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Morane-Saulnier 230, Heller, 1/72


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Hello all. I've decided to put the Heinkel on hold for the moment. I've had a ton or school work and obligations at my job and I have exams rapidly approaching. After that, I'm flying home for the winter vacation. I really don't think I can finish that by the deadline anyway (but I tried!) so I'll try to finish a smaller project instead.

It will be down to the wire none-the-less I'm afraid.

Anyway, here it is, the Morane-Saulnier MS.230, a two seat trainer which saw use prior to and during the invasion of France. Many survived the war and still fly today.

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It sure seems like a tiny plane, especially after having handled the Heinkel recently. The parts fit very well, which is a nice refresher after the Roden kit. However, there's a prominent "Heller" trademark on the inside of the fuselage right in the cockpit wall. It had to be sanded off, and I decided to throw in a few pieces of plastic as a semblance of detail. Unfortunately the job is quite rushed and messy, but at least something is there.

I painted everything Humbrol's linen color (Hu-74). I plan to coat the parts in Future and add wood grain effects with oils on the cockpit floor, ribs, and stringers. The instrument panels are molded with the upper coaming and have no detail whatsoever. Again, I'm feeling lazy, so I did almost nothing to jazz these up, using just black paint and silver pencil to draw in instrument faces. It looks worse than what I threw together for my Bristol 138A. It's not yet glued together, so maybe I'll revisit it.

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The wing is in two pieces and has no dihedral, so it's easy to line up. The ribs are fairly prominent and the texture is rough, so I've sanded the surface a bit. The bottom side has no ailerons so I've scribed these in before adding the control actuators. I've started priming the surface with MM light ghost grey.

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The tail surfaces also have prominent ribs, and the elevators don't have the right shape. I will have to fill and rescribe. Note that some MS 230s have a completely different elevator design with rounded edges. One would have to substitute the kit parts with plastic sheet and cut and sand to shape. Although I can't find photos of the particular aircraft represented by the kit and box-art, its contemporaries seem to show the squared elevator shape.

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Edited by Luno13
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This seems to be one of the few Heller kits of French planes that Smer hasn't reboxed, so I don't have it.

It is an interesting looking plane, almost like they just took a biplane and lopped off the lower wing.

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Here's a rather small update. I've used oil paints to simulate wood and added rudder bars, throttle boxes, and other details to the cockpit. After that, I used an oil wash for shading. I sealed everything under Future and Dullcote.

The fuselage comes together in a snap. There are a few shape issues, but I won't bother to correct them. The MS-230 isn't a well known type.

I drilled holes to accept handles and foot steps. Hopefully I can fabricate those parts. If I can't, I'll just fill the holes.

The engine is fairly simple, but it's detailed enough for my purposes. I should have done a better job of cleaning up the push-rods, however.

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Since taking these photos I've started on the wheels, exhaust collector, cleaned up the fuselage, and added minor details.

Aaronw, Smer has released this plane as well. It's silver on the box-art.

Edited by Luno13
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Well, unfortunately, I didn't finish in time. I have to fly home and I can't bring along my paints that I bought specifically for this model.

In the end, I just had too much studying to do, and after my finals, I was just too tired to put any work into this.

I have a couple projects at home that may count as Early War, but I will be taking a trip within a few days. There's hope yet to finish something for this GB. But if not, I still wish everyone else the best of luck on their builds.

Oh, and happy holidays, and a happy new year! :beer4:

Edited by Luno13
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  • 1 year later...

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