Aircraft design advanced rapidly in the 1930s from fixed gear biplanes to monoplanes with fully retractable gear. Some aircraft were caught in the middle of the transition, including the Dewoitine D.500 series. A world-leading design at its inception, the D.500 and its close relatives quickly lost ground in performance compared to up-and-coming rivals.
Dora Wings chose this little known but important evolution in combat aircraft as its initial 1/32 scale kit. Boasting excellent surface detail, decals for four schemes, photo-etched metal (PE) parts, and handy vinyl canopy masks, it’s a good-looking freshman effort.
The instructions call for PE instrument panels that are detailed with additional brass bezels. I used the optional injection-molded panels because they offered better detail for less work, even though they aren’t mentioned in the instructions. The supplied decals work with either option. The nicely detailed, multipart PE seat belts are quite thin and fragile and need a gentle.
The full interior is simple and accurately reflects the real aircraft. I painted it Tamiya medium blue (XF-48).
After minor clean up, all the parts fit precisely together. Be sure that both sides of the floor slot into the shelf on each fuselage half during assembly.
The exacting fits carried over to the large chin radiator assembly. After gluing the plastic parts together, I attached the brass side rails to the radiator fairing, and then glued the brass shutters in place. The whole assembly mates to the fuselage with no need for filler. Nice job, Dora Wings!
A bit of trimming was required to fit the spinner to the propeller’s baseplate. The propeller shaft is shown positioned incorrectly in the instructions: It should be mounted inside the spinner assembly, not behind the baseplate.
The upper cowl panel includes a lip around the edge that I believe is correct. Careful trimming preserved it while adjusting the fit to the fuselage. A small gap appeared on the nose just forward of the cockpit, but I filled it easily with strip styrene, which nicely simulated the rib that appears there on the full-size aircraft.
All control surfaces came as separate parts, and Dora designed joints that allow for razor sharp trailing edges. Unfortunately, this makes for some difficult seams to fill on the rudder and lower wings. I left the assembled rudder off to ease painting and decaling.
After trimming and truing the edges, the wing’s one-piece lower center section fit tightly to the fuselage, needing just a touch of filler at the rear. The upper and lower outboard wing sections fit very well and exhibit beautiful surface detail.
There are no locators for the fuel tank that mounts on the lower center section. The instructions appear to have it too far forward, so I moved it aft until it seemed to match the decal profiles and fit well.
Molded-over slots in the wing hint that Dora Wings plans to release up-gunned versions of the fighter. A sink mark above one of the slots required filling.
The part numbers for the forward and rear stabilizer tail support struts are reversed for each side, but their respective lengths make it easy to catch the mistake.
The fixed landing gear parts all fit nicely and the attachment points align everything perfectly. I bored out the axle holes in the wheels for better fit.
An antenna mounted on the lower fuselage seemed like it would interfere with the ground and many photos show it folded. So, I cut it at an angle at the base and reversed the angle so it folded back towards the fuselage.
All four marking options included go over natural metal, but the national insignia and squadron markings provide plenty of color. I painted my D.500 using Alclad II aluminum and varied the look with dark aluminum for the cowl panels and the spar caps on the wings.
The decals performed flawlessly and settled over surface details with a little heat from a hair dryer and decal setting solution. Be aware that the second decal option shows an alternate pattern of exhaust ports that are not included in this kit.
My petite French fighter took an enjoyable 18 hours to build, highlighted by outstanding design and fit, and it’s a Grade A first effort in 1/32 scale by Dora Wings.
Note: A version of this review appeared in the December 2020 issue.