Upon opening the box, one’s senses are filled with anticipation at the delicately crafted and moulded pieces. All external surfaces are endowed with finely engraved detail. A good level of internal detail is provided, considering this is a 72nd scale kit – the detailed interior includes troop seats and stretchers. The kit accurately replicates the lines of this elegant aircraft. Unfortunately there are one or two aspects of the kit which leaves a lot to desire, the main area of complaint being the propellers which are crude to say the least – a pity as this was one of the distinctive features of the C-160. There are also irritating ejector marks on the insides of the main undercarriage doors. The fuselage assembly must be approached with some care - the fuselage interior detail is brought together in a tube sub-assembly which is then enclosed by the two fuselage halves. I had a real battle getting this to fit.

 There was lots of grinding of plastic with dremel tool but to no avail. The bad fit resulted in the use of a fair amount of glue and Milliput to fill the gaps. The wing to fuselage joint also posed some fit problems and required careful shaving off excess plastic in some areas before the correct fit was attained. The engine cowling assemblies consist of 6 parts each necessitating careful test fitting and assembly. Once finished they do provide a nice “busy” look. The undercarriage components are delicately moulded. However, the main undercarriage bays lack any form of detail. Luckily the kit sits so low on its undercarriage that one doesn’t have to worry too much. The level of detail provided in the nose wheel bay is good.

Bottom View

I left the main canopy off until the aircraft was complete. The reason why I did this is that I have a problem with build-up of residue on the inside of transparent parts during the painting (airbrushing) process. I ensure that all gaps are sealed thoroughly, but this still occurs. I think it may have something to do with using prestic (Blu Tac) as a method of sealing and this gives off some oily residue. Luckily the fit of the main canopy to the fuselage is good and could be glued on once all painting had been completed.