Print Scale 72-164: Hs-126

The Hs-126 was one of a disappearing breed of aircraft; the dedicated low level reconnaissance aircraft. These types were only truly useful when your side had air superiority as they were cannon-fodder for fighters. They were designed to carry not only an observer/gunner, but cameras and at time, a light bomb load. The British had their Lysander and the US had the O-52 which saw very little combat use, that being in the Philippines early in the war. These planes had fairly short landing/take off characteristics to be able to operate out of fields near where their armies were located.

In the past, there have been only three kits of which I am aware of this aircraft in 1/72 scale. Both are from the 1970s. The last time they were reissued was by Airfix (1993), Italeri (2001), and Matchbox (2002 in an Alanger box). Revell owns the Matchbox tooling and farms it out as needed. The last time Revell reissued it was 2001. Supposedly Brengun was to release one, but that hasn't happened as of yet. None of these kits are horrible and all build fairly well, with the Matchbox version actually being the easiest. I built the Italeri kit some six years back (shown here) and found it to be pretty much as expected.

This sheet provides markings for seven markings options. You can read the units and see the schemes in the header image. The decals are nicely printed and provide sufficient common markings for two aircraft if you choose wisely as you are offered early and later insignia. The swastikas are split so you might want to hunt up a separate sheet of them if you don't like these. Other than the winter white planes and one with desert camo, all are in RLM 70/71/65 which was standard stuff for these planes.

If you have one of these kits, the odds are pretty good that the decals are no longer viable. This sheet would be a good option.

January 2021

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