The
Ar 196 was one of the most widely recognised float planes of World War II due in
no small way to it benefiting from some great photo opportunities whilst
featuring amongst the superstructure of some famous German capital ships. It had
a good service record and started as a pre-war design that was subsequently
strengthened and given heavier armament as the war progressed. Though never able
or intended to fight on an equal footing with Allied fighters it survived late
into the war (unlike many of its famous mounts) proving very effective in
reconnaissance, submarine hunting and appropriate interception roles. The
combination of its interesting history, irregular fuselage lines, bulbous
cowlings, dramatic camouflage and colourful theatre and squadron markings make
for a very appealing subject.
This kit is a Tamiya repackaging of the original Italeri kit which was released
only a short time ago. It’s a very attractive product and Tamiya have had some
great box art commissioned for this release (based on an actual photograph)
showing one of the
Bismarck
's Ar 196s as it is launched out over a calm sea in this relatively short lived
glamour role. With there being so few survivors from
Bismarck
’s sinking I guess the aircrews of the four Arado’s perished with their
shipmates.
Tamiya
have upped the quantity of sprues you receive with this kit from five to six. So
that’s two identical crew figures for you. The figures look like they are
posing for a school photograph and aren’t much good for anything (can we
please have more of those excellent little figures from ICM?). I have included a
number of photos comparing a few parts from this model to the older MPM example
(moulded in a hard to photograph white plastic) to hopefully give you an idea of
relative quality of the models. Unless noted as MPM you can assume it is an
Italeri part. Have a good look at the photos - you can draw your own conclusions
but I won’t write off my MPM kit completely (I purchased it last year from a
much more knowledgeable modeller who had obviously caught wind of the new
Italeri tooling). There are some very fine builds of that MPM kit out there too.
My
first impression of this tooling is that in many places the detail is soft –
particularly the smaller stand alone parts. There are heavy seam lines in
places, poor definition and lost opportunities to put more detail into that big
cockpit – and elsewhere. There are sufficient interior parts to get you
started on the detailing – but it’s now 2010 so why not go a little further
Italeri? The surface detail on the major parts is quite nice but there will be
accusations of it being exaggerated and with some justification. Nevertheless,
it has been tooled and can be reduced or removed if desired and without much
difficulty.. Anyway – look at the photos provided here and check your
reference photographs.
Click on
images below to see larger images
The
decals provide markings for:
A
2/Sagr.125,
Crete
, 1941
B
1/Bordflieger Gr.196, Battleship
Bismarck
, 1940
C
1/Bordflieger Gr.196 Heavy Cruiser Prinz Eugen, 1940
D
Auxillary Cruiser Thor (HSK-4),
Malaya
, 1941
E
Auxillary
Cruiser Widder (HSK-3), October 1941
Decals
are pretty good and only the French roundels are a little off at their centres.
Instructions
are clear and easy to follow – there is also a supplementary document (and I
don’t know if this in the Italeri boxing) that provides a history of the type
including a little background on the French and Japanese markings for Ar196s
carried by German auxiliary cruisers in the Pacific. It also has a couple of
small sketches and a factory photo. The kit should look real nice with some
suitable marine environment weathering – if you can bring yourself to do that
after laying down all that nice paint and decal work....
This
Italeri/Tamiya Ar 196 is recommended but I think it’ll be up to the good brass
and resin people out there put together a package to really elevate this kit up
to spec or you can use what’s there as the basis for your own scratch
building. The Ar 196 is such a deserving subject of some extra attention … and
it kind of needs it.
This
kit can be purchased here: http://www.hlj.com/product/TAM37006
My
thanks to HobbyLink
Japan
(http://www..hlj.com/)
for providing this review sample.
Nick
Moore
Click on
images below to see larger images
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