Sharkit Horten X (XIII b)
Supplied by Hannants (see review...)
Another solidly moulded, simple
but complete kit from France. Unfortunately, either I'm just unlucky,
or Sharkit has some
problems with fuselages - this one, the only Sharkit kit I've seen so
far with a 2-piece, partly
hollow fuselage, had such badly warped parts I had to get replacements
from Sharkit. Franck
Wagner, the Sharkit man, lost no time sending me not one, but two
replacement fuselages (4
halves). Interestingly, one was the same semi-hollow mould, the other
solid, and with different
wing attachment holes... Incidently, there are fuselage and wing
attachment pins and holes, but I
found it easier to cut all the pins off during cleanup - his resin
'sprue', whatever the technical term
for it, tends to be quite thick and awkwardly placed near those pins!.
The new bits, and original
wings, fitted very cleanly with a little light sanding. As usual,
surface detail is minimal, lightly
etched on the wings, absent on the fuselage excepting the rudder line.
It's quite difficult to clean
up the join on the inside of the jet intake & exhaust, but
otherwise no problems. The cockpit of
this is in the thick vertical fin, and unusually seat, panel and floor
are moulded as one, and very
well moulded too, right down to panel dials - must be a very complex
mould! The transparency is
supplied as a thin piece of acetate taped inside the box lid - look
carefully! - to be bent to shape
for the simple, single-curve canopy. Small bits are few but nicely
moulded, undercarriage legs,
wheels & doors. However, the flash around the legs is worryingly
thick to trim without damage to
the thin legs. So, after all those adverse comments, did I like it?
Yes, definitely! It's solidly,
cleanly, if very simply moulded. It looks VERY sleek in it's present,
semi-constructed state,
fuselage and wings assembled. The closest I've ever seen to a
paper-dart aircraft. The thin
undercarriage worries me, but that's normal for most resin kits!
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Kit - Castings fair with little surface detail and huge
casting
blocks. The instructions are basic.
Construction involved much filling , sanding and sculpting
especially round the nose area. . The
U/c is too weak , and the doors are too thick and need replacing (
slabs of concrete ). The acetate sheet canopy as amarked is incorrect .
Hold a piece of paper over the cockpit and rub pencil over it to give
an outline.
Conclusion - a bit of work but worth it - not a first resin kit.
Below is the completed kit from SAMI plus the starting product.
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