MPM 1/72 Arado Ar 95B

MPM 1:72 ARADO AR 95B (LAND)

Reviewer: Paul Wherran (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 15 February 2003

Kit Details:

MPM Kit # 72502 - Arado Ar 95B [Land]

Aircraft History:

To meet an official requirement, Arado designed its Ar 95 as a neat floatplane for the coastal patrol and light anti-ship attack roles, with the first prototype flying in 1937 with a radial engine. Another prototype was also built but with a Jumo inline engine. The aircraft were evaluated against the competing Fw 62 with the radial engined Ar 95 emerging as victor.

Six pre-production aircraft were used in the Spanish Civil War, but no production aircraft was ordered by the Luftwaffe. So, in 1938 Arado built the Ar 95B land-based version and offered it for export as the Ar 95L, winning an order from Chile for three aircraft.

The Kit:

The boxtop features a photograph of one of the aircraft from the kit which is a side view of an Ar 95B with Spanish Civil War markings, which is a change to their fairly attractive boxart with battle scenes. Inside the end opening box you will find three main sprues featuring about 30 plastic parts moulded in light grey. The parts feature very good surface detail with engraved panel lines and subtle ribbing and fabric detail, with some parts marked not for use as the kit mouldings double up for the floatplane version. Also included are a couple of etched parts for the engine push rods and instrument panel, 18 resin parts which make up the engine assembly, undercarriage and a few other smaller parts and a fairly clear injection molded transparency for the cockpit.

Instructions:

These follow the standard MPM booklet style of instructions which feature nine easy to follow assembly steps in exploded view diagram format. Painting commentary is supplied throughout construction and the external schemes from the Humbrol paint range as well as some FS number information (which should really be RLM colours I feel). A brief history of the aircraft type and a sprue diagram precedes the assembly steps and the colour and markings diagrams follow them.

Construction:

The instructions don’t start with the cockpit but I did. And this features an etched instrument panel which is squeezed in between the fuselage halves along with a seat, stick and other generic cockpit items. The sidewall features some raised detail. As with most limited run style of kits, a little bit of trimming is required to fit the parts.

Next comes the engine assembly which is mainly supplied in resin parts. The fit of these is not perfect, but working on the dry run and trim routine you should get the parts to fit quite well and install onto the airframe nose with similar work needed.

The lower wings and undercarriage were embarked upon next. Again most of the undercarriage assembly is supplied in resin so the tube of super glue is needed to bond these parts together. Another requirement for the old dry run and trim routine to get the lower wings onto the fuselage and then the undercarriage sub assembly along with their supporting struts. The wings must be left to dry at the precise angles so that the interplane struts and the upper wing assembly will fit properly later.

Before the upper wing and struts were affixed I added on the injection canopy and tailplanes. The canopy is a good fit providing a little care and attention is given to test fitting first.

As is typical with the biplane kits of this ilk, a fair bit of time and patience has to be invested when placing the interplane struts on the lower wing and then putting the upper wing assembly on top of these to complete the wing construction. Some people may prefer to put the interplane struts on the fuselage to place the top wing onto, and the actual wing interplane struts on the upper wing and connect these to the lower wing assembly accordingly. After numerous test fits, adjustments and so forth I achieved a wing assembly I was reasonably happy with.

Overall construction was not too bad, with the fit in most cases being quite good providing a test fit and slight adjustments were made in areas. Use of filler was very minimal around the usual wing roots.

Versions:

The kit allows for three choices of options to be represented which are a Spanish Nationalist Air Force example from 1939, featured on the boxart, in overall RLM 02 grey; a Chilean Air Force example from 1941 in overall aluminium finish; and a Luftwaffe 1937 example in overall RLM 02 and featuring only the swastika on red banner on the tail fin. My choice was the Chilean example as I wanted to depict something a little different, which I finished in overall silver with blue rudder, which features as the national markings of this aircraft. A white star is placed on the blue rudder and on each wing surface.

Decals:

The decal sheet is not very large as none of the versions feature many decals to apply. The sheet has excellent colour register and the decals are thin with a matt finish to them. They respond well to decal solvent and bedded down on the model surface without any problems whatsoever.

Overall:

I enjoyed building this kit and would recommend it to the modeller who has a few kits under their belt. It just needed a bit of attention in glueing the parts together which on the whole fitted quite well. The end result looks to be a convincing replica and I would recommend this kit highly to those interested in this subject.

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