With its supply routes threatened by Japanese expansion in the Pacific during World War II, Australia saw the need to develop its own fighter aircraft. The result was the CA-12 Boomerang. Powered by a copy of the 1,200 horsepower Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp engine, it was a maneuverable and pugnacious-looking fighter.
Special Hobby released a 1/72 kit of this aircraft, previously kitted only by Airfix many years ago. Sporting recessed panel lines, fine surface detail, and a great-looking decal sheet offering four options for markings, this kit looked promising on the sprue. But there was a lot of work ahead.
Dry-fitting all the pieces and subassemblies is essential. The cockpit, though extensively detailed, doesn’t easily fit into the fuselage without a lot of sanding and scraping. Parts 42 and 43 hinder the fit of the cockpit framework, which also sits a little too far forward in the fuselage. Once installed, this assembly impedes the fit of the lower wing to the fuselage. Only heavy sanding produced a snug joint. I had to glue and clamp the wing to the fuselage one small section at a time, letting it cure overnight to get it situated. Even with this procedure, the seam between the upper left wing and fuselage popped open later while I was applying the decals.
Another area to watch out for is the canopy. On my sample, the rear of Part CP1 was wider than the fuselage. I initially missed this detail and wound up using filler to blend it in. A much better alternative would be a shim between the rear top fuselage halves behind the canopy.
I couldn’t get the clear landing-light lenses to fit the wings, so I opted to fill the cavities on the leading edges with 5-minute epoxy; that turned out just fine.
Painting instructions are given in Gunze Sangyo colors, some of which I didn’t have, so I tried to match them to Tamiya paints. Polly Scale has WWII Royal Australian Air Force colors in its line.
The extensive decal sheet has codes for four different aircraft and a ton of stencil data. Unfortunately, other than roundels and codes, there is no guide to placing all that stuff. I only used a fraction of the stencils available.
The larger decals settled nicely without any setting solution, but the smaller ones were fragile and difficult to move once they were on the model. I had some silvering on the serial numbers, but I probably didn’t get enough gloss coating on the area under the horizontal stabilizers.
The fit issues with this model make it a demanding build. Many of the 30 hours I spent on it were a challenge. So, mate, be forewarned about some of this kit’s difficulties. However, if you have a little experience and a lot of patience, you can overcome those problems and add a neat, little replica of the Boomerang to your collection.
The model scales out almost dead-on, within 1⁄8" of published dimensions, and you’ll get a lot of satisfaction from the finished product.
Note: A version of this review appeared in the January 2011 issue of FineScale Modeler magazine.