Martin Baker MB-2

[Mike]

Martin Baker MB-2

1:48 Magna Models (0748)

The MB-2 was developed by the Martin Baker company in response to Ministry spec F.5/34 from their earlier MB-1, and had the aim of making an aircraft that was both simple to produce and maintain. It was a low wing monoplane, with fixed landing gear that was faired in to improve aerodynamics, with an oil cooler built into the port leg. A portion of the rear fuselage was fabric covered, as were the control surfaces, and apart from the air intakes protruding from the side behind the engine cowling it was a very clean lined aircraft, with a bubble canopy, an unusual feature for an aircraft of its day.

It went through a number of tail planes to improve directional stability, the last version having a standard, if highly raked, tail plane and rudder. The cockpit was well laid out, and maintenance was simple, two common traits of their designs that were carried over via the abandoned MB-4 to the most well known MB-5, which shares a few more traits with its earlier sibling, including narrow wingspan and failure to see RAF service, despite being well liked by the people involved in testing.

To say that the MB-2 is a rather unknown aircraft is an understatement, as it is overshadowed by its more successful, but equally obscure, younger stable-mate, the MB-5, so it is brave of Magna to produce a kit of it in any scale, let alone 1:48. Produce one they have though, and it arrives in a small box with a monochrome picture of the aircraft in profile pasted on the top surface, and identification stickers on each end. Inside are the main resin parts, including the two wings and fuselage halves that are unbagged, but hardly in need of protection. The smaller resin parts are bagged with two vacform canopies, stopped from chaffing by a couple of well-placed staples through the ziplok style bag. The pewter parts are in their own bag, and the instructions are laid flat on the floor of the box. There are NO decals in the kit, which is noted on the front, so you'll need to source six 21mm Type A1 roundels, plus some 4" and 8" 1:48 scale serials.

Overview

First impressions count, and there is quite a lot of flash and some large moulding plugs that will need clean-up before you can build this unusual beast. Don't let that put you off though, because the basic moulding is of a good standard for a short-run resin kit. There are a few bubbles here and there, but nothing too taxing to those possessing super glue, Milliput or Magic-Sculp. The lack of decals is a minor disappointment, but the decals you finally use will probably be of better quality than a small company can afford to produce, so it's not all bad.

The Kit

The fuselage is split vertically down the middle in the traditional style, and there are some quite sizeable mating surfaces to aid you in gluing it together. The rudder is moulded into the fuselage, but looks like it needs a little thinning from the inside to give a nice sharp edge. There is a quantity of moulded in cockpit detail within the fuselage halves, and a cockpit tub with a seat and instrument panel, both made from resin. The control column and crash pylon, which raised in the event of a nose-over accident are made from pewter, and there are basic instructions to their placement. A set of basic rudder pedals are moulded into the front bulkhead, and may well be invisible once the kit is complete. The pilot's seat is the high-point of the cockpit, and has some nicely moulded belts draped over in, and a commendably thin back.

The wings are provided singly, and slot into large recesses on the fuselage sides, with the root moulded into the fuselage. I suspect some fettling will be needed to get the correct dihedral and a good joint, but there is at least a head-on diagram to show the correction angle. The landing gear "trousers" (there are no spats as such) attach to large slots under the wings, which obviates a lot of tedious clean-up of the pouring stub join, and a pair of half wheels are included to finish the job. The elevators again attach to recesses on the fuselage sides, and are marked with port and starboard to help their correct positioning.

The few remaining parts are the air intakes on the side of the engine cowling, which have their positions marked, four sets of exhaust stubs from the Napier Dagger III 24-piston engine in an unusual H-arrangement, a foot-step on the side of the fuselage, cranked pitot probe, and of course the two-bladed fixed-pitch prop, which is quite a lump.

The canopy is nice and clear, but the framing detail is a little indistinct, appearing to be slightly recessed to my eyes. This can be quickly resolved by some careful masking and a squirt of hi-build primer to give them a bit of definition, being careful not to melt the canopy by over-application. A spare is provided in case you damage the first one, but it would have been nice to see the canopy moulded in two parts to allow easy positioning of it open.

As mentioned earlier, there are no decals provided, but these will be easy to source either from your spares or from the likes of Fantasy Printshop, who do lots of different sheets full of serials and national markings. The aircraft was painted overall RAF Dark Green for most if not all of its life, but the instructions mention that some sources suggest that it was later painted dark green/dark earth with yellow undersides, which was indicative of a test aircraft. Whether it also sported the circle-P marks too is anyone's guess, as I don't think there are too many extant pictures of the MB-2.

Conclusion

The MB-2 was destined never to see service with the RAF, but it contributed some of its innovations to the MB-5, which in turn changed the way aircraft designers think about cockpit layout and ease of maintenance, so in some small way it lives on. It is an unusual aircraft, and being able to build a model of it is great news, especially to folks like me that just love the esoteric and unusual.

The kit gives you all the basics to build a replica of the MB-2, and all you need is a bit of modelling skill and some patience to be able to pull it off. It won't fall together if you shake the box, but there are few pitfalls - any issues are pretty easy to see. On a negative note, I suspect that the contour of the nose fairing, where it curves down to vertical in front of the cockpit is out slightly, being a little sharp. That could easily be fixed with a short sanding session, followed by the re-scribing of any lost panel lines.

There are a fair few bubbles in the tops of some of the moulds, most noticeably in the wing root fronts, and the wing parts where they meet the fuselage. I've already filled the two in the wing root fairings by cementing in some ABS rod into the bubble holes with super glue, and the rest are countable, rather than legion. On my travels whilst researching this review, I came across a fabulous resource that catalogues visually all of the Martin Baker aircraft from the MB-1 to the MB-5, and you'll find lots of really clear pictures of the MB-2 that will help enormously during building.

Martin Baker Archive Photos

It's not for the resin neophyte, but if you've built one or two kits, this one shouldn't give you much trouble. I'm going to be building this one shortly, so we'll see how it goes. I'll update this review with a link to the build later.

Click below to view Chris' profile, where you can contact him and claim your Britmodeller discount

Thanks to Chris57 for the Review sample on behalf of Magna Models

[Shar2]

It's certainly unusual and looked nice in the box. I'm looking forward to seeing the build.