Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Aconcagua, distributed by Lama Models, 15921 SW 103rd Court, Miami, FL 33157,
305-385-4481
Price: $75
Comments: Mixed-media, more than 100 parts (resin, white-metal, photoetched, vacuum-formed plastic), decals
Pros: Comprehensive detail, interesting subject, great decal sheet
Cons: Some resin parts overly brittle; some sticky, broken and missing parts; soft-cast metal parts; fit problems
First flown in 1980, the Embraer 312 Tucano (Tucan) remains among the world’s most popular warplanes. More than 600 of the rakish Brazilian turboprops serve as trainers and light-attack aircraft in 15 air forces on three continents. Britain’s Short Brothers manufactured a version for Royal Air Force needs, and production and development continue today.
The 1/48 scale kit from new Argentine manufacturer Aconcagua, contains resin castings, white-metal and photoetched brass detail parts, a vacuum-formed canopy, and photo-film instruments. Amenities such as the complete interior and separate flaps show the manufacturer’s excellent attention to detail. Supplementing kit parts are seven pages of assembly and markings instructions in English and Spanish. Only Humbrol paint numbers are given for colors. If you don’t have a Humbrol paint chart, you’re out of luck. The colorful Aztec decals include markings and stenciling for Brazilian, Argentine, Peruvian, and French Tucanos. Unfortunately, Peru’s striking sharkmouth was out of register.
The parts are broken down along panel lines to ease assembly and minimize filling. The cockpit and nose gear bay are conveniently cast with the forward fuselage, rudder, and left empennage. Adding the right empennage and ventral engine scoop completes main fuselage construction and cleverly shifts weight to the nose. Delicate fillets hide both wing root junctures, and the horizontal stabilizers slide into corresponding slots.
The high quality evident in the research and engineering of the kit was offset by poor-quality materials. My sample’s main resin components hadn’t fully cured and remained tacky for several days. The fuselage was warped along two axes, and the cellophane parts bags stuck to the resin.
FineScale Modeler was sent a second set of “improved” castings, but these had numerous nicks, bumps, and bubbles. Large fingerprints also marred the new fuselage – and a rather noticeable human hair protruded from one part. I was beginning to feel trapped in an episode of C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation.
Fragile details such as the gear doors and blade antennas came with protective cardboard backing, but the other resin parts were lumped in plastic bags, causing cracks and chips in the brittle resin, especially on the wing-root fillets and flying surfaces. My first sample didn’t have coamings for the control panels, and those in the second kit were damaged.
The thick pour stubs on the small resin parts were difficult to remove without cracking or shortening the parts. The soft-metal landing gear parts were pitted and had conspicuous mold-separation lines to clean up.
I like to fill narrow gaps with five-minute epoxy and remove excess adhesive with cotton swabs soaked in denatured alcohol. Unfortunately, the kit’s resin softened on contact with ordinary rubbing and denatured alcohols. The resin also softened in my hands, producing more incriminating fingerprints! C.S.I.‘s got me now! I also experienced troubling paint-adhesion problems.
The cockpit components and canopy were installed with only a few adjustments, but the major assemblies proved troublesome. The right empennage and fuselage juncture produced gaps, and the right side of the fin was taller than the rudder molded to the left side. The stabilizers refused to slot properly without tedious filing and fitting. Some of the panel lines resembled a series of dots and dashes, and others lacked uniformity.
I ended up building the kit as I would a vacuum-formed kit, assembling, sanding, priming, filling, and scribing several times before achieving an acceptable surface finish. I painted with Polly Scale acrylics mixed to approximate the attractive two-tone Brazilian camouflage. Aztec’s decals performed flawlessly, the best part of the project.
Despite taking some shortcuts, construction consumed 60 hours – more than double my average for resin kits of this size and complexity. It could have taken longer had I not possessed a second kit to cannibalize for missing, broken, and defective parts. Expert-level skills are needed to build this model.
– David L. Veres