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Super Etendard ‘Libya 2011’ 1:72 Academy The Super Etendard is a single-seat single-engined naval strike aircraft developed by renowned French aircraft manufacturer Dassault-Breguet. The Super Etendard is a direct development of the Etendard IV, an aircraft designed and flown for the first time in the 1950s. It was originally envisaged that the role undertaken by the Super Etendard would be fulfilled by the SEPECAT Jaguar M. Following political and technical issues with the Jaguar, however, the French government elected to purchase the home grown product over the navalised version of the Anglo-French Jaguar. Between 1978 and 1983, 85 Super Etendards were produced by Dassault. 14 were acquired by Argentina and 5 by Iraq (on loan). The rest equipped the Aviation Navale. Super Etendards saw combat for the first time in the Falklands War, when the Argentinians used Exocet equipped aircraft against the ships of the British task force. Iraqi Etendards were also used on combat operations during the early eighties, this time against Iranian merchant ships in the Persian Gulf. French Super Etendards have seen service in the skies over Lebanon, the Balkans, Afghanistan and Libya. Many are still in service, although all are due to be replaced by the multirole Dassault Rafale M. Academy’s Super Etendard has been around in one form or another for a good few years now. The plastic parts are identical to the Italeri kit which first appeared in the mid-to-late 1980s. The idea that Academy’s kit is a copy of the Italeri kit has been put forward from time to time, but it seems that the tooling actually originates from another company from the Far East called Sunny, although exact details seem to be uncertain. In any case, the kit is generally well regarded. Now Academy have released a new edition with decals for French aircraft deployed in last year’s operations over Libya. Inside the top opening box are 58 parts. 54 are moulded in glossy grey plastic, whilst the remaining four are accounted for by the clear sprue. The moulds appear to be in excellent condition for their age (they are at least 25 years old). There appear to be hints of flash here and there, but nothing that can’t be cleaned up in a few seconds with a sharp scalpel blade. Surface detail is comprised of extremely fine (almost too fine) recessed panel lines. All-in-all, this kit looks far newer than its 25 years suggest. The cockpit is comprised of a tub with sidewalls, an instrument panel, an ejector seat and a control column. Neither the instrument panel nor the side consoles feature any raised detail. I was expecting that the decal sheet would make up for this lack of detail, as that is the route taken by most manufacturers. Unfortunately, however, it doesn’t. This is a shame, as I don’t think a couple of extra decals would have cost any more for Academy to produce, but I’m sure most of us can find something in the spares box to make up for this omission. The Martin Baker ejector seat is a slightly odd shape too, as the seat pan is very shallow. A resin replacement might therefore be a good idea. The fuselage is split vertically, with a separate part for the lower rear area. It’s easy to see why the manufacturer has opted to do this, as it means the tail hook recess has been realistically depicted. The main landing gear bays and the airbrake bays have also been nicely designed, and feature a reasonable amount of structural detail. The engine intakes are blanked off to prevent the dreaded see-through effect that an otherwise hollow fuselage would produce. The jet tailpipe is also nicely detailed, with a crisp, thin edge. The wings are moulded in upper and lower halves, and the trailing edges seem reasonably sharp. The horizontal stabilisers are solid parts. None of the control surfaces are moveable. The landing gear is nicely detailed, although the main gear tyres have ejector pins on their inner surfaces which will need to be carefully cleaned up. The landing gear doors feature some detail on the inner surfaces, which is a bonus. The canopy is moulded in two parts, so it can be posed in the open position if desired. You’ll probably want to add some more detail to the otherwise spartan cockpit if you choose this option though. Ordnance is comprised of one 1100 litre drop tank, two 600 litre drop tanks, a pair of R 550 Matra Magic air-to-air missiles and a single AIM-39 Exocet anti-ship missile. Two options are provided on the decal sheet: Super Etendard Modernise No. 55, French Navy Flottille 11F, 2008; and Super Etendard Modernise No. 10, Operation Harmattan, French Navy Flottille 17F, Charles de Gaulle, 2011. The decals are printed by Cartograf and look excellent. The level of fine detail that Cartograf have been able to reproduce is outstanding, and the colours are lovely and bold. The decals look nice and glossy too, which should help to minimise silvering. Conclusion Academy’s Super Etendard is generally well regarded by the modelling community. It has one or two shape issues (the distinctive ‘droop’ in the nose is too subtle), but nothing catastrophic, and it has to be said that it looks great for a 25 year old kit. The updated decals are welcome too, particularly as they are so well printed. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of