Military aircraft vol.71 : Dornier Do335A-0

Subject:	Dornier Do335A-0
Scale:	1/72
Manufacturer:	Dragon
Price	US$25,00
Description	Injection molded kit. Waterslide decals
Comments	The Dornier Do335 is one of those planes that has no military records, never saw full operational use, but is the subject of several books and has models in all major scales from top manufacturers. For me the reason is simple: it is a handsome bird! Recently, Hong Kong Models released an 1/32 scale kit full of details. I thought of getting one to build showing engine detail, cockpit and more but the overall cost cancelled the project. Instead, i remembered this small scale Dragon kit with good detail that i already had in my collection. I decided to build it as prototype partially constructed, probably being refit, that was found abandoned at the edge of an airfield during the closing days of World War II. There are no extras in this construction. All detail was in the box. Painting was done with Tamiya and Acrylex with the metallic areas in Alclad II. The base was scratch built and also painted with Acrylex.

Military Aircraft vol.70: Fokker S11 Instructor Brazilian Air Force T-21

Subject:	Fokker S11 Instructor
Scale:	1/40
Manufacturer:	Smer
Price	US$15,00
Description	Injection molded kit. Waterslide decals
Comments	The Fokker S11 Instructor was used by the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) as the T-21 basic trainer from 1958 to 1973. They were bought by the Air Force from Fokker in Holand as a part of a negotiation that included the construction of the airframes in Brazil. Several political and economical issues led to the 100 aircraft constructed being finished by the air force after Fokker abandoned the project. The airplane was underpowered and a second version, with trycicle landing gear, suffered from problems with the center of gravity. Several were later delivered to civilian flight schools after the airplane was retired from military service. SMER's  kit is injection molded with decals for a Israeli version. Fit is ok, but, other then that, the kit has little detail. I rescribed the panel lines, scratch built some details for the cockpit and painted it as a T-21 basic trainer from the Brazilian Air Force. Decals came from several sets as there are no single one produced for this kit as far as i know.

Work in progress vol.16: Fokker S11 Instructor (READY)

Subject:	Fokker S11 Instructor
Scale:	1/40
Manufacturer:	Smer
Price	US$15,00
Description	Injection molded kit. Waterslide decals
Comments	Are you up for a challenge? This is Smer's 1/40 scale Fokker S11 Instructor. It is an old kit. I don't know if the molds were originally from Smer, but they look old. There is a lot of flesh among the parts. And there are rivets! Lots of rivets! Inside the cockpit you have no detail at all. Fit is poor but the overall shape of the plane is there to be seen! Brazilian Air Force used about one hundred of these planes from the late 50's to the 70's and that's why i decided to build one for my collection. I will post the kit's progress here as i try to finish it. Let's see what i can do...

1) The sprues:

2) References: I found two publications with pictures of the Fokker S11 in Brazilian Air Force colors.  The magazine Aero is no longer published, but i remember it from my youth as it was my major source of modeling information.

3) Scribing: First i got to remove all the rivets. I decided to scribe all the panel lines, leaving the kit's texture just on the fabric covered areas.

4) The cockpit: some scratch work will be needed.

5) Dry fitting:

6) Construction:

Some scratch built details:

Painted and closed cockpit:

All scratch built parts are placed in the cockpit:

The canopy received a coat of Future:

The canopy placed on the fuselage. Several adjustments had to be made to get a proper fit:

The windows masked with Tamiya tape:

The canopy frames were painted in the same interior green color as the cockpit

The wings painted in international orange and weathered:

The painted wings were protected with masking tape and paper for the primer application on the fuselage:

The painted fuselage with anti glare panel in black. Brazilian Air Force Insignia already applied on the wings.

There are no sets of complete markings for this aircraft. So i used some general markings to complete the kit.

And here is the completed model: