1/72 Croatian AF Pilatus PC-9M

by Mislav Ribar

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  Croatia Independence Day 2006 

 

The Pilatus PC-9M Advanced Turbo Trainer is the latest version of the PC-9 trainer aircraft, and probably the best trainer aircraft today in the world.  The Croatian AF acquired 20 PC-9 planes for pilot training.  Also, these planes are used by AF acrobatic group ‘’Krila oluje’’ ( ‘’Wings of storm’’ ).

The kit itself is produced by the Croatian company L&M Resin Models.  It is all resin, limited edition kit which consists of around 50 parts.  The casting is excellent without air bubbles, or warped parts.  Parts are clean of casting residue so there is no need for excessive cleaning Panel lines are finely engraved.  Cockpit details are very nice.  There are 2 vacuformed canopies and resin master, so you can produce your own canopy if necessary.  Also, nose weight is part of the kit.

I built the kit basic mostly OOB with only few modifications. The kit went together without problems, with little sanding and only a small amount of putty were needed.  The only modification I did was replacing the landing gear and antennas.  Resin landing gears seemed fragile so I made them from steel wire.  Antennas were made from thin aluminum sheet.  My model was painted according to photos I had.  Since there are only stencils and numbers on decal sheet, complete scheme was airbrushed using masks.  Weathering was minimal, only thing I did was thin panel line wash. 

Now, if only there was one in 1/48 scale……

Mislav 

Click on images below to see larger images

  

Photos and text © by Mislav Ribar