Picked up the new Mach 2 C-54/DC-4 at Berkeley Ace Hardware a week ago.
Having had nothing but bad experiences with Mach 2 kits in the past I approached it with some trepidation. It turned out to be a very pleasant experience.
Dry fitting the parts I found the fuselage halves to be a pretty good fit. As is often the case with many large models, there is a bit of a bow at the mid-point, but it looks like simple glue-then-rubber-bands should do the trick. Surface details are recessed and very fine. There were a couple of surface problems that appear to be rectifilable with light sanding. As with almost all of the parts in the kit there is a minute amount of flash. Fuselage doors have to be cut out and there is a replacement door provided. Three of the windows for the DC-4 variant are flashed over and have to be opened for that variant. There is a seperate nose cone for some variants.
The cockpit consists of an aft bulkhead (which doubles as an aft bulkhead for the nose gear bay), a floor with central console, instrument panel cowl, instrument panel with recessed instruent faces, two seats and two control yokes. Detail is a little heavy for the seats and yokes, but they can barely be seen. There is no cabin interior whatsoever. The cockpit windscreen is incorporated in a single part including the appropriate part of the fuselage. It's a good pattern for a vacuform part as it's so milky that it's opaque. The cabin windows and astrodome are just as bad with a couple of ripples marring some of the parts. Kristal Klear or white glue should suffice for the windows and the astrodome can be done with a vacuform part.
Wings are as good as the fuselage, maybe better as there are no flaws and the fit is very nice. Undercarriage bays are seperate parts with nice detailing. Landing gear legs look a little clunky, but should clean up nicely. Wheels and tires are done in halves and include nice detailing. All gear doors are a bit thick, but they also have interior detail.
The wings fitted almost perfectly with a very small amount of trimming. The wing roots will take some filling, but no more than most large kits. Engine cowlings consist of two halves with a central core and two part engines of pretty good detail. Two different sets of exhaust stubs are provided and need to be hollowed out. The props are useless. The angles at the attachment to the hub vary and one blade is quite a bit shorter than than the other two. Four identical, useless props are provided. Replacement from the spares box or aftermarket parts are required. Horizontal stabilizers are very nice and are done in halves. Fit is good. One stabilizer has a drop of plastic in the middle that can be easilly trimed off and cleaned up.
Small detail parts such as the df loop football and various antennae are OK. The smallest antennae are too thick, but they make excellent patterns for cutting from thin sheet styrene.
Instructions are very brief, but most questions as to placement are illustrated. Decals are on target, needing to be cut out carefully from the overall coating. White parts are printed seperately. There are markings for a Pan American Clipper (the cargo doors should be changed to a single passenger door for this variant), an US Navy Operation Deep Freeze bird and an USAF Berlin Air Lift C-54. There is an illustration and mention on the box side for a RAF 1945 aircraft, but only the serial number is given, no roundels or fin flashes. Decals W3 appear to be the white background for the roundels.
All in all this is a decent kit, at least dry fitting the parts, of a long awaited subject. It is certainly the best kit ever produced by Mach 2.
Tom Young MAI/ESM 72