Bucker Bu 131 B/D

Czech Master Resin, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Mark Davies

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In the early 1930’s the newly founded Luftwaffe had a need for large numbers of trainers in three engine power ranges. The 240-hp class was met by the Ar 66 and Go 145, and the 150-hp by the Ar 69, Fw 44 and He 72. The last and lowest power class was 80-hp using the Hirth HM 60 R engine. This was to power the Bu 131 produced by the newly formed Bucker company (Its founder, Carl Bucker, had returned from Sweden where he had been Managing Director of Svenska Aero AB following his WW1 service as a pilot in the German Naval Air service).

The 80-hp design had to be economical to produce and operate, sturdy, and suitable for primary training and introduction to aerobatics. The Bu 131 went on to meet the needs of the Deutscher Luftsport-Verband or DLV (sports flying movement) as well as the Luftwaffe. A wider appreciation of its characteristics was to lead to licence production by Switzerland, Spain, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Japan.

This is a new tooling of the Bu 131 by CMR. It is packaged in a sturdy top-opening box with attractive box art. I will also be reviewing two other CMR kits of four licence-built derivatives of the Bu 131 as separate articles: These being the Czechoslovak Aero C-4 & C-104, and the Japanese Kawasaki Ki 86 & Watanabe K9W.   

The parts and decals are in heat sealed plastic bags, which in turn are sealed in a further bag with the instructions and colour scheme diagrams. Straightforward instructions consist of four A5 pages, whilst another A4 page provides a rigging diagram and illustrates the subtle differences applicable to the Swiss version offered by the kit (different exhaust, windscreens and use of mudguards on the main wheels). There are five A4 pages of 4-view painting & marking guides with colour call-outs in either generic colours or RLM codes. Finally there are four A4 pages of in-service Bu 131s.

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Thumbnail panels:

The parts breakdown is completely conventional for a small biplane, although a nice touch is the one-piece fuselage that receives the cockpit from its underside. Casting blocks will be easily removed, as will the very thin flash that is present in places. The wing struts and the undercarriage are cast in a pale tan resin. This resin obviously has better load-bearing properties than the cream resin used for the remainder of the kit.

Some will appreciate the clear resin windscreens over the more usual CMR vac-from clear parts. As an alternative for the non-Swiss version there is a flat acetate sheet with two windscreen outlines (I initially missed seeing this as the acetate sheet is very small and was hidden behind some printing on the heat-sealed plastic bag it shares with the PE fret. So keep ane eye out for it!. The acetate screens will need to be carefully cut out and folded if chosen in preference to the clear resin options. Personally I’m happy with either medium.

The Eduard-sourced pre-coloured PE fret supplies instrument panels and seat belts, throttles etc to dress up the small open cockpits nicely. There are six instrument panels to cater for the Bu 131 and C-4/C104 boxings offered by CMR, but as these are numbered on the fret it’s easy to identify the correct two to use from the instructions.

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.

The subjects covered are two Luftwaffe options, one Regia Aeronautica, and two civilian options for Switzerland and the Dutch Indies Aviation Foundation.

This is a superbly executed kit of an interesting subject. Being a small biplane it may be a little fiddly to build, but well worth the effort. I highly recommended it.

Thanks to Czech Master Resin for this review sample.

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 8 October, 2009
Last updated 8 October, 2009

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