1/48 Hobbyboss EMB-312 (T- 27) Tucano

Gallery Article by Gerd Wilcken on Sept 11 2018

 

      

1/48 Hobbyboss EMB-312 (T- 27) Tucano with Caracal Decals T- 27of the Brazilian Air Force (CD48132) " The real Tucano "" 

The Embraer (EMB) -312 (T-27) Tucano flies for 30 years in Brazil. The official entry date of Embraer EMB-312 was on September 29, 1983. For this service anniversary of the turboprop, the Forca Aérea Brasileira (FAB) has provided a plane with the "portrait" of one of the eponymous birds. The plane was officially unveiled at a ceremony held by the Brazilian Air Force Academy (Academia de Forca Aérea-AFA) in Pirassununga.

Brazil's air forces have received a total of 168 T-27, with the first aircraft went to the aerobatic team Esquadrilha da Fumaca, which had its first appearance in late 1983 with the new pattern. Around 100 Tucanos are still in use. The Esquadrilha da Fumaca has now been converted to the successor model A-29 Super Tucano. This is now 10 years in the service of the FAB. 

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The kit comes with a nice boxart of a Peruvian AF plane on a dive position. It is injected on a light grey styrene, recessed panel lines and very nice clear parts. 

There are some comments on the components. Unfortunately, Hobbyboss has placed the sprues on almost all components in such a way that they can still stick out on the adhesive seams. When removing these components, unfortunately, I have also damaged the part itself. Not a good idea by Hobbyboss!

PE parts are available for the seatbelts, tail fin and mirrors. The shape looks correct for Brazilian variant and for the users that buy the Tucano direct from Embraer. But has great mistakes on the box. The kit has markings for RAF Shorts Tucano, but it's almost a totally different aircraft, with reshaped nose, reinforced canopy, ventral airbrake, four bladed prop, different cockpit instrumentation, Antennas (also in French Variant) etc. So better you not build the kit OOB in RAF markings. But for Latin America and Middle East operators its correct.

Cockpit parts are well done, just the seats are not so detailed but the PE belts help to turn it a bit better. Hobbyboss include the wings tanks and 2 pods for 12.7mm (0.50 caliber) Machine Guns. No smart weapons are used by Tucano's, just on the EMB-314 Super Tucano. Decals are available to four options: 

  • Peruvian AF 

  • Armee De l'aire

  • Royal Air Force (see above)

  • IRIAF (Iranian Air Force)

The modeler could build a honest Tucano by Embraer. The mistake for the RAF variant and that there there is no Brazilian decal option included is a little bit sadly. Therefore I choose the Decal Variant from the US distributor CARACAL Decals with the beautiful full Tucano Bird in flight. A second (white / orange) Trainer variant and a plane in two shades of gray are included.

I used the new Real Colors by AK Interactive for the first time. These dry completely dull and cover outstanding. Unfortunately, they did not get on well with the Caracal Decals. This can be seen in the photos, especially on the large wing decals.

Definitely a good model on a good decal sheet, that I both recommend.

On the last picture you see the Tucano together with my Hobbyboss Super Tucano.

Gerd Wilcken

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Photos and text © by Gerd Wilcken