As the spinners are in white metal, scraping an old scalpel blade along it before fitting props does give a realistic polished metal look. An EW radome ‘donut’ is also supplied, and the first run of decals are specifically for this unusual modified type. The roof mounting for the radome is best discarded, and made up with a small piece of plasticard, referring to the photos supplied. Lacking a FS reference chart, I decided that as mixing paint was inevitable, to make two models - EW and regular. I used Inscribe acrylics, mixed in proportions that look ‘about right’. The decals include the SAAF EW unit badge, featuring a cartoon style crow. Handed versions of the badge are supplied, as it’s not clear from current references which way it should face on the starboard side. I gather later decal runs will also include a 35 Sqadron nose badge, and alternative serial numbers to enable a regular version of the Turbo Dak to be modelled. The decals are a computer printed limited run type, and need very careful handling - as they do not have carrier film! Despite applying coats of Johnsons Kleer as suggested in the instructions, a couple of the smaller decals disintegrated, but all the main items made it onto both the aircraft. Being very thin, they tend to curl at edges once applied, so Kleer was used to bed every decal down.

Not for the inexperienced modeller, but with care a Dakota that’s different both in shape and colour scheme can result - a pleasant change. This SAAF variant should not be confused with the Basler Dakota upgrade, which has various differences, and which is now a forthcoming follow-on release from Heritage Aviation.

My thanks go to to Martin Blundell at Heritage Aviation for the review samples - and providing the opportunity to add this interesting type to the SAAF collection. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it