Dassault Ouragan MD.450
Miniwing 1/144, Ref. Mini341, 342, 343 & 344
Miniwing had in the past, in 2016 to be precise, offered us a very neat-looking Dassault Ouragan in this scale, but a resin one. This material and possibly its price and relative unavailability from mainstream distributors unfortunately made that kit sightings rather rare.
Having, still quite recently, started to offer injection-molded kits, it is a very pleasurable surprise to see the Ouragan being subjected to this treatment and technology and thus somewhat made a far easier kit to get hold of.
21 grey plastic parts, plus one clear (injected) canopy make up this new Ouragan from this Czech company. We have here a quality short-run kit with impressively regular and restrained (though some may still find that overdone) engraving. The canopy is a little on the thick side but its shape is fairly simple and should be easy to replace by a home-made vac-formed part if needed.
The detail is very good for a kit in this scale and of this size, with a fairly complete cockpit and neat undercarriage bits. For the purists, this kit is a MD.450B, that is one of the ‘late‘ production model Ouragan; only the first 50 aircraft were of the ‘A‘ standard, with a four-door front undercarriage well. This arrangement proved to be troublesome and later aircraft were given a simpler 2-door affair. An early-production Ouragan would not be difficult to model with this new kit.
The new kit is available under four boxings, each chiefly differing in terms of the full colour painting/decaling instructions and, obviously the decal sheet.
Kit reference 341 thus offers us three Israeli machines, kit reference 342 two French Air Force and one Indian Air Force aircraft, kit reference 343 one more French aircraft while kit reference 344 gives us a single, shark-toothed, Salvadorian machine.
Note that the first two references are boxed up and includes two complete kits, white the last two are bagged and only offer a single complete kit. Our sample was a special ‘Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2022‘ release of kit reference 344, coded PF2022.
Those looking for more or alternative markings could consider FFSMC Productions recent decal sheet (Ref. P144-060), while those looking for a little extra ‘help‘ may consider the equaly recent Peewit masks set (canopies and wheel hubs, Ref. M144031). Finaly, those wanting to add some extra details could also consider Shelf Oddity’s PE set, Ref. SO214416, though be aware this was designed for the earlier resin kit. RetroWings should have a resin cockpit detail set ready in 2022.
And if you can find it, an excellent source of references was published in 2006 by Histoire & Collections (ISBN 2-915239-89-4).
In conclusion, it is a very nice addition to the growing and growing range of plastic kits in 1/144. It is a fabulously rich subject for anyone interested in this scale and early jets, French aviation, aerobatic teams, middle-east conflicts and exotic air forces.
Mystere IV and Super Mystere B2 next, Miniwing? In the meantime, more Ouragans can be modified into the Barougan and the lone Ouragan fitted with side air intakes..!
Review by Domi Jadoul, pictures by Domi Jadoul, FFSMC, Peewit, Shelf Oddity and Miniwing.
Review kit kindly supplied by MiniWings.
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