De Havilland DH.88 “Comet”

During the last weekend I attended the Moson Model Show (MMS), where I purchased this remarkable 1/72 scale model kit. The kit is produced by SBS Model from Hungary, and it had been presented for the first time at this very show. Only the limited quantity was brought by producer to be sold at the Model Show. Officially it will be released in 1-2 weeks.

The model is cast in high quality resin and packed in a hard box to protect the content. There are two different boxings of this model. The first is labeled ‘Red & Green’ (SBS7003) and the second is the ‘Black Ones’ (SBS7004). Both kits have nice and attractive boxarts.
Both boxings contain the same kit, the only difference being painting schemes and markings.

‘Red & Green’ box contains two different painting schemes and markings. The first one is overall red G-ACSS ‘Grosvenor House’ and the second one is overall green G-ACSR.

The ‘Black Ones’ box contains only one painting scheme, but two different markings are offered. Both aircrafts are painted in gloss black. One is marked as G-ACSP ‘Black Magic’, while the other one is Portuguese CS-AAJ ‘Salazar’.

Box contents

After opening the box, there are five plastic bags with kit parts, assembly instruction , painting guide and a decal sheet. There are forty-two parts casted in grey resin, two parts casted in crystal clear resin, six parts casted in white metal and photo-etched parts.

Larger parts like fuselage halves, wings and engine nacelles are packed in the first plastic bag.

Nicely engraved filler caps for front 128 and mid 110 gallon fuel tanks.

There is no engraved filler cap for rear 20 gallon fuel tank.

Starboard wing position light.

6 gallon oil tank filler cap, each nacelle.

The second plastic bag contains smaller parts, like prop blades and spinners, pilot seats, wheels, cockpit floor, tail plane, vertical fin, exhaust pipes, tail skid, pitot, mudguards, control columns, throttle quadrants, elevator trim handle, front and rear control panel, . . .

Propeller blades and spinner.

Cockpit floor.

Center section.

Center section underneath with engraved air brakes/flaps.

Pilot seats.

Throttle quadrants and compasses.

Part 7 rear throttle quadrant, part 8 front throttle quadrant. Parts 9 and 10 compasses. Parts 7 and 8 with four large slots, each for throttle levers and propeller speed control levers. Two small slots on part 8 are for mixture control levers.

Part 12 rear bulkhead, part 13 instrument panel coaming.

Part 6 bulkhead and mid 110 gallon fuel tank.

Part 14 pitot, part 15 control columns. Casted between two resin blocks/sheets, protecting parts from breaking.

Part 19 elevator trim handle and brake lever, part 20 exhaust pipes. Casted between two resin blocks/sheets, protecting parts from breaking.

Part 11 front control panel, part 16 rear control panel.

Nicely casted wheels with DUNLOP logo.

Mudguards/undercarriage doors.

Tail cone and tail skid.

There are no mass balances given in this kit. It’s not too difficult to scratch build them.

Third plastic bag contains canopy and landing light/nose reflector casted in crystal clear resin.

When touching canopy with a fingertip, it seems to be little sticky, like not enough dried varnish.

Fourth bag contains undercarriage parts casted in white metal.

Photo-etched parts are in the fifth bag.

Painting guides and decals

Decals are well printed, clear and in nice vivid colors. There is only a general painting guide for painting the assembled model, but there is no painting guide for cockpit and smaller parts.

I suggest painting cockpit walls and floor in wood color, pilot seats in aluminium, throttle quadrants and compasses in black, large manual wheel for undercarriage retracting in black with small yellow stripes, both control panels in black.

You will note position lights casted on the leading edges of both wings. On port wing it should be painted in red, and green on starboard. Tail position light in white.

Assembly instructions

Assembly instructions are well done, nice printed and every step is clear and well explained.