From a company, although 10 years old but brand new to injection molded kits, comes a brand new model of the T-6 Texan II. To the best of my knowledge, this is a first-time release of a never before kitted aircraft in 1/48th scale. First, a little about the Texan II, a modified version of the Pilatus PC-6. My stepson was the lead A&P mechanic of Hawker Beechcraft that was able to obtain the USAF blessing by certifying the various modifications in San Antonio, Texas. During this time, I was able to become quite familiar with the bird, but alas, couldn’t get permission to get any “stick time,” being of civilian status. The Texan II has quite an impressive flight envelope, with the performance figures being closer to that of a P-51 Mustang than that of the original T-6. In short, “this ain’t your father’s Oldsmobile”. Oh well, enough wool gathering and on to the kit.

First, thanks once again to Gary at Squadron for providing IPMS/USA yet another review item. We count on the support of many companies, small and large; Squadron has survived just about every trial and tribulation imaginable for a business while continuing to provide excellent service and products!

With Squadron having branched out into the aftermarket genre over the past few years, their in-house products continue to improve in quality. Such is the case with these propeller and spinner assemblies.

The Revell/Monogram (RM) P-61 was, at the time of its release in 1974, a market-setter for detail. In many ways, it still is, but the kit propellers have a difficult-to-remove seam between the front and rear spinner halves, and there is no propeller mounting boss detail as is very evident on the real item; the RM blades are cast to the front spinner dome. Strong, certainly, but improvement could be made…

I have built several PJ Productions kits, done at least one of their conversions, and a number of their detail parts. I have real respect for Phillipe’s ability to produce a really good resin product.

You get one resin pour with 2 seats and 2 ejection handles. Both of the seats were free of flaws or bubbles, and those fine little handle assemblies were also flawless.

Rather than start from scratch with this project, I thought I would take a Mirage I had built previously and add the PJP seat. I could have used a Jaguar, but decided that it would be nicer to improve one of my several Mirages. Then I ran into the problem. Three of the four Mirage kits I’ve built have been PJ Production kits or conversions, and they already had good resin seats. OK, I was going to use a Dagger I built 20 years ago with Argentine markings from the Malvinas/Falklands war. And to tell the truth, I can’t remember whose kit it is.

The Cockpit

Internal framing, fuel tanks, seat, instrument panel and fuel control panel, radiator and various pieces – is together. Even though there are a goodly number of parts, some quite small, everything fits together very well. It pays to ensure all the mould lines are off before painting. There are not many, but there are some. Also, test fit all of the parts and assemblies. Not that they don’t fit well, but to familiarize yourself with how they go together. Although the instruction book is excellent, there are a few areas that, to me at least, were not abundantly clear about exactly how things were supposed to mate up. The instruction illustration putting the long side rails around the floor, fuel tank, and radiator assembly appears to be a complex task but, once aligned properly, the two assemblies fit solidly together and, by looking at the engineering of the parts, it is pretty obvious how it goes together.

This kit is another of the classic Revell/Monogram releases that has been around for almost thirty years and has been released and re-released in numerous guises. Many have regarded it as “the best 1/48th scale F-5 around” for almost as long. Until recently, its only competition has been the Esci/AMT version. It does accurately capture the shape of the Tiger II, and this release, like so many earlier ones, provides loads of extra parts and options, including a large CL drop tank, two Sidewinders, two 2000lb LGBs, two Vulcan gun pods, a boarding ladder, numerous additional antenna used on many NATO aircraft, and an RF-5 nose in addition to the standard pointed fighter nose (no flat “shark” nose, however). The kit also includes a very familiar walking pilot figure. Gone is the small PE sheet from the earlier “Hi-tech” version. Too bad.