In 1940 the United States Army Air Corps became aware that it was appropriate to begin preparation for the very real possibility that the US might become involved in a war that was on going in Europe. As part of the general thinking, the USAAC had already began evaluation of the Cessna Model T-50 as an ‘off the shelf’ twin-engine trainer ideal for transition of a pilot qualified on single engine aircraft to a twin-engine one.  A new design CW-25 was created which had the take-off and landing characteristics of a light bomber.

 This was a canti-lever, low-wing monoplane with tail wheel landing gear. A single prototype was evaluated. This had welded steel-tube fuselage structure and the covering was largely of fabric, but the production aircraft were of aluminium alloy construction. The type was ordered into production under the designation AT-9 with the name ‘Jeep’. The AT9 was not easy to fly or land, making it ideal for teaching new pilots to cope with in flight characteristics of the new generation high performance twin engine type like the P-38, B-26, B-25.

 The aircraft remained in use for a comparatively short time as more effective aircraft were under development. Manufacture of the AT-9 totalled 491 aircraft and there followed 300 examples of the generally similar AT-9A before the production came to an end in early 1943.

The kit comes in an open ended Pavla style of packing with the box covers depicting a colour side view of the AT-9 Jeep in aluminium finish and USAAF markings. The instruction sheets devote a full page to detailing the cockpit interior displaying the placement of brass etch items as instrument panel, rudder pedals, control wheel, consoles, seat belts etc. The grey plastic parts are clearly moulded and having large sprue stubs, which are best, separated from the sprue with a razor saw blade to ensure no damage is done to each part. The window frame area needs to be carefully cut away in advance for the one-piece canopy to fit. This applies to both half of the fuselage. The clarity of the vac form canopy which is best trimmed to fit using a pair of scissors, will be beneficial to show the two steering control wheels and seating arrangement etc of the interior. The kit itself is quite plain on the outside which includes door handles, under mid fuselage navigation lights, ‘L’ shaped boarding steps to both sides, aluminium control links and detail landing gear. A well-printed decal sheet includes markings for 3 aircraft. Two being natural metal finish and one camouflaged in olive drab topsides and neutral grey undersides.

 Construction begins with assembling the cockpit as indicated earlier, painting the kit parts as you go along. These are basically cockpit green sides and black detail parts, leather seats, light tan seat belts with silver buckles. I noticed that the control console needed to be fixed nearer to the seats to allow the instrument panel to fit in its intended place. The cockpit floor also required filing off 1mm from its sides as also the bulkhead so that it can fit inside the fuselage and also allows the fuselage to close. A dry run is suggested before this is glued in place. The radial engine detail parts and the prop blades are in resin. The blades needed some cleaning up and cemented to the injection moulded plastic central spindles. To fit the ending I found it best to glue the cowling halves and then when this is set a push fit of the radial engines in their place is all that is needed. If this proves to be slightly tight then a little amount of the resin radial on the outside can be filed. The engines were painted engine grey with touches of silver. Two engine exhausts were added to the rear of each engine. These were made from hollowed out stretch sprue.

 The outside surfaces were quite clean with the exception of the aileron control rods and a single light on top of the fuselage. The side steps in brass were replaced with ones made of steel wire bent and cut to shape. An antenna mast made from a strong metal pin was fixed in place of the brass one. The bulbous canopy fitted precisely using white glue and formed continuity with the rest of the fuselage.

I went for the camouflaged version using Tamiya neutral grey for the under surfaces and Tamiya olive drab for the upper surfaces. Before applying decals the kit was given two coats of Johnson’s Klear. Kit decals were of correct size and colour and these adhered well to the model. . Wing and fuselage lights were painted on and the completed model was given a semi gloss varnish finish using Model Master brand.

This kit proved to be a graceful little aircraft and could find a place nest to a fleet of B-25 or A-26 as a hack aircraft. Alternatively it can be placed alongside a Bobcat trainer aircraft. Pavla Models is providing a wide range of kit options of long neglected subjected and the Jeep is one of them.

 Carmel J Attard.

 January 2010If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.