Roden Cessna L-19/O-1 Bird Dog (409) 1:48

[Mike]

Cessna L-19/O-1 Bird Dog (409)

1:48 Roden

 

 

The Cessna Bird Dog was a military version of the Cessna 170, called the Model 305A by Cessna themselves. It was developed to a US Army requirement for a two seat observation and liaison aircraft, first flying at the end of 1949. The design featured a single engine high wing monoplane with a tail wheel configuration and long loiter time. This was the first all-metal fixed wing aircraft ordered by the US Army after aviation was split on the formation of the Air Force in 1947 under the orders of President Roosevelt.  As well as the US Army, the aircraft would be operated by the US Marine Corps and the US Air Force, famously in the Forward Air Control (FAC) role in Vietnam. US Forces would lose almost 470 aircraft in the conflict in total, including some in special ops and some with native Vietnamese crew.  The aircraft would also serve in many other militaries around the world including Australia, Canada, Japan, Spain, and South Vietnam to name a few.  They were eventually replaced by the O-2 Skymaster, then the OV-10 Bronco, but over 3000 were built and some 300 are still on the US civil register today.

 

 

The Kit

This is a new tool from Roden, happily for the 1:48 modeller, and it's a long time since we've had a new tooling of the Bird Dog.  It arrives in a smallish box, and inside are seven sprues of various sizes in grey styrene, plus a clear sprue, three lengths of wire, three decal sheets and the instruction booklet.  First impressions are good, although the decal sheets are a little off, which we'll get into later.  The details on the sprues is nice, there is a complete engine in the nose, cockpit, but no gear bay detail at all!!!  You got it – there are no gear bays as the L-19 has fixed gear.  Yes, I'm a bad man.

 

 

 

 

 

The build begins with the Lycoming engine, which is constructed from a surprisingly large number of parts, and includes the piston banks, ancillary equipment, crank cases, intake box and manifold, plus the exhaust manifold, which links to a pair of mufflers and angled exit tubes.  It is fitted to the firewall by four mounts, which has the instrument panel glued to the other side in anticipation of installation in the fuselage, work on which begins with the tubular-framed pilot's seat, the twin sticks, rudder pedals and aft bulkhead frame.  The Bird Dog is a simple aircraft with not much inside, so once the side windows, door handles and a map bag are fitted, and the interior painted you're almost ready to glue the fuselage together after adding a decal to the instrument panel.  A few holes will be needed in the fuselage beforehand, and Roden have you adding the elevators and landing gear at this stage before the fuselage is closed up.  I can't think of a good reason not to, but it still feels weird.  The elevators have a mounting point for two dipoles at the front, which accept the included lengths of wire, although I would check your references to assess the correct width before proceeding, and if thinner wire is more appropriate, use the kit wire as a template.  As the fuselage is mated, a number of cross-braces and the rear bench seat are suspended across the cockpit, and the engine assembly is inserted against ledges on the interior, then the front and rear windscreens and the separate elevators and rudder are glued in place at an angle of your choosing.

 

The wings are next, and the first task is to add the six small roof lights that help to make this a better observation aircraft.  The panels are all individual, and there is a little sinking in the centre of some of the narrower ones, which may respond well to being sanded flat and polished back to transparency.  The upper wing is full width, with two lower halves that trap the separate ailerons, with wingtip lights and a landing light recessed into the leading edge of the port wing.  The flaps can be posed up or down by swapping out the actuators, after which the wing is offered up (down?) to the fuselage and glued in place along with the prominent bracing struts that fit into pits in the fuselage and wing surfaces.  The cowling is provided in sections, and these fit to the front fairing, so that if you wish you can show off the work you did on the engine by leaving some panels open.  The twin bladed prop fits into the hole in the front of the cowling, and then it's just a case of adding the four lifting lugs on the centre wing, a bunch of antennae and sensors on the spine, plus the last big aerial wire on the roof of the cockpit with a small styrene base that traps it in place.

 

The Bird Dog sometimes did a little target marking using small diameter rockets that carried white phosphorous to create plumes of smoke for the attacking aircraft to home in on, a set of which are included in the kit.  These are built up in pairs on a small launch rail, with cross-braces supporting the two rockets, and two pairs mounted under each wing, totalling eight in all.

 

 

Markings

There are three markings options out of the box, one each for the US Army and Air Force, plus a nice colourful one from the Canadian Army.  The painting and decaling instructions are all done in grey scale, and it appears that the Air Force option has had its main colour marked incorrectly.  The main colour is shown as A on the page, which is "Natural Steel" on the table at the front of the booklet, but having checked my references and a bunch of online photos of that serial numbered aircraft, it should instead by a light grey, which makes me wonder whether someone got their As mixed up with their Ms when they were adding the legend.  You know now anyway!

 

 

• L-19/O-1E Bird Dog (56-2661) US Army Air Service, Alaska 1966
• L-19/O-1E Bird Dog (57-6273) Forward Air Controller (FAC) at Lai Khe supporting the 3^rd BDE, 1st ID, 1966-67
• L-19/O-1E Bird Dog (119732) of No.10 Tactical Air Group Mobile Command, Canadian Armed Forces, early 1970s

 

 

The large decal sheet contains the majority of the US decals, with the smaller one holding the Canadian option.  The third small sheet is an instrument panel decal, but is slightly out of register.  Overall the decals have huge expanses of carrier film that extend over multiple decals, so you would be well advised to cut each one from the sheet close to the printed area.  My review sample had received a few light scrapes in transit too, which caused the black printing to shell off the paper in numerous places, which has ruined a few of the larger decals.  There are "spare" Canadian and USAF markings on the main sheet, which may have been reprinted due to the offset on the Canadian roundels, and the change in gap direction of the stencil of the A in USAF.  My sheet had some issues with the carrier film, which I have brought to their attention along with the colour profiles, but do check your kit, just in case.

 

 

Conclusion

With the exception of the issues with the decals on my copy of the kit, it's a great improvement on the ancient kit that I had in the stash until recently, which I have since given away to a friend.  The detail is good, and once the discounters have gotten hold of it, the price is reasonable.  I'll be using aftermarket decals for mine when I eventually build it, as there are some really interesting options out there, with many nations flying the Bird Dog.

 

Recommended.

 

Review sample courtesy of