Hobbycraft Israeli Avia S.199, 1/48

Hobbycraft Avia S-199, 1/48 scale.

A survivor on display in Israel.

 The story of the Avia and it's unlikely service as Israel's first fighter is pretty interesting. The Avia itself was produced in post-war Czechoslovakia. There was a factory building Me-109G's there. After the war, it seemed like a good idea to keep cranking out the fighters to generate a little income. Unfortunately, the supply of the excellent DB-605 engines was destroyed in an fire. The Czechs had a lot of Jumo power plants however and with a little modification, they installed them into the 109G airframes. Sadly, that powerplant was totally unsuitable for the airframe, with handling characteristics described as being vicious!  

As it happened, the new state of Israel was desperately in need of combat aircraft. An international arms blockade kept them from procuring any decent fighters, but Czechoslovakia needed cash so the deal was made and Israel procured 25 of what may be possibly the worst fighter of that decade.

The Avias soldiered on during the first critical combats the new nation fought with it's neighbors and incredibly, scored some successes. But attrition was high and eventually Israel was able to buy surplus Spitfires and Mustangs and the Avias were sent to pasture.

This build was in response to Facebook's $20 Modeler's Club IDF build. I've had this kit in the pile for a while and was looking forward to assembling it. I also came across an Eduard PE set for it to help me along.

The Eduard PE set for this kit is a very extensive one. It includes a complete cockpit tub with sidewalls and pilot's seat. I soon discovered I was not skilled enough to integrate the entire tub but instead I used the PE sidewalls and assorted other bit combined with the kit parts.

Hybrid cockpit construction.

The Eduard instrument panel is very nice, I reinforced it with a bit of sheet styrene. 

First paint attempt with RLM Grey. I didn't look right, so...

The 2nd try was a mix of Khaki and RLM Grey, it looks better to me.

Sadly, the kit's decals, while looking beautiful, had not aged well. The first roundel on the fuselage shattered, forcing me to go for a slightly different scheme from the one I originally planned. Eventually, my scheme is a bit of a hybrid, probably not dead accurate for any one A/C, but representative of the type.

Well, with great care, I was able to use the other roundels but the rudder stripes and fuselage band were hopeless. I had to mask and paint those. I was able to use the various data stencils, and with great difficulty, the walkway "dots". I used the black ones since I destroyed the red ones which were also included on the sheet.

Masks on...

Masks off! Came out pretty well.

Another problem  encountered was with the canopy. My kit included the "blown" sliding canopy found on the later Czech Mules. To be accurate for an Israeli version, you need an "Erla" style canopy found on the later German 109's. I stole one of these from an old Monogram 109G-10 I have. It fit pretty well.

Installing the Monogram canopy.

Early in the build, I had broken off the barrels to the underwing 20MM cannons. I found some extra barrels with the spare parts left from the old AMT G-6. These turned out to fit quite well and were easily drilled out to look a little better.

All done! The AMT gun barrels worked well, as did the Eduard RDF ring atop the fuselage.

Here's a comparison with an AMT 109G-6.

Overall, this was a pretty straightforward build. It's a very interesting version of the venerable 109 and a credit to Hobbycraft for putting one out. I have a Hobbycraft Buchon in the stash which will make a nice companion to this version.