1/72 Williams Brothers Northrop Gamma

by Gabriel Stern

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This is a very appealing plane that shows all the glamour of the golden era of aviation. Northrop talent for design oozes from every angle. Radial engine, cowl, spats, wing fillets, back position of the canopy, the way the lines blend into each other, all these features resulting in a "classic".

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The Williams Brothers kit allows you to represent four variants of the plane in different stages of its career. The white injected plastic, at least in my case, made it difficult to visually "grab" the pieces. I would rather prefer light grey plastic.

The material is also soft, and when sanded, peels in a somewhat strange way. Paints don't adhere very well either. Some flash is also present. The fit is mostly OK and construction is simple. An excellent Scale-Master decal set is included.

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The model was given a coat of grey primer, which I found has a coarser grain than white primers, This resulted in a not very smooth metal finish. I usually work some panels in a slightly different hue, but this time, to avoid masking, I used shades of the same paint (testors enamel) with small amounts of black and blue to produce some variations. Canopy frames are strips of painted decal, thus avoiding again the chore of masking. For the windows on the side of the fuselage I used canopy glue.

Gabriel

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Photos and text © by Gabriel Stern