Kovozávody Prostějov (KP) 1/72 Morane Saulnier MS.A.1Reviewed by Brad Cancian
Item:
KPM0455 “Other Services” and KPM0454 “French Service”, reviewed here. Other boxings include KPM0456 “Polish Service” and KPM0453 “Over France”
Scale: 1/72
Price: 12.40 Euros each, direct from Kovozávody ProstějovReview kit kindly provided by KP Models at
https://www.kovozavody.cz/?s=MoraneParasol PedigreeThe Morane Saulnier MS.A.I was the next evolution of the development of the earlier Morane-Saulnier N parasol monoplane, which had seen wide spread use in the earlier years of the war. The MS.A.I was intended to replace the Nieuport 17 and SPAD VII in French service, in competition with the SPAD XIII. Its Gnome Monosoupape 9N 160hp rotary engine was mounted in a circular open-front cowling, fronting up a tapered cone shaped fuselage. The strut braced parasol wing was swept back from the centre, which gave the aircraft a modern and unique appearance. The production aircraft were given service designations based on whether they had 1 Vickers machine gun (designated MoS 27) or 2 Vickers guns (designated MoS 29).
A number of escadrilles were created to operate the A.I. It entered squadron service in limited numbers in February 1918, but by mid-May 1918, most of the aircraft had been phased out in favour of the SPAD XIII. Apparently easy to fly and maneouverable, it is not entirely clear as to why the aircraft was not successful. Some sources say the aircraft suffered from structural deficiencies leading to wing flutter, and a lack of power. Others suggest that the monoplane concept was still not in favour with authorities, who viewed the concept as structurally weak (other aircraft like the excellent Bristol M.1 Bullet also suffered from the same stigma); as such any minor deficiencies in wing design may have been viewed as a fatal flaw, and enough to pull the type from service. Whatever the reason, the aircraft were then relegated to use as advanced trainers, with new purpose built examples being designated MoS 30.
Many were used post-war after having been surplussed off, as aerobatic aircraft, including one which was flown by Charles Nungesser.
The MS.A.1 1/72Not surprisingly, for a relatively obscure machine, the A.I has not seen much love in 1/72. Previous kits include that released iin resin by CMR, and other limited run produces such as Merlin, Formaplane, and Cramer. As such, the market has been wide open to a good injection moulded kit of this aircraft. KP have looked to fill that gap with their 2024 release of this unique little fighter.
The Bits and BobsNow, I have my suspicions that this kit is based off of the CMR resin kit, but I have been unable to find pictures of that kit in an unbuilt state to confirm. From what I can see of some online builds (namely that of Matt Bittner over at internetmodeler.com), the interior arrangement, details and general approach to the fabric and panels look very similar. In any case, if this is a lift of the CMR kit, this would be in line with KPs recent collaborations.
In any case, what we get in the box is a single sprue of grey plastic, an instruction booklet, and a decal sheet, all nicely packed in KPs usual end-opening box. The box has some striking box art (noting both seem to be based off the same overall 3D master), and the colour schemes provided on the reverse side.
The plastic sprue contains 44 parts.
Firstly, there is some flash to deal with, but this is not major. I for one am willing to cut KP some slack here; they are using limited run mould technology to keep the costs of the kit very reasonable for us consumers, so some flash must be expected.
On the flip side, in general the surface detail is lovely, with a smooth finish, sharp detail around the forward fuselage panels, crisp stringer details on the fuselage, and some excellent and to scale renderings of ribs under fabric for the flying surfaces. The ailerons, elevator and rudder are moulded into their respective flying surfaces, but hinge detail is sharp.
The upper fuselage decking comes as a single piece with gun troughs and the windscreen integrally moulded. The kit caters only for the twin-gun version of the A.I.
The cockpit looks to be quite comprehensive, with a floor, seat, rudder pedals, control column, instrument panel, decking and framing. We also get seat belts on the decal sheet, which is nice.
