DML 1/48 Long March 2E Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

This is the infamous Long March missile that was in the political news in the late 1990s. The kit represents the commercial version for lifting satellites into orbit and is modeled in a huge 1/48 scale. Assembled, the model stands just over 41 inches (without the base). As you can see in the photo below, the stages, strap-on boosters and payload shroud are molded as whole units, not in the traditional longitudinal halves. Seam lines from the molding process are very minimal and clean up quickly with wet sanding.

The lower mounts for the strap-on boosters are fragile and several were already cracked off of lower stage ring before it was removed from the parts tree. This should be easily repaired. The more time-consuming detail will be to remove the molded-on detail on the stage sections to add the cable runs to the sides of the stages. The photo illustrates just how big this thing is. The model in the midst of the Long March is a 1/48 Mauve P-40N Warhawk.

While this model is huge, it is beautifully molded and laid out. Assembly time should be minimal. The fun part will be to apply variations of the supplied decals to represent a specific launch as depicted in various photos in Aviation Week. I wonder what it will take to convert it to its military configuration...