Hasegawa 1/72 SP-2H Neptune, by Bob Leonard

The Lockheed Neptune was the only US aircraft designed from the start for the land based antisubmarine patrol role. It’s predecessors, the PV-1 Ventura and PV-2 Harpoon, had their origins in Lockheed airliners, while it’s successors, the P-3 Orion, was an adaptation of the L-188 Electra airliner and the P-8 is a revision of the Boeing 737-800. The Neptune was highly successful with 1,177 built and adaptable to many roles, it was used by the US Navy, US Air Force and the US Army. Likewise, dozens for foreign allies flew the Neptune and it is still a popular wildfire tanker. Later versions of the Neptune were one of the few aircraft that had both propeller and jet engines.

In 1946, the third production P2V-1 was chosen for a record-setting mission to test crew endurance, long-range navigation and to display the capabilities of the US Navy's latest patrol bomber. Nicknamed "The Truculent Turtle," it was loaded with fuel in extra tanks fitted in practically every spare space in the aircraft. It set out from Perth, Australia to the United States with a crew of four (and a nine-month-old gray kangaroo, a gift from Australia for the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.) The Neptune flew on 9 September, with rocket-assisted takeoff and 55h, 18m later, "The Turtle" touched down in Columbus, Ohio after 11,236.6 mi (18,083.6 km) in the air. It was the longest un-refueled flight yet. This would stand as the absolute unrefueled distance record until 1962 when it was beaten by a USAF B-52, and remain as a piston-engined record until 1986 when the Rutan Voyager circumnavigated the globe. "The Turtle" is preserved at the National Museum of Naval Aviation at NAS Pensacola.

THE KIT

Revell issued the first injection molded Neptune in the ever popular 1/104 scale. They later issued the kit with skis for use on snow. Aeroclub produced a short run 1/144 injected kit the late 1980s and early 1990s. Both P2V-5 and P2V-7 kits were available, but I never got ahold of one. The kits had decals, vacuform clear pieces and white metal parts. The Neptune is the size of a B-17 bomber, so I always thought 1/144 is a good size for a Neptune kit. Hasegawa issued the only 1/72 Neptune in 1972, a logical selection since the P2V was used for the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force. It was later re-boxed by Frog, Minicraft and Revell.

For 50+ year old kit, the engineering is superb. The way the wings and horizonal stabilizers fit the fuselage would shame some 2025 kits. If you are contemplating modeling the P2V, the TailHook Topics website by Tommy H. Thompson is an essential resource. The landing gear bays are devoid of detail, so I resorted to plastic strip, rod a .3mm wire. In particular, the main landing gear bays are simplistic representations and somewhat fanciful. I looked at many P2V walkarounds to depict a more realistic landing gear bay. Even then, I did not change the main landing gear struts themselves, as it was just more work than I wanted to do. The real P2V has a nose up attitude when on the ground, so I added about 4mm of plastic rod to the front landing gear strut and also added a landing light. I bought the Eduard flightdeck photo-etched set, but frankly I would not do it again. So little of the flightdeck is visible, the set was not that useful. I also detailed the searchlight on the starboard wing tank with a plastic disc painted chrome and a clear plastic rod for the light. The nose cone for the observer is not very clear, but I polished it the best I could. On the ailerons and rudder, there are sink marks that took about an hour to fill, sand and polish. With propeller aircraft, I often like to make the props spin, so I used telescoping tubes to enable that feature. A light breeze is all that is needed to simulate a spinning prop. I also used aluminum tubing to replace the exhausts on the radial and jet engines. The jet engines had doors on the front that would fold inward when the jet was fired up. Hasegawa molded the jet engines with the doors in the closed position, so I modified the doors on one engine to depict that engine operating. The part of the construction I dreaded was the flightdeck canopy. It is a two part affair, much like the Hasegawa 1/72 and Kinetic 1/48 S-2 Tracker. Truthfully, with a bubble shaped canopy, I do not see how model companies could tool it in one piece. I glued the two canopies together with Tamiya Extra Thin, let it set up overnight, and then the next day added it to the fuselage very slowly, adding Tamiya Extra Thin very sparingly one section at a time. After drying, I used Tamiya White putty and Mr. Surfacer 500. It took about four sessions of careful sanding and priming to get the canopy faired in with the fuselage. As I removed the masking, I was very pleased to see no debris inside the canopy. Overall, I have worked considerably harder constructing much newer kits, so I was happy how well the Hasegawa kit went together.

The white is Tamiya Liquid Surfacer White (my favorite). The gloss Engine Gray is Mr. Color C339. The wing walkway is Testors Dark Gull Gray FS36231. Caracal 72055 P2V Neptune decals performed flawlessly.

If you want an injection molded 1/72 P2V, this is it. It goes together very well in my experience and the two available Caracal decals feature a number of colorful machines.

KIT #:	JS-082
PRICE:	$6.50 (in 1972)
DECALS:	Two Options
REVIEWER:	Bob Leonard
NOTES:	Caracal 72055 decals