One will have to watch the forward mould release pin on the inside of the fuselage, and clean this up before inserting the cockpit. The location should be easy to deal with, given there is no detail on the inside of the fuselage part.
Details such as the engine and guns look good, and should benefit from careful painting (noting that much of the engine will be hidden within the cowling).
Lastly, many of the struts are quite thin. This, whilst to scale, means that the modeler will have to take some care in removal and clean up of these pieces.
InstructionsThe instructions are printed on a single folded A4 sheet, and are printed in black and white. The instructions contain a short description of the aircraft’s history, a parts breakdown, and construction sequence consisting of 6 steps. Though no rigging diagram is included, sufficient detail for the minimal rigging can be gleaned from the box top.
Colour schemes for three machines are provided in each boxing:
KPM0454 “French Service”:
• Morane Saulnier A.I, F-ABAO, France
• Morane Saulnier A.I, F-ABAP, France
• Morane Saulnier A.I, “Fronval”, France
Minimal detail unfortunately is provided around the schemes themselves, though I did find a source for at least one of them.
Of note also, at least the first tow of the “French Service” schemes look to be predominantly post-war civil schemes, so I would suggest one leaves the armament off at least scheme 1 and 2 above.
KPM0455 “Other Services”:
• Morane Saulnier A.I, Belgian Air Force
• Morane Saulnier A.I, Swiss Air Force
• Morane Saulnier A.I, Japanese Air Force, 1922
Again, unfortunately not many details are provided for these machines, though again I did find some photos of some of them (note the lack of armament on some of these machines also).
DecalsThe decals are produced in house and are very nicely printed with solid colour and good register. Seat belts are included as decals. The decal film looks nice and thin, with minimal carrier film. My only gripe is that the serial number details on the rudder of the Belgian machine in the “Other Services” boxing is printed on the rudder stripes. It would have been better to have printed these separately, so that the modeller could paint the rudder stripes rather than having to use the decals. In my experience, rudder stripe decals never work rightly, and one can never really colour match the paint around the edges of the rudder. Oh well.
AccuracyI don’t have the datafile on this aircraft, so I referred to the excellent “French Aircraft of the First World War” by Dr James J Davilla and Arthur M Soltan, which has some excellent information and a three view 1/72 drawing on Pg 338. From this, it looks like the kit is spot on in terms of dimensions. Wing sweep, rib details and general arrangements look correct. Fuselage length and overall dimensions look good. The only niggles I could see was that the cockpit coaming in the kit looks too rounded – it should be narrower and slightly more elongated. The rudder itself also looks like it could benefit from slightly more downwards ‘angle’ in comparison to the leading edge of the fin, but a swipe or two of sandpaper should fix that. I couldn’t find interior photographs so I can’t comment as to the accuracy of the interior.
BuildabilityAs noted above, care will need to be taken in removing and cleaning up the smaller and more fragile parts. This may be made more complex by the slight softness to the plastic. Unsurprisingly, this model does have its complexities by virtue of the original’s design, in particular, its wing strut arrangement. I would suggest that one considers a jig, and adding the larger struts (part 27) first, then the V struts (parts 3 and 28), to get things lined up, test fitting against the strut holes in the upper wing. A method that has worked for me in the past also has been coming up with a jig from strip plastic over a piece of clear plastic, with the strut holes match-drilled in the clear plastic to match the upper wing piece. Other than that, I think this should be a straight forward build.
ConclusionsThis is a very welcome release of this nifty and oft overlooked monoplane from the First World War. Whilst we do get some flash here and there, and some fragile pieces that will take some care to deal with, we also get some crisply moulded details, a comprehensive interior, and an excellent to-scale representation of fabric over wood. With the varied colour schemes on offer, the model should build up into an attractive little representation of this fighter, which wills stand out in the cabinet or on the competition table. KP should be commended for its release.
Our very sincere thanks to KP for the review samples!
