Eduard Evolution L-39 Albatros C/ZO (11121) - 1:48 Eduard ProfiPACK

[Julien]

Evolution L-39 Albatros C/ZO (11121)

1:48 Eduard ProfiPACK

 

 

The L-39 is a fast jet trainer that was designed and manufactured in Czechoslovakia (as was) as a direct replacement for the earlier L-29 Delfin.  It has been a success in its roles, and has received a number of upgrades that have resulted in new designations, and since the dismantling of the Soviet Union, some have found their way into private hands throughout the west, and they are often seen at airshows.  It first flew in 1971, and was hoped to become the standard trainer across the Union, and the in 1977 the ZA variant was flying, fitted with a cannon and four hard-points for mounting various weapons in the Light Attack role.

 

With the Soviet Union gone, the orders began to dry up, and an updated L-159 was produced in partnership with Rockwell, using more up-to-date avionics.  More recently, an L-39NG has begun development to begin deliveries of a thoroughly modern "Next Generation" of Albatros.

 

The Kit

This isn't a new tooling from Special Hobby, and was originally release before the new millennium under the MPM brand name.  It has plastic parts, resin and Photo-Etch (PE) brass parts, so any shortcomings of the original moulds are replaced by these new parts.  In the box you'll find just three sprues of mid-grey styrene, a separately bagged clear sprue, a bag of resin parts; from Eduard we get new decals, new colour photoetch, and masks. 

 

 

The cockpit is first up, with seats augmented by PE belts and ejection handles before being attached to the cockpit floor and hemmed in at the sides by side consoles, with rudder pedals and control columns in the usual places.  The Instrument Panels can be built up as styrene only, or with the addition of a layered PE and acetate lamination, bringing more realism to the completed assembly, with the completed sections cemented to the cockpit sill part that encompasses the whole crew area.  With the addition of the resin exhaust tube and pen-nib fairing to the rear (with engine detail at the end) the cockpit with separate rear bulkhead are then secured between the fuselage half's.

 

 

The lower wing is full-span, while the upper wings are separate, and have alternative actuator fairings for a number of the decal options, which are provided in resin to be fitted after removing the standard moulded-in ones.  All the gear bay doors are depicted closed as if on the ground, with only small inserts visible for attaching the gear later, which would make an in-flight model very easy to achieve.  The wings are mated to the fuselage at the same time as the two-part engine intakes, which terminate at the blank wall of the fuselage, but with some careful painting you can fool the eye that you're looking down a gradually darkening tunnel.  The elevators fit with a tab and slot method,  perpendicular to the tail, so tape or blutak them in place while the glue is still wet.

 

 

The clear parts include a pair of lights for the end of the integrated tip-tanks, and the canopy is supplied as a four-part arrangement for posing the canopy open, with some small PE parts added to increase realism.  The windscreen and blast-shield between the seats are fixed, while the openers can be glued open or closed at your whim, or depending on how proud of the job you've made of the cockpit.  A number of PE and styrene parts are added around the airframe, and the landing gear, which are built from styrene parts with attractive resin wheels are then installed in their sockets, with a captive door on the strut, which has made me scratch my head a bit, as it looks like the door etched into the wing.  However after a little research, it seems the split door is to keep FOD out of the bay and folds inward when the captive door takes its place as it retracts.  Two tiny PE doors are added to the nose gear wheel, which is built up in the same manner as the mains.  A few optional PE and resin parts are then fitted depending on which decal option you have chosen, with captions assisting in your choice.

 

 

 

Markings

There are two new decal options from Eduard on a sheet printed by Cartograf.

 

• L-39C RA1039K, Privately owned by the Moscow Aero Jet club featuring the impressive Golden Dragon
• L-39ZO 831135, Hungarian Air Force, 2005 Featuring the Hungarian Flag in the tail, & a shark on the fuselage.

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

I for one am glad to see this kit on re-release.  It's not a brand-new moulding, so take care during construction and exercise your modelling skills to produce an attractive model of the type. The new parts from Eduard help the kit out in a lot of ways.

 

 

Highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of

[pommie commie]

Looks like they missed the fold down boarding steps, which I think drop when the canopy is up. Cutting out the hole is fairly straightforward, but the steps are odd shapes, should have been on the etched fret!

[Julien]

2 hours ago, pommie commie said:

Looks like they missed the fold down boarding steps, which I think drop when the canopy is up. Cutting out the hole is fairly straightforward, but the steps are odd shapes, should have been on the etched fret!

The entry steps are on a seperate update set, I reviewed them here;

 

 

[ya-gabor]

No comment!

This is all I can say and remove my posts from Britmodeller.

It seems that here only rosy, cheerful and complementing posts are acceptable.

 

Best regards

Gabor

Edited September 19, 2018 by ya-gabor

[ya-gabor]

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Edited September 19, 2018 by ya-gabor