Academy 12327 Focke Wulf Ta 183 (Fuerza Aérea Argentina)

Kit#: 12327.

Price: 33$ (25GBP at Hannants).

Decals: Six options.

Notes: The kit comes with a small photoetch fret, Cartograf decals and masks for the canopy and wheels.

History:

From Wikipedia: "The Focke-Wulf Ta 183 Huckebein was a design for a jet-powered fighter aircraft intended as the successor to the Messerschmitt Me 262 and other day fighters in Luftwaffe service during World War II. It was developed only to the extent of wind tunnel models when the war ended, but the basic design was further developed postwar in Argentina as the FMA IAe 33 Pulqui II. 

The Kit: 

Seven sprues come indiviadually bagged inside a top opening box with a rather nice boxart of Erich Hartmann's Ta 183 fighting B-17 bombers over the skies of Europe in 1946. Six of the sprues are moulded in light grey hard plastic, the last sprue being a single clear part.

The kit comes with a small PE fret for the pilot's seat belts and masks for the wheels and canopy.

There're six decal options in a fairly large decal sheet printed by Cartograf. The decal options are:

1) Erich Hartmann's Ta 183, early 1946 (the painting instructions label this aircraft as being from Adolf Galland, Commander of JV44), painted in overall RLM 76 with squiggles of RLM 74/75.

2) Heinz Bär's Ta 183, early 1946, painted in RLM 81/82/76.

3) An unknown unit's Ta 183, early 1946, painted in RLM 81/82/76.

4) JG 1's Ta 183, early 1946, painted in RLM 81/82/76.

5) Stab/JG 7's Ta 183, early 1946, painted in RLM 81/82/76.

6) A Russian Ta 183 built from the remnants of a German machine.

Construction:

I had bought this kit with the idea of building it as an Argentinian machine. The story around it was that Kurt Tank improved the design of the Ta 183 to such a point that it didn´t need any further modifications, thus entering mass production in Argentina. That's why this Ta 183 has Argentinian markings.

I began by painting all the cockpit parts in RLM 66 (Revell 78), with the pilot's cushion receiving a coat of leather. While the RLM 66 was drying, I glued the main gear wheel wells to the fuselage halves, and I also built the wings (but didn´t open the holes for the Ruhrstahl X-4 rockets). Once all that was dry, I glued the finished cockpit to one fuselage half, let it dry for half an hour, and glued a suitable nose weight to the back of the cockpit. I then closed the fuselage halves and glued the exhaust nozzle, the horizontal stabilizer and the wings to it. I also glued the cover for the underside of the aircraft were the auxiliary fuel tank was supposed to go.

Colours and Markings:

The colours I chose for this aircraft were the same as the ones on the Mirage IIICJs based at El Plumerillo, Mendoza, in 1986, consisting of Sand (Revell Sand Yellow 16) and Dark Earth (Revell Earth Brown 86). The colours were painted in a late Luftwaffe camouflage style, and then left to dry. The nose was painted black, and the undersides were painted with RLM 65 (Revell 49). When the paint was dry, I coated the aircraft with Revell's gloss varnish to prepare the surface for the decals. 

Decals came from two sourcels, a Dukel Hobbies sheet that had multiple Argentinian insignia, and Hobbycraft's A-4B Falklands Skyhawk, for the C-239 markings. Once the decals were dry, I sealed the entire model with Revell's matt varnish.

Final Construction:

I painted the landing gear struts and gear wells in RLM 02 (Revell 45), the canopy was painted first with the interior colour (RLM 66) and then covered with the camouflage colour. The wheels were painted with black hubs and RLM 66 tyres.

Conclusion:

This Academy kit (ex Amtech and ex Tamiya) was a good project. Not only because of the small part's count, but also because it's small enough to build an entire squadron without them taking much space. Highly recommended.