Sack AS 6 - Special Hobby 1/48

[Randy Lutz]

I bought this about 10 years ago, as looking at the box it seemed like it would be an easy, quick build and interesting to boot.

Nope, not a chance. I assembled the circular wing and then test fit the nacelle/cockpit pod to the wing and discovered that the fit was less than ideal. I noodled the situation for a while and in frustration, I put the kit away. I was also discouraged because the artwork on the box shows a fabric wing and I had read a few reviews where people stated the wing was fabric covered. Special Hobby provides a wing with lots of engraved panel lines, which I thought would need to be filled and replaced with hills and valleys.

Lately, having a bit of free time, I dug it out to give it another try. First thing I realized was that Special Hobby was right. The wing is not fabric. It is actually made of strips of plywood. So that problem was solved, with no effort on my part. After about three hours of work, I solved the fit issue.

In this underside view of the wing, you can see where I had to add plastic to take up the gaps. That was the easy part. What you can't notice is how much shaving was required around the opening on the topside. The basic opening was correct in size, but the edges needed to be angled to allow the nacelle to slide up into position.

The kit nose has three really clunky looking louvres moulded into the top of the nose, which needed to be replaced. I used some small strips of styrene for this job. I was not 100% convinced that the louvres should be there, as I did not find any clear images of the nose of this subject. To further add to my doubt, if this nose is in fact a Bf 108 or Fi 156 nose, then it should have a larger depressed vent further back. The only evidence of louvres I could find on an Fi 156 nose was on a Czech museum Storch, which I believe was a post-war mod.

But that being said, I settled on the louvres because I figure Special Hobby may have some reference that points to them. And besides, they look really cool.

With the fit issues out of the way I was able to concentrate on the smaller details. I added a little rib detail to the cockpit pod, which will create the illusion of something happening inside. Otherwise, it would look odd where the sidewalls would just end with nothing in front of them. I also added some supports to hold the instrument panel, as Special Hobby does not offer anything.

The kit comes with one vacuform canopy, so I used the kit canopy to make a new master out of dental casting plaster. This way I don't have to worry if I screw up the vac canopy when cutting it out apart.

This subject was supposed to have used a seat from an early 109, but the kit seat as shown here does not look like any early 109 seat I have ever seen, so it will be replaced with either a KMC or Ultracast resin seat. Just as well, as the kit seat is too wide to fit in the tight confines of the cockpit.

If the kit cockpit floor is used as provided the cockpit sidewalls will tilt inwards at the top at such a ridiculous angle that the pilot would feel like he is sitting inside a pyramid. This is because of some detail moulded into the floor at the extreme outside edges. This is what forces the bottom of the sidewalls out so far and in effect tilting in the top to meet the cockpit opening.

To remedy this I removed a cylinder like fixture from the left side of the cockpit floor and a small box with lever from the right side. No worries about this lost detail, as it would prove impossible to see it once the seat and sidewalls are installed.

By removing these two features, it allows the bottom edge of the sidewalls to move inwards and in effect, reducing the angle. As seen in the image below, I added a small strip of styrene on each side of the floor to use as a guide when installing the sidewalls. This is just precautionary as it is too easy for the sidewalls to slip out of position and fall into the bowels of the airframe where they may not be retrieved.

The small arrowhead fixture was added to replace the damaged area of the resin part.

On the topic of the sidewalls, they are far too tall to fit in the cockpit, so I had to trim a section off the top and bottom of each part. By removing from the top and bottom I was able to preserve all the cast detail.

Here are the sidewalls and rudimentary instrument panel just prior to installation. Based on photos, the instrument panel looks to be RLM 66 and as for the cockpit colour, it is anyone's guess, so I went with RLM 02.

This is the fuselage with the floor installed. It actually fits quite well and while I was worried about the look of the resin part prior to painting, it actually looks half decent once painted. You can see where I added some styrene blocks to support the instrument panel, as Special Hobby does not offer any sort of mount.

I finally got the canopies installed and this proved to be a lot more difficult that it should have been. I had to vacuform four sets of canopies before I was able to come up with a useable set. It is not because the copies were inferior, but more a result of my own doing. To cut out the centre hinged section I effectively wasted the front and rear portions, so it took two tries to get the three parts. However, I over sanded some of the sections and had to make new copies.

Do not cut out the windscreen by following the outline of the part along the bottom of the front pane of glass. It will not fit that way. You must continue cutting along the front quarter glass following the 45 degree angle up to the middle until both sides meet at the bottom of the front pane. Take a look at the image to see what I mean.

In addition it is imperative that you separate the the three sections of the canopy, as it will not fit properly if installed as a closed unit. The bottom of the canopy is perfectly flat, whereas the top surface of the wing has a gentle curve, which will make the rear section stand proud of the wing.

Well I finally finished the Sack and it will be a frosty day in hell before I build another one of these.

It's not a contest model, but it will still look good in my display case.

Cheers

Randy

[Bordfunker]

Great looking build of a very unusual prototype!

Karl

[Martian]

That's a wonderful little build!

Martin

[Nachtwulf]

Wow! Really nice build! the canopy looks awesome!!

[Meatbox8]

A terrific build and great attention to detail. A most peculiar aircraft. It looks like something you could dunk in your tea!

[Reini78]

as always, nice extra effort that paid off

[Andy Dyck]

What an unusual object! Nice to see it in 1/48!

Andy

[Spitfire31]

That's an oddball if I ever saw one, and a maginificent build!

Kind regards,

Joachim