Matchbox Provost - a classic OOB

[Faust]

A lot of people say that things are “like riding a bicycle”, meaning that once you get the hang of it you can’t really forget how to do it. However, if you think about it, riding a bike is hard. There are a lot of specialized skills involved, and it requires training, persistence and special equipment to get the hang of it.

Flying is very similar, and basic flying training is, and always will be, an important part of any pilot’s journey to the skies. Of course, compared to flashy fighters and bombers, the trainers aren’t as “imagination grabbing”, and so they often get left out in the cold. Thankfully, Matchbox had the sense to help rectify this when they issued their kit of the Percival Provost T.1, the RAF’s standard trainer for quite some post-war time.
This isn’t a kit that I’ve seen very often, and to my knowledge it’s not one that Revell has ever repopped, or at least not for a while. Check out this little forgotten bird at the link below, and bring your sunglasses!

https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/matchbox-1-72-percival-p-56-provost-t-1-out-of-box/

 

[64Comet404]

Those Matchbox planes are great builds; different subject matter, and decent fit. These are the kits I recommend to my students when they want to build a kit without a lot of painting, or trying out a biplane build for the first time.

[Mike999]

Thanks.  Again, you made a not-too-interesting kit more interesting to me than it would have been.

Good old Matchbox.  Your review reminded me of how diverse they really were.  They boldly went where no other kit manufacturer dared to go.  You probably know this, but for those who don't: way back in 1988, Matchbox released a kit of the obscure Heinkel He-70 (or He-170) "Blitz" between-the-war aircraft.  It could be built with a radial or inline engine, as a Lufthansa civil airliner, or a Condor Legion bomber used in the Spanish Civil War.  Unlike the poor old Provost, it actually included different interiors for the bomber and airliner versions.  If you didn't like the Matchbox kit, well, then you could go buy an expensive resin He-70 or a vac-form.  No one else kitted the He-70 in plastic for TWENTY YEARS!  In 2008 Roden finally released a nice modern kit of that aircraft.  Matchbox, always ahead of their time...

[Faust]

2 hours ago, Mike999 said:

Thanks.  Again, you made a not-too-interesting kit more interesting to me than it would have been.

Good old Matchbox.  Your review reminded me of how diverse they really were.  They boldly went where no other kit manufacturer dared to go.  You probably know this, but for those who don't: way back in 1988, Matchbox released a kit of the obscure Heinkel He-70 (or He-170) "Blitz" between-the-war aircraft.  It could be built with a radial or inline engine, as a Lufthansa civil airliner, or a Condor Legion bomber used in the Spanish Civil War.  Unlike the poor old Provost, it actually included different interiors for the bomber and airliner versions.  If you didn't like the Matchbox kit, well, then you could go buy an expensive resin He-70 or a vac-form.  No one else kitted the He-70 in plastic for TWENTY YEARS!  In 2008 Roden finally released a nice modern kit of that aircraft.  Matchbox, always ahead of their time...

Thanks for the compliment, Mike. I'm glad I made it interesting. Just so you know, I don't really care for the Provost, as a plane. If it was ANYTHING other than a Matchbox, it wouldn't have even made it into the stash. But, I have a weakness for "the 'Box", so I picked it up for nearly nothing. It was only after I got looking at it that I started to notice how cool it was, as a neat little kit of an obscure (in kit form) airplane. I grew to really like it, and I wanted to convey that in my review. I guess it worked!

I recently picked up that He-70/170. I've seen the Revell Germany repop literally hundreds of times, and didn't care at all. I don't like Heinkel's pre-war stuff. I hate the engine arrangement of the inline. However, the Matchbox IMMEDIATELY grabbed my attention. When I saw the radial engined version, I was definitely hooked. At $5 for a sealed copy, I'd be nuts not to get it! There are so many kits that Matchbox made and only some are only now getting re-kitted; Two-holer Lightning and Viggen, Skyknight, Twin Otter, "wide body" Skyraider... the list goes on. Who else made a Privateer? Who else made a Siskin, Biplane Helldiver or He-115, Do-G1 or DoX for that matter?

You can never, ever beat the 'Box, I don't think. 

[dodgefever]

15 hours ago, Mike999 said:

Thanks.  Again, you made a not-too-interesting kit more interesting to me than it would have been.

 

+1.  I find your reviews entertaining, even if the subject isn't something I'd normally look twice at.  I have a soft spot for these old Matchbox kits too; their Gloster Gladiator was the among first models I built on my own, without my Dad helping.

[bisc63]

+2! Love that Matchbox He-115; what a sleek plane, and MB captured its proportions quite well. Many modelers consider their B-17 to yet have the most well proportioned fuselage shape. I can't argue with them...

Always like your posts, and your take on models in general!

[Faust]

Yeah, the He-115 is a nice one. I don't have it, but one day I will!

I think it's funny that with all the modern tech kit makers have today, we still find a few subjects that Matchbox did so well. I wasn't aware of their B-17 being that good, but their Wellington (which I do have) is quite nice, and its fabric effect is much better than the overly-saggy skin on the Trumpeter version. Sometimes, newer isn't better!

Thanks for the compliments, too, Rusty!

[stavanzer]

Found one of these kits in a bag, in a box of stuff I had opened in 30 years. It is complete, but sadly, missing the canopy. So, it will sit, unbuilt forever in it's bag. No way, I'll ever find a spare canopy.....

[Faust]

If you want to build it, just use a lump of putty for a canopy, and make a thin fabric tarp over it. I'm sure that either at home, or in one of the many desert countries that used it, such tarps would have been used to protect the canopy from the elements. This way, you don't need a canopy to build the model if you really want to!

Just an idea you can think on!

[stavanzer]

Hmmmm, That is a thought.