Amodel’s 1/72
Pitts S2A

By Chris Banyai-Riepl

History

The Pitts S2A biplane got its start in 1949 when the first Pitts S2 came out. The incredible performance and durability made it popular with pilots and airshow attendees throughout the world. When the updated S2A came out, it too became an industry standard that is only just recently been challenged. While the military aerobatic teams could flash by in the latest fighter technology, the private aerobatic teams had to rely on diminutive planes such as the Pitts to impress audiences. The light weight and powerful engine makes the Pitts a hot little ship, while the biplane configuration offers lots of area to paint up in team colors. Considering that this plane dates back to a design over 50 years old, the success of the Pitts S2A is even more amazing.

The Kit

Prior to this kit, there was only one other injection kit of the Pitts S2A, that by a Japanese company called LS. I’m not sure of the availability of the LS kit as I haven’t seen one in quite some time, but from what I remember of it, the LS kit was quite nice. The Amodel kit might not be as cleanly molded as the LS kit, but at least it is available and the price isn’t that bad. Molded in white plastic, the first thing that you’ll be struck with upon opening the box is how tiny this model is! The wingspan and fuselage length are both just a tad over 2", so you could build a dozen of these and not ever worry about shelf space.

The kit has some flash present, and the typical Amodel thick sprues. The plastic isn’t soft and isn’t hard, which is a good thing considering how many small, thin parts are attached to those thick sprues. There will need to be quite a bit of cleanup needed on this kit, but once the flash is trimmed away and the mating edges smoothed down, it looks like it will fit together very well. A bit of putty will likely be needed, but not much.

The cockpit is sparse and could use some detailing, mainly in the form of sidewall structure. A seat and instrument panel is provided, as is a control stick, but that’s it. Granted, there isn’t much that can be seen inside this once it’s done, especially with the canopy on, but for those who want to go to town, there’s plenty of room for improvement.

The rest of the assembly is straightforward, with the only thing that needs to be done is to thin the stabilizers and rudder. These are molded as a constant thickness, which should lend itself well to thinning down. The struts for the wheels and outer wing struts are also molded to a uniform thickness, so some work on those areas will greatly improve the look of the finished model.

And when it comes to finishing, this kit gives you lots of choices. The decal sheet isn’t that big (what do you expect? It’s a small plane!), but there are no less than six different choices on it. All of them are colorful and choosing one will be difficult. The first one is depicted on the boxtop, that being the Toyota one, done in red and white. Next up is the Rothmans one, painted in white and black, with yellow lettering on the fuselage and lower wing. The third choice is for a Microlease plane and it features the word "Microlease" upside down on the red trimmed white fuselage. A Canadian one comes next, painted in white and red, with a white maple leaf on the tail. A Swiss one, also done in red and white, has a challenging white cheat line and tail trim that you’ll have to paint on. The final option is a yellow and black Pitts, with some of the trim provided in decal and the rest needing to be masked and painted.

Conclusions

This is definitely a kit that will be fun to build. With the huge number of paint schemes available you can easily build one that no one else will do, and the bright colors will add a welcome change to a drab military camouflage. While the kit itself may take a bit more work than most, it should build up into a beautiful model.

Available from Aviation Usk for only $7.50.