IPMS/USA Kit Review: Italeri 1/48 Arado Ar 196A

Italeri

1/48 - Arado Ar 196A

Kit Number: 2675

Reviewed by Carl F. Weaver, IPMS# 33610

MSRP: $55.00
Website: www.italeri.com
Review Kit Provided MRC: Website: www.modelrec.com

History
The Ar 196 was designed in 1936 as a replacement for the He 114. The new Arado was tested with twin floats as well as with a center float w/outriggers configuration similar to the Kingfisher. Both worked well, but the twin floats were chosen, as there was less likelihood of them "digging in".

The Ar 196 went on to become the mainstay of the Kriegsmarine's shipboard reconnaissance force and, with the eventual loss of most their surface ships, they continued to fly as a coastal reconnaissance and anti-submarine aircraft until the end of the war.

The Kit
Italeri's Ar 196 arrives in a most unusual box. From the outside it looks like it's an end-opening type. But, once the end is opened inside is a tray like the bottom half of a top-opening box.

The kit itself includes 4 sprues, with a small clear sprue bagged separately for protection. It includes:

105 light gray styrene parts 3 clear styrene parts Decals for 4 color schemes

The clear parts are nice and thin, with well-defined framing.

A very nice touch is the 12-piece beaching trolley.

As with other recent Italeri kits, the instructions are done as CAD drawings that look like the actual part illustrating each of the 12 stages. There are a number of supplementary views backing up the main illustrations, including a rigging diagram for the floats. Paint matches are given for ModelMaster enamels and acrylics.

Decals are provided for an interesting quartet of markings:

Since I was mounting the plane on the trolley I chose the aircraft from Crete. Even though the directions indicate this is a Mark -5 aircraft everything, I have read says this was actually a Mark -3. In addition, the Mark -5 was first built in 1943 so either the year is wrong or the mark is.

There has been some discussion on the Internet about the kit., the first comments concerning the shape of the wings, the airfoil, and width. Looking at pictures of the plane I do not see it. In addition, the cockpit tubing structure is missing, being poorly represented by very faint ridges in the cockpit sidewalls. You could scratch-build the structure but even the MPM offering had its faults and it was considered the "ultimate" AR 196A.

The Build
The cockpit is reasonably well fitted with 21 parts, although the details are rather "heavy". There is a choice of molded or decal instrument panels and a busy rack of radio sets. The pilot's seat is very thick, but is attached to separate support frames. The gunner gets a 3-part MG 17 with plenty of ammo drums. Decal seat harnesses are provided.

I put the decal over the instrument panel and it lined up with the molded on detail fairly well. I added some Solvaset and the decal laid down nicely. I added some True Details German Seatbelts instead of using the decal ones as they just didn't look right to me.

The engine is made up of just 2 parts, with simplified cylinders and a molded on ignition harness. I painted the engine in different shades of Alcad and added a wash. Not much of the engine can really be seen.

The cowling is split into 3 sections, with an area that can be cut away. There is an annoying prominent mold seam across the cylinder head bulges, which was a bear to clean up. The propeller and two piece hub were very easy to assemble and paint.

I thought I would be smart and assemble the fuselage before inserting the cockpit like in a Spitfire as the fuselage is opened at the bottom. The fuselage fit very well with no filler anywhere; that is until I tried to insert the cockpit. I had to pry the fuselage apart for it to fit as the cockpit occupies about half the length of the fuselage.

The floats and struts were next, and they too went together very well. I used some very small wire as rigging. It was really interesting to see the floats go from flimsy to stiff with rigging. This was my first rigging job and I was impressed. I didn't do it and the instructions didn't suggest it, but if you are going to use the trolley you may want to put some weight in the floats. The plane wants to lean backwards on the trolley and I ended up gluing it in place.

I assembled the wing. It is in five pieces: the bottom, two tops and two bulging fairings. The wing fitted the fuselage perfectly and again there was no filler used.

I added the float assembly; the struts matched up to the holes in the wing and fuselage with no problem.

I used Model Master Enamels Hellblau RLM 65 and Grun RLM 73 as well as Gelb RLM 4. After the paint had dried I oversprayed with Testors Clear Coat and set the plane aside for a day before adding the decals. The decals went on without a hitch. I didn't need to use any decal solvent except on the crosses on the bottom of the wing as they lay over some inspection/access panels. As no swastikas are included, I used some from an old Aeromaster sheet.

After the decals were finished I applied Future over the decals to seal them in and to prepare for a wash. Instead of using a light gray wash I used a light green one on top and Payne's Gray for the bottom wash. It was very difficult to work around the floats; maybe I should have left them off until after I finished painting and weathering. Oh well, maybe next time.

When everything was done I sprayed a coat of Testors flat over everything, added a stretched sprue antenna and she was finished.

Impression
While there may be some discrepancies and questions about the shape I have to say it looks like an Ar 196 to me. I found no fit issues except for the ones of my own doing as I mentioned earlier.

The kit was a joy to build and only took me about 25 hours to complete. I recommend this kit to any modeler as it was not difficult at all and makes an easy kit for a beginner and it is a good base for the more experienced modeler.

I want to thank John Noack, IPMS USA, and Model Rectifier Corp. for providing this kit to review.