Special Hobby | 1/32 Moraine Saulnier 406

Reviewed by Jay Laverty

There's no denying this kit impresses as soon as the lid is removed to reveal the contents within. Granted it isn't overflowing with plastic and the box may be slightly large for the 4 cleanly moulded sprues of grey styrene, but thankfully Special hobby have moved away from the end opening boxes.

The injection moulded parts are superbly done and possess delicately moulded detail. With finely engraved panel lines and intricately rendered fine detail, the only drawback on this particular copy is that it does tend to have a small amount of flash, although this looks like it will be very easy to clean up. There are several very impressive aspects to the detail, and personally the wheels were a highlight along with the seat cushion, which in itself holds detail worthy of any aftermarket detail set. There may be a couple of places where the detail is a bit light, but overall this is a very acceptable and pleasing bit of injection moulding. Overall the cockpit is definitely the highlight of this kit, as the tubular framing is very well done, and thus this area will definitely be a focus on the completed model.

With a small bag of resin included there are plenty of parts that are greatly enhanced in this way, and the exhausts are pretty impressive, although delicate handling is required, as they are little more than a membrane at the ends. A brilliantly detailed control stick is included in the resin parts along with the pilots headrest and some very well rendered details like arms for the undercarriage.

One other impressive inclusion in resin are the flame dampeners which are appropriate for two of the decal options and personally I thought a very nice touch, that adds to the versatility and appeal of the kit.

The photo-etched parts are a highlight of the kit, and once again the integration of the mediums is prominent here. With a full colour fret that covers the instrumentation consoles as well as the seatbelts, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise that the cockpit on this kit is going to look particularly spectacular, and by this point I am very anxious to start this model.

Three full colour three view plans provide the instructions for both painting and decalling, another nice touch on a kit full of nice touches.

I would rate this kit very highly on the basis of the inspection of the contents in the box, although with any model the proof as they say, lies in the pudding. Special Hobby kits do not generally fall together like Tamiya or Hasegawa, but then they are not intended to either. We mustn't forget that while we have grown to accept Special Hobby as a mainstream manufacturer, they do not have the financial resources of the long established injection producers and therefore the engineering will not always be what the likes of Hasegawa can manage. Having said that though, there is no denying that they build into superbly detailed and spectacular looking models and I have no doubt that this will be one as well. The combination of the various mediums in places like the cockpit, where the etched, resin, and injection parts are fully integrated shows that special Hobby are paying attention to what modellers want to see in a kit as it comes from the box, and providing it with a great level of detail and accuracy.

As a release I would rate this very highly.

Thanks to Alistair at A2Zee Models for the review sample.

Special Hobby | 1/32 Moraine Saulnier 406

Reviewed by Jay Laverty

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