Aero Ab-11 1/72 Special Hobby

In the summer of 1925, staff captain Vilém Stanovský succeeded in persuading the technical director of Aero, engineer Antonín Husník, to organize a flight around Europe. This was carried out as a promotional flight for the Aero factory with support from the Ministry of National Defence.
For the event, the factory selected the newly introduced Ab-11, powered by a Breitfeld & Daněk Perun II engine. In 1926, the factory prepared a plane with the serial number 17, with the civilian registration of L-BUCD. Additional two fuel tanks were installed, a different compass was mounted, and a spare propeller was attached underneath the aircraft. It was painted light blue, matching the colour of military aviation insignias. 
On May 25, 1926, staff captain Vilém Stanovský and mechanic František Šimek took off on the first leg of the journey to Barcelona. They visited 23 countries across Europe, North Africa, and Asia Minor, returning to Kbely on July 23, 1926. They covered a distance of 15,070 km and spent 91 hours and 52 minutes in the air.

The Special Hobby kit includes two sprues of grey plastic parts, one with clear parts, a small photo-etched fret, and decals. From the sprues, it’s evident that the larger one is designed to be universal for various versions of the A-11 and A-12. The smaller sprue contains the unique parts, primarily the fuselage.

This fact correlates with the quality of the kit.

The larger sprue is well-crafted, with the wings featuring excellent surface showing the ribs and fabric tension. Unfortunately, the mold alignment is slightly off, causing circular parts to come out “oval-shaped.” The sprue fits exactly in the box, which can cause bending of the sprue during packing. This happened in my case, and I had to forcibly straighten the upper wing.

The smaller sprue includes the fuselage and propeller. It is less detailed, with fuselage walls about 1.5 mm thick, which is excessive. Since the cockpits of historical aircraft are highly visible, I decided to modify it. I removed 1 mm of material from the walls and top, creating a new tubular frame from stretched sprue. I then fitted the kit parts where possible and added some custom-made parts.

The engine cowl required modifications as the kit represents a standard Ab-11, but individual aircraft had slight variations. The L-BUCD had specific differences visible in photos from REVI 135. I adjusted the number of engine cowl vents, removed a protrusion under the cabin struts, added an extra hinge row for engine panelling, and shortened a cowl vent near the radiator.

The mounting of the spare propeller was another detail I changed. The kit provides a photo-etched pocket for the blade, but photos show a leather strap under the engine. I replicated this and added leather straps at the propeller hub to secure it to the fuselage.

The struts between the fuselage and upper wing are accurate and help to align the wing properly. However, the interplane struts are too thick and are seriously affected by the mold misalignment. I thinned them to half their thickness, which still left them sufficiently sturdy.

The exhausts required significant work. Standard Ab-11 aircraft had the last two exhausts raised, but this plane had all of them in line. I filled the original holes and drilled new ones. The kit’s exhausts were overly thick and oval-shaped, so I made new ones from hypodermic needles, which I highly recommend, as the improvement is significant.

The mechanic’s rear shield is not a proper size, and I had to replace it with a new one.

The struts on the original were double, with gaps filled with ash wood, giving a flat appearance. I created this effect by stretching flat threads from a 1.2 mm thick and 5 mm wide plate over a candle. It took some practice but worked well and could be tensioned with heat on the model.

The decals are excellent.

When I bought the kit, I was initially pleased and thought it would be an enjoyable build. Unfortunately, its quality does not match that of older kits like the Š-328. What a pity.

The colours used were Gunze C (blue is C323), Tamiya for lacquers.
The model was brush-painted.