Rareplanes 1/72 RC-12D Cuckiya
KIT: | Rareplanes 1/72 RC-12D Cuckiya |
KIT #: | RP 4005 |
PRICE: | $12.00 when new |
DECALS: | None provided |
REVIEWER: | Carmel J. Attard |
NOTES: | Vacuformed kit with white metal parts |
HISTORY |
Beech Aircraft Company flew the
prototype on in fuel
capacity for more powerful Pratt & Whitney PTA-41 turboprop engines. The King
Air went on to become the most successful aircraft in its class.
THE KIT |
The
kit comes in a sturdy box of the type supplied by Rare Plane. The box cover
depicts a side view of a US-12B Huron in US Navy markings circa 1984. The kit
basically contains detailed vacuum formed styrene mouldings which consist of
fuselage halves, main wing parts and tail planes, engine nacelles which come in
two half each, front and rear bulkheads, cockpit office parts and normally a
clear styrene canopy. In my case the canopy was missing as I have acquired the
kit after passing several hands rather then
from a shop. There are metal parts which include
three oleo legs, pair of three blade props complete with spinner. Incidentally
these and the undercarriage wheels are also repeated among the vac form items.
The model is beautifully molded with surface detail of the extent that Rare
Plane kits always contain and which I find equal to injection molded kits. There
were no decals inside the box.
CONSTRUCTION |
a razor
blade. Detail surface areas close to the joining line are covered with masking
tape in order to preserve during sanding of the filler at joining areas. . Holes
had to be drilled at clear areas and shaped with sharp, pointed blade.
A particular item concerning the kit is that one nacelle after assembly was found to be 1/16” longer than the other. This was easily amended. Making the US Navy version shown on the box side view could have been a straight forward job but with no decal sheet available to complement the kit I had to look for an alternative version of the King Air with in view of solving the decal problem. My choice fell on an IDFAF RC-12D of which I had one or two pictures and scale plans to refer to which to me proved sufficient.
The RC-12D had the more powerful engines with 4-blade props.
The first stage of assembly was the construction of the engine nacelles, open
the front engine intakes, alter the exhaust stack with alternative vac form
parts that come with the kit and bring the overall length of the nacelles equal.
The 3-blade prop was then modified into a 4-blade one. This was done by sawing
off two blades from each prop and first fit the opposing blade to the single
blade left attached, and then fit the other two blades at 90 degrees to the each
of the other two blades. The extra two blades needed came from the
kit itself which contained spare blades among the vac form parts. The blades
were joined to the spinner end using super glue. The rest of assembly went step
by step. First shape and sand and assembling the wings, fuselage, detailing the
cockpit just like any previous vac form kit experience. Bearing in mind that the
kit has a front u/c and therefore needed balance weight to be added.
Other construction alterations included modifying the round cabin windows to conform to the drawing of the RC-12D and adding another window to port side of fuselage. Wing tip tanks were built from sprue of equal diameter which were then shaped at the forward and rear end using a flat file. Three large blade antennae were added to the fuselage, one to lower and two on roof. These were made from backing sheet of styrene. An aerial made out of metal pin was added to the edge of each of the blade antennae. The tip tanks were then fitted at a raised configuration to the wing tips. An under fuselage fairing was cut and built up from plastic card I laminated construction. To this was attached surveillance equipment carried under the fuselage. This was also made from sprue with flat areas with ports added to one side. The white metal oleo and wheels were cleaned from the little flash present and fixed in place. Wireless and other detail items were added as last items to the kit.
COLORS & MARKINGS |
CONCLUSIONS |
REFERENCES |
SAM Vol 18 No 9 Nov 1996 issue.
If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.