taleri's 1/48 scale Arado Ar 196 by Roland Sachsenhofer

Italeri's 1/48 scale
Arado Ar 196 A-3 "Penang"

by Roland Sachsenhofer

Arado Ar 196

Revell's 1/32 scale Arado Ar 196 A-3 is available online from Squadron for only USD$23.21!!

Description

There are just few places where German and Japanese forces met together during World War II. The major navy base of Penang in Japanese-occupied Malaysia was one of these. The Japanese Navy operated submarines and floatplanes, whereas the Germans had the so called „“Monsun Gruppe“ stationed there. It consisted of a group of submarines which were supplemented and assisted by two Arado 196 floatplanes from 1944 onwards.

My Arado represents one of these aircrafts. Contemporary pictures seem to be rare, so I had to rely on artwork which can be found online, in books -or in Italeris construction manual.

The camouflage is simply enough; the contemporary Japanese colours are enriched by black tips of the floats and a black and white prop-spinner. I used RLM 65 and 72, the most propable colour shades for this camo.

Italeris kit seems to have a rather bad reputation- after enjoying the build I have no clue why. Cockpit and exterior can easily be enriched by some extra detail. I achieved that with the addition of seat belts, cross hairs for the machine gun and scratched rudder control cables.

A real bonus of Italeris boxing is the dolly, which makes up to a very fine represantion of the Arados beaching gear. Last but not least the decal sheet has to be mentioned, which makes you choose between two rather conventionel versions plus a faked French and, as you can see, a Japanese one.

Thumbnail panels:

If you are interested in the building process, please have a look on the workbench at the JAM Forum:
http://www.razyboard.com/system/morethread-arado-196-in-japanischen-farben-italeri-148-raidenjack-2086023-6275001-0.html

As ever, remarks will be appreciated: ro.sachsenhofer@gmx.at

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