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In (June?) 2022 Special Hobby is to release a 1/72nd Aero Ab-11 - L-BUCD "Blue bird" on a long flight over Europe, Africa and Asia - kit - ref. SH72471 Source: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SH72471 V.P.

March 1974, the Vietnam Conflict was still raging and while the USAF, USN & USMC had air superiority over the Vietnamese, the ground war is a different story. Between them they had an impressive line up of strike and bomber aircraft, but since the USAF retired their A-1 Skyraiders two years previously, only the USMC had fixed wing aircraft capable of COIN missions. The USAF needed to fill this gap in their inventory and fill it fast. Rather than go through the lengthy process of commissioning an aircraft from scratch they decided to look a suitable airframes from their inventory that could be adapted or converted for use in this role. The obvious choice was the OV-10 Bronco, all three services were using them to good effect and the airframe had plenty of potential. The main downfalls of the Bronco were it's lack of speed and weapon load, these were the main factors that would have to be addressed if a successful aircraft was to be produced. In 1970 the USMC had trialled the YOV-10D in Vietnam and although the design was eventually changed for the production OV-10D it was of great interest to the USAF as a way forward for their project. Addressing the speed issue, it was decided to dispense with the twin turboprops and install a small turbofan engine on the centreline in place of the cargo hold, this would enable additional wing points to be installed and used for forward firing munitions now there were no props to worry about. The intake for the engine was dorsal mounted to reduce the risk of FOD ingestion and damage from ground fire, this configuration also enabled hot turnarounds without the risk of ground crew being ingested. The YOV-10D had a FLIR turret mounted in a lengthened nose, no side sponsons and a ventral turret mounting a three barrelled 20mm rotary cannon. The USAF decided not to use the turret instead they kept the sponsons but replaced the four 7.62mm guns with two 20mm cannons. It was decided that the aircraft would be single seat only due to the fact that this was successful with the A-1, the additional space achieved through this would be utilised for fuel storage as would the space once occupied by the turboprop engines. All existing OV-10 avionics were moved to the lengthened nose and given protective armour, this would allow the entire avionics pack to be detached and replaced within minutes. The system could then be worked on independent of the airframe, this would greatly reduce the maintenance downtime of each aircraft. The FLIR system would be retained but as a revolutionary "split-system" installation on the front of the two booms., this allowed for greater coverage during maneuvering including inverted flight. The hard point count was increased to 11, while it was not able to carry the same weapon loads as the Skyraider, it was never the less a very capable aircraft. Trials started September 1974, in January 1975 three evaluation aircraft were sent to Vietnam, within weeks it was obvious that this aircraft was what they were looking for. In March 1975 full production was approved and by June operational units began to receive their aircraft. Because the designation A-10 was already in use with Thunderbolt II (in development) the obvious change from OV-10 to A-10 could not be made. Because it had undergone such radical changes it was decide to rename the aircraft completely, and so the A-11A Courser (they wanted to keep the horse reference) was born. Well that's the "little" bit of background info I've come up with. The kit will be Academy's 1/72 OV-10D, I originally bought it just for the props as I need them for my Grumman Goose, I've also robbed it of some rocket pod bits for my AH-1G. This group will save it just sitting in my stash forever and should be fun to build.

