Introduction

The MV-22 Osprey has been in service with the US Military for quite some years now and provides them with an intermediate aircraft that can perform most of the tasks of a helicopter and the cruising abilities of a fixed wing prop aircraft. The aircraft is capable of taking heavy loads internally or 24 fully equipped troops to a range of 500 miles at a speed of 270 to high 300 mph depending on who you believe. Let’s take a look at what this offering from Hobby Boss in 1/48th scale provides the modeller.

Review

The model arrives in a large cardboard tray and separate cardboard lid, inside all of the sprues for the model are individually bagged; the result is a model that should reach you as Hobby Boss intended. Looking the parts over I see no obvious moulding issues with the possible exception of the size of the gates between sprue and part. I have also noted that Hobby Boss has chosen to place the gates on the mating surface in many cases making good clean up practices a must if you want a good joint. There are some flow lines present but these do not look or feel to have caused issues.

The Interior

Hobby Boss has given this model a modular design aspect to it as it reminds me of building Ikea furniture. The cockpit has a reasonable level of detail for the scale and from the aspect of what I believe can be observed on the finished model. There is good console detail lifted via the supplied decals and the seats have photo etched harness provided; there are a few controls supplied as separate parts and these will give the cockpit some eye candy. For the modeller who wants more from their builds I will say that the wall behind the seats seem devoid of a lot of details I have found in online images and the seats could also be improved.

The next module is the walkway between the cockpit and cargo area and what I always think of as the crew chiefs domain. Looking at online images tells me that the provided detail is generally correct but could do with a lot of dressing up on the part of the modeller to get the most from it. The interior is finished with the cargo area and this area is pretty good looking at the floor and sides, but the roof is in serious needs of detailing from an accuracy standpoint judging by online images.

Undercarriage

The undercarriage has been tackled as three standalone modules; I was unable to locate good images of this aspect of the model and so cannot comment on accuracy at all. The legs are all stocky moulding with very good mounting points and so I have no concerns about breakages with reasonable handling and some nice detailing is provided. The wheels and tyres also have some nice detailing present. The wheel bays themselves also have some nice panel detail that will serve as a great base for the super detailers amongst us.

Fuselage

The fuselage is a module in that it is stand alone with the other modules fitted inside it; the result will be a pretty solid and heavy construction. The fuselage features a good amount of recessed panel lines which I have tried hard to check and finding images where the panel line detail is easily seen is near impossible. I was pleased to see the FLIR under the nose well represented. The ramps at the rear can be depicted opened or closed and that could save you a lot of work on the interior, but with that said I would have liked the front side door to be provided as a separate part. The tail assembly has not been provided with any control surfaces to mess with unless a saw is brought into play.

Engines

The engine nacelles themselves I was a little disappointed in, but I find it hard to explain why beyond they are too easy. The details all seem to be present and the blades can retain the ability if so chosen as the display option you select. The blades can be assembled folded or deployed and I was pleased to see that you could set the model in such a way that the blades could be changed as only the nose cones are shared.

Wings

The main wing can be swivelled into its stowed position or any point in between there and deployed; which as the prop blades and engines are the same does give the modeller some nice display options. The flight control surfaces here are separate parts and so can be positioned if desired.

Finishing

Hobby Boss has not provided any details on the one finishing option provided and this is a gripe on my part, but this is common for Hobby Boss and I am sure that with a little effort the modeller can come up with a specific aircraft.

Conclusion

This offering from Hobby Boss is a very simple model for its size and complexity of the real aircraft. Looking at the parts and online images seems to indicate that what is provided is correct, but I just keep getting the feeling that this could have been so much more than it is. As it is I am sure many modellers will be happy and it should be a relatively quick result, but the modeller looking for that je ne sais quoi they will need to find and add it themselves.