History

The Dornier Do-17 was a German medium-class bomber.
Designed in the early 1930s, it was one of the three main Luftwaffe bomber types used in the first three years of the war. The Do 17 made its combat debut in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War, operating in the Condor Legion in various roles. Along with the Heinkel He 111 it was the main bomber type of the German air arm in 1939–1940. The Dornier was used throughout the early war, and saw action in significant numbers in every major campaign theatre as a front line aircraft until the end of 1941.
The aircraft saw extensive action in the beginning the of the 2nd WW and it played a major role in the fall of several countries during the early phases of the war such as Holland, Belgium and France. It was also used in the invasion of the Balkans, Greece and Crete saw a major participation of this machine but it was in the Soviet Union invasion that the Do 17 was more used. It was dubbed as the “Flying Pencil” for its thin shape.
Production of the Dornier ended in mid-1940, in favour of the newer and more powerful Junkers Ju 88. The successor of the Do 17 was the much more powerful Dornier Do 217, which started to appear in strength in 1942.
More than 2100 Dornier Do 17 bomber were build in all versions.

Contents

3 plastic sprues.
2 Clear sprues.
Decals sheet for four variants.

Curiously there are some times when the same “subject” is reproduced in large numbers by different companies. In some cases this is really nice since the only representations of this kit available were quite old and completely out dated. This kit is one of these cases, with 1 year difference the DO-17Z comes out in the same scale by two different companies, lets see what ICM as to offer us.

Review

I do like the ICM boxes, maybe because they are stronger than the others and because of that I never received a damaged kit from ICM, so I always feel confident when I order any of their kits on the web.
The box art shows us a very attractive winter paint scheme with the common white colours used on the eastern front during the winter period of the year.
Once the box is opened we can see all the sprues bagged in the same plastic bag. Only the clear parts are bagged individually, all the other sprues are in the same bag.
The kit is composed of 5 sprues, being 2 clear parts, these are some of the best clear parts I have ever seen. Really well done, all the details are sharply injected, the plastic is very thin and almost invisible when you put something behind it, there is no distortion at all! It will be easy to mask the “windows” since the edges are very well defined.

On the plastic sprues you will find the same quality. There are plenty of parts but not in excess, what I mean is that is possible to obtain lots of detail with only the number of parts needed to build it, and it looks that ICM have made kit that is possibly just as good without aftermarket detail. All the parts are excellently injected, no sink marks are visible. The parts have a very crispy detail. Parts such as the landing gear have a really look nice, thin and full of detail. The moveable parts have soft details and not overdone like you may find in some other kits.
The lines on the fuselage are perfectly moulded, fine delicate, and they are the same all the way to the end of it. They don’t fade and maintain always the same deepness and width.
With such a good quality on the clear parts it should be interesting to have nice interiors, and it looks that ICM didn’t disappoint us with their attention to detail in this area of the kit. There is more than 20 parts for the cockpit, they are crisp and with enough detail for the 1/72nd scale. It will be easy to get a very eye catching look with a small amount of work, maybe it would be a good idea to introduce a small fret of P.E. for the smallest parts, like the seatbelts. I am sure that the after markets companies will fix this situation soon. The machine guns have enough details, and they are so small that they will make the job look perfect.
The bomb bay is very well represented too, even if nothing is visible once the kit is closed. The fuel tank is represented and there are plenty of bombs to put on the racks. Its possible to leave the doors open, but being this is an aircraft that is really close to the ground, it will be difficult to see anything, but for those who like to detail the interiors this is an excellent opportunity. Another nice touch is that there is a single part for the ones who rather prefer to have it closed and two parts for the opened option, no need to divide any part here.

The upper wing comes in one part, and we will find lots of nice details, the moveable parts comes separated, that can be used to give a more dynamic look to the kit. The actuators on the rudders look to be a little bit out of scale but with a bit of sanding they will look better.
The wheels come in two parts, the tires are well represented but with some sanding needed some of the detail may be lost. Pre-scribbling some of the details on the tires will be possible to have all the details still in place once the sanding finished. The wheels are not weighted and that would have be en a nice touch to have weighted ones. The wheel wells are, once more, very well detailed. All the internal structure is represented and with the addition of “cables” it will look really good.
The engines look very nice and as with all the other areas of the kit there are plenty of parts to build till they are finished.
The ejection pins marks are a little bit all over the parts, but all in strategic areas where they will not be seen once the kit is built. Almost no flash is visible and the one only flash that I see is really easily removed.
Some parts are not for use since they are only usable on the previous version, the DO 17Z-10.


The decals are very well printed, the colours are strong and look spot on. There is some film around the numbers and letter’s, the decals looks to be very thin but as always we can cut this before we apply it.

The instructions is composed up of 20 pages, the first and last 2 are printed in full colour profiles, the interior ones in 2 different colours and they are very clear and simple to follow even in the more crowded sub assemblies its easy to understand the instructions.

Four versions can be built, three in the standard two greens/light blue scheme and another one in white/light blue.

Conclusion

If the parts go well together, with all the quality of the parts found inside the box this will be a quick build. This is a must have for all the WWII aircraft fans, even if the Luftwaffe is not your favourite theme. I hope ICM can present us some of the first versions of this aircraft.