I came across this
little gem in my favorite shop on the trade in shelf. The addresses of the two
previous owners of this 20 year old kit were in the box: one domestic
& one foreign. Things do get around. This particular machine won a
design competition and the first 11 were ordered by the Czechoslovakian
Ministry of National Defense in October 1933. It went into service as a two
seat, long range reconnaissance and bomber aircraft.
Click on
images below to see larger images
Molded from a hard and some
what brittle light gray plastic, it provided some construction challenges. The
outboard wing struts were replaced with scratch builds, as were the shock
absorbers. Other minor items were made referencing photos. Exhausts
were drilled out and replaced with tubing. The forward facing guns
also got this treatment. The aft guns were well molded, with separate
magazines. The double/single run cross thru cables required some
precise work as well. This was one of the more complex rigging operations
I'd attempted, and it looks very in scale in the photos. The crew came
from spares. The decals were still in good order and caused no
problems. The clear plastic was also well done and very thin in cross
section. The paint was mixed to match the box art and on completion,
I
have a nice addition to my biplane collection.
Phillip Steele
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