Hi all,

I finally finished the 1/48 Avia. There are a few touch ups to do, but for the most part it is complete.
If you saw my rant "Dear Academy" then you know how I feel about this kit overall. Which is really too bad because there are some good parts to this kit. There was very little flash, if any, and the details of some parts were very good, such as the wheels. The wings joined the fuse so well I though I did something wrong! The clear stuff was really rough going. You could see that the TRIED to mold the canopy framing, but it just did not come through, which made masking a bit tough.

I went through a bit of paint trying to get the colors right. Contray to popular belief the planes were not painted RLM 02. They quickly faded out to that color, but were originally a khaki green, which no one makes, except Revell, and we can't get it here. So this was my best attempt.

I also added the Eduard zoom, which was typical Eduard quality. Overall this kit did not inspire me as I build it. It was good practice, but my mind kept wandering to get to the next one in the stash.

So let me know what you think!

-Derek

Hi Derek!

Aside from the Academy decals that is too thick and stiff (which Is to Blame Academy and no other!), this Is a really good build!
Only thing you might add is an antenna wire.

You have nailed this odd and difficult color very good, indeed!

How did you mix it?

I have this little kit in my stash and will build it as soon as I can find some better decals!
You know what I mean, right?

Cheers!

Stefan E

Stefan,

Yes, I know what you mean! Thanks for the compliments too. The colors I mixed together were various. The base colors were Tamiya Dark Yellow and Testors Interior Green. From there I added some yellow and red and white, and gray.........

Luckily my wife is an artist and is quite adapt at getting colors right. But really I just kept thinking about the name "Khaki Green" and mixed until I got close. I also have a issue of Model Aircraft Monthly that did a multipage story on the Avia and showed what it should actually look like. If you PM me your address I'll mail it to you, it's just collecting dust now.

-Derek

Hi Derek!

Thanks, I´ll try to mix something up!

I alredy have that issue, and I read it with great interest.

The authour had a lengthy explanation of the Avia colors, If I remember correctly!
I forgot I had that mag, must be all Alclad I painted this morning!

Cheers!

Stefan E

Well done Derek.
Its always gratifying when you get to the end of a build thats been giving you a hard time it seems from start to finish!
Looks great.
Nige

Looks good. I think the result is very good. The problems with the decals are not too obvious.

Thanks for sharing

Looks good to me too.

Good job and the Decals well only time will tell.

Is that Cypress wood?

Nice build of a rare airplane especially good treatment of Academy decals
Perhaps you should matt coat the spinner - it really stands out with that glossy red

Very nice. I will be more than happy if my own copy gets half as good as yours.
As far as I know the best match for RAL 6013 is Revell 362. I wonder if the israelis got used, worn and paint-faded planes, or if these were newly built, or maybe they were old but repainted before transfer. (for the extortion price they got for them, a repainting was THE LEAST the czechs should have done.) I mean, these planes had no time to fade out to RLM 02 in Israeli service, they served for a extremely short period. Although Museum examples can be very faded, of course.
Greetings

Well done, this type is not often seen as a completed build.

I like the build too. Nothing to be sensitive about at all. Looks very good. I'd show it in my model case, for sure.

Holy necropost batman!
We can all sleep sound though, im sure Eduard will get around to the S199 in the next few years