RS Models 1/72 Arado Ar-65

RS MODELS 1:72 ARADO AR-65

Reviewer: Carlos Giani (carlos_giani2002@yahoo.de)
Kit Review submitted: 16 June 2007

Kit Details:

RS Models (Resin) 1/72^nd scale Arado Ar-65 (Kit N° 7291 ). Produced in the Czech Republic.

Aircraft History:

The Arado Ar-65 was an enlarged variant from the Ar-64. Designed in 1931, it was a biplane conceived as a fighter, the original radial engine being replaced by a BMW V12 motor. The first squadron to receive the new plane was Jagdgeschwaders JG132. The plane was built in six different versions (Ar-65 A-F), and was mainly used as a trainer of the now re-emerged Luftwaffe. 193 units were built between 1933 and 1936, from which 12 were sold to Bulgaria. Starting from 1936 on, they were gradually replaced by the more modern Arado Ar-68 and Heinkel He-51, although some were still flying in 1942 in secondary roles.

The Kit:

The kit consists of 36 resin parts and one clear vacuumformed part from which a very small windshield must be cut out. Everything is well packed in one plastic bag with separate sealed compartments. I bought this kit as a sale at my local hobby shop, and the original package (a box?) was missing, although a color copy of the cover was included. A small decals sheet completed the offer.

The resin parts are high quality, nearly bubble-free on the visible areas, and require careful sawing / detaching from the carrying blocks / film and being sanded in hindsight. The panel lines are finely and clear engraved, showing beautiful detail, especially around the engine area. The fuselage halves have some framing on the inside of the cockpit, and you also get separate parts for floor, pedals, control stick, instrument panel (engraved dials) and seat. Needles to say, the small parts are very brittle, and much care must be taken when cleaning the mold seams with the hobby knife.

Instructions:

A small A5 “booklet” consisting of two folded A4-sheets, each printed only on one side. Page 1 brings a short history in Czech and English, pages 2 and 3 shows the construction in four easy-to-understand steps (location of parts will be helped by small marks on the fuselage and wings), and page 4 shows 3-view coloring/decaling diagrams for two versions.

Construction:

This was my very first resin kit, so I knew some “beginner’s mistakes” would be inevitable. Construction started, as usual, with the cockpit. The fuselage halves were painted on the inner side with some gray, and also on the cockpit floor. The pedals, the control stick and the instrument panel were painted with silver, gun metal and black, the dials getting a tip of white with fine details in black. The seat was painted gray and leather, being left aside to be glued in later. A quick dry fit test showed a perfect fit of the cockpit assembly between the fuselage halves, so that this was done next. Remember, resin parts must be glued with cyanoacrylate (super) glue, and this means that there is no room for corrections when gluing large parts; resin kit also usually lack of locating pins, so that a quiet steady hand is needed. Of course I misaligned my fuselage halves a bit, fortunately nothing which wouldn’t be fixed with some filling and sanding (*).

Next came the lower wing halves. These had to be cut from the carrying resin block, and it would have been good to leave some extra material in order to file down to the right length. I didn’t, and this resulted in two different lengths for left and right, both being two short. The lesson is: take your time and keep on measuring (e.g. with a slide gauge). The lower wing halves were butt-jointed to the fuselage, and only a bit of putty was needed here. Next came the rear stabilizers and the vertical fin/rudder, which went on without problems.

Next I carefully cleaned up the “N”-struts (2 for the wings and 2 for the fuselage) and started gluing one wing “N”-strut, using the instruction’s diagrams as a guide for the angle. After this dried out completely, I tried to glue the second strut and at the same time to the upper wing, only to find out that it was impossible to center the upper wing appropriately. This was the moment when I noticed the mistakes done with the lower wing’s length, the angles of the struts now of course being different. Well, I could separate the glued strut without breaking it, and the whole process started again, this time trying to glue both wing struts and the upper wing in one step (a really risky business). After an acceptable compromise was achieved, I left the damn thing a couple of hours to dry, myself needing some relax time. With the strut’s angles now being wider, the whole upper wing seats too low, so that I had to trim the fuselage “N”-struts down to an usable length.

The last major step was the landing gear, which went on without troubles, only some little bits of putty being needed here and there. The tail landing skid, the towing cable attachment and the (upper) under wing tanks were the last parts glued before painting. I decided to build the glider tug version, so that I painted the undersides with Revell’s R55 sky blue (which, I presume, is a bit too dark / too “greenish”) with yellow wing tips, and the upper surfaces with Revell´s gray R75. A coat of Clear prepared for decaling, and as this was done, the engraved lines were highlighted with a mix of black oil color and turpentine (**). Finally, a coat of Model Master’s Flat sealed everything in.

Finally, I glued the propeller, the wheels and the small windshield on, after the later was cut out and trimmed.

Versions:

“TF+NR”, A/B school, Olmütz, 1940, dark green RLM 71 upper surfaces and light blue RLM 65 undersides.
“1E+GK”, glider towing groups 1 and 2, Kuban bridgehead, Russia, 1942, gray RLM 02 upper surfaces and light blue RLM 65 undersides.

Decals:

A small sheet, origin unknown, just containing basics. The decals were very thin, and performed very well, needing no setting solution.

Overall:

Having read all reviews about resin kits which can be found on SMAKR, I would say this one is from the upper quality class, and it worked out into a little beauty, regardless from my mistakes. It was a refreshing experience to work with a new material, and I sure would build a resin kit again. Warmly recommended if you are not in hurry when building models J.

Reference:

Some photos founded in the web.

Footnotes:

(*) I have found out that sanding resin is a very different “feeling” compared to styrene, due to the higher hardness of resin, so that you can get really smooth surfaces and joints.

(**) I have also found out that turpentine has a very low surface tension, so that it “runs” very pleasantly along engraved lines, being unable to dilute the enamels and evaporating without blots left.

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