Manufacturer: Hobbycraft Canada, 140 Applewood Crescent, Concord, ON L4K 4E2, Canada; 905-738-6556.
Kit: No. HC1674
Scale: 1/48
Price: $19.98
Comments:Injection molded, 57 parts, decals
Pros: Long-needed subject, clear-molded fuselage eases handling of windows, beautiful decals
Cons: Vague instructions, indefinite parts locations, some windows not engraved, misshapen cowl, heavy detail parts, some decals too large to fit
The de Havilland Beaver floatplane remains one of the workhorses of the far north - and anywhere else around the world where proper airstrips are few and far between.
The first thing you'll notice about the kit is that the fuselage halves are molded in clear plastic. This means you don't have separate windows or canopies to fit and attach. On the other hand, you'll still have to mask the windows before painting.
Beautifully printed decals are included for four Beavers: Royal Australian Air Force (1954), U.S. Army in Korea (1964), Peruvian Air Force (1969), and a civilian Harbour Air Airlines (1999). I decided on the U.S. Army variant because it was the very plane detailed in the old Replica in Scale, Vol. 2, No. 2.
The instructions are very simple - just parts, part numbers, and arrows - and not always accurate. The parts are not named, but most of them are obvious.
The cockpit doesn't have a lot of detail to it - just as well, because you won't end up seeing much of it anyway. The "throw-over" yoke peculiar to the Beaver is well done, but simple. The instrument panel shows just three round gauges, so if you're a stickler for detail you'll want to consult the available references and scratchbuild your own.
There were no instructions for painting the interior, so I went ahead and brush-painted the floor, bulkhead, and back of the instrument panel Testor Dark Gull Gray. I used a dark metallic with gloss black trim for the base of the yoke, and aluminum on the yoke with gloss black handles. I painted the seat supports aluminum, the seats interior green, and cushions medium green. The front of my instrument panel is flat black, with the gauges dry-brushed in aluminum. The interior went together easily.
Each wing is comprised of top and bottom halves and six smaller bits that look like staples. These parts are asymmetrical, and it's not clear from the drawing which way they're supposed to go into the wing. According to Replica in Scale, the center pieces are bomb clips, and the others appear to be external levers for the ailerons and wing flaps. You'll want the high side of each clip to face the trailing edge of the wing. The color of the clip will match the color of the part of the wing it's attached to.
While the wings were setting, I went ahead and assembled the floats. I brush-painted them aluminum, sanding between coats. A little filler will be needed to completely eliminate the seams on the tops of the floats.
In step 3, the instructions state "assemble D6/D7 before attaching B5/B6." Since there is no "D" sprue in this kit, I puzzled over this until I discovered it refers to the wheel-and-ski landing gear in the floatplane's "sister" kit, the Vietnam Beaver.
I used tiny pieces of masking tape to mask off the windows on the Beaver. One of the problems with a clear-molded fuselage is that it may not be clear (sorry) what is a window and what is not. I was confused at first with the square engraving midway along the fuselage; window or hatch? It is the latter. The characteristic quartet of windows in the top of the cabin and the circular ports on the sides are not engraved into the plastic. Referring to photos, I masked their locations on the clear fuselage. After painting, I removed the masks and revealed the missing windows.
The instructions are not at all clear on the attachment of the wing struts and float supports. The notches on the bottom corners of the fuselage are for the standard landing gear and are unused for the floats. However, I thought these notches were for the floats and for a while my model sat askew. It turns out that the wing struts abut the forward arm of the rear float struts. The photos I've seen of float-equipped Beavers show only single-arm rear float struts.
Details such as the struts, boarding steps, and pitot tube are much too thick for the scale. Also, the front edge of the cowl doesn't have sufficient curl, and the carburetor intake beneath the cowl is too boxy. The crew doors are engraved too low on the fuselage, and it is not clear in the instructions that there is a vertical frame member in the middle of the windscreen.
I found the decals to go on easily, but they are too large - enough so that "U.S. Army" wouldn't fit on the fin above the serial number; I had to place it below.
The finished model looks enough like a Beaver to please most modelers, but detail enthusiasts will want to correct inaccuracies and refine details. It measures to scale.
I spent about 20 hours on my model. The inadequate instructions and vague parts locators made this a frustrating kit for a beginner like me.