Scale aviation modeller international

The kit decals supply markings

for three aircraft. Spain is

represented by a Casa 212-100/

T12B-65 of 721 Airborne School

Squadron 9 Spanish AF), Murcia-

Alcantarilla Air Base, 2009. The

second option supplies markings

for a Chilean Army Casa 212-100,

one of four delivered from ex-

Spanish Air Force stock in August

1978 (one of these crashed in 1995,

and the remaining three carried

on flying until October 2013). This

machine is in a three-tone top

camouflage of tan and two greens

with toned-down Chilean insignia.

The final option is a Casa 212-

100 of the Colombian Navy, which

is used for logistical support of

naval facilities and operations.

This machine is finished in

a two-tone grey disruptive

camouflage and is complete

with toned-down Colombian

insignia, as well as stencilling.

The 12-page colour illustrated

booklet contains all you need to

build one of the kit options. Two

pages are dedicated to six-sprue

plan views, with the many unused

parts marked with red crosses.

These extra bonus parts can be used

by those who may have a vacform

kit in the stash, as there are side

panels, sponsons, detailed elevators,

a set of propellers, radomes, other

clear parts, etc. Three pages in the

instructions show each aircraft

in full-colour 4-views (one thing

to note is that the propeller tip

markings differ on each aircraft).

There are 19 stages of

construction with very clear and

easy to follow instructions; slight

variations are indicated between

the various nations’ aircraft. The

kit parts are beautifully moulded

with fine panel detail and perfect

fit of parts. Cockpit interior detail is

well represented and even the wheel

bay is finely detailed, even though

the sponsons will cover most of it.

The crew seats are nicely

moulded and I added a crew figure

to one of them. The three-part

wings have fine panel detail

and are complete with eight

separate wing flap actuators.

CONSTRUCTION

Construction is nice and simple,

although a few areas require a

certain amount of care, particularly

the clear fuselage porthole glazing

and cockpit side windows. Having

painted the interior as indicated in

the instructions, all the clear parts

were put in place and secured with

drops of Johnsons Klear liquid.

This process was repeated after

the first application had set hard.

The instrument decals were

applied to the instrument panel

and the whole cockpit assembled

and attached to one fuselage

half. To ensure that the model

rests on the nose wheel I added a

flat lead piece, held in place with

bits of sprue, under the cockpit

floor. I then closed the fuselage

and moved onto the main wings,

complete with engine nacelles.

Stages 13 and 14 deal with the

construction of the propellers and

spinners. The propeller blades had

the tip stripes painted according to

instructions, and were put aside to

be fixed in place at a later stage.

The tailplanes and the separate

rudder were now attached to the

tail fin, as well as the nose and

tailfin antenna and a single rear

antenna on the port fuselage. I

also added the nose wheel and

main fuselage wheel legs, making

sure they were firmly set before

putting any weight on them.

PAINTING AND MARKINGS

The front windscreen was masked

with Tamiya tape, the side windows

and nose landing light panel

with a single drop of white glue.

I cleaned the model with a light

rub of fine wet-and-dry paper

and removed any dirt residue.

All leading edge de-icing

boots and engine exhaust areas

were airbrushed black and

allowed to dry. These narrow

areas were then masked before

I painted the undersides with a

coat of Hobby Color 36622 Gray

acrylic. This dried faster than I

expected so I quickly moved on

to masking all the undersides.

Having decided to make the

Chilean Army Casa, I applied the

tan colour using Hobby Color 9

acrylic, which was followed by the

two green colours to complete the

camouflage. The model was left

to dry overnight before I brush-

painted it with Johnsons Klear.

The decals’ quality is superb,

strong enough to withstand

handling during application,

and they only required a couple

of minutes in water before I was

able to slide them into position.

Once each image was in position

I used a tissue paper to remove

excess water and press them into

the detail. The decals settled well

without need for any solutions

and retained their solid colours,

with the red on the rudder being

particularly impressive.

Finally, the model was sealed

with a satin coat of Alclad 2 lacquer

to give a uniform desired sheen.

CONCLUSION

This is a kit that captures the

full-scale type as soon as it is

completed. With so many parts

for future options it also makes a

good advert of what is yet to come,

hopefully in the near future.

The Casa 212-100 is an interesting

addition to my transport wing.

Standing next to a Caribou it looks

somewhat dwarfed in size, but

considering the wide variety of

missions it can perform it certainly

makes a worthwhile addition to any

collection of post-war era types.

My thanks to Special Hobby for

the supplying the review sample.

6

M D F

SCALED DOWN

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MDF Scaled Down #6

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Built by Blackburn at Brough, the Buccaneer epitomises the

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Cover: Illustration Purposes Only

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58 • JUNE 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

KIT REVIEWS

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