1/72 MPM Ryan STM-S2

Gallery Article by Iwan Winarta on Aug 17 2015

  Indonesia Independence Day 

 

      

Before Indonesia's declaration of Independence on August 17th, 1945, the territory of the present Indonesia was occupied by the Dutch for more than 300 years, known as Netherlands East Indies (NEI), before defeated by the Japanese during World War II.

The primary reason for the Japanese to enter the war was the resources that available in abundance in NEI, particularly rubber and the oilfields. When the Japanese invaded, they faced the forces of the Royal Netherlands East Indian Army (Koninklijke Nederlandse Indische Leger/ KNIL) and Royal Netherlands Navy (Koninklijke Marine/ KM).

The Marine Luchtvaart Dienst (MLD) or Naval Air Force, played a dominant role in the early months following Pearl Harbour. With approximately 175 aircrafts of all types, it greatly outnumbered both the American and British naval air reconnaissance forces combined in Southeast Asia.

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Ryan STM-S2
As Ryan's popular basic trainer, a large number of STMs were exported in the 1930s and early 1940s (prior to the entry of the United States into World War II) to various air forces, with the biggest customer being the military of the Netherlands East Indies (NEI, now Indonesia). The NEI Army (ML-KNIL) and Navy (MLD) took delivery of 84 STM-2s and 24 STM-S2s in 1940 and early 1941. The ML-KNIL aircrafts were based in Soerabaja in Java, while the MLD aircrafts, which had interchangeable landing gears and floats, were based in Morokrembangan, the largest seaplane base in the world at that time, located close to Soerabaja.

After the Japanese invasion to NEI, many Ryans were pressed into combat, especially in reconnaissance roles, and large numbers were shot down or destroyed on the ground. Surviving STM-2s and STM-S2s that were not captured by the Japanese were shipped to Australia, where 34 entered service in the RAAF as trainers.

The Kit
This 1/72 kit is from MPM. As a limited injection kit, it required a lot of cleaning and adjustments, especially on the struts connecting the floats to the fuselage, as it comprises 8 individual struts which had to be assembled individually. I cheated and assembled 4 struts per side using thin strips of styrene to assist the strut assembly. Might not be 100% realistic but helped tremendously. The other difficult parts were the vac-form windshilds which are pretty small. Painted with rattle can. Decals came from the kit and rigging is of stretched sprue.

Another unique collection for my "extended history" of the Indonesian Air Force.

Reference

  • -Wikipedia : Ryan trainers

  • -Tom Womack : The Dutch Naval Air Force Against Japan, The Defense of the Netherland East Indies, 1941-1942

Iwan Winarta

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Photos and text © by Iwan Winarta