I guess it's been over 2 years now since Eric Hight decided to sell Copper State Models and many of us have been hoping that CSM would come back strong. A few of us have even entertained the idea of buying the company just to keep it going. While we were struggling to come up with the money Eric required, Ilya Sobolev and Slava Krylov put together a team of talented modelers dedicated to keeping the Copper State tradition alive and took the plunge. CSM is now back and, with the release of their first kit under the new management, it looks like they may be a serious contender in the 1/48 scale WWI market.
Just prior to Eric's announcement that he would be putting the company up for sale, he told me that Marty Digmayer had made a master for a new kit: the Salmson S.M.1. I had never heard of this ship before, so I did a little reasearch and, man, was I blown away. It was the freakiest thing I had ever seen, with one engine driving two props, the fuselage suspended between the top and bottom wings and a 3 man crew. I absolutely had to have one. As time went by, my anticipation grew until finally the CSM website reappeared with the long promised S.M.1 now available. I immediately ordered one and it is worth the wait and every penny.
It comes in the heavy duty, top opening box for which CSM is known.
And here's what comes in that box:
Lots of flawlessly cast high quality resin.
Wings.
Fuselage and tail.
more
Bag full of struts. Lots and lots of struts.
The usual Copper State pe.
Instruments.
And yet another box within the box (like a Matryoshka Doll!) containing the guns and engine.