The latest kit by Airshow Models.com of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, is a 1/32 scale cast resin replica of the Aviat S2B.  The resin detailing is beautifully executed with the smallest switches in the cockpit cleanly moulded.  The upper fuselage fairing is cast separately to allow detailing of the cockpit area.  The instrument panels and fuel tank are cast into the fairing.   The cowling has the front cylinders of the Lycoming engine cast intothe front end.  Over this is the cowling nose bowl which allows for a more detailed nose section.

The rest of the resin parts include; wings, landing gear, tail and interplane struts as well as separate ailerons and throttle quadrants.

The kit has finely cast brass cabane struts, landing gear axle struts, tail wheel and control columns.  Also included is a photo-etch fret that allows the modeller to add much more detail to the cockpit and exterior.  This includes landing and flying wires, tail brace wires, safety harnesses (also a number of brass buckles for those who want to make up their own harnesses), heal scuff plates, aileron spades and aerobatic sight device.

The aileron torque tube assembly, heal scuff plates, throttle quadrants and fuel pump handle were installed in the cockpits.  The seats were then detailed using the photo-etched seat belts, painted and installed.  The rear seat throttle quadrant and fuel pump have a structural member attached which isinserted into a hole at the base of the cockpit.  There are locating pins on the rear seat which go into recesses in the lower framework.

The instrument panels were then painted and detailed with instrumentdecals from an old Airwaves sheet.  Don’t forget that little magneto switch on the left side of the panel!

The upper fuselage fairing was then epoxied to the fuselage and the excess glue removed using a Q-Tip and denatured alcohol.  The cowling was epoxied in place and the engine cylinders painted prior to installing the cowling nose bowl.  The carburetor intake, cowl gill and rudder were next installed and the model was ready for painting.

The cabane struts  were glued in place on the upper wing along with the ailerons in both wings.  Liquid mask by MicroScale was used in the cabane strut holes in the fuselage and the interplane strut slots in the wings.  The nose bowl, cockpit and bottom of the fuselage were stuffed with damp tissue and the entire model was sprayed with a light grey primer.

 The model was then painted Model Master Guards Red which is fairly close to the Randolph Paints Tennessee Red.  When the model was thoroughly dry, I removed the tissue from all of the cavities and awaited the delivery of the decals.  As this was a preproduction kit, parts arrived as they became available but the wait was worthwhile.  Pete Groves, the mastermind behind Airshow Models.com is a B747 pilot when he isn’t producing these kits and parts delivery will on occasion have to wait until his schedule permits.

Decals

  The decals in this kit are printed by MicroScale and are double printed to avoid having the red bleed through.  Because of the thickness of the ink, it is important to use warm water to loosen the decal from the backing paper...I found out the hard way!  The decals layout very well with only a bit of careful trimming around the carb air intake and cowl gill.  I used a ½ inch soft brush to apply the decals with only one split in the fuselage stripe.  Other then that, there were no major problems with the application.  I did use Solvaset to make the decals adhere to the cowling details.