North America’s OV-10 Bronco was designed and built to be a counterinsurgency light-attack aircraft that could operate from rough, short-field bases. The Navy and Marines used it as a close-support aircraft, while the U.S. Air Force used it principally as a forward air control (FAC) ship. I was fortunate enough to have survived back-seat time in Broncos on three FAC missions over South Vietnam in late 1972.
ICM’s 1/72 scale OV-10A Bronco kit appears to be a scaled-down of its recent 1/48 scale kit, but there is little reduction of detail. That said, many of the small parts in this kit are tiny; individual ordnance-mount stabilizers are difficult to install. Also, four mounting pins for the drop tank have only shallow pits on the tanks for attachment. The same goes for the tiny half-round mounting pins on the main gear struts that fit into tiny half-round holes in the wheels. You’ll need to reinforce those mounts with extra superglue, or you’ll be chasing those little wheels around your model workshop!
The cockpit looks good, with a pair of six-part ejection seats and decals for instrument panels and consoles. No harnesses are provided. There is an optional instrument panel for the back seater but no explanation in the instructions.
While there’s careful work to be done with the small parts, the assembly of the overall model benefits from outstanding fit. Most of the joints are on panel lines that match the rest of the exterior’s recessed details perfectly. I didn’t use a molecule of filler, but I did have trouble getting the leading edge of the wing to fit the top of the short fuselage pod. Considering the overall excellent fit, I figure that I must have misaligned the back end of the cockpit somehow. My solution was chipping off the top corners of the cockpit’s rear end.
Assembling the four-piece canopy is tricky as you must deal with joints fore and aft, top to bottom, and side to side. If assembled properly, it will all fit fine, but I recommend tacking a few spots on each seam and manipulating the pieces into place before adding more cement.
The kit comes with a host of ordnance: Two- and four-shot Zuni rocket launchers; seven and 19-shot 2.75-inch rocket launchers; napalm canisters; and both low-drag and Snakeye 250-pound bombs. I modeled my USAF FAC aircraft with a pair of 19-shot launchers.
Painting is easy, just gray and white. Decals are provided for one Marine, one USAF, and two Navy Broncos. Like most decals that come from Eastern Europe, these are beautifully printed and lay down well with minimal solvent. However, they are thin and tangle easily.
There are no instructions for adding antennas, but I added two whip antennas using monofilament and an antenna line from the fuselage pod to the underside of the horizontal stabilizer with EZ Line.
I spent just 17 hours on my little pony. ICM’s 1/72 scale OV-10 outpaces the Hasegawa, Revell, Airfix, and Academy offerings in fit and detail, but it’s not a kit for beginners due to the tiny bits.