I was visiting the IWM Duxford Airfield Museum recently and their 2 Stearmans caught my eye. One was hanging on permanent display and there was also one that is airworthy. My thoughts were, ‘What a lovely subject for a large scale model in say, 1/32nd scale.’ The only 2 kits that come to mind are both very old. The 1/48th scale one by Lindberg and a 1/72nd scale Revell kit that both date back to the 1960’s.I am surprised that this primary American trainer has not been kitted in a large scale.
That makes two of us!
There are a number of significant “classic” aircraft for which there are no decent kits available. The Stearman PT-17 is certainly one.
I purchased a guillows plastic model of the PT-17 (1:16 scale) to do a non-flying static scale build, but the thought of scratch building that engine has put me off. The kit engine is a very crude vacu-formed engine, absolutely not adequate for a decent shelf scale project.
It appears there is a new 1/48 Stearman kit coming from Revell in the coming year. Stay tuned!
Just saw that! Does anyone know if that is a new mold or if that is a re-release of some previous PT-17?
From the chatter and photos over on Hyperscale, it looks like it is a new original tool. The only other 1/48 was Lindberg’s, and the photo supposedly showing the new Revell kit ain’t the same. It’s also not the same as the old 1/72 Revell kit, so it ain’t that, either.
I don’t mind the old Lindberg kit, actually. I’m curious to see the new-tool Revell offering, of course, but it won’t make me toss the couple of Lindbergs in my stash.
Sweet! Sign me up for it - I’ll be one of the first to get it!
nice! I’ll be getting one! Now we need a new mold of a Curtis JN-4 Jenny!
I thought the old Lindberg version barely looked like a Stearman. It was a biplane and had an uncowled engine, so I guess it could be mistaken for a Stearman.
Definitely, CB1!
Don, I had my eye on the Lindberg one since it was one of the planes I’ve flown (remember in another post I said that I am trying to build all the planes I’ve flown?) so it’s a good thing I haven’t gotten it, with it being that bad and Revell announcing a new one.
That being said, I do have their Jenny that I picked up for $5…
Personally, I don’t think the Lindberg kit is as bad as all that. but to each his own. I’ll be curious to compare it with the new kit, side by side, just to see how each checks out.
edit: removed the link, Tower had changed it. See next post.
At the posted price I’ll be getting several.
Here’s the full URL to the page at Tower Hobbies (the previous one was clipped):
www3.towerhobbies.com/…/wti0001p
From the photo of the finished kit, it shows better detail than the old Lindberg kit, which isn’t surprising. It the kit has goodies like PE for rigging a la Accurate Miniatures and more interior details, I can concede that it is better than the old one. Though, I still would build the old one, just as I still build the old Monogram USN aircraft. They’re fun to build.
The basic contour of the Lindberg Stearman just doesn’t look right to my eye. It seems to be more streamlined than the real plane. It seems to vary in cross-section in the for’ard fuselage, while the real Stearman was pretty constant in section until behind the cockpit.
There are several at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum down the road in Reading, PA. Every time I’m there, I think of the ones in my stash and that I should move one up in the queue. I’m curious to see the new Revell release, too. I like building the same subject from different manufacturers and compare how the did. For example, a couple years ago, I built Monogram’s and ICM’s copy of Tamiya’s P-51B side-by-side. Right now, I’m building a pair of Wildcats, Hobby Boss’ F4F-3 and Monogram’s kit (as an Atlantic bird).
Don, I have a Lindberg Stearman project that I started some years ago. As well as the fuselage just being too skinny throughout, compared to some good drawings the tail surfaces are off in outline and size, and the airfoil of the wings is more like a WW I airplane than the nearly symmetrical airfoil of the real thing. I used two kits to fix the wings, sanding the bottom sides flat and gluing a top on the bottom of the second top for the upper and lower wings. The struts don’t look beefy enough to me either. The Engine looks more like a Wright from an N3N than it does a Continental W-670 or a Lycoming R-680.
The Stearman is one of my favorites of all the planes I flew, and if it ain’t right it ain’t right! I am pretty sure that as soon as I get the two Revell kits I have ordered the Lindberg project is going straight in the dumpster.
I did build one as a lad in the 50’s and I still remember how fragile the struts were and how hard it was for me to get the wings on. Misery. But I got it together well enough to fly it around my grandmother’s kitchen. So there are some good memories of it.
I fondly remember flying in the Stearman. My dad was in the CAP, and the squadron was given a surplus Stearman. I was too young to become a cadet, so I sort of became a mascot of the squadron and dad took me up for many rides in that plane. That was many, many years ago, and have never been up in one since.
Definitely going to need to get full aftermarket/scratchbuilding motor treatment on this one… nothing there to hide that! Part of the reason why I have not bought an aftermarket set of any kind yet except for chocks/remove before flight stuff… hard to justify the cost if no one ever sees it!