Bilek 1/72 Aero Delfin L-29R/RS

BILEK 1:72 AERO L-29R DELFIN

Reviewer: Phillip Pittendreigh (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: January 2000

Aircraft:
The Aero L-29 Delfin was the first trainer jet designed by Czechoslavakia of which some 2500 examples have been built serving numerous air forces around the world in a few different variants. It has proven to be a reliable and robust aircraft ever since it's first flight in 1958. The L-29R and RS versions are the reconnaissance variants. Delfin translated into English is "Dolphin" - not hard!

The Kit:
Flimsy box for what mine was and the box art was very 'painting' like as opposed to the more realistic and better drawn examples from other manufacturers. I am not sure if this is a reboxing of a previous kit but to my knowledge only KP have made an injection molded version of this aircraft and this is not a reboxing of that. I therefore assume that this an original mold from Bilek? Inside there are just under 60 injection molded parts on one sprue in the standard grey plastic. There are two vacform canopies supplied - one being a spare. Panel lines are engraved and the surface detail is above average, although the plastic is hard and brittle and care needs to be taken when detaching from sprue. The kit can also benefit from a bit of clean up around the smaller parts although flash is minimal.

Instructions:
These are surprisingly quite good with easy to follow assembly steps that give positioning parts quite good coverage. Painting instructions are provided for both individual components and external schemes and are quoted from the Model Master range, although details are also supplied to help cross reference with other ranges. Other sketches are also provided to assist with the differences in the L-29R and L-29RS versions. The only downside is that the three versions in the kit (see below) are shown to be relevant for the L-29R variant, there is nothing to say whether or not any or all are relevant for the RS variant.

Construction:
You will need to decide first which variant you wish to build. The L-29R has wingtip tanks and two cockpits, whereas the L-29RS does not carry wingtip tanks and the rear cockpit is covered. Unfortunatley, you will need to use plastic card to blank out the rear cockpit if building the RS version.

I chose to build the L-29R version so spent some time furnishing the cockpits. This comes with adequate detail but the instrument panel and side consoles are blank and require the modeller to utilise some scratchbuilding skills to etch in some detail. The seats supplied are reasonable but nothing more than you would expect in a kit. The instructions provide some good sketches for adding in extra detail for the cockpit if desired.

Fuselage halves go together quite well but remember to add nose weight and keep an eye on the way the halves are positioned as it is easy to misalign them. The wings attach also quite well but filler was required at the joins and the intakes can be blanked off so you cannot see right through. The downside is that there is no real detail in the wheel wells at all, leaving it up to the modeller to provide these (sketches provided again in the instructions for these).

The ventral reconnaissance pack and the T-plane on top of the fin proved to be the most problematic in terms of fitting, both requiring sanding where the respective areas meet the aircraft. The canopy was added and this also was a little frustrating but only because of my inexperience with vacform! At least it is crystal clear and turned out reasonably but on reflection I think it can be said that the canopy is poor fitting regardles.

I added in the undercarriage, intakes and the various detailing bits last and these were generally straightforward providing one had patience and care. The model was then masked and painted in a Natural Metal finish using Testors Metalizers.

Versions & Decals:
A small decal sheet covers three versions: Czech, East German and Veitnamese Air Forces but no stencilling is provided, only roundels and serial numbers. Register is generally quite good but the red and yellow used in the relevant air force roundels were slightly off. As stated above there is no indication which version is for which variant (ie: R or RS) although the instructions indicate that the R version was in the colours of all these air forces. My L-29R was finished in Natural Metal finish for the Czech air force. The decals were not the best but conformed okay with Miro Set & Sol in spite of the noticeable off register of the red.

Overall:
Not a bad kit at all and worth getting if you are interested in this aircraft subject. There are a few problems with building as pointed out above but nothing that most modellers above novice level should have no problems with. But see if you can replace the decal sheet, I am not aware of an aftermarket source but I am sure one is out there. Recommended.

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