CASA C-212-100

Special Hobby, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Graham Carter

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A global success for Spanish firm CASA, the 212 is one of those aircraft that flies under the radar due to the nature of its employment. There were over 600 produced and still being produced in Indonesia under license after Spanish production ceased in 2010, serving military and civil operators in over ninety countries!  It is widely known as the Aviocar, and in USAF service as the C-41A.

Designed to be a C-47/Ju52 replacement the Aviocar was flown in 1971 and entered service in 1974, its boxy shape , high wings, STOL performance, fixed undercart and rugged construction meant it could be simply modified for a number of roles such as communications, ambulance, paratrooping, navigation training, radio work, photo-recon, Maritime patrol , S&R and ASW. The provision of a rear ramp is especially useful for relief work and dropping chaps into the void.

Many have been produced as small airliners in the feeder-liner category with around 18-22 passengers, although the latest version can accommodate 28. The different series, 100, 200, 300 and 400, indicate engine upgrades, better avionics and interior layouts. About 250 are still in service around the world and the modeller has a plethora of users and schemes to chose from, so decal manufacturers can have a field day. Several found their way to Australia, including VH-ICJ of Lloyd Aviation in WA. Mining companies and feeder airlines operating in remote areas all over the world seem to find the 212 very attractive.

Dimensionally the Aviocar is just  bit bigger than a Beaufighter.

( from Wikipedia and the kit instructions)

This have been a couple of resin ( Scratchaeronautics ) and vacform ( Broplan ) kits of the Aviocar available over the years but I have not been able to look at these. This kit uses the Special Hobby moulds of a couple of years ago, a kit which has been produced in a number of boxings as the  CASA 212-100 and C-41A, and an ELINT version. Comparison with the Azur-FROM kit indicate that this kit is the short nose/short wingspan version that has already been available in other guises, but with new decals and using some parts not used before. CMK produce a set of replacement control surfaces and NH Details set NH72-069 do a PE set covering interior and exterior details. I could find no reference to after-market decal options but given the range of schemes available in these Special Hobby kits there is more than enough to keep the modeller happy.

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Presented in the standard strong top-opening Special Hobby box, this is a very packed box of parts and your spares collection will come out on top as many parts are not used in this version. I counted 185 plastic parts in the box and for this version 100 of them go unused! The colourful lid ‘painting’ shows the Spanish aircraft that can be built with the parts provided, the other two choices being Chilean and Colombian.  The kit is clearly designed to allow the manufacturer(s) to produce a multitude of different versions and therefore extend the life of the mouldings.

The box is certainly packed, with five large sprues in the familiar mid-grey plastic favoured by Eastern European manufacturers, packed in a re-sealable plastic bag. As well there is a separate sprue of clear parts, and a sheet of decals - there is no PE set in this kit. A twelve-page instruction booklet ( the last two pages being promotional material on other SH releases ) printed in colour completes the contents.

Parts are well moulded with fine surface detail and no evidence of flash. Seams are almost invisible but a light swish with a sanding stick should suffice. I am impressed with the finesse of many small parts such as the undercarriage legs, aerials and control columns.  Care will be needed in construction as this short-run kit has no locating pins as per usual practice.  More care will be required in sorting the parts to be used for this variant and the modeller will need to refer to the parts map and instructions constantly as there are numerous parts to be rejected.

Fortunately the instructions are very clear as to which parts need to be used, but this is one kit where the modeller will definitely need to follow the instructions. I would suggest separating all the unused parts right at the start of construction.

Cockpit colours and all detail colours are indicated in Gunze paint numbers. In step 11 make sure you add nose weight as this is definitely a tail-sitter! I would say 20g is needed, about an ounce in pounds, shillings and pence. The cockpit area is nicely detailed but no seatbelts are included as mouldings, and there is no fuselage interior at all - not even a floor! This opens up the field for the scratch-builder and the cottage industries as open doors and rear ramp could produce an interesting model. There are plenty of images on t’net of Aviocar interiors.  However, any scratch-built interior work will require more weight in the nose. Transparencies appear to be very clear although the small size of the windows may mean you will use PVA or Kristalklear products rather than fiddle around with the plastic bits.

Colours & Markings

Decals are nicely printed, colour alignment is great and three different subjects are included and covered by single page colour instructions.

They are: 

1. T12B-65, of the 721 Airborne School, Spanish Air Force in 2009 in overall light grey,

2. #211 of the Chilean Army between 1978 and 2013 in Brown/Green/Dark Green over Light Grey - shades not indicated but given as Gunze colours, and

3. ARC 702, the sole Colombian Navy example from 2005 onwards, in a two-tone grey scheme.

This is a a very nice kit of a largely neglected light transport aeroplane and one that cries out for the decal manufacturers to provide us with a myriad of interesting schemes.

Special Hobby already cater for a variety of these. If this kind of aircraft rocks your boat then grab one or two now as we all know how quickly these great kits disappear.

Definitely recommended to the reasonably skilled modeller.

Thanks to Special Hobby for the review sample.

Review Text & Images Copyright © 2018 by Graham Carter
Page Created 15 January, 2019
Last updated 15 January, 2019

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