I've made it a nearly daily habit of checking ebay for interesting new large scale products and one that I came across is LEM's new kit of the Diamond Da-42 Twin Star. According to the listings, these kits are only being made available on ebay, as are their resin Flogger and Fitter models that have been reviewed on LSP and other pages. Quite a pretty little plane even if it does appear that the thing is wearing a very tight corset, judging by the design of the rear fuselage.
I'll post some photos below that will give you a good idea of the kit breakdown. It's not a Fisher/Silver Wings-quality kit, but it is a unique subject and certainly is buildable! Wing span is about 16 1/2" (~43cm). The light tan resin is, for the most part, very nicely cast and some details such as engine intake/exhaust areas are very, very thin and crisp.
Unlike the Mig and Sukhoi jets that this company has made, the main fuselage and wing are molded as one piece (fiberglass? it's hollow) and to install the cockpit, gear bays, etc, you'll need to cut out the right parts of this big piece. Alternately, simply cut out and attach the vac canopy, painted black inside, and put it on a stand for the in-flight desk display. For the ham0fisted like me, having only one vacform canopy and no spare may be a wee bit daunting. The canopy feels quite strong and it quite clear/distortion free on the parts that do not get painted. Future floor polish will be your friend to make it even nicer.
Lots of little bits - gear legs, prop blades, boarding steps, gear retract cylinders, and some antennae - all have strong wire reinforcing. Again, perfect for the clumsy builder like myself. As mentioned, the cockpit and gear wells will need to be opened up in the main large casting. The cockpit walls, bulkheads, and floor (with exception of minor detail in the front) are as bare as can be; the seats look nice but will need seatbelts. Control panel is bare as are the gear wells also but they get the job done.
Decals are included for one aircraft, UR-GRGR; this serial is more and more amusing to me, the more I say it as a word. Try it, you'll smile. Decals are simply the aircraft serials and what appear to be wing non-skid strips. I didn't take a close look at the skid strip decals but the serials don't appear to be completely crisp. If i start building this, I'll be doing a custom paint job anyway, so this is no concern to me. There's a small square of sheet styrene included (for what?) and what passes for a film instrument panel which will look better than the dead plain panel face but nothing close to what a Twin Star instrument panel should look like form what I can tell.
The instructions are included on a CD-ROM - three folders, one containing photots of the kit in construction which are fairly straightforward and in enough detail that you can tell without difficulty where to place little fiddly bits. Other folders contain photos of the aircraft in detail and shots of a completed model. Ok enough rambling, photo time!
(LSP admin - if you want to use any info/pix here to add to the kit database, feel free to do so. I have no objection to photos being cropped or resized if needed. First photo shamelessly borrowed from the internet)
