Dora Wings Bellanca CH-300 Pacemaker

Dora Wings BELLANCA CH-300 PACEMAKER

Inbox review of Dora Wings’ 2018 boxing of the CH-300 in 1/72.

Packaging

The top-opening box features attractive artwork by Elena Stanilevich of a PIA aircraft parked at airfield in early morning/dusk.

Within the rigid corrugated bottom, a single resealable bag contains sprues and instructions, while smaller plastic bags contain the decals, canopy mask, and PE fret in one, and the transparent sprues in the other.

Sprues

The kit’s 121 plastic parts are spread across 7 small sprues – 4 light grey, one dark grey, and two small transparent sprues. As this is the third version of the Pacemaker Dora Wings has kitted, some parts will not be used.

The main sprues are well-moulded, and feature fine detail — bordering on too fine in spots to survive primer and paint. There’s a hint of mould mis-alignment present and some parts will need some minor flash removed, but nothing beyond the oft-used “couple swipes of the sanding stick.” Parts are not numbered on the sprue, however a call-out map is on the front page of the instructions.

Control surfaces are provided as separate items and feature a subtle corrugated as do the wings and struts.

Extras

Included is a small copper photo etch sheet with 21 parts — mostly control horns with a few parts each for the cockpit, cowling and struts — and 15 vinyl-type masking elements.

Instructions + Painting

The two folded A4 instruction sheets breaks the build into 20 clearly illustrated steps. Aside from the need to cut out the 6 cabin windows required for this version, construction looks to hold no surprises, and should provide a straightforward build for any modeller who has previously worked with struts and supports.

Aside from the full-colour 3-view plan drawings, Dora Wings provide no instruction or colour call-outs, so modellers will need to do their home work.

Liveries and Decals

4 decal options are provided in the kit:

A/C NC259M
Pacific International Airways, 1934
The livery featured on the box art, the aircraft is illustrated on the plan views as being an overall orange aircraft, with a large ‘PIA’ on the fuselage and a predominantly white tail. The box art however, shows a natural metal cowling(?) and black framing around the cockpit and cabin windows, rather than orange, so check references if accuracy is an concern.

It’s important to note, the white motif on the tail with the scalloped trailing edge will need to be sorted out by the modeller as no decal or mask is provided for this area, though Dora Wings kind tell you to mask this area on the plan view. Not sure if my kit is missing a mask, or that’s just DW stating the obvious.

A/C NC3008
Oakland-Cleveland race, August 25, 1929
Orange aircraft, with natural metal engine cowling.

A/C NC251M
Inter Island Airways, Hawai’i, 1929
Orange aircraft, with natural metal engine cowling.

A/C NC256M
Rapid Air Transport Inc., 1930
Orange aircraft, with natural metal engine cowling.