Piper L-18C

Czech Master Resin, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Mark Davies

CMR's 1/72 scale Piper Super Cub is available online from Squadron.com

The Piper L-18, known as the Super Cub, was essentially a re-powered Cub whose 65 hp engine was replaced with engines ranging from 100-150 hp. Various other refinements were added including flaps, fully cowled engine, dual fuel tanks, and engine starter. In all about 9,000 Super Cubs were made, and many are still in use today.

The kit is packaged in typical Czech end-opening box with attractive box art. The parts and decals are in heat sealed plastic bags, which in turn are sealed in a further bag with the instructions and photo-walkaround. Straightforward instructions consist of three double-sided A4 pages. The parts map (for the PE fret only) and constructional illustrations are very clear and easy to follow.

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Thumbnail panels:

Nine pages of comprehensive colour plans covering options for nine aircraft are provided. These include one Norwegian, four German and four Belgian schemes. Detailed colour notes and other written instructions are in English. Eight more pages provide photos and walkaround shots of the aircraft featured in the kit.

The parts breakdown is completely conventional for a high-wing monoplane of this type. Casting blocks will be easily removed, as will the very thin flash that is present in places. The wing struts are cast in a dark brown resin, and the undercarriage braces and structural tubing in the cockpit are cast in a black resin. These darker resins obviously have better load-bearing properties than the cream resin used for the remainder of the kit. I feel it may be easier to scratch-build the internal cockpit framing using the kit parts as a guide because they are so delicate and will be tricky clean up without damaging them.

I was concerned that the vac-form canopy is intended to bear stresses of wing attachment. The canopy may be thick enough to do so with the wing struts taking their load too, but I was unsure so I e-mailed CMR to clarify things. They explained that the PE wing roots intended for attachment inside the canopy provide the extra strength (I had thought that these were simply for detail purposes). Some may still wish to strengthen this area. In my judgement the wings are light enough for this to be unnecessary, as I think CMR’s intended method of construction will be fine provided that the canopy is well fixed to the fuselage.

Other very fine details are provided for by the Eduard-sourced Photo-Etch (PE) fret.

This provides no less than four choices of instrument panels and seat belt types. The unused seatbelts will be a welcome addition to most modellers’ spares collection. The fret also provides two detailed wing ribs mentioned above (along with pre-painted placards) visible inside the cockpit where the wings join. The remaining PE parts are for small details like boarding steps etc.

Decals are typical of CMR, being well registered and suggest good opacity.

Based on past experience they should be very good to use; but like most Czech decals they will be quite thin and need to be floated into position, as they tend to adhere extremely well once there is no fluid under them.

This is a nicely executed kit of an interesting subject. Being a high wing monoplane it will be a little fiddly to build, but well worth the effort. No doubt CMR will be issuing other versions and members of the Piper Cub family.

CMR Models are available online from Hannants in the UK,
Red Roo Models in Australia and quality specialist model retailers worldwide.

Text Copyright © 2009 by Mark Davies
This Page Created on 26 January, 2009
Last updated

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