Aero L-39 ZO Albatros 1/72 Eduard

    I recently finished my new Eduard´s L-39 kit right in the time of the L-39’s farewell in the Czech Republic. This Albatros isn’t from the CLV Pardubice , where the last Czech L-39 were retired. It is the L-39 ZO of the Hungarian Air Force belonging to the 59th Tactical Wing “Desi Szentgyörgyi” based in Kecskemét, where the Hungarian Albatrosses also were retired already in 2010.

    With very old moulds this Eduard kit isn’t among the best. However, it is the only acceptable and available 1:72 scale L-39 kit on the market. About three years ago, Eduard overhauled the aging molds, with making slight shape adjustments to the air intake area. The most significant change was a completely new clear canopy sprue. This eliminated the biggest shortage of the original kit—the non-teardrop-shaped and angled canopy. Although the new canopy still isn’t 100% accurate for technical moulding reasons, its shape is much better. Although I would greatly appreciate a new moulds L-39 kit I don’t believe any manufacturer will do it. So now nothing stands in my way of creating the planned collection of Albatros models from all (military) operators around the world. This Hungarian one serves as a reference kit.

    The model is built OOB. I modified the poorly shaped headrests on the seats. The VS-1 seats aren’t nice, but Eduard has started offering nice 3D-printed ones as an aftermarket. The building is quite complicated, but nothing that can’t be fixed with putty and sanding to achieve a “display-case-ready” status.

    For comparison of the new canopy shape , I’m adding photos with my older L-39.

    Albatros No. 133, like all Hungarian L-39s, was a gift from the Federal Republic of Germany in 1993. The original paint scheme was changed after a overhaul. The repairs of the L-39s in Hungary were carried out by Danubian Aircraft, a company specializing in the repair of subjects such as the Mi-24 and MiG-21.
So this model also served as practice for mixing the colors I will certainly need for my planned builds of the Czech Mi-17 and Mi-24D helicopters. Based on the photos, it’s clear that they have the same shades.
I used decals from Army Cast which were originaly printed by the BOA agency.

Translated with help of DeepL.com (free version)