Curtiss-Wright AT-9 Jeep

Dora Wings, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

The Curtiss-Wright AT-9 Jeep was a twin-engined advanced trainer aircraft used by the United States during World War II to bridge the gap between single-engined trainers and twin-engined combat aircraft. The AT-9 had a low-wing cantilever monoplane configuration, retractable landing gear and was powered by two Lycoming R-680-9 radial engines.

The first prototype Model 25 flew in 1941 and the production version entered service as the AT-9 in 1942. Named the "Fledgling" by Curtiss-Wright, it commonly became known as the "Jeep" in the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). The prototype CW-25 had a fabric-covered steel tube fuselage and fabric-covered wings and tail units, but production AT-9s were of stressed metal skin construction.

The AT-9 was purposely designed to be less stable and proved to be difficult to fly or land, which made it particularly suitable for teaching new pilots to cope with the demanding flight characteristics of a new generation of high-performance, multi-engine aircraft such as the Martin B-26 Marauder and Lockheed P-38 Lightning. Comedian George Gobel was a flight instructor at Army air bases in Oklahoma for both the AT-9 and B-26.

A total of 491 AT-9s were built before production ended and a new production run of 300 of the generally similar AT-9A commenced.

Because of its difficult flying characteristics the AT-9 was not offered for sale to civilians after the war, although many non-flying examples were given to ground schools for training purposes.*

To my knowledge, the only 1/48 scale Curtiss-Wright AT-9 Jeep kit that was out there before today was the Collect-Aire multi-media (mostly resin) offering.

Collect-Aire kits have a notorious reputation for being difficult to build and this one apparently doesn't disappoint in that category. Check out Fotios Rouch’s build of the Collect-Aire kit on Cybermodeler Online last year.

Dora Wings has had a knack for picking interesting and esoteric subjects, and they have now come to the rescue of modelling mortals with an injection moulded plastic 1/48 scale AT-9 Jeep.

Dora Wings' AT-9 Jeep comprises 143 parts in medium grey coloured plastic, three parts in clear plastic, around 40 parts on two photo-etched frets, die-cut masks and decals for four marking options.

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Thumbnail panels:

Surface textures are made up mainly from very fine, recessed and consistent panel lines.

The cockpit is well fitted out with throttles, wheels, handles, rudder pedals, control yokes, radio, seats, fire extinguisher and more. The instrument panel is plain with a photo-etched face. There are no dial decals.

After I posted my review, it was brought to my attention that my kit should have included a printed acetate sheet with dial details on it. These are not mentioned in the instructions or the parts layout. My kit may have been an early sample and therefore missed out, but your kit should have it.

Rudder pedals are photo-etched parts too.

A second instrument panel option is on the sprues too, although it is not mentioned in the instructions. This one is a plastic part with raised bezels.

All of this nice cockpit detail may be displayed through the poseable doors on either side of the fuselage.

The engines are detailed with pushrods, finely detailed cylinder banks and crankcases. The are also supplied with exhaust manifolds and fine mounts. I will be checking to see if I can positively locate the engine inside the engine cowling and dispense with the mounts.

Each of the cowlings are made up from upper and lower covers plus a forward cowl ring. A rear lower nacelle part is supplied for each side too. These double as the main undercarriage bays. There are no doors. On the real aircraft, the main landing gear simply swung back between the openings on the rear nacelles.

The wings are made up from a full span lower half and and port and starboard upper parts. All control surfaces are separate parts and may be posed neutral or offset.

Clear parts look good. The canopy is only a single part and the clear side doors may be posed open if you wish.

Dora Wings has thoughtfully provided die-cut, self-adhesive canopy, window and wheel masks, which will save some time!

Moulding quality is very good, but being a limited run kit, you won't find little luxuries such as locting pins. Take a little extra time with preparation and test fitting before you apply glue.

Also, the sprue attachments extend onto the mating surfaces of the larger parts. This is good news because it means that the sprue attachments won't scar the visible outside surfaces, but it also means that you have to take care not to gouge out too much plastic when removing the waste.

Instructions are supplied on a 12-page, glossy booklet. There are 31 illustrated construction steps.

The marking guide is in full colour.

Markings

The decal sheet is printed by Decograph from Ukraine. The decals are satin in finish.

Registration and printing look good.

Markings are supplied for four options.

This is a nicely detailed kit that will be far easier to build than the older resin Collect-Aire AT-9 Jeep.

As a limited run offering, some modelling skills will be required for parts preparation and alignment, but I have built Dora Wings Lancer and there were no real traps with that one. With proper preparation and test-fitting, I don't anticipate any major problems with this one either.

Dora Wings' 1/48 scale AT-9 Jeep will be warmly welcomed by USAAF, twin-engine and trainer aircraft fans.

*Historical summary adapted from Wikipedia

Thanks to Dora Wings for the review sample.

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2021 by Brett Green
Page Created 11 August, 2011
Last updated 13 August, 2021

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