Beechcraft SD-17S

Staggerwing

Sword

Reviewed by Dale Smith

Sword's 1/72 scale Beech Staggerwing is available online from Squadron.com

The Beechcraft SD-17S "Staggerwing" was a member of the '17 series' aircraft built by the Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas in the USA. It was fitted with a 450 hp Pratt & Whitney R-985 and was purchased and used in large numbers by the U.S Army Air Force and also the U.S Navy mainly for the transportation of personnel.

Some Beech 17s' were also delivered to Britain under the 'Lend Lease' scheme. These became known as Traveller Mk 1s and were used by both the RAF and FAA.

Supplied in a soft grey plastic, detail is supplied in the engraved style and is very finely done. I found the molding gates from the manufacturing process to be quite large and care will be needed in the removal of a large number of small parts from the sprues. Nearly all the parts were nicely formed with the exception of the wheels (optional parts 49 & 48 ) that had molding flaws in them, and my part 28 which had not formed at all. I was unable to find part 28 in the instructions so cannot state what part that is.

Optional undercarriage parts are supplied to enable the plane to be modelled without the floats .(Parts 44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51 & 52).

Contrary to some of the latest kits coming from the Czech Republic, this kit had location holes for some (but not all) of the parts, which is welcome.

I did notice that when I checked some references and pictures on this aircraft that there is a mass of 'rigging' in and around the area where the floats attach to the fuselage, and also from the wings to the fuselage, yet no reference is made to this in the instructions. If you wish to include this notable feature on your model , you'll need to find reference pics to add this feature.

I also noticed that some areas of the instructions make reference to the wheeled version, and in other areas the watercraft version with floats is shown, but some parts required for both are left off the instructions completely! Check your options carefully when building the kit, especially when building the float version.

My clear parts appeared foggy and slightly opaque.

Painting and colour instructions are given during construction, but no reference to FS or any manufacturers colours is given. Markings are supplied for 2 aircraft - one from the U.S Army Air Force 28th Composite Group, Alaska in 1941 in an Olive Drab over Light Grey scheme, the other being a U.S Navy aircraft from the 1st Air Base Group, Langley Field in 1938 with a blue fuselage and yellow wings scheme.

Decals are printed by 'Techmod' and are very thin, nicely in register and have good colour density.

The parts that I dry fitted appear to come together nicely, so with a little patience and fiddling, a nice model should eventuate. Checking the instructions continually when building this kit is a must, and the location holes are a welcome addition.

I can recommend this kit to the more experienced modellers out there due to the fiddly nature of the parts in the kit.

Recommended.

Many thanks to 'Squadron Mail Order' for supplying the review kit.

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