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Aero C-3A Czechoslovakian Transport & Trainer Plane (SH48197) 1:48 Special Hobby The Aero C-3 was the Czech built Siebel Si 204, which was in turn based on the earlier Siebel Fh 104 Hallore. It was initially ordered by the Luftwaffe for the same role it performed in their service, having its canopy altered to the stepless type, possibly to mimic that of the He.111 that pilots might progress to. As a footnote to its German service a Siebel had the dubious honour of being the last aircraft to be shot down by the Allies in WWII. After WWII Czech company Aero produced almost 200 airframes in training (C-3A), bombardier training (C-3B), transport (D-44) and civilian (C-103) flavours, which carried on in service until the end of the 40s and beyond, while a few airframes soldiered on a little longer in Hungarian service. The Kit Released alongside the German original boxing, this is a new tool from Special Hobby, and although I’d never heard of it until the sample arrived, it has a stubby appeal with its strangely shaped fuselage and blunt glazed nose. It arrives in a standard blue/white themed Special Hobby box, and inside are a surprising nine grey sprues and one clear sprue in a ziplok bag, plus the decal sheet and instruction booklet. The wingspan hits you immediately, as it has surprisingly long wings, and the boxy fuselage isn’t exactly tiny either. The external surfaces are engraved with SH’s usual fine panel lines, and the part count for the detailed internals is also pretty high although some parts aren’t used, particularly on sprue I, which has literally only one part used. Construction begins with the cockpit, which is assembled on a wide floor part with side consoles, centre console, detailed seats on large framed bases, instrument panel and twin control columns, backed by a bulkhead with cloth-covered doorway into the rear of the aircraft. Unlike many aircraft models, the floor doesn’t end behind that bulkhead, but extends all the way to the rear, with a well-detailed radio rack, navigation table, three passenger seats and another bulkhead plus two upstands that make up a luggage bay at the rear. An additional two seats are fitted facing aft behind the cockpit, and the front of the cockpit floor is joined to the main part and finished at the front with the rudder pedal assembly in duplicate. Before this assembly can be hidden in the fuselage halves, you can elect to cut out either of the rear doors, with the missing plastic replaced by a new part later, and you should add the high stowage racks and other detail parts to the inside along with the windows and the wing root caps that prevent you from seeing the attachment points if you have a good view of the inside. With the two halves joined, the canopy can be applied to the stepped front, consisting of the domed nose part and a separate C-shaped canopy, the former having a few small details added inside before it is fixed in place. After this the top of the fuselage is decked out with a number of lumps and bulges that differs slightly depending on its camouflage option. This won’t leave much of the top seam for you to hide, which could well be a time-saving bonus if you plan accordingly. The C-3A has long wings, and these are mounted low on the fuselage, so are each made up from two parts that incorporates the nacelle bulges to which the cowling, exhausts and intake trunking are added, then each one is slotted into the appropriate wing root and is joined by the H-shaped tail, which fits on two smaller tabs at the rear. The landing gear can be left off until after painting, and consists of a sloped leg with integral brace to which two more are added on the sides. The oleo then attaches to this assembly and is bracketed by a pair of gear bay doors and a two-part wheel with smooth tread. There is one under each nacelle as you’d expect plus a small tail wheel with split yoke. Horn balances are fitted to the top and bottom of each elevator, an antenna at the rear of the cockpit with aerial leading to the starboard rudder, a pair of two-bladed props with spinner caps are made up from four parts each, then finally if you have opened up the hatches on the side, the replacement parts are fitted along with a ladder for the larger of the two. Markings There are four decal options included on the decal sheet with four-view drawings in colour at the rear of the instruction booklet, with option D the only deviation from the standard olive green over light blue. From the box you can build one of the following: No.388 US-53 Air School Regiment, Trĕncin July 1951 No.384 AK-4 Instructional Regiment – Air Force Officers College Hradec Králové, 1954 No.363 S-14 Air Force Signals School, Chrudim, 1948 No.unknown Aviation Research Centre, Letňany, 1951 The decals are printed in-house with good register, sharpness and colour density, and include a number of instrument decals for the interior. Conclusion This is a good kit of an unusual (from a British point of view) and interesting aircraft, with some excellent internal detail and some simple schemes that will speed your finishing. If you have a problem with completing kits like I do, one of the Olive Drab machines would make an ideal sanity build, although the camouflaged option is soft-edged and wouldn’t over-face you with masking. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of