AMX Fighter – Single Seater 1:48 The AMX was designed as a replacement to the Fiat G.91 and derivatives, and was the product of a newly create company called AMX International, which was a cooperation between Aeritalia, Aeromacchi and the Brazilian company Embraer. Each partner builds a portion of the aircraft, with the first assembled in Italy for flight testing in the mid 80s. After successful completion of testing, it started to enter into service toward the end of the 80s, as the A-11 Ghibli with the Italian Air Force and the A-1 with Brazil. The aircraft uses a license built Spey engine, which was chosen for reliability and ease of integration with the design, although later other engines were considered. It has been used substantially by both operators and has undergone a number of upgrades of the avionics over time. The two-seat trainer was completed in the 1990s, and many of the approximately 200 airframes are still in service, barring accidents and total loss incidents, of which there have been a few over the years, ironically one of which was due to engine failure. The Kit We have been poorly served for kits of this aircraft in 1:48, having only a few offerings that could hardly be called mainstream. This is the first mainstream injection moulded kit in this scale, although I believe another manufacturer is in final stages of preparing their own moulding. The kit arrives in a substantial top opening box that is full of parts, and the first thing I realised on examining the sprues was that this is not a particularly small aircraft. There are seven sprues in mid-grey styrene, two small clear sprues, a small sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, a sheet of decals and of course the instruction booklet. The mouldings are consistent with Kinetic style and standards, with plenty of engraved panel lines and rivets. There are a plethora of domed rivets on the rear "hot end" and a curved elevator guide as per the real thing, although these are perhaps a little overdone due to the constraints of injection moulding. The fuselage has been moulded in front and rear sections to accommodate a future 2-seat variant as well as the different cannon fit between the AMX and A-1, which are on opposite sides to each other. This results in two nose cones being supplied with the kit. Construction starts with the cockpit, and there are options available to the builder depending on which of the three variants is to be depicted. The main cockpit tub is a single part with moulded in side consoles to which a control stick, rudder pedals and rear bulkhead are added. The license-built Martin-Baker MK.10L seat is quite well depicted, although a few of the restraints are absent, however the main shoulder belts are included as part of the PE sheet. An optional instrument panel and coaming is fitted, and the seat is inserted in the completed cockpit. As is often the case with a modern jet, the nose gear bay is closely coupled to the cockpit tub, and this is supplied as a simple box that has a couple of prominent ejector-pin marks, and no sidewall detail. This shouldn't be much of an issue unless you wish to leave the main bay door open (as is an option), which only seems to happen during rotation and maintenance. The gear leg is dropped into a slot in the sidewalls, and has a separate yoke holding a three-part wheel in between. It will need to be installed before putting the bay in the fuselage, which is a bit of an inconvenience, but probably won't stop the world from spinning. On completion of the bay you can close up the forward fuselage around it and the cockpit, being careful to add some nose-weight, the amount of which isn't disclosed in the instructions. Pack as much as you can in without bending the nose gear leg, just to be on the safe side. At this stage the instructions would have you add all the small intakes and antennae, but you will probably use your best judgement on a case-by-case basis based on the probability of breaking them off during the rest of the build. The windscreen is also added at this point, and it is probably as good a time as any, as it will provide protection for your hard work on the coaming and HUD parts. The antennae fit differs between the AMX and A-1A/M, so take care in choosing the page you refer to. The rear fuselage needs filling with assemblies before it can be closed and joined up with the nose, and this process begins with the main gear bays, which are side-by-side taking up the full fuselage width, and separated by a bulkhead to which a number of ribbing parts are added, giving a nice focal point to the bay. The gear legs are added to the front bulkhead with another butt-fit on a section of the forward-most rib, with their retraction jacks added separately along with some trunking within the bay. Now for the tricky part! The intake trunking is supplied as full-depth in two parts, and there are a couple of ejector pin marks you'll need to remove if you think they'll be seen. The outer half is attached to the inside of the fuselage and the more rounded inner section is then installed, and hangs cleverly from a recessed location pin in the fuselage spine to ensure they mount at the correct angle. The fuselage halves are then brought together around the main gear bay, with a front engine face being added to the intakes, and a single-piece exhaust at the rear. The sides of the exhaust are featureless, but you can dimly see the rear of the engine