Masterkit 1/72 Embraer T-37 Tucano

MASTERKIT 1:72 EMBRAER T-27 TUCANO
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: Michael Johnson (rec.models.scale)

Potted History

Design of the turboprop-powered Embraer EMB-312 Tucano (toucan) high performance trainer started in 1978 in response to a Forca Aerea Brasileira (Brazilian Air Force) specification for an indigenously designed type to replace the Cessna T-37. First flown ion 16 August 1980 the initial Tucano of some 133 for Brazil was delivered to the Air Force Academy near Sao Paulo in September 1983 for service with the delegation T-37.

Designed from the outset to provide jet like flying experience, the Tucano has a long cockpit with vertically staggered ejection seats and a single power lever governing both pitch and engine RPM.

The Tucano has since been exported to Egypt in 1983, several South American countries and France in 1990. However the most notable export success has been to the RAF which selected the Tucano after a hotly fought contest to replace the BAe Jet Provost trainer. The resulting much modified Shorts Tucano was produced under license in the Northern Ireland city of Belfast by Shorts, producing 130 for the RAF. Shorts also produced additional aircraft for Kenya and Kuwait.

Total exports to 1999 have been 650 aircraft of which the majority have been delivered.

The Kit

Masterkit 1:72 T-37 Tucano

The kit comes in a side opening box with a fantastic illustration of the T-37 Tucano in full flight. Opening the box reveals two light grey sprues, a clear sprue, single page instruction sheet and a decal sheet.

Instructions

A one page A4 sheet is provided with assembly instructions on one side and paint/decal placement instructions on the other. All text is in Portuguese, which was kindly translated by Mario de Vasconcelos Serelle from the Aircraft Resource Centre forum.

Decals

A busy decal sheet offers the choice of two Tucano’s, either a red/white or orange/white Brazilian Air Force scheme. Decals look good on the sheet but have yellowed slightly and are also out of register in some areas.

The Sprues

All the parts for this neat little kit are contained within two light grey sprues. The major components feature recessed panel lines and a relatively flash free. The other components suffer from flash, mould separation lines and injector pin marks. However cleanup of each component, though time consuming, will remove all these hallmarks of a limited run kit. The transparency is bagged with the rest of the kit components and as such suffers form the usual scuffing and scratches.

The “Office”

Detail for the cockpit is pretty basic, with only a representation of each Martin Baker ejection seat offered. Walk around photos indicate that the front cockpit has sidewalls, a feature not present in the kit. At minimum, replacement bang seats would be the best option to busy up the office.

Conclusions

I have no doubt that this kit will turn out very well indeed out of the box, given a bit of work and care. For those wanting a more detailed replica, it would be prudent to source new bang seats and decals.

Aeroclub offer aftermarket white metal bang seats, undercarriage and a propeller for those who wish to tread down this path. Aftermarket decals are also available but may it may be difficult to source a distributor who carries them. This could well be a shame as there are a plethora of colourful Tucano schemes carried by the Brazilian Air Force

All in all, when built, this little Tucano will look great next to the Airfix Shorts Tucano T.1 I built earlier this year.

Given that the Shorts Tucano is partially based upon the Embraer Super Tucano, it would have been fantastic if one was available on the market to allow the modeller (me in this case!) to have the whole Tucano family on display.

If you can find one, grab it!

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Mario de Vasconcelos Serelle and Caio T. de Freitas Jr for all the help given to me on researching the Tucano and providing walk around images to help me build the kit. Copyright of the images provided therefore belongs to Mario and Caio. Thanks also to Mario for translation of the kit instructions.

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