1:72 PZL P.11c

A high-wing monoplane with a cranked wing

The PZL P.11c fighter was the main support of Polish fighter aviation in September 1939. The cranked wing set above the fuselage, nicknamed a gull wing after its shape, gave the pilot a view that the low-wing monoplanes of the day could not offer. A Bristol Mercury radial engine in licensed production drove the machine to just under four hundred kilometers per hour, which against contemporary German fighters was not enough. Fixed landing gear in aerodynamic spats and an open cockpit gave away that the design had come about at the beginning of the 1930s, when it had, however, been among the best in the world. Despite its obsolescence the Polish escadrilles were credited with a number of kills during the September campaign.

Which machines the sheet covers

The subjects are six aircraft from 1939. Alongside tactical numbers in the form of a white five and a white four, machines of the 111th, 141st, 152nd, 161st and 132nd Fighter Escadrille are represented, with one of the subjects flown in September 1939 by a named airman of the 152nd Escadrille. The units differed in the position and size of the tactical numbers and in the badges on the fuselage, so several mutually different models come out of a single sheet. Anyone who builds more than one of them side by side gains a vivid illustration of how inconsistent Polish markings looked in the last weeks of peace.

The workmanship of the sheet

The printing is prepared for 1:72 scale. The carrier film is thin and with a decal softener it clings even to a riveted and broken surface. It pays to even the area under a decal out with gloss varnish first and to go over the finished markings with matte once dry, so that the edges of the film disappear under the overall shade of the camouflage. Paints and the kit are not part of the delivery.