The usual sincere appreciation goes out to our friends at Hobbico (Hasegawa USA) for supplying IPMS USA yet another sample of their manufacturer’s prolific output. I am constantly amazed at what they deliver!

I really like the Arado series of aircraft, so when the opportunity to build this one came up, I raised my hand. Having built a few of these in the past, I must comment on the condition of the kit. I did NOT notice any creeping mold-failures, excess flash, or other blemishes that identify what used to be known as an “old” model (anything over 10 years). The kit looked as if it were a brand-new design. Fit and construction confirmed the same. The basic model from Hasegawa is now a decade old, and what is in the box hides its age well. Engineering at its finest, ‘tis true.

You are presented with the basic Ar-234C kit; what IS new, however, is a sprue with the BT700 anti-shipping torpedo and a PE fret for the fins. This weapon is built up from a single-part molded body and four photo etch fins (three main fins and the folding lower fin section to facilitate installation and takeoff of the aircraft). You are required to remove and use the attachment hanger from the large centerline bomb which is already part of the basic kit.

Assembly is straightforward; there are no real pitfalls to be concerned about. You begin with a very detailed cockpit; the only additions I threw in were a set of Eduard PE Luftwaffe bomber harnesses to busy up the otherwise plain seat. I prefer it this way to engraved, less-than-stellar seat harnesses from 1960’s designs…although I truly appreciate a decent resin seat with harnesses already part of the molding. THAT’s a worthwhile effort with a #0003 paintbrush and a bit of a wash…but I digress. You can install the armrests up or down, no biggie. The control yoke is a bit fragile – be cautious once it’s installed.

The side consoles and main instrument panel are next, to which instrument and panel faces are applied with individual decals. As you can’t see much in the cockpit once it’s all closed up, the final effect is great. I painted the overall cockpit with Duplicolor rattle-can automotive hot-rod primer gray, which provides a semi-flat deep gray similar to the required RLM 66 black gray. The main gear assemblies come next; these are trapped between the fuselage halves in anticipation of closing everything up. Paint the gear wells and the struts RLM 02 Gray before you install them, then mask and touch up later, as you cannot access these areas with a brush after assembly.

The clear canopy parts are added at this point. I had to do a bit of fiddling to get everything to line up, and did have to do a bit of sanding/polishing to clean up the joints; just use emery boards, including a fine polishing one at the end, and it will clean up nicely.

The kit includes cameras for the reconnaissance version, on which this kit is based, complete with upper and lower clear panels for the fuselage mounting of these cameras. I left these off, as you are going to paint over the camera windows anyway later on. Less weight to overcome on a tail-sitter.

The instructions then have you work on the wings and engine. Both intakes and exhausts are well detailed, even if you will have to work hard to see them since they are buried in the nacelles; all four engine assemblies are clean and well done. I assembled the exhaust bullets, added the fairings, and painted them semi-gloss black. Leave these off until after you paint the model; it will save you a lot of extra masking, and the upper surface green is easily touched up at the wing trailing edge/fairing joint. I found the engine intake sections needed a bit of sanding work to get everything to line up, but in the end they fit snugly in the wing cutout. The wing-to-fuselage joint was admirably tight; at this point, make sure you put at least the 20 grams of nose weight recommended by the instructions just behind the bulkhead in the cockpit area.

It was here that I deviated from the instructions by installing the cockpit and canopy assembly. The reason for this is the instructions would have you install the nose gear and door details, and then have you close it all up. Not the best option, as you will have to do a bit of fitting and filling to get everything together. The Arado kit has been released in several different guises, including the twin engine “B” series which has a totally different canopy arrangement that this model caters to.

Paint in this case was pretty simple – I used Tamiya rattle cans for the RLM 76 Light Blue underside first, then masked the underside portions and continued with RLM 82 Light Green for the overall upperside. More masking, and then I shot the final RLM 81 Brown Violet upperside camo. I prefer Testors Boyd clear; it gives a great, wet finish, does not attack the paints, and dries fast and glossy.

The decals were outstanding; just a touch of silvering on one of the Hakenkreuzes (“twisted cross” –swastika) which was handled by Micro-Sol. Hasegawa’s decals have really improved (great job, guys!) in that the whites are white instead of ivory, and the carrier film seems to blend in much better with a final gloss coat, then disappears beneath a flat coat. Not many stencils on this kit, (most of which were on the Walther rockets for the “T-Stoff” and “S-Stoff” fuels), so all was done in about an hour. There are two marking options – one with the high-side light blue underside as shown on the box art (Hasegawa quotes this as Luftwaffe Torpedowaffenplatz markings), and one with standard two-green overall splinter upper surfaces with a lower fuselage waterline-blue separation line, with Luftwaffe 9/KG76, (F1 + AT) markings. Marking and painting instructions are up to Hasegawa’s usual high standard, as is the rest of the instruction sheet.

My last push was to install all the wheel/tire assemblies and external accoutrements such as the torpedo, external tanks, Walther rocket-assist pods, and the drag chute cable on the tail. A note about the rocket pod mounting: the struts are all individual items, and getting them to line up is a bit of a challenge. If I were to do this kit again, I’d install the forward side mount “N” struts, the aft “A” frame, and then offer the whole thing up to the mounting holes. THEN I’d install the forward “”X” strut. Patience…

Another aircraft added to the lineup; a fun build, with excellent results. Thanks again to Hasegawa USA for a great release and IPMS/USA for allowing me to build it!