Fly Past

(Rick Simeone) #1

82 FLYPAST November 2018


Spotlight
Spotlight in miniature

Fieseler


Storch


Chris Clifford explores the various


Fieseler Storch kits on the market


Right
and below
Tristar’s 1/35 kits
from 2007 and 2011
are arguably the
most impressive on
the market and offer
pleasing cockpit
detail. AIRFIX MODEL
WORLD

Scale


their own kits in 1975-76, but these
are products of their time and have
sparse detail. The better choice in
this scale is from Academy, which
offers three separate packages, with
different markings and parts... one
package even provided a same-scale
Kübelwagen vehicle, too.

W


hile the real aircraft
is something of
an unsung hero in
military flying, the
Storch has been surprisingly well
represented in plastic kit form.
Arguably the best iteration is in
1/35 scale and comes from the
company Tristar, which released
two different versions in 2007 and
2011, being the Fi 156A-0/C-1
and C-3/Trop respectively. The
firm was renowned for its military
subjects, so the appearance of its
Storchs surprised many modellers...
although both are in the same
favoured scale as Tristar’s vehicles.
There’s an impressive rendering
of the cockpit details, such as the
tubular framework, pilot’s seat,
instrument panel, machine gun
magazines and throttle, although
the latter item was moulded in the
wrong place and needs to be
re-positioned. The kit
assembles well

in general and there’s plenty of
refinement on parts such as the
highly detailed wing fuel tank and
separate filler caps. It also offers
five colour schemes, for aircraft
operated by Germany, France, Italy,
Czechoslovakia and Poland.

Other options
If 1/35 scale is too large for your
display space, the next best choice
surrounds the excellent 1/48 kits
from Japan’s Tamiya. This company’s
products are known for their
sharply moulded plastic and ease
of construction. Its first Storch was
notable as Tamiya’s 100th release
and offered parts/markings for
German-flown C-3/C-5/C-7 sub-
types. The second boxing provided
decals for Hungarian, Italian and
Swiss Air Force machines, one being
‘The Hero of Gauli Glacier’ as
highlighted on page 72 of
this issue.
If you prefer 1/72 scale,
Airfix and Heller issued

Spotters


1/32 Hasegawa, Revell
1/35 Tristar
1/48 Tamiya, ESCI
1/72 Academy, Airfi x, Heller,

Storch kits at a glance
(by maker)
Free download pdf