Pilatus Porter PC-6/ B2-H2 Der Bunte Fredi Austrian Airforce special

[richellis]

Pilatus Porter PC-6/ B2-H2 Der Bunte Fredi Austrian Airforce special

1/48 plastic kit from Roden.

The Pilatus Turbo Porter is a multi-use single engine propeller aircraft built in Switzerland. This kit has been reviewed previously so to save going over the kit again the review can be found here,Porter review

This kit depicts an Austrian Air force aircraft, 3G-EL, which was built and entered service in 1977. This aircraft is used as a light transport aircraft and in an air ambulance/ rescue roll. It was repainted in this multi-colour “Griffin” bird livery and remains in service with the air force being a frequent visitor at various air shows.

You need to paint the model gloss white, and apply the big colourful decals over that. Some of the decals are large and I would cut them into smaller parts to apply, all of the door decals separate, to allow the doors to be posed open. Looking at the sheet some of the decals look a little thick so some softening and setting solution may be required

The decals are well printed with sharp detail and bright colours, and there is a small separate sheet for the instrument panel printed to the same high quality as the main sheet.

The kit instructions are the same as the previous review they are simple and easy to follow, only the paint and decal part differs, and they are shown above, at first glance they look confusing but take it slowly and you should be fine!

Conclusion

As I said on the previous review this is a cracking kit. The parts are very well cast with no flash on the parts. I wish that Roden would pack the clear sprue separately to protect it from damage, so make sure you take it out before it goes in the stash!

This kits main selling point is the decals. They are big, bright and colourful and will stand out when on display! They look well done, but I will be cutting some of the decals into bits so they will be smaller to apply and I will make sure I have some softener and setting solution ready to use on this!

Review sample courtesy of

[Paul A H]

Wow, what a colour scheme!

[jimbuna]

Ypo'd certainly need a fair selection of paint colours to tackle that

[Mentalguru]

Handsome and important aircraft.

I bought those decals from IPMS something or other at a Nats a few years back but in 1/72.

I thought I saw this new kit on a web site a few days ago- but it was like 36 quid- YIKES!!!

[richellis]

Ypo'd certainly need a fair selection of paint colours to tackle that

Only white. Everything else is decal!

[Mike]

Fetch me my sunglasses!

[Decoman]

I don't want to come across as lazy here, but I really want to find this kit somewhere.

So if anyone know where to order this kit online, I would very much like to learn about it.

I have already modeled this airplane in 3d on a computer, so having a kit would be great.

Edit: Ah, I did a search on this forum and that led me to hannants.co.uk which has several of those kits. I wonder which is the best one in 1/48 scale.

http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/ROD444

http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/ROD443 <-- the sprues looked nice in a review for this kit

This airplane is seen in the movies "Air America" and briefly in "Sky Fighters".

Edit2: I bought the kit off Hannants.co.uk, since I saw there were only 3 left in stock. I have to be careful with all of my kit purchases lately, else I'll be eating noodles before I know it.

Edited July 21, 2012 by Decoman

[Julien]

Decoman, Hannants have this very kit now 1/3 off!

http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/ROD444

Julien