SWORD 1:72 BEECHCRAFT T-34C 'TURBO MENTOR'
'INBOX Review'

 

Reviewer: Johan De Wolf  (rec.models.scale)   

History:  The T-34 was a two-seat trainer development of the hugely popular Bonanza tourer aircraft.

Although it went in production in 1948, it was not until 1954 that the USAF adopted the type. Shortly after that the USN also ordered the aircraft. For 20 years mastering the Mentor was the start to a military flying career in the USA. To keep up with aviation development Beechcraft developed a turbo prop version of the aircraft in 1973. This new version, designated T-34C, had its first flight in 1974 and went into production soon after. In 1977 it became operational with the US Navy. A further development was the T-34C-1, which could be armed to fulfil FAC and light strike missions. This version was exported to several countries.  In total more than 1300 T-34’s have been built of which over 300 are T-34C’s. On retirement from the USAF and USN many T-34A’s and B’s passed into civilian hands. This will probably happen to the C’s too once they start being replaced in military service by the Raytheon T-6A Texan II in 2003.

The kit: Packed in a flimsy end opening box you will find one light grey sprue. Although this is a short run kit the sprue gates are reasonably thin. There is a little flash apparent, especially on the landing gear, and this will be tricky to remove from these small parts. Surface detail is nicely engraved and the corrugated structure of the tail and rudders has been nicely reproduced. There are two resin parts, the cockpit and the nose wheel bay. Both are very nice castings. The cockpit tub is complete with seats, rudder pedals and sticks. Great care must be taken not to break anything while sawing it of its moulding block.  The injection-moulded canopy is thin and clear. The decals are by Techmod and up to their usual high standard. The instructions consist of a short history, 7 exploded construction diagrams and two colour schemes. Text is in English and Czech. The construction diagrams are rather ambiguous about where exactly the parts go so a scale drawing or pictures will be of help.

Accuracy: Length is spot on, but span comes up 2mm short. Nothing I would worry about.  The vertical tail looks a bit suspect to me. It seems too tall and also the leading edge is too vertical. It should be angled back a bit more. Besides that the kit captures the sporty looks of the Turbo Mentor very well.

Construction: The resin tub has all the details you will need. Even the seatbelts are present and the details on the side consoles will come up nicely after dry brushing. The fuselage sidewalls also have some moulded on detail. There is no indication of where the cockpit tub should be placed exactly. Dry fitting soon reveals the correct placement though. No adjustment will be needed, as it is a snug fit. The same can’t be said for the nose wheel bay. It is some 3 mm too short, so you will be left with a gap either at the front or at the back. The fit is best when the gap is left at the rear of the bay. The instrument panels have fine raised detail on them. Don’t forget to pack some weight in the nose before closing the fuselage. There is a lot of aircraft behind the main gear, so this model will become a tail sitter if you don’t weigh the nose down. After closing the fuselage add a coaming over the rear instrument panel. Next are the wings. They fit well and no putty will be needed. Same goes for the tail and tail planes. The place for the turbine intakes is shown with an engraved line so no problems there either. You are left in the dark when it comes to the exhausts. Pictures will be of great help to find the correct spot to place them. As mentioned before, the landing gear will need a good clean up. The main wheels both have a nasty and difficult to touch up sink mark on them. The gear doors have nice inside detail on them. The nose gear doors could be sanded a bit thinner. The spinner also has a small sink mark but it will be easy to remove. The prop looks a bit small and in my kit one of the blades had broken off. Note that on parked aircraft the prop blades are feathered. The canopy fits well. Last to be added are the blade antennae, a pitot and the wing fences. Again no positive placement indication is given.

Panting and finishing:  Colours are given only in generic terms. For the cockpit the only indication given is interior grey. This doesn’t do the beautiful resin cast justice. A picture will be needed to depict all the details in the right colours. According to the drawing the wheel bay should be painted Aluminium. Pictures of USN machines show that white will be a safer bet. Note also that on USN machines only one prop blade has a white red white tip. The other two have a yellow tip. Also not shown correctly in the drawing is that on USN aircraft all leading edges are black, including those of the tail fin and turbine intakes. The decal sheet gives the choice of two aircraft. A T-34C of the USN of TAW-5 based at Whithing field. This machine is painted in a striking white and orange-red scheme, with a large shark mouth. The second option depicts a T-34C-1 of the Argentine navy. This is one of the damaged machines that were left behind by the Argentines after being defeated by the British in the Falklands war. This machine is painted sand brown and light green over light grey, with a yellow identification band around the fuselage.

Conclusion: This is a typical short run kit. The quality is good, and those that have tackled this kind of kit before will find it holds no surprises. It is nice to finally have a kit of the Turbo Mentor and this kit could prove to be quite popular.

Note: Aeroclub has announced it will release a set (#V199) with white metal parts to replace the landing gear and prop/spinner in this kit.

 

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