US Aircraft Set

Pit Roads's 1/700 US Warplanes Set #1

Set # S-9s (special) Clear molded version.

What would a 1/700 scale fleet be without a land based airforce to compliment it? Well if you are looking for some aircraft to populate that airfield diorama or need a deck load of unusual cargo to place on that escort carrier, Pit Road has just what you need. US Warplanes #1, this set covers the bombers, and transport selection pretty well.

This set includes four C-47 Skytrains, two B-17 Flying Fortresses, four B-26 Marauders, and one PBY-5A Catalina all molded in clear plastic. As a bonus there is also included three A-20 Havoc's molded in metal. Some aircraft are molded in several pieces and all include propellers and landing gear, quite a feat in tiny 1/700 scale. The molding is crisp in the usual Pit Road/Skywave style. Each aircraft even has panel lines sharply rendered on their surface.

. There is an extensive decal sheet included to decal these aircraft in just about any theater of operation that you choose. There is even a shark mouth decal for the B-26! The instructions are pretty straight forward as there are few parts to assemble here. They include painting guides for each aircraft showing the location of the decals provided.

Now I know a lot of modelers have been singing the praises of clear molded aircraft, because you don't have to try to paint the canopies. But clear plastic is a little hard to work with, it is brittle compared to the normal colored styrene plastic, and I would rather paint a canopy silver than try to touch up one of those propellers with a file! Before you paint yours make sure that you make little canopy masks to preserve the clear parts of the aircraft. Make sure you use care removing the parts from the sprue as they are a little more fragile than the usual colored plastic. All things considered this aircraft set is a welcome addition to the Waterline series, and these bombers are just a drop in the bucket compared to the other accessories that Pit road offers.