1/32 Revell Piper PA-18 Super Cub

by Chris Fleet

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This is my first submission to the ARC and hope it will be of interest.  After building many military models, I have been seeking a decent general aviation subject for sometime in my preferred scale of 1/48 or larger. In 2008 Revell released their new tooling of the PA-18 Super Cub. The Cub is probably one of the most recognisable general aviation aircraft ever built, with over 9000 being built since 1949. 

I chose a UK registered aircraft from the supplied decal sheet (G-LCUB) owned and flown by The Tiger Club at Headcorn airfield England. This particular airframe was repainted and re-registered in February 2007 (formerly G-AYPR). 

The kit is surprisingly complex for its size, with all the internal framework on display. Revell have done a fantastic job on engineering how the model goes together. I particularly liked the neat way in which the wing sections attach to the cabin framework. This allowed for the fuselage and wings to be painted separately before final assembly. Another nice addition is a multipart Lycoming O-320 flat four, which can displayed with either or both cowl covers open.

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The kit was built totally out of the box with no additions. The kit was primed with Tamiya fine white primer (on top of the white plastic), and painted with Tamiya lemon yellow. I tried to highlight the ribs on the wings by putting heavier coats of yellow along them, and later highlighting with a quick rub of Tamiya's white from their weathering packs. Although not too obvious in the photos, it seemed to work quite well!

Hopefully this may be of use if you are thinking about, or are actually building this kit! I think another cub will be in my stash in the near future!

Chris Fleet

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Photos and text © by Chris Fleet