Review

At the end of World War II the Allied forces had captured a lot of German vehicles and aircraft. Examples of those captured were flown to the UK. Flight tests were carried out on these aircraft after the addition of British markings, and then either ended their days in museums or sadly destroyed. This offering from ICM in 1/48th scale of the Do 217M-1 is, I believe, the third or fourth such release of this variant. The interior of the model is reasonable where required; however, the usual issue of no harness detail on the seats is present, and I will be perfectly honest I was unable to find a good image of the cockpit interior of the specific variant and so have to trust that ICM got it right. I am sure that after market interior detail is available for enhancement. Defensive fire power is reasonably well detailed. However Master do make replacement barrels in brass should you wish to upgrade. 

A detailed bomb bay is included, including the bomb load. However, as this is the captured British option I am unsure why that is the case, but it does mean that if it is the only model you can obtain you could always obtain decals for an aircraft of you choice. The decal sheet does include Swastika for the tail. If you have not seen one of these models previously you are in for a treat as the external surface detail has been exceptionally well done, with small shallow recessed panel lines. The upper wing surface is supplied as a single moulding, and a wing spar is supplied for you to mount it on to giving the wings some rigidity. The tail has also been tackled in this method, although obviously you do not have a spar for that. Flight control surfaces in all cases have been supplied as separate mouldings, and so could be set as the modeller desires. 

The engine nacelles are tackled after the main portions of the model have been assembled and you are provided with a good amount of detail for the wheel bays. A decent representation of the Daimler Benz engines has been provided. However, I am not completely sure how accurate the detail is as it was a different engine on this variant of aircraft. With that said, in most cases it should not matter as I suspect the engines will be completely enclosed in their cowlings. The undercarriage itself again has reasonable detail minus brake and hydraulic lines and the wheels are obliviously moulded in 2 halves which means you have a difficult seam to hide. The main under carriage in directed to be installed prior to addition to the aircraft model. As it is perfectly possible to add the engine nacelles to the model minus most of the undercarriage, I would most likely tackle this without installation as it avoids the risk of breakage. 

The glazed aspects of the release are good in my opinion as they are not overly thick and have a good finish. Once the model is basically complete. I suspect that most of us have aircraft model support stands and I would now invert the model adding the undercarriage and bomb load. ICM has as a usual inclusion provided a mask template, for covering the large glazed area of the model, rather than making it compulsory to go down the after market route. 

2 finishing options have been included:

Scheme of the aircrafts initial camouflage during its service in the Luftwaffe (No decals are covered as regards to this finiah)

Do 217M-1 (In the RAF), Farnborough, Autumn 1945