Sword Models - Vision Sword 

From the Czech Republic comes a great company by the name of Sword. The name is meant as a tribute to the Allies from the Second World War after Sword Beach at Normandy on 6 June 1944 or D-Day. We at IRMA deeply appreciate this homage to the Allied cause and those that gave their lives for freedom of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in a democratic, free market form of society.

Sword originally started as one of numerous resin companies in the Czech Republic with top quality kits in 1/72 scale. More recently they have transformed into multi-media kits of plastic with resin portions. The details are second-to-none and if you are fortunate enough to find one of their kits, secure it quickly! They sell out fast for a reason.

For this review we chose the Sword Lockheed P-80C Shooting Star in 1/72, kit #SW72025. Although by 1947 the P-80 had been redesignated as F-80, with the change from P for Pursuit to F for Fighter, those of the period sometimes still used the old designation as found on the box.

The boxart is great and the contents are secured in a very sturdy cardboard box. The parts and decals are then further enclosed inside of a plastic bag with separate bags for the resin and clear canopy portions.

Instructions are in English with some details in Czech. There is an excellent history contained along with completely illustrated instructions. Only the colors are designated in English and Czech. The color schemes and decal placement are completely in English. The quality of the paper is also top-notch.

Parts are plastic and resin with a clear, plastic canopy. If you are a resin builder, you will find the pieces an excellent fit. If you are a plastic kit builder, you may be in for some frusration as there are no guide pins. If you have built the old 1/72 AIRFIX (U.K.), mpc (U.S.A.), Hasegawa (Japan), MINICRAFT (Japan) or PFK GRAN (Russia) kits, you are in for a very pleasant surprise! The detail for the Sword kit is simply amazing!

With the clear canopy, and a bit of work, one can build the first operational P-80s as stationed in Italy and the U.K. during 1944-1945. There is even a choice of nose wheel for the initial 6-spoked version or the later multi-spoked one.

Decals are by Techmod and of the highest quality. These include national insignia along with numerals and details for two versions from the Korean War. There are also two anti-glare panel decals in black and olive drab. As with most decals contained in resin or resin and plastic kits, these will require greater care in their application than those of the major injection-plastic manufacturers. Be sure to use a decal protector and applicator to keep them intact.

The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star was actually the second jet design for the Lockheed corporation owned by Howard H. Hughes. Originally Lockheed had submitted the L-133 (avialable in 1/72 by Sharkit), a canard-winged jet began in 1939 and submitted to the United States Army Air Force (U.S.A.A.F.) in 1942. This was rejected due to lags in development of the L-1000 axial-flow turbojet.

Even after the U.S.A.A.F. initially selected the Bell P-59 Airacomet (available in 1/72 by ANiGRAND CRAFTSWORK, MPM Ltd. Models and specialhobby) as the first jet aircraft for the U.S.A., Lockheed kept progressing with their design. Finally, after a mediocre performance by the P-59, the P-80 was given the go-ahead and Lockheed completed the airframe design within 143 days. After an initial failure, during which the British supplied engine was destroyed by a foreign object intake, the original XP-80, Lulu-Belle, tested successfully and led to production of the P-80 as America's second operational jet fighter (the P-59 was secretly being flown from Alaska operationally as an insurance against any Japanese advances).

Shooting Stars were stationed in Italy and the U.K. in late 1944 mostly as a moral booster for pilots and crew of the U.S.A.A.F. who were concerned that Germany was using jet fighters operationally, and to demonstrate to the Allies that the U.S.A., like the U.K., could also field jet fighters in combat situations, and in the hope of participating in the first jet-versus-jet combat and possibly the first jet-to-jet kill. Due to an accident by one of the U.K. based P-80s, combat sorties were suspended so the Shooting Star missed any fighting opportunities during World War II.

However, during the Berlin crisis of 1948-1949 F-80s were stationed in Germany as a deterrent to further Soviet aggression and could meet the Yak-15s and MiG-9s on at least an equal footing had open combat been initiated. The Shooting Star also held the fort when the Korean War began in 1950 with the invasion of the Republic of Korea by the illegal regime of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea under Premier Kim Il-sung (after sanctioning from Chairman Mao Zedong of the People's Republic of China and approval by Generalissimo Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union).

With the shocking and unpleasant surprise of the Mikoyan-Gureyvich MiG-15 utilized by North Korean, Communist Chinese and clandestine Soviet operators against the forces of the United Nations, in the first jet-to-jet combat it was up to the P-80 to face the MiG-15. Although the P-80 was a straight-winged fighter, First Lieutenant Russell J. Brown did succeed in shooting down a MiG-15 on 8 November 1950 in the first jet-to-jet kill. This claim is now disputed by "newly discovered" Soviet sources 60 years after-the-fact and 18 years after the demise of the Soviet Union. We at IRMA stand by the verified claim submitted by Lt. Brown and substantiated by the United States Air Force (U.S.A.F.) (via combat camera footage and eyewitness testimony of his wingman, Major Evan G. Stephens, 16 Fighter-Interceptor Squadron Commander, 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing) and also recorded as such in original Soviet historical accounts.

The P-80 was replaced by the Republic F-84 Thunderjet and North American F-86 Saber later that year as a front-line fighter. The Shooting Star did continue in the reconnaissance and ground attack roles and even later in the Air National Guard and with many other nations including: Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Ecuadore, Peru and Uruguay. Several were also utilized by the U.S. Navy in 1945 with the addition of arrestor hoods and successfully took off and landed aboard the U.S.S. Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1946.

To see other versions of the P-80/F-80 and additional kits by Sword Models, please visit their site at: www.swordmodels.cz. Rumor has it they have many more versions of the Shooting Star coming up. Perhaps they will do the P-80A, B and even XP-80 Lulu-Belle!

This kit too we plan on building as soon as possible.

- Zane R Nobbs, 2010