Minicraft Models

1/48 Cessna 172 Civil Air Patrol

Kit Number: 11651

Reviewed by  Perry Downen, IPMS # 44000

MSRP: $27.99 Website: www.minicraftmodels.com I'd like to express my sincere thanks to Minicraft Models for providing this kit to IPMS/USA and to them for allowing me to review it. Introduced in 1956 and equipped with a Continental O-300 145 hp six-cylinder, air-cooled engine, the Cessna 172 had a purchase price of $8,995. It is still in production today and has become the most successful light aircraft in history. Over 43,000 have been produced in approximately 20 different versions. Today, the 172S comes equipped with a Lycoming four-cylinder IO-360-L2A producing 180 horsepower and sells in the range of $270,000 – more or less depending on the equipment added. Astounding! This kit does not specify which of the versions is replicated. The best I can determine, based on the basic configuration and power plant included, is that it is a post-1968 model. IN THE BOX The review kit comes in a cellophane wrapped box, 22.75" X 6.38" X 2". Inside the box are cellophane-bagged sprues – three white and one clear. The windows are a little thick, but will work. There are approximately 50 parts in all. The moldings have good detail with finely recessed panel lines and very little flashing. However, during the build I discovered several parts with ejection pin marks that required some clean up. The decal sheet contains markings for two aircraft – U.S. Civil Air Patrol, Alaska, and U.S. Civil Air Patrol, New Jersey. The two planes use common decals except for the registration numbers. The building instructions are contained on eight pages of an A4 sized pamphlet. There are nine construction steps and one exterior painting/decaling step. No construction narrative is provided, but the exploded view drawings are clear and easy to follow. Occasionally a clarifying note is provided. Paint callouts for the interior work are simply generic colors, e.g, flat black, satin black, steel, etc. THE BUILD The build is rather simple and straightforward. It begins with the cabin which includes the seats (no seat belts provided), instrument panel, and rear bulkhead. There is not much detail to speak of here. Instrument panel decals are not provided. However, it makes little difference since the panel is so far under the dash cowling it is practically hidden. The cabin seats require painting at this time. Suggestions of the more commonly used color schemes are noted, but the colors are left to the builder's discretion. I used tans and brown. Adding the side windows to the fuselage halves comes next. The instrument panel and cabin seats are glued to the RH fuselage side before joining to the LH fuselage side. Everything fit snugly and very little filler was used on the joint. The engine build up is simple – only six parts. These six parts, however, make up a very nicely detailed little four-cylinder power plant. Some additional detail can be added, such as plug wires and hoses. However, this can cause trouble when all the additional weight needed to keep this plane from being a tail sitter is added. I suggest that all the internal cavities in the engine be packed with as much weight, solder, birdshot, etc., as possible. You'll need it. The completed engine and nose gear are added to the firewall and the bottom cowling half is placed. The wing is constructed next. The center section of the wing has two holes for the roof windows. Because of this, it may be a weak point during construction. Be careful. Once mounted to the fuselage, it is fine. Once the wing is attached, I suggest the plane be painted and decaled before attaching the horizontal stabilizers, wing struts, and main landing gear. The instructions tell you to place the side trim decal before placing the stabilizers, but do not mention placing the under-wing decals before adding the wing struts. This omission can cause a major problem placing the decal, as the strut attachment is in the middle of the decal. FINISHING Painting is where this model becomes interesting. The color scheme consists of three colors – white for the wings, horizontal stabilizers, and fuselage top; a red vertical stabilizer and a red trim line down the fuselage sides; and blue on the fuselage lower surfaces. Below the red trim line is a white/gray/white trim line. This trim line is a decal that must be perfectly matched in width to the red trim line. This is an exercise in precision masking. The exterior color callouts are in ModelMaster enamel and Acryl as well as generic colors. The decals are of excellent quality and released from the backing very quickly. They settled down nicely with a little Solvaset. The decals fit nicely, particularly the long trim decal down the fuselage sides. Once the painting/decaling is complete then the stabilizers, windshield, wing struts and landing gear are added. I found the gear attachments to be troublesome. I broke and repaired the nose gear twice and the main gear once. The main strut is cantilevered from the fuselage at about 45 degrees. As such, a portion of the plane's weight is transferred horizontally to the wheel. This weight applied to the ill-designed strut/fuselage attach point increases the potential for failure of the joint. In other words, the interface between the main gear struts and fuselage is weak. The nose gear strut is simply spindly. Just be careful. I repaired and strengthened the struts by drilling a hole in all the gear attach points and inserting a wire for strength. I also had to drill out the interfacing part to accept the wire. This solved the problem. I noticed the wheel pants did not fit as well as I thought they should, but this is no problem. In fact, the plane depicted on the box top does not have wheel coverings. With the landing gear attached the plane is a serious tail sitter. The instructions recommend stretching a piece of clear sprue as a tail prop. I elected to use weight in the nose. It took so much birdshot in the engine compartment and solder glued to the upper cowling that it spoiled the "open hood" view to display the engine. ASSESSMENT This was a very easy kit to build, but presented an interesting challenge to paint as instructed. Considering that 43,000 172's have been built, the possible color schemes the modeler can replicate are unlimited. The only real problems I encountered were with the landing gear attachments and getting enough weight in the nose. Regardless, I can recommend this kit to modelers of any skill level. Thanks again to Minicraft Models for making this kit available for review.