Part 1: First Look

MSRP: $28.00 US Distributor: Unique Master Models (UMM-USA): www.umm-usa.com Don't bother looking for a Skoda-Kauba V-4 in Action book for this little aircraft, you won't find one. This small prototype training aircraft was designed and built in Prague for the Luftwaffe as a trainer. A quick historical overview can be found here: www.histaviation.com/Skoda-Kauba.html Here is what you get: Contained in a small sturdy box are 17 resin, 4 photo-etched and 1 clear vacuformed parts. The castings are smooth and free of imperfections. There isn't much surface detail, but what is there is crisply recessed and restrained. The fuselage is cast in one piece and the remaining parts are trapped in a resin 'wafer' (think old school CzechMaster resins). A small photo-etched fret has a 2 piece instrument panel (but no faces) and a couple of other small details. The vacuformed canopy in my sample has several dimples and imperfections and will need replacement as these problems can't be sanded out. Instructions, you ask? What instructions? There is a single sheet with a 3 view drawing for placing the decals and painting instructions and nothing else.

There is very little cockpit detail aside from the seat and instrument panel, the control stick and any sidewall detail will have to come from the spares box. There is no detail in the wheel wells either. The only other area that may need extra attention are the cowling intakes which will need to be drilled out as well as the exhausts which look to be on the side of the cowling - but absent detailed drawings or instructions - I am not sure about their exact placement. The aircraft was finished in natural aluminum with minimal markings.

Did I mention that this was a small aircraft? I have included a pilot figure in the accompanying photos for scale as well as the fuselage from a 1/72 D.520. It is a sleek, attractive little aircraft that looks like it would not be out of place at a modern air show.

While not a shake and bake kit, it has some good potential and will make an attractive addition to the model shelf. However, the flaws in the canopy in my example and lack of even minimal assembly instruction or drawings keep this kit from getting my full endorsement.

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