Not as well-known as its contemporary counter-insurgency aircraft, like the OV-1 Mohawk or OV-10 Bronco, the Argentine IA 58 Pucará (Fortress) gained attention during the 1982 Falklands War because it could be deployed to the islands, unlike the Skyhawks and Mirages. The twin-turboprop strike aircraft performed reconnaissance and ground-attack missions during the conflict. It has also served in the air arms of Sri Lanka, Colombia, and Uruguay.
The Pucará has been well handled in 1/72 scale, but Kinetic is the first company to offer an injection-molded plastic 1/48 scale kit. And a terrific kit it is!
The gray plastic parts show sharp recessed panel lines, vents, and latches. While there are some extra antennas and equipment to build the IA 58D version, there aren’t a lot of build options called out in the instructions. While the directions indicate the canopy should be posed up and the flaps down, it appears that both can be posed stowed. In fact, that’s what I did with the canopy, and it fit perfectly. For underwing stores, the kit provides a 500-gallon centerline tank, a pair of smaller tanks, and a pair of BRU-42/A triple-ejector racks (TER). The last can be fitted either on the centerline or wing pylons. Unfortunately, you won’t find ordnance in the box.
In addition to the canopy and separate windshield with defined frames, clear parts provide numerous lights. Photoetched-metal parts (PE) include harnesses, canopy and cockpit details, and static discharge wicks.
Impeccably printed Cartograf decals supply markings for two aircraft: an Argentine IA 58A shot down by a Royal Navy Sea Harrier (the pilot, Maj. Carlos Tomba ejected safely) and a Uruguayan air force IA 58D.
I had no trouble assembling the cockpit and its multipart ejection seats. The PE harnesses add a nice touch of detail, but oddly, only include shoulder straps and no lap belts. The instructions show color callouts for the cockpit referencing Ammo by Mig Jimenez paints. Unfortunately, you are on your own after that to figure out how to paint the wheel wells, landing gear, props, gearboxes, etc. There are several online walkarounds of surviving Pucarás that helped me.
Pay attention to Step 3: You need to open two holes if you plan to fit the centerline rack regardless of the version you are building and several more if your subject is the IA 58D.
The fuselage halves fit together beautifully and sanding almost eliminated the seam. I used a little superglue to fill a couple of areas. Add weight to the nose if you don’t want a tail sitter; the more the better—there’s a lot of plane in back.
The lower half of the wings incorporates a large section of the belly, joins on panel lines, and sets the angle of the wing. The upper wings and engine nacelles with the main gear bays went together without a hitch. I added the wing pylons but left off the landing light lenses and ordnance brackets for painting.
The separate fuselage section that fits behind the cockpit joins on panel lines. Good! However, it seemed a scooch narrower than the fuselage around it. Not so good. I centered it as best I could and carefully sanded the edges to minimize the lip.
I left the flaps, antennas, lights, and cannon shell ejector ports off for painting, but I attached the perfect fitting windshield and canopy and masked the frames.
Wanting to display an Argentine IA 58A next to my Falklands War Sea Harrier, I painted it the Pucará-specific pale green, tan, and blue from Hataka’s Argentine lacquer set. The thin decals laid down over a layer of clear gloss, but the black-and-white placement diagrams are so small it was difficult to locate or even see some of the smaller stencils.
After detail painting and a coat of clear flat, final assembly was a snap. Step 9 reverses the numbers for the main gear doors. Fortunately, it is obvious which one goes where. Be careful clipping the main gear doors from the parts tree because it is hard to tell where the locators end and the attachment point begins. On the upside, those locators provide a positive join and set the angle.
The sturdy nose gear doors are difficult to maneuver into the holes under the bay’s lip around the gear legs. Those legs provide the model a sturdy footing and the tires are weighted. The mains are keyed to place the flat spot on the ground, but the nose wheel rotates freely, and the flat spot is almost too subtle.
The flaps almost snap in place without glue, but the actuators can break easily during handling. The lights are some of the best-fitting small clear parts I’ve used. All I did was ensure the sprue attachment points were eliminated.
I was planning to fit the big centerline fuel tank and the TERs, but the separate bomb holders are tiny. After losing two in short order, I left the wing pylons empty.
Finally, and with much trepidation, I added the PE static discharge wicks. I was convinced these tiny parts would either bend irreparably during handling or launch from the tweezers as I went to place them. In the end, I got all of them on and painted.
I am not sure how long I spent building Kinetic’s 1/48 scale Pucará — I kept getting sidetracked by other projects. But I enjoyed working on it. The good detail and fits compensated for the lack of color callouts and ordnance, and it’s great to finally have a model of this aircraft whose exotic profile I saw in grainy TV news coverage from the Falklands war nearly 40 years ago. I recommend it for anyone with moderate experience.