Avia B.534 Series 1
Eduard’s 1/72 Avia B.534 Series 1 reviewed by Peter Ibes
AVIA B.534 SERIES 1 WEEKEND
EDITION
MANUFACTURER: Eduard
KIT TYPE: Plastic injection moulded -
revised boxing
SCALE: 1/72
KIT NUMBER: 74 4 6
DECAL OPTIONS: 2BACKGROUNDT
he Avia B.534 was a
single-engine biplane
ighter, powered by
a license-built Hispano-
Suiza inline power plant and
with ixed landing gear. The
irst prototype lew in late
May 1933 and, after some
rework, the irst order for the
Czechoslovakian Air Force
was placed in mid-1934. At
the time, the B-534 was well
ahead of its contemporaries,
such as the Hawker Fury, the
Fiat CR 32 or the Heinkel He- The irst deliveries of the
B-534 to the Czechoslovakian
air force began in late 1935
and, as tensions with Germany
rose, ever more were ordered.
The B.534 was built in four
diferent series, each slightly
improved from the previous,
with the last aircraft having
four machine guns in the
fuselage and a fully enclosed
canopy. All in all, some 445
aircraft had been completed
by 1938, but due to the carving
up of the country after the
Munich Crisis, the aircraft
were never used in combat by
Czechoslovakia. They were used
in anger however by the Slovak
Air Arm, during the invasion
of Russia in 1941 and during
the Slovak uprising in 1944,
and by the Royal Bulgarian
Air Force, with the latter
claiming the inal kill ever by a
bi-plane, when it shot down a
Hungarian transport in 1944.THE KIT
The subject of this kit is
the Series 1 B.534.This had
unspatted landing gear,
an open cockpit and twomachine guns in the fuselage,
complemented by two-gun
pods above the lower wing.
The kit comes in a sturdy yet
rather large box, but once
opened the irst impression
is that of quality, deinitely
in line with manufacturers
from the far east. This being
the Weekend edition it doesn’t
come with any goodies such
as an etch or masking set, but
the parts deinitely look the
business. The instructions are
in Eduard’s regular fashion
with clear, easy to follow line
drawings, with the camoulage
information in colour. I also like
the fact that they included a full
riing diagram, quite essential
if you want to realistically
build a bi-plane model.THE BUILD
Construction began with the
large radiator, quickly followed
by the side wall detail in the
cockpit. The loor and seat come
next. This being the weekend
edition, Eduard provide a nice
set of well printed decals for
the seat belts, as well as for
the instrument panel. I was
briely tempted to may-be
add an aftermarket set, but
even with the open cockpit
this isn’t really necessary.
The loor, instrument panel
and radiator are then trapped
between the fuselage halves
with the front upper deck
being a separate part. The it
is quite precise, with little
room for error, and as I had
applied a bit too much pressure
clamping the fuselage, I had to
use a bit of putty to smoothen
out the various joints.
The tails and lower wings
are then added, as well as
the landing strut (which I
regretted later as this part is
quite fragile). I also added the
gun pods to the lower wing,
but then I deviated from the
instructions as I only added the
‘N-struts’ to the lower wing and
the cabane struts to the upper
wing, without gluing the upper
wing in place. I also left of the
main gear for now, to make
it easier to mask and paint.
I then sprayed the underside
aluminium silver and after
that had dried, added the
tail struts and main gear. All
under surfaces were then
masked and the remainder
sprayed Khaki Green, as per
the colour instructions.52 APRIL 2019 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
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