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Commonwealth CA-13 Boomerang (A02099V) 1:72 Airfix "Vintage Classics"


Julien

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Commonwealth CA-13 Boomerang (A02099V)

1:72 Airfix "Vintage Classics"

 

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The Boomerang was a WWII fighter designed and made in Australia by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC). The design stemmed from the CAC Wirraway, this was a licence built North American NA-16 (more commonly known as the Harvard). Australia had realised in the 1930s that Japan had expansionist ideas and would need its own aircraft industry. this is one reason North American were approached to licence build the Wirraway. After WWII broke out and with the traditional supply of aircraft from the UK in short supply CAC looked at producing their own domestic fighter. Key to this was the recruitment of Fred David a Jewish refugee from Austria who was actually interned at the time. He had worked for Heinkel, and Mitsubishi on aircraft design. CAC had also negotiated that the licence for the NA-16 allowed for them to modify the design. The Boomerang would utilise the wing, tail, centre section and undercarriage of the Wirraway. A new forward fuselage was developed which was wider to accommodate the larger Twin Wasp engine along with a single cockpit. The armament for the new aircraft was to be two 20mm cannon and 4 .303 machine guns. Production was authorised almost immediately as it would provide insurance against a delay to an order of P-40 aircraft and it would keep the production lines open at CAC. The availability of Wirraway components would also speed up production. From design to first production was a staggering 3 months. The aircraft was tested initially against a Brewster Buffalo which was slightly modified to resemble a zero in performance, in addition to testing against a P-40. It was found to be faster though less manoeuvrable than the other aircraft, but it had far better armament, and Armor for protection of the pilot. Performance though rapidly dropped off over 15000 feet. However the maximum speed was only 265 knots well below that of Zero and Oscar. Deployment of American fighters to Australia lowered the need for the Boomerang, however due to the cancellation of the Woomera bomber the Government extend production of the Boomerang.

 

 

The Kit

This is a re-boxing of Airfix's kit from 1965 and as such is a tooling of its time. Construction starts in the cockpit, now there is no real cockpit just a seat for the pilot which fits onto a peg in the fuselage. Once the pilot is in then the main fuselage can be closed up. At the front the nose section and engine is fitted. There are tow banks of cylinders for the engine which fit inside the cowling, a pin then holds the propeller on at this point if you wish to fit it. The completed nose section can then be joined to the fuselage. To the right side of the fuselage the hedgehog style exhaust is fitted. Next up we move to the wings, there is a single lower wing with left and right uppers. Once complete the wing can be mated to the fuselage. The tail planes and canopy parts can now be added on. Turning to the underside the ventral fuel tank can be placed on if needed. The last items to complete the model is the fixed rear wheel and the retractable main undercarriage units complete with their doors. 

 

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Markings

There are the usual two decal options on the sheet.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

  • No.4 Sqn Royal Australian Air Force, Gusap, New Guinea, Feb 1944
  • No.5 Sqn Royal Australian Air Force, 1944 (As per the box art, though the Blue fin tip could be wrong for that?)

 

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Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas.

 

 

Conclusion

Recommended bearing in mind its a classic.

 

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Review sample courtesy of

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Hi Julien:

 

Quote

he design stemmed from the CAC Wirraway, this was a licence built North American NA-16 (more commonly known as the Harvard).

Semantics possibly, but in fact the Wirraway and Havard/Texan/SNJ series were parallel developments of the NA-16.

 

One day a decent 48th Boomerang (and Wirrway) perhaps?

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I built one of these way back when. Does that make me a classic? I particularly remember the hedgehog exhaust being a prominent feature.

 

Quote

One day a decent 48th Boomerang (and Wirrway) perhaps?

 

Special Hobby kits no good with a bit of cutting and shunting?

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  • 2 weeks later...
2 hours ago, Ed Russell said:

Let me reassure you that the profiles are correct and the classic box art is not.

Thx. It was painted a long time ago. Research has moved on thankfully

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  • 2 months later...
On 2/1/2023 at 6:49 AM, Ed Russell said:

Let me reassure you that the profiles are correct and the classic box art is not.

 

 

On the topic of that airplane, I'm currently building this kit and realised the instructions and box art show it without the white leading edges.  Is that true?  I've never seen a Boomerang with the white tail but not the white leading edges.

 

I've only seen a couple of photos of A46-117 and none show the leading edge clearly enough to tell either way.

 

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I agree about the photos being unclear but we went for the balance of probabilities that they were not there. Supporting evidence is other pictures of Boomerangs without the white LEs and the knowledge that they were occasionally removed in the field, particularly in 5 Sqn. Should you choose to put them on or put them on and then remove them we would not fault you on that.

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