1/48 Flashback / