Fokker T-21 ‘Instructor’
KP 1/72, Ref. KPM0373
Hot from the presses in the Czech Republic is this 1/72 Fokker T-21 Instructor plastic kit, or rather, as is often the case with most manufacturers nowadays, a series of Fokker S-11 / T-21 kits. Four boxings have so far been released, featuring machines flown as basic training aircraft in the Netherlands, Italy, Israel, Bolivia and Paraguay.
The kit is rather basic, but so is the real aircraft. It is possible that this injection molded Fokker has ancestry in the older CMR resin kit, but all in all, it is not a bad thing given resin kits are usually less popular with scale modellers, more difficult to source out and far more expensive..
31 parts, 3 of which are in transparent plastic, is what each kit brings. The four boxings are identical in terms of this set of two runners, it is the decals and the actual artwork on the boxes that make the difference.
Flash is present, yes, but the plastic is rather soft and easy to clean up and work with. The engraving is neat and constant. The fuselage is mostly provided in two parts that include some internal detailing. The tip of the front fuselage, with its various air intakes, is a separate item though Each wing is mostly molded in a single part but, rather curiously, is completed with the addition of a much smaller underwing section. There are no locating pins, not even for the wings or tailplanes that may consequently require a little bit of strengthening. Some smaller parts would benefit from being replaced with thinner bits, nothing really unexpected with this type of short-run kits. A cockpit floor is supplied, along with a front instrument panel and two seats. The seatbelts are provided as decals. All in all, some extra detailing would not go amiss, but again it is the kind of work that is expected to be done on such kits.
Obviously, the tricycle-geared S-12 / T-22 is about to be released soon since its undercarriage is already included on the main runner. In fact, provided some markings can be found, this variant can be modelled from the kit.
The canopy is limpid if a bit on the thick side of things. It could be used to push-mold a thinner replacement item that would enhance the kit and better show off any improvement made in the cockpit.
The decals are very neat, at least on the T-21 boxing. They include markings for two Brazilian one Bolivian and one Paraguayan birds, though no stencils are provided. The other three kits in the series provide markings for three Dutch S-11-1 aircraft (KPM0371), three Israeli S-11-2 aircraft (KPM0372), and three Italian licence-built Aermacchi M.416 (or S-11-3) aircraft, one of which is a civilian-registered machine. The instruction sheet is the same in all kits, with relevant painting/decaling info provided on the rear of each box.
So, OK, this is no shake & bake Tamigawa kit, but it is very, very nice indeed, to see KP keep releasing at modest cost plenty of more obscure aviation subjects that will fill in the many gaps in our collections!
Review by Domi Jadoul; pictures by Domi Jadoul and KP.
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