Our sincere thanks to Mirage Hobby for supplying our review kit. Get this kit here now at Mirage Hobby.
A little bit of background to the type
The PZL P.11 was a Polish fighter aircraft, designed in the early 1930s by PZL in Warsaw. It was briefly the most advanced fighter aircraft of its kind in the world. The PZL P.11 served as Poland’s primary fighter defence in the Polish campaign of 1939, but with the rapid advances in aircraft design in the late 1930s (seen in such fighters as the Messerschmitt Bf 109), it proved outclassed by its rivals at the onset of the war.
The final variant for the Polish air force, the P.11c had a new, refined fuselage, with the engine lowered in the nose to give the pilot a better view. The central part of the wings was also modified. Production of the P.11c started in 1934 and 175 were produced. The first series of approximately 50 P.11c aircraft were fitted with Mercury V S2 of 600 hp (447 kW), the rest with Mercury VI S2 of 630 hp (470 kW).
The Mirage Hobby kit
This is the second time we’ve had the pleasure of looking at and reviewing a model from Mirage Hobby – the first being this company’s impressive looking Halberstadt CL.IV H.F.W. that you can also find in Aircraft-Here Now-Kits.
I came across their website and I spotted that there was a possibility of receiving a review sample or two and this is one of the first to arrive. We’ll look for an opportunity to build this model quite soon – I just need to get it into the heavy SMN schedule :) Then you’ll be able to see how it all goes together. The model does look pretty straightforward (famous last words!).
In the meantime… what’s in the box and how does it all look as it comes? Let’s find out…
Main components
The grey plastic is well moulded, looks to be good quality and detail is sharp and precise across the board. Some raised detail on the fuselage sides is clear and defined. Some internal frame detail is there too, although not much of this will be visible on your completed model. Much of the cockpit detail is there too and the floor has nice recessed detail too.
The wings are well tooled and I particularly like the texture on the surface of the one-piece wing section. This should look great when painted and weathered. A nice touch are the location marks where the struts should locate and I hope that these work as designed and help everything to line up nicely.
The wheels and other undercarriage details look ok too.
The engine comprises several parts and should make up into a very convincing replica of the original. The engine cylinders are there and should be just visible through the cowl ring.
The propeller blades look to be a fair representation of the real items.
Watch out for
The only thing I can see from the plastic parts is that many have mould seam lines, although these should only really be a bit fiddly on the smaller items – nothing too dramatic, just normal modelling work.
Photo etch (PE), white metal and acetate instruments
A very nice fret shows plenty of smaller items that will enhance your model – the corrugated floor, seat belts and other details.
A nice touch is the white metal radiator unit and also the acetate instrument panel that sits behind the PE main panel provided.
Decals
These look very impressive and very good quality. Quality looks very good too – all markings in register and good, accurate colours to my eye.
Instructions
These are good – plenty of use of colour (for the painting guides) as well as the exploded diagrams that look clear from first glance.
Overall
I like this model a lot – just something about the subject maybe? I don’t know but the model looks great for 1:48 scale and is a very good replica of the real thing. The package has all you need in order to make a great model. We’ll see soon when I get to grips with it and try and go for a quick build.
Geoff C.
SMN Quick summary Star rating out of 5
| FEATURE | STAR RATING (out of five) |
|---|---|
| Quality of moulding | **** |
| Level of detail | **** |
| Accuracy | **** |
| Instructions | **** |
| Decals | **** |
| Subject choice | ***** |
| Overall | **** |
The inside of the box lid has some tempting images of other Mirage Hobby products.
