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PLANET MODELS & CUNARMODEL 1:72 SIAI MARCHETTI S.211/S.211A
'In The Box DOUBLE Review'

Reviewer: Johan De Wolf  (rec.models.scale)

History
In 1976 the SIAI Marchetti company started on a design for an advanced trainer aircraft. It was intended as a replacement for the SF.260 that was being flown by many airforces.  The project was shown publicly at the Paris Le Bourget airshow of 1977 and it generated enough interest to start construction of two prototypes. Registered I-SITF and I-SIJF they first flew in 1981. Further development led to a third prototype, the I-TFSI. This machine was the proposed production version. The first customer was Singapore. In 1984 it ordered 6 machines as a replacement for the aging Strikemasters and T-33's. This was later followed by an order for another 24 aircraft which where assembled by Singapore Aircraft Industries.

Haiti ordered 4 aircraft, but after the dictatorship rule ended there they where sold on the civil market. Oracle boss Larry Ellison acquired one of these machines. The third customer was the Philippine airforce which bought 19 (some sources indicate 25) machines, of which 15 where assembled by PADC. In the early 90's SIAI teamed up with Grumman with the more powerful S.211A to bid for the JPATS requirement of the USAF and USN.  It lost out to the Raytheon T-6A. Uganda, Zimbabwe and Brunei also showed interest in the S.211 but no orders materialized. In all some 60 machines have been built. In 1997 production rights where transferred to Aermacchi.

In Service
Initially the Singapore airforce S.211's where assigned to 130 and 131 SQN and based in Singapore. Nowadays they are all concentrated in 130 SQN and stationed in Pearce AFB in Australia. Being satisfied with their performance these machines are now being upgraded with modernized instrumentation and systems so they can stay in service longer.  The Philippine airforce has quite a different experience with the S.211. The machines where assigned to 105 training squadron and 7 tactical fighter squadron. In 1996 7TFS formed a short lived aerobatic team on the S.211 called the Red Aces. Since then 8 machines have been lost in crashes, giving the aircraft a bad name. Nowadays only 3 airworthy S.211 remain and they are forced to soldier on as there is no funding for a replacement.

The Cunarmodel kit
It comes packed in a sturdy box. The contents are divided over 3 bags and the whole is wrapped in protective bubble plastic. This minimizes the risk of damage during shipping. The light grey resin parts are bubble free and there are no moulding gates on the parts. Detail is crisp and accurate. The shortrun parts are of a hard dark green plastic. Attachment to the sprue is small and little cleanup is needed. Parts fit well throughout. The vacuform canopy is clear but has no indication of framework making it a chore to cut out correctly.  Also two moulding pips need careful cleanup. A spare is provided in case you mess up on the first attempt. An A-4 size instruction leaflet shows what goes where, and gives detail drawings of the ejection seat, main landing gear and instrument panel. Colour indications are in Italian only. There are no decals with this kit.

The Planet model kit
The kit comes in a flimsy end opening box. The cream coloured resin parts are sealed in separate compartments of a plastic bag. The smaller parts are easily pushed out of the mould wafer but a few bubbles need fixing. The vacuform canopy is very clear with crisp indication of framework. An A-4 size instruction leaflet shows the placement of all the parts. No colours are given for the interior. Exterior colours are given in Czech and English. The drawings with the colour schemes show head-up displays, they are not included in the kit.  Don't worry about needing to make them yourself though as I haven't been able to discover a picture of a production machine that had HUD's fitted. Decals are by propagteam. They look very thin so coating them with microscale film is advisable. They are printed well but the red is slightly off center on my example.

Accuracy
The Cunarmodel kit is spot on in length while the Planet kit is 1mm over. In both kits the wingspan is 3mm too large. The Cunar kit captures the subtle contours of the fuselage at the base of the vertical fin better than the Planet kit. It also correctly depicts the various NACA style intakes. On the Planet kit the large one behind the cockpit is not deep enough and the small ones on the lower fuselage are missing. Also missing on the Planet kit is the APU exhaust on the right fuselage side in front of the fin. In general both kits capture the look of this little jet trainer well.

Construction of the Cunarmodel kit
The fuselage of this kit is moulded with the side consoles in place. It also has the complete in and exhaust duct. While this will give a realistic appearance it also makes the kit a very determined tail-sitter. The engine compressor face is provided but oddly enough there is nothing to plug up the exhaust. The side consoles are very narrow and devoid of detail. For the cockpit there are 2 basic ejection seats and an instrument panel for both the instructor and student. Again there is no instrument detail on these panels. I would replace the ejection seats with white metal ones from Aeroclub (Martin Baker Mk.10) but I doubt if the added weight will be enough to prevent tail-sitting. 

