This Revell Kit
Well, who’d have thought it (again…) that we’d have another 1:32nd scale Arado Ar 196 seaplane to build? This time, the single-float and arguably sleeker-looking ‘B’ version. I for one am seriously impressed from you can see in the box, much of what was in the original release back in 2011 is here, but of course, just the one float to help you represent ‘V4’ that’s offered on the new decal sheet.
Given that I’ve given you the link to my original box review and full build above I’ll try and highlight a few of the main areas of interest below.
Box and contents
Revell persist with rather flimsy boxes that are doubtless cheap to produce but not so good in protecting the contents. Having said that, the artwork is usually very good and so it is here.
Here are some photos of the manufacturer’s completed model and, as you can see, this kit makes up into a beautiful model of the Ar 196B…
The kit
The light grey sprues are packaged well and no damage is apparent. Taking the main components first, they are very well tooled with a soft texture that should look good under paint. No distortion was apparent and a dry fit of the fuselage promises a decent fit. Moving to the wings, they are very well detailed and this detail compares well when compared with the walk-around video that features at the head of this review. The fabric effect of the control surfaces looks authentic and well done allowing some rib detail to show through. This is also the case with the fuselage – a real feature of the type and when you get to the weathering stage, some subtle dry-brushing to emphasise this detail will pay dividends.
A stand!
In fact a deck turntable that doubles as a stand. I thought, surely not a stand… when I opened the box, but it quickly becomes apparent that the large round disc is an ingenious way of displaying your Arado 196 – clever stuff Revell, nice one.
Detail sprues
When you start to examine the sprues that contain all the smaller parts you start to get an idea that this release is something special. Take the engine for example; the cylinders are simply stunning with very fine detail moulded in. The fuel injectors and pipe work is equally impressive and delicate, so I can’t see any need to add anything here. Worthy of note is the thinness of the trailing edge of the engine cowl collector ring – superb tooling.
The cockpit looks very detailed with full internal framing, seats and instrument panel. The latter doesn’t have dial detail moulded in (a bit strange) so you’ll have to use the decal instruments provided – these should look perfectly fine.
Alternatively, you may have an old Reheat instruments and bezels etched set that had decal dials included – maybe even a sheet of dials on its own from the same manufacturer or from Airscale.
The seats – these have moulded in belt straps and I wish I had removed these and added my own or PE replacements on my first build. As moulded they look too ‘soft’ and imprecise for my liking, but this is a small point and the fix is easy and quick if you want to add a little refinement.