Designed under the auspices of a NATO Armaments Committee, the Atlantic first flew on late 1961. The aircraft is a full function land based ASW platform with a full suite of sensors and armament designed to track and destroy enemy submarines. It is fully as capable as the US Navy's P-3 Orion (developed at about the same time) and can carry two full crews for long duration flights.

Powered by two Rolls-Royce Tyne turboprops, the Atlantic can easily shut down one engine and fly on the other when long loiter times are required. If the serial numbers an be believed, there were over 50 aircraft delivered to the French Navy, with three of these being passed on to Pakistan. 9 of them were sold to the Netherlands, 20 to Germany and 18 to Italy. The Dutch bought P-3C aircraft when they were available, but the Italians and Germans are still flying their Atlantics. 

Developed in the last 15 years is the Atlantic NG. It is very similar to the older Atlantics in both overall look and engines. However the electronics suite is completely new. Older Atlantics are being modified to the new specifications and a total of 42 are expected to be completed.

Mach 2 have a love/hate relationship with modelers, from what I have read about them. Modelers love the subjects, but find the kits very difficult to build. Apparently there are numerous fit problems and some of the molding isn't the best. Looking at the parts on the sprue, one is left with the impression that his is just a very large, short run kit. Sprue gates are large, there are no alignment pins and the is some flash on most of the parts. All this is typical of low volume short run models. 

Looking closer at the kit one notices that all the panel lines are nicely engraved, though the engraving is a bit soft and not as 'crisp' as on standard kits.  However, some of that will go away under a coat or two of paint. The plastic itself is a bit softer than what one expects from Monogram, but again it is part of the genre. There is a full interior, though some additional scratch building will be needed to make it look properly complex. However any of this additional building will be tough to see through the clear plastic bits. They are thick and pretty distorted. Perhaps some polishing will help. Perhaps not.

Instructions are minimalist at the very best. There are three exploded views; one for the cockpit, one for the wheel wells (which are devoid of any detail), and one for the rest of the plane. The only painting instruction is for the prop. How nice, but what color is the rest of the airplane? There is no decal placement guide apart from the box top. Decals are very matte with lots of film around each decal. They are rather crisply done and look very much like old Heller decals. How they will work is unknown as is how opaque the reds and yellows will be. Past experience with French short-run kits has shown the decals to be less than good, but I don't know about these.

How the kit will build is unknown and had I not gotten it for a very reasonable price at a swap meet, I wouldn't have though of buying it. However, now that I have it, the desire to give it a shot is quite compelling. If you have built a number of short run kits, then this one shouldn't have too many surprises. Rarely have I found a kit to be unbuildable and I'm sure this one will turn out looking quite nice when done.

Review kit courtesy of me and my wallet!

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