1:48 PZL P.11c

The spring before the war

Three of the four subjects on this sheet fall into the spring of 1939. That is the period when the Polish fighter force was going through moves and bringing its strength up, and when the machines were still being photographed on the grass of their home airfields in quiet service. A few months later the same aircraft were dispersed across field strips and their markings quickly grew dirty with dust.

The list of subjects:

• the aircraft with the white 57, the 141st Fighter Escadrille, spring 1939
• the machine with the white 6 of the 161st Fighter Escadrille, spring 1939
• the aircraft with the white 2, the 113th Fighter Escadrille, spring 1936
• the machine with the white 5 of the 111th Fighter Escadrille

The 111th and 113th Escadrilles belonged to the units defending the capital and their insignia on the fuselages are well known among Polish modelers. On the sheet they are printed in shades that match period photographs better than the simplified variants supplied with kits.

The 141st Escadrille is represented by the machine with the highest number of all the subjects, and its insignia has different proportions from the others. When you build several models of this type side by side, it is precisely the differences in the unit insignia that give a display case variety, because the aircraft themselves do not differ in shape at all.

A note: the thin film from this manufacturer stands water at a temperature of around thirty degrees well. Cold water slows the release so much that there is a risk of over-soaking and of the edges of a larger marking breaking up.