I’ll be honest, I never expected a Great War balloon kit and boy was I surprised to see this kit up for review. The kit consists of a small sprue of polystyrene parts, a left and right balloon halve (polystyrene), a sheet of photoetch balloon basket lines and a decal sheet. Oh, the best part for those of you how enjoy making dioramas, the kit includes a set of 40 each 3D printed figures in various poses. Wow! You will probably need to take advantage included polystyrene model stand.

Construction is very straight-forward beginning with the two balloon halves. I found the molding very well done and the fit was very good as well. The plastic of the two balloon halves is quite thick, but I think that helps in the grand scheme of things. Even with the great fit, it will be necessary to a little work seam joint. A little extra attention will be necessary at both ends of the balloon where there appears to be extra panels to strengthen the fabric panel seams.

I decided to paint the balloon prior to installing the photo etch lines. Had I done the smart thing and trial fit them in place prior to painting the model, I would changed up my painting strategy. Needless to say, I many multiple of times had to reattach the photo etch to the model.

This is in no way the fault of the model’s design; the builder was just wasn’t paying attention to the details.

The fit of the photoetch parts is very good and other than the previously mentioned builder induced issues, Pig Models did a great job in design and manufacture. The final two steps in assembly are mounting the balloon to the stand and attaching the basket. Overall, the kit was a joy to build other than the issues I created.

I would like to thank Pig Models for allowing the IPMS USA a chance to review their wonderful kit, as well as the IPMS USA to allow me the chance to build this great kit.