Got this one for $5 at a swap meet and couldn't resist building it straight away. Turned out to be not the easist of kits...similar or maybe just slightly harder than your average Special Hobby or Classic Airframes kit.

I decided to build it after reading some very interesting facts about the real aircraft. Few people would realise that the Los (pronounced more like Losh i believe) was probably the best medium bomber in the world in 1939. In fact, Polands best fighter was too slow to even keep up with their best bomber. The P.37 could carry the bomb load of a B17 faster and further than a Heinkel 111P. Not bad considering it did all that with less powerful engines. It's secret was in the low drag semi laminar flow wings and clever light weight undercarriage. The P.37's only real weakness was poor defensive armament- but every bomber of the time shared that same problem...had further development been possible, at least the P.37 would have had the luxury of trading off some of it's huge bomb load for more defence. In action it was badly outnumbered, used unwisely in small numbers for recon missions and had to operate without any effective fighter cover. It was an excellent design that never really stood a chance.

The kit is about the same quality as an MPM/Special Hobby/Classic Airframes kit. Though the plastic parts all needed sanding because of a pebbled surface texture, they at least fitted well for the most part. The big exception being the bomb bays, they were BAD! I made the fateful decision to close the bomb bay doors for the wings (the fuselage bays are closed without any option). I did not like the bombs much and didn't feel like the work involved in assembling all 16 of them anyway. But in hindsight, it's best to build the bomb bays open. The bomb bay doors fit badly and there feels like a hundred of them.

But overall a very good effort by Mirage. I also have the Karas as well and look forward to building that as well someday...and it has resin bombs and no bomb bays which will be a relief.








Andrew

It was definately worth the work Andrew. It's a nice machine with a great finish. I assume the checkers on the wings are in the right spots, even if they look a bit off. Do you have any idea why?

By the way, this looks like a Hampden, done the normal way. I wonder what dope Handley Page was on when they did Hampden their own way

Tony

The theory behind the assymetrical wing markings was to throw off the aim of an enemy. Sort of like disruptive camoflage i suppose...or more like the fake bow wakes on the Bismarck- makes it difficult to detirmine range. But since no one else picked up on the assymetrical markings idea, then i guess it wasn't very successful.

Andrew

Well, I got to say I'm puzzled too. The idea seems so smart that it must have worked. But then again, those who order work are paper guys, and paper guys tend to like symmetry. Never underestimate the power of bureaucracy.

Tony (Who learned something new today too )

Looks great, Andrew. A very cheap kit but obviously not without problems.

You have made a very nice job on the painting. The subtle shading on the wings work well on such a large wing area with one colour camouflage.

Thanks for sharing

Hi andrew,

Very nice model! It's funny, because it's the last kit I've purchased! The exact same box.

I see now that the Mirage Kit can be built into a fantastic looking model!

I suppose you will submit it for a build feature soon...

Jean-Luc

Very nice and unusual build, that's the way I like it

Greetz,

Jurrie

Łoś (eng. - ELK) actually should be pronouced more like WHOSI

It is nice to see that someone is building Polish aircrafts

Łoś was best what we have in SEP'39 and as you have said Andrew, we have used them in incorrect way in most of the cases.
Łoś had fantastic aerodynamic profile, so Polish command ordered to build fast pursuit plane basing on Los aerodynamic profile. Unfortunately up to WW II only two prototypes were flying.
I'm now witting for the postman who will bring me model of this plane, I will share pic of it with you.

What about the markings, in 1939 Polish AF were using low- visibility markings at the wings underside. This markings were typical Polish AF chessboard without white fields.

Andrew, very good model!

Thanks for the comments!

Jean-Luc: If you have this model now then you will be able to see for yourself what i mean about the rough surface texture- in some places it's quite heavy. Overall it's a hard kit for me to classify. It has excellent detail in some places- like the interior, combined with areas like the wheel bays that are completely empty of detail. Some parts are well engineered and fit well and then there are the bomb bays! But overall it compares about the equal of a limited run Czech kit, and there's nothing wrong with that. And what a great subject.

Andrew

Los is pronounced in Polish as it is in English, loss, and means fate or destiny. The P.37 was called Łoś, pronounced like the English word wash and is an elk or moose depending upon which side of the Atlantic you live.

The offset chessboards, on the upper surfaces of the wings only, were introduced in the 1930s and it seems confined to combat aircraft although the P.7s of the Air Force College Dęblin and Air Gunnery and Bombing School Grudziądz had their chessboards offset in a different pattern. They were also a smaller size than those used previously. The purpose was to prevent an enemy pilot or gunner using them to centre his aim. I have never found any mention as to its effectiveness but I would not be surprised if it was born out of the experiences of Polish fighter pilots during mock combats. Some PZL 11s of the Rumanian Air Force had offset St. Michel’s crosses on the upper wings. All the examples I know of were confiscated Polish P.11cs so the crosses were probably painted in the same place as the chessboards, perhaps not realizing that they were not placed symmetrically.



This particular Łoś,is believed to be 72.225 belonging to the XXth Bomber Dyon, a non-operational reserve Łoś unit. It was destroyed by German bombing at Małaszewicze airfield (now in Belarus) and appeared in the German propaganda film Kampfgeschwader Lützow. The vixen emblem belonged to the 12th Eskadra disbanded in March 1939, some of its personnel going to the XXth Dyon.






The interior can be enhanced with the Part PE set for the kit. It includes the usual acetate film for the instrument dials but a set of decals would be much better in this case as the dials on Polish aircraft were colour coded according to function and looked like this in the Łoś.






Strangely there are no seat belts.

There is a separate small set for the exterior that is useful as it gives you better exhausts and oil coolers and also a third set for the flaps. Nothing though for the bomb bay which could really needs with some help.



I do not know of a single example of a Łoś that had ‘low visibility’ chessboards. All the photographs of wrecks, abandoned and damaged aircraft, incomplete aircraft etc. that I have seen all have red and white chessboards.






Chessboards without white fields were not introduced as a prelude to war. You can find them on such aircraft as the PZL 7 in the mid-1930s.

Hi Andrew

Fine build! I've so often heard bad reports about this kit, it's great to see how well it can be built in skilled hands! I echo Jean-Luc's hint that it deserves to be on the Frontpage.

Antoni - all I can see is Pixum adverts in place of your photos.

All the best

Rowan

Antoni do something with the pic!
You are right about chessboards without white fields, I also cant remember Łoś having them but Karaś and P- fighter were bearing them during SEP'39 campaign.

In December last year AOL closed down its own photo hosting service, which was actually very good and had unlimited storage, and moved everything to Pixum with all the usual hype. As is often the case they replaced something very good with something which is far inferior. I do not recommend Pixum to anyone. I moved the photos to Photobucket. Should be OK now.

Beautiful job! I have one of these kits and have been leery of those bomb bay doors. Thanks for the reference pics as well- saved!

Cheers-
chuk

Hey Andrew,
That's a lovely build! I am just about to put this one on the workbench, so you're model is inspirational! Nice to see it can be done, albeit with a bit of effort.

Just got my kit in the mail.

Andrew i can't believe you payed $5 !

Crikey !! I bought mine in Poland

PE on the wa also, it's a lovely looking machine I must say

Cheers

Paul