Revell

Cessna 180

Kit Number: 0123

Reviewed by  Keith Pruitt, IPMS# 44770

MSRP: $15.00 Web Site: www.revell.com HISTORY (From Wikipedia) The Cessna 180 is a four- or six-seat, fixed conventional gear general aviation airplane which was produced between 1953 and 1981. The airframe of the 180 is all metal, constructed of aluminum alloy. The fuselage is a semi-monocoque structure, with exterior skin sheets riveted to formers and longerons. The strut-braced wings, likewise, are constructed of exterior skin sheets riveted to spars and ribs. The landing gear of the 180 is in a conventional arrangement, with main gear legs made of spring steel, and a steerable tailwheel mounted on a hollow tapered steel tube. The 180 is considered a workhorse of an airplane, and is favored to this day as a bush plane by many who fly to and from remote, unimproved airstrips in places such as Alaska and distant parts of Canada, the Pacific Islands, and Africa. The Cessna 180 gained recognition as the aircraft chosen by Geraldine Mock, the first woman pilot to successfully fly around the world. The flight was made in 1964 in her 1953 model, the Spirit of Columbus (N1538C), as chronicled in her book Three-Eight Charlie. The Cessna factory obtained the aircraft and kept it at the Pawnee (Wichita, Kansas) manufacturing plant after the epic flight suspended from the ceiling over one of the manufacturing lines. It is currently on display at the National Air and Space Museum. INSIDE THE BOX Inside the box are five sprues of injected molded silver-gray plastic including 41 parts, and one sprue of clear plastic including 5 parts, for a total of 46 plastic parts. The parts have raised panel lines and rivet details, with a little flash on many of the parts. The clear canopy parts are thin and clear, with faint raised framing on the windscreen. There is a standing pilot figure and base that I chose not to use. There is one extra part on the sprue, which appears to be a strut assembly for floats, but no floats are included in the kit, or mentioned anywhere in the instructions. Inside the fuselage is a molded "Copyright 1965 Revell Inc". It appears that the kit does have the parts breakdown and, I would expect, the usual fit issues with any kit from that era.

The eight-page instructions include 11 assembly steps and 1 decal placement guide. There is a brief history of the aircraft and a paint chart that lists generic colors by name.

The decals appear to be thin and printed in register, but only include markings for one natural-metal finish Civil Air Patrol aircraft. CONSTRUCTION The build starts with the cockpit, which includes the rear side windows, cockpit floor and seatbacks, instrument panel and control columns. The color callouts do not match with my references, so I deviated from them for a somewhat more accurate appearance. I thought one of the seat back location holes was flashed over, but it appears that the peg had snapped off the mold…it was not flashed over, but was solid plastic. I tried to clean it out, but finally gave up and clipped the pin off the seat back. The next step calls for the side doors and windows to be installed. There are rudimentary hinges, but I'm not certain they would work well, or for any length of time. The landing gear is installed in the next step, which is only a bar that is glued into a location cut into the bottom of the fuselage. The next two steps cover the wing assembly, and installation of the wings and horizontal stabilizers on the fuselage, and finally the struts from the landing gear support to the wings. The engine assembly is covered in Steps 8 (which is continued on the next page of the instructions). While there is fairly decent detail, the seams are difficult to clean up. A Master Modeler would be able to add enough detail to make the engine stand out nicely. The cowling assembly is covered in Step 9 Wheel assemblies and final assembly makes up the last two steps. After masking the clear parts, it was time to paint. PAINTING The only choice in the instructions is a Civil Air Patrol aircraft. It calls for a natural metal finish overall. It would have been nice to have a choice, since a good NMF calls for near perfect assembly, which is difficult with the parts fit and surface detail of a kit of this vintage. I chose to use Alclad Aluminum for the finish. I sprayed Gloss Black over all of the parts, and when they had cured, I applied two light coats of Alclad. DECALS I applied the decals directly over the paint. They were thin and printed well, and actually went on easily. They released from the backing within a few seconds after dipping in lukewarm water. I used both Microset and Microsol, with no problems. The decals looked good enough that I did not use a gloss coat over them. FINAL ASSEMBLY I added the engine and bearers, the landing gear, and then removed the masking from the windscreen and side windows. The removable cowling goes over the engine and three pegs insert into the firewall to hold it in place. OVERALL IMPRESSION While many might consider this kit not up to modern standards, I think it would be a great kit for a "nostalgia build" or for introducing a junior to model aircraft. The kit can easily be built straight out of the box, but could be improved tremendously with any amount of extra detail that you would want. I think any modeler, from beginner to expert, could enjoy building this kit. The more experienced might choose to sand and rescribe the surface details for a better appearance, but the general shape seems accurate. I could recommend this kit to any modeler, of any skill level, that has an interest in civil aviation. I would like to express my gratitude to Revell and IPMS for this review sample.

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