Brengun 1/144 Mignet HM.14 Pou-du-Ciel
By Matt Bittner
Introduction
In the early 1930s Henri Mignet designed the “Flying Flea” (Pou-du-Ciel) as a quick and easy self-built aircraft. His fourth design was the HM.14 and it was this design he published, with complete specifications, so anyone with a modicum of metal- and wood-working ability could be able to create. It was 1933 when Mignet took his first HM.14 for a flight and for a few years after that there were plenty of amateur fliers that had built, and were flying, “Fleas”. Unfortunately there were some aerodynamic flaws with his design and it was the late 1930s when most countries banned the flying of the Pou-du-Ciel.
The Kit
The Brengun 1/144 Mignet HM.14 Pou-du-Ciel consists of eight pieces of gray resin, and a photoetch fret with 26 pieces of it. There are decals for two Mignets, G-AEBR and G-AFFI. Both are primarily white overall with the underside of the fuselage blue.
This is not going to be an easy kit to put together, but once it's finished it will definitely be a conversation piece. The most difficult aspect is folding the photoetch, especially the pieces that hold the main wing and the engine to the one-piece fuselage. There will be some tricky manuevering to get everything to line up correctly.
The instructions must be studied and followed carefully. There are a lot of tiny photoetch pieces so you may also want to build "in a box", so if anything "pings" it won't go very far. However, if any of the photoetch does ping then you won't be able to finish this model.
Another bit of advice is if you do finish this model then definitely permanently attach it to a base. It's so small and delicate that any handling will inevitably lead to broken-off parts.
Conclusion
This is an extremly unique kit and in 1/144 will be quite small. But it's a great subject and will definitely garner a lot of attention once finished.
My thanks to Brengun for sending this to review.