The instructions show a (10 tons?? ouch!!) weight inserted to the front of the cockpit, but it will be visible there. The only solution I see is to drill out some space in the solid resin nose and glue some lead shot there. You may chose to add some additional detail to the cockpit (control columns at least) as everything will be very visible under that big canopy. 

Next are the intakes and splitter plates, no problems there. The wings and tailplanes also fit hassle free. The wings have cut-outs for the transparent covers of the landing lights. You have to provide these yourself. Various antenna blades and the air data probes also need to be scratchbuilt. For such a small aircraft the S.211 has a fairly complicated main gear. The kit only provides the mail leg, the actuator and retraction rod have to be scratchbuilt.

The main wheels are nicely done, however the nosewheel seems a bit too big compared to pictures. The front and rear cockpit are separated by a glass plate that is fixed to the canopy (as shown in the drawings), it is not included in the kit. Last to be added are the airbrake (again no actuator provided), gear doors, the ventral strakes and the air scoop behind the cockpit.

Construction of the Planet models kit
Before starting, a big bubble in the fin of my kit needs to be filled. Also the big NACA style intake behind the cockpit needs to be deepened and 3 small ones added to the lower rear fuselage (one on the left, two on the right). Now construction can start, as usual, with the cockpit. The side consoles are separate parts with fine raised detail on them.

Also provided are rudder pedals, control columns, instrument panels and ejection seats. The raised detail on the instrument panels looks a but simple and I doubt its accuracy. Again I will replace the ejections seats with white metal examples. There is no positive alignment for the exhaust duct, so its a bit fiddly to fit in. After joining the fuselage halves you might want to carve out the airbrake bay on the bottom of the fuselage. On parked S.211's the airbrake is always open. The intakes will need a touch of filler to blend in correctly. Before gluing on the wings, add the prominent flap actuators to them first (two on each wing), and replace the solid landing light covers with a bit of clear plastic. Also add the actuator rods for the trim tabs on the tail plane (underside). 

Like the Cunarmodel kit this kit also does not include the glass plate between the cockpits. It is fixed to the frame that divides the canopy in two parts. The canopy itself fits well. The main gear bays are a bit shallow and soft edged. The maingear comes complete with separate actuator and retraction rod. Next to be added are the various blade antenna and air data probes (all included). And finally the gear covers and wing fences are glued on.

Painting and markings for the Cunarmodel kit
As said before there are no decals with this kit. Colour schemes are given for the prototype S.211A registered I-PATS. It is painted overall white, with red and blue cheatlines on the fuselage and upper wings. The rest of the schemes are for standard production S.211's. If you want to build these, omit the ventral strakes and the air scoop behind the cockpit, and reshape the wingtips. Colours are given for a orange and white Singapore AF machine, a grey Haiti air corps aircraft and a medium green/sand over light grey camouflaged Philippine AF example. Decals for PAF markings could be found on an F-5 sheet but Singapore and Haiti might prove to be more difficult.

Painting and markings for the Planet models kit
The decal sheet provides markings for 4 aircraft. Two Singapore AF aircraft from 150 SQN based at Seletar AB in 1984. Both machines are painted in a striking dark orange (the drawings wrongly suggest red) and white scheme. Only the registration number differs, 397 and 398 being given. Three roundels are given but only two are needed for the fuselage sides.  Singapore S.211's don't seem to carry roundels on their wings. Please note that Singapore AF machines have a large blade antenna on the centerline just behind the main gear. This is not shown on any drawing but it is obvious from pictures. The other two aircraft are of the Philippine AF both based with the 100th TW at Basa AB early 1997. One machine from 7th FS is camouflaged in medium green and desert yellow over light grey. The other machine belonged to 105th TS and is painted light grey all over with a black and yellow chequered tail band. Do not use the roundels with the light blue edged center diamond as this is a miss interpretation of faded red. Normally the edge is red but weather influences fades this to a pale pinkish purple. It not only affects the red in the roundels but also the intake warning triangles and stencilling.

Conclusion
As far as shape accuracy goes the Cunarmodel kit is clearly the winner, even if you have to reshape the wingtips to make a standard S.211. However the Planet models kit is a more complete kit with small detail parts and of course a decal sheet. Both kits can be turned into an accurate replica of the S.211 and both are pretty easy to build.

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