Hasegawa 1/72 Martin SP-5B Marlin

This is a very, very fine model. many people have one in their stash, but no one seems to build them. I could not find even one built up on the internet. The fit is truly amazing given the age of this kit (late 60-ies), and panel lines and rivets are very finely raised. Flaps and engine cowl flaps are positionable. The beaching gear looks very nice, but requires some care to get the wheels to be perpendicular to the ground. The major thing with this kit is the port hole aft of the cockpit. It is positioned too far forward. If you don't address this issue, the large national insignia will not go in the right place without covering the port hole. As you can see the fix is relatively easy, even though I found out I about this as the model was already airbrushed and I was trying to get the decal in the right position....[sigh].

I saw a photo of this particular aircraft on vpnavy.com and just knew I had to finish my Marlin in these colours. Actually, the photo prompted me to start on the kit, which had been in my stash for maybe 15 years. A spectacular scheme. Colors used were Engine Gray, Insignia White and Orange, all from Xtracolor. Notice that the propellor warning stripe, contrary to what the instructions suggest, must de aligned with the propellors themselves and not perpendicular to the horizontal panel lines on the fuselage. I airbrushed the stripe since all decals with this kit were useless.