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Hello to all! Here is my latest completed model - Pilatus PC-12/45 - that I finished as part of 'Give Piece a Chance' group build here on the forum. As I was making this model I learnt quite a lot about Pilatus PC-12 but also about the small Okavango Air Rescue team and about Okavango Delta too. Pilatus PC-12 model is quite unique on the market to this day being the only widely available single-engine airplane of such class (7-9 passengers). There are some smaller single-prop aircraft such as Piper Meridian typically with up to 6 capacity including the pilot. Beechcraft developed a Denali model which I think is the only directly comparable to PC-12. But that is not yet in production. Pilatus PC-12 is being produced for over 30 years already with over 2000 aircraft sold so looks like it is a very commercially successful airplane. And quite beautiful too! The Okavango Air Rescue team is serving Okavango Delta basin from the Maun International Airport located respectively in a Maun town which is a gateway to Okavango river delta. As I was able to understand from public sources, Okavango Air Rescue company is a not-for-profit organization being funded by patronage system and providing free rescue to its patrons visiting Okavango Delta as well as to local population. And I believe in an emergency they will rescue other tourists but for a fee. The company was founded about 15 years ago by air rescue professionals from Switzerland and now operates two Pilatus PC-12 airplanes as well as couple helicopters. I will not write Wikipedia information about the Okavango Delta. I could only say that now I've placed Botswana on my to-do travel destinations list. Not sure how soon I could be able to go there - but this red Pilatus will be reminding me about that idea. The Amodel kit is definitely not in the Eduard or Tamiya league. In particular, my kit had some mismolded areas on the fuselage bottom side. On the other hand parts fit each other okay. Even windows were transparent and well fit the openings. Externally the model looks very much like real Pilatus PC-12. For example, lower fuselage side has some noticeable shapes that were reproduced seemingly accurate (but had to be restored after treatment of mismoldings). Amodel seems appropriately catered for variations between different PC-12 configurations. Also the kit has some nice photoetch parts including super tiny static electricity dischargers. A nice touch. On the other hand some better resin or 3D printed engine exhausts could be very beneficial as plastic parts are very agricultural. I also made a good amount of scratchbuilt updates: - first and foremost I added a scratch passenger cabin with seats and medical beds - added couple minor parts to the pilots' cabin - another big update was replacement of rudimentary piece of plastic in the front wheel well with a representation of a real wheel bay - added some details into the main wheel bays - added some walling to the intake to remove the 'cave effect' - I made properly rotating propeller - lastly added wire antenna at the tail fuselage Other than that it is a out-of-box project. No aftermarket was used as none is really available. More information on my updates with pictures are available in the build thread in the GB forum Couple last points on the model - red colour is Tamiya XF-7 covered in two major runs by gloss microscale finish. Decals are Decograph printed and coming from the box. They behaved excellently! Some more close up pictures of wing tips, undercarriage and tail area with those navigation lights and static dischargers Lastly I have some special pictures for you. Firstly obviously Pilatus PC-12 next to Pilatus PC-6 Next is a pair of my business jets (or turboprops) completed so far and next I pulled together all four red-painted models that I have in collection. Someone mentioned in my build thread that Pilatus PC-12 makes a nice splash on the shelves - just wanted to show that there are luckily a bit more than just one red splash already! Thanks for watching! And happy modelling to all of you Kind regards, Dennis

Hi All, I'll be joining this GB with at least this model: Another Pilatus for me, yeah. First look into box contents: Not much news... Typical Amodel short run plastic (see more pics below), some photoetch and paint masks. Decal is nicely printed by Decograph - should work flawlessly. The box has the only one variant - so yes - it will carry Botswana registration of an airplane used by Okavango Air Rescue company. I think these guys fly two PC-12s and some other air transport as well. Close up of the sprues: Typical, a bit agricultural Amodel/Sova kit. Reasonable amount of flesh. Some harsh surfaces from inside. No cabin interior provided so I need to decide if I go a tough way of making full interior from scratch or ignore the problem and make a simpler and quicker project... I'll pause here until 11th January and make use of the time to gather more materials and decide on the cabin stretchers and seats. Cheers, Dennis

This build will be of a CF-5D* in the Botswana Defence Air Wing. The aircraft was licence built for the Royal Canadian Air Force before being sold to Botswana. The kit is a Kinetic boxing: Coincidentally, the box art shows a Canadian Freedom Fighter in the same scheme that I will use for the Botswana example. (Possibly the same airframe in earlier days?) AM So far, I have some decals from Aztec And, this is the scheme I'll be aiming for The same aircraft can be seen on the Botswana Defence Force Air Wing Wiki Page - though dusty and seen with a low sun. The decals offer roundels (triangles) for four positions: two for the fuselage, and two as options for the wings. If anybody knows whether Botswana uses wing roundels on this type, I'd be interested to learn - Aztec themselves are uncertain. There is a monograph about the Botswana Defence Force Air Arm (here) that shows a Strikemaster with roundels in typical USAF locations. *Locally designated BF-5, the official Canadian designation of the type was the CF-116D.