if you look down the end of the tube. The exhaust lip is quite significantly over-thick, so a little sanding will be order to get a more scale representation. You get two in the box, so you can always start again if you make a mess! Once the fuselage has been closed up, more detail is added to the main gear legs which presumably would have interfered with installation beforehand, and a pair of three-part wheels are added for it to stand on. The intake outer trunking and lips are then added to finish off, and these seem to be on the money in terms of shape. The nose section is brought in, and should fit nicely, as there are some neat overlaps on the port side to follow panel lines and avoid awkward seams across inspection panels. Of course you'll be fitting the correct nose for the version you plan to model, but they are very similar apart from the cannon installation and some panel lines. Another round of small antennae, lumps & bumps ensues, and there are a LOT of these parts. There are also a bunch of little PE vents that fit into recesses on the fuselage, giving a nice bit of extra detail in the process, but as usual through this build, just make sure you are following the correct procedure for the version you are modelling, perhaps scribbling on the one you're not modelling, just to make sure. No aircraft is complete without wings, and the AMX has two, which are shoulder mounted and hang on a pair of lugs that fit into vertical slots in the fuselage sides, and have separate front slats and flaps, the latter able to be posed retracted or deployed by the addition of extra parts between the flaps and their bay. The wing-mounted spoilers are moulded flush with the surface, and would require significant work to depict in action. The tail fin is moulded into the fuselage halves with separate two-part rudder, while the elevators are both three-part assemblies including a separate tab on each trailing edge. The canopy is nicely moulded in crystal clear styrene, and fits aft of the windscreen, which can be posed open or closed at your whim, or depending on how proud of the work on the cockpit you are! It has a set of rear-view mirrors, plus a frame that sits behind the ejection seat when closed, and if you are posing it open, a retention jack that holds the canopy at the correct angle to the side of the fuselage (it's a side opening canopy in case you weren't aware). The AMX is a fighting aircraft, so its wings and underside are often decked out with pylon mounted weapons, which Kinetic have supplied in their usual generous fashion on the two identical smaller sprues. There are also a pair of 1,100L fuel tanks and an Orpheus Recce Pod that is used on the AMX. The two sprues contain the following: 4 x AIM-120 (unused) 2 x AIM-9L 2 x AIM-9X (unused) 2 x GBU-12 Paveway II (unused) 2 x Mk.82 bombs (unused) 2 x CBU-97 cluster bomb dispenser (unused) The two AIM-9 variants have slide-moulded hollow exhausts, as does one of the unused pylon adapters, all of which is nice to see. There are a number of adapter rails on the sprue, only some of which are used in this kit for the AMX and A-1 fit of the Sidewinders. The underwing pylons are on the main sprues and are supplied in halves, with two separate sway-braces per pylon. The Orpheus pod attaches directly to the centre-line of the aircraft without a separate pylon or adapter. Markings There are three schemes included on the kit's decal sheet, one each of the A-1A, A-1M and the Brazilian AMX. The sheet tells us that the design work was done by FCM Decals from Brazil, and the printing was done in Italy by Cartograf. The quality of registration, colour density and sharpness are superb, as you would expect from Cartograf, with carrier film cropped nice and close to the decals for minimal impact. Some of the stencils on the pylons have been amalgamated under one piece of carrier film, so be prepared to use some softening solution to get those to settle down nicely. From the box you can build one of the following: A-1A 1/16 Grupo de aviacao, Esq. Adelfi Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2008 – green/grey camo over grey lowers. AMX International Security Assistance Force Task Group "Black Cats", 51 Stormo Afghanistan, 2009 – Sky grey overall. AMX 51 Stormo, 132 Gruppo Caccia Bombardieri Ricognitori Treviso, Istrana 2007 – Sky grey with grey/black tail art. There appears to be an "Easter egg" of additional decals, including a triangular white decal with holes for another colour to show through, plus a black spotted 101 with a red lightning bolt through, and 100 years of Brazilian aviation badge. I'm not sure what this is for, as I'm not an expert on Brazilian aviation, and couldn't turn anything up on Google at short notice. Two separate pages of stencil placement are found at the rear of the instruction booklet, differing between Italian and Brazilian usage. Conclusion A very welcome release for anyone that's interested in a so far elusive kit in this scale. It appears to have been quite well done, although I'm sure some minor issues will come out in due course from those that know the airframe inside out. It will certainly be an easier build than anything that has gone before in this scale, but as always with Kinetic kits (which could also apply to almost any kit), the process will go more smoothly if you test fit and fettle before final assembly. Highly recommended. On backorder at time of writing Review sample courtesy of