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C-45F Expeditor 1:48 Revell The Twin Beech, or to give the aircraft its proper title The Beechcraft Model 18, is a six to eleven seater twin engines low wing, tail wheeled light aircraft made by the Beech Aircraft Corporation is the USA. Between 1937 and 1969 (an impressive production run) over 9000 aircraft were built. During WWII many aircraft were pressed into service and may more were built for the allied war effort serving as transport aircraft, light bombers, trainers, and for photo-reconnaissance. The Kit This is a re-boxing by Revell of the recently released ICM kit. The packaging would indicate the plastic has come direct from ICM. There are two main sprues of parts, with two small spures, the upper and lower wings; and one clear sprue. Construction starts with adding the glazing to the main fuselage halves. There is a small strip for the 3 main cabin windows, with individual parts for all other windows in each side, Where the kit differs from others is that the main cockpit glazing is supplied as one part for each fuselage half, which wraps around from the side; but does not reach all the way to the middle. There is then a centre section which is added towards the end of the build. The US military could designate the aircraft the C-45, with the C-45F being a standard 7 seven seat aircraft which would feature a longer nose than earlier variants. This aircraft would be called the Expeditor II by the British and Expeditor III by the Canadians. Both British and Canadian Aircraft were supplied under lease-lend. Military Aircraft would end up serving long past WWII which was a testament to the design of the aircraft. Once the glazing is in then the internal structure of the cockpit and cabin can be added. There is a rear bulkhead to the cabin to add along with the bulkhead separating the cabin from the cockpit. In the cockpit itself the instrument panel is built up, the lower part of this featuring the rudder pedals. A single seat is made up which attached to the right fuselage half at the very back of the cabin. Once this seat is installed the main fuselage can be closed up. Construction now moves on to the main undercarriage. The mounting for which come of the rear of the engine firewall. These are a complicated multi part affair and need careful studying of the instructions to make sure all of the parts are in the right places. Once these are complete for both sides they can be installed into the lower wing. It should be noted here that the upper and lower wings are each one part, which when complete add straight to the underside of the main fuselage. Once the engine firewalls complete with landing gear parts are mounted to the lower wing the engine faces are added to the front of the firewall and then exhaust parts are made up and added to the indie of the engine area. The bulkheads are added next to the rear of the landing gear wells. Once the one part ailerons are added to the lower wing the upper wing can be added. The top of the upper wing forms the floor of the main cabin and cockpit. As such two cockpit seats and 4 main cabin seats must now be built and installed onto the floor section. The pilots control columns are also added at this stage. The completed wing/cabin floor assembly can then be joined to the main fuselage. The next construction stage is to make up and install the tailplane assembly. To wrap up construction the tail wheel needs to be built up and installed along with the doors to the compartment. The main wheels are added to the gear legs already installed and the main gear door put in place. The propellers are then installed. If the spinners are to be used then a small amount needs to be trimmed off the hubs. Lastly the rear cabin door is added and the centre section for the main wind screen (though it might be easier to add this to the fuselage before the wing is added). Decals The decal sheet for this kit seems to be again made in Portugal like some other new releases. However unlike other kits recently reviewed the decals here seem of good quality. The look colour dense and are nice and glossy. More importantly for anyone doing the USAF version a main stream model manufacturer seems to have finally figured out that the USAF titles are in Insignia Blue NOT Black. The two decal options provided are; UC-45F, 2nd Electronics Sqn USAF, Olmsted Field, PA, 1948. Expediter C.II no.728 Naval Air Sqn, Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, Hal Far, Malta, 1949. Conclusion This is a great new tool kit with a couple of good decal options. Recommended. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

The kit I’m using is the ICM 1:48 C-45F/UC-34F, kit no. 48181 I’m building the kit straight out of the box, I’ve decided not to use any PE however I will be making some slight modifications myself, as these will be largely in the cockpit I doubt they’ll be visible on the finished model? One major change from the kit options is that I’ve decided to use some Caracal Models decals no. CD48076 as I wanted a more colourful scheme than from the kits choices. The scheme that takes my fancy is this one The scheme is for a C-45G (longer nacelles which I’m going to ignore as I’m more interested in the overall scheme rather than absolute accuracy), early 1960’s Military Air Transport Service. The scheme is mainly natural metal with flat black anti glare panels and flat white I’ve not read/heard of any serious issues with this kit, the main problem is the attachment of thin parts to the main sprue causing snapping of the part(s), on inspection part of the rear landing gear has been broken before I removed it from the box so I’ll have to take extra care with these parts. Next up I’ll be making a start on the cockpit and interior. until next time as always, any suggestions or comments will be gratefully received. rgds John(shortCummins)