twenty two as HNS – 1s and the RAF / RN forty five. The first one was delivered to the US Army in May 1942 and after evaluation, was mainly used for pilot training. It wasn’t much use in the rescue role due to its lack of load lifting abilities but was a useful introduction to the operation of helicopters. It was powered by a 180 or 200 hp Warner R550 radial engine and had a rotor diameter of 38’.

The Kit:

This short run MPM kit dates from 1995 and consists of approx. Fifty plastic parts, four vacform parts, a photo negative instrument panel, an Eduard photo etch sheet and decals, by Propagteam, for two machines. As usual with MPM, the instructions are good and quote Hunbrol and ANA numbers. The box art is, as usual, very good and interesting, with Enola Gay in the background.

Construction:

A great deal of work is involved in cleaning up each and every part. They are covered in flash and many parts are mighty small and the sprue gates, mighty big! Care is needed in removing the parts from the sprue but once tidied up they look fine. I don’t really mind, its all part of the “short run experience”.

The cockpit is very busy and detailed. I painted part #32 red as I presumed it to be a fire extinguisher and I should have replaced part # 37 as it looks a bit over scale. The undercarriage location points are marked and require drilling out. I cut out the engine vent panels (which are covered by the photo etch grills) and then blanked them off. The idea was to give depth but was probably not really worth the effort.

The fuselage and interior all fitted well with no dramas but MPM give the model a hump down towards the tail that simply isn’t there. It isn’t an error as its shown on the box art too. Check the photos! Fortunately, it's easy to get rid of as the top is dead flat so, simply sand it flat. The rotor head is well detailed with the addition of wire as shown in Sector 5. The vertical shafts on parts # 10 were a bit thick so I cut them off and substituted them with wire and then replaced the boots. I also replaced the tail wheel struts (29) with wire and the rear view mirrors (21), again using wire and slivers of plastic rod. For once, all the photo etch parts were of use and of value in that they improved the finished product. No, I don’t know what parts # L8 and L10 are for.

The cockpit canopy assembly consists of the four vacform parts as shown in Sector 2. I found the assembly sequence simpler by fixing the sides (5 and 6) to the completed fuselage thus insuring a good fit. I then added the front (3) before trimming the roof (4) to fit. It all went together rather well. Congratulations MPM, vacform canopies can, sometimes, prove to be a problem.

Now down to the other end for the interesting bit. I must say that MPM have done a commendable job with the most complex shaped parts (14 and 15) that I have ever seen in a short run kit. It took quit a bit of work to clean up the frame work before fitting them to the rear of the fuselage and leaving them overnight to dry. On inspecting things the next morning, I decided that it was all too “chunky”. I am not knocking MPM as I doubt if many of the mainstream manufactures could have done much better. Taking a deep breath, I cut off the tail, drilled five holes into the rear of the fuselage, inserted four lengths of brass rod (and the rotor shaft), trimmed them to length and super glued the tail rotor gearbox (17) in place. I then added the bracing struts using various lengths of wire white glued into place using the kit parts and photos as a guide. Really quite a simple job and very worthwhile.

Versions/Decals:

The two decal options were for a USAAF machine in olive drab / neutral grey or a US Coast Guard in intermediate blue / aircraft grey. In both cases MPM recommend Humbrol 133 ANA 510 Satin Brown for the rotors. Need I say that the decals, being by Propagteam, are first rate however I didn’t use them. I decided to model KL 110, an RN machine used in 1947 by the Kings Flight to deliver mail from Dyce to Balmoral. Other Hoverflies used for this were KL 106, KK 973, KL 106 and KK 987. KL 110 was painted olive drab / neutral grey but with olive drab rotors with yellow tips to the tail rotor blades. A liberal dose of Johnson's Kleer over the canopy improved things no end.

Reference notes:

Useful pictures can be found in Aeroplane Monthly of May ’82 and the R4 features in Preservation Profile #17 of September ’74. The kit was reviewed in Scale Aircraft Modelling of March ’96. I enjoyed making this kit, as it was enough of a challenge to make it interesting.
RHS / 53

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