CAC CA-13 Boomerang

Special Hobby, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Special Hobby's 1/48 scale CAC CA-12 Boomerang is available online from Squadron.com

Historical Summary

The CAC Boomerang was a fighter aircraft designed and manufactured in Australia by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation between 1942 and 1945. Approved for production shortly following the Empire of Japan's entry into the Second World War, the Boomerang was rapidly designed as to meet the urgent demands for fighter aircraft to equip the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The type holds the distinction of being the first combat aircraft to be both designed and constructed in Australia.

Different variants of the Boomerang were manufactured under a series of corresponding production contract numbers CA-12, CA-13, CA-14 and CA-19, the aircraft supplied under each subsequent contract would incorporate various modifications, typically aimed at improving the aircraft's performance. The effectiveness of the Boomerang has been contested, the aircraft proving to be slower than contemporary fighter aircraft and thus rarely engaging in aerial combat.

During early wartime operations, the Boomerang was mainly dispatched to equip home-based squadrons, freeing up other fighters for use elsewhere overseas. In later service, the Boomerang would commonly be used for ground support duties, cooperating with Allied army units, in addition to secondary roles such as aerial reconnaissance and air sea rescue.*

The Boomerang in 1/48 scale

Foue 1/48 scale Boomerang kits predated Special Hobby's kit.

The first 1/48 Boomerang was a very limited run resin model consisting of about fifteen pieces. The kit was so limited that, in common with many Eastern European kits of the 1980s, it offered no company identification or instructions. The fuselage was a one piece solid resin affair with a hole representing the cockpit. The horizontal and vertical tailplanes were cast as a single assembly, with a separate rudder completing the assembly. Each wing was a similarly simple one-piece casting. The remaining pieces represented wing cannon, undercarriage and a few basic cockpit details. Despite its simple construction and basic cockpit, the result was a good representation of the original aircraft with finely wrought surface detail. It was also impressively heavy, a fact well catered for by steel-reinforced undercarriage legs!

The second Boomerang attempt also sprung from Eastern Europe. This time NKR Resin took the credit as manufacturer. The construction breakdown was more like a conventional plastic kit, with separately cast fuselage and wing halves. However, the quality of the disturbing flesh coloured resin was appalling - feeling soapy to the touch yet being unreasonably brittle to work with. My example was also badly warped.

Ventura of New Zealand produced the third 1/48 scale Boomerang, later marketed under the Kiwi Wings brand. This was an injection moulded styrene kit. Thick sprue gates are to be expected on a limited run kit such as this - and we were not disappointed. More time would have been spent on preparation than assembly, but by all accounts the kit was quite accurate.

LTD released a 1/48 scale Boomerang in 1996. This was a typical limited run injection kit of its day, requiring some experience and suffering from a few serious errors including the placement of the cockpit opening.

Special Hobby's 1/48 scale CA-12 Boomerang was released in 2008 and represented a great leap forward in terms of detail and buildability compared to its predecessors. This kit was followed by a CA-13 Boomerang in 2012.

Special Hobby has now re-released and upgraded their 1/48 scale CA-13 Boomerang. New parts include resin details for the cockpit, revised resin tail wheel and strut, new resin wheels. hedgehog exhausts and antenna mast. The decal sheet and instructions have also been revised / corrected.

In total, Special Hobby's 1/48 scale CA-13 Boomerang comprises 112 parts in grey styrene, 29 photo-etched parts, 38 resin parts, 19 clear injection molded parts plus two decal sheets and painting guide for four aircraft.

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Thumbnail panels:

The plastic parts still look good, with finely recessed panel lines. The moulds are starting to show there age with a fair amount of fine flash, but it won't take too long to clean this off with a sharp hobby knife and a sanding stick. The fuselage also has a very slightly rough texture that will be easy to polish with fine sandpaper or a sanding stick.

The cockpit is really nicely detailed with a combination of plastic, resin and photo-etched parts. The resin seat is dressed up with photo-etched harness straps.

The resin parts are excellent. The largest number of parts are for the engine, with separate cylinders, crankcase and other details. Resin cowl flaps are included too.

Individual exhaust manifolds, engine mounts, firewall and more are supplied as plastic parts.

The windscreen, sliding canopy section and the rear quarter windows are all separate clear parts.

Markings are supplied for four CA-13 Boomerangs. Two of these are finished Earth Brown and Foliage Green over RAAF Sky Blue while the other two are wearing overall Foliage Green.

A supplementary decal sheet corrects some of the colours on the main sheet, mainly the medium grey codes replaced with what appears to be Sky Blue.

The decals are well printed and in register. They have been printed by Aviprint from the Czech Republic.

Special Hobby's 1/48 scale CA-13 Boomerang has been unavailable for some time so this is a very welcome re-release. It's even nicer that Special Hobby has taken the opportunity to enhance and correct a number of issues with the kit and with the markings.

This kit offers a high level of detail and fine surface textures, but the limited run nature of the plastic parts means that some experience will be helpful.

Highly Recommended to experienced modellers.

Thanks to Special Hobby for the review sample

* Historical summary courtesy of Wikipedia

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2016 by Brett Green
Page Created 1 December, 2016
Last updated 2 December, 2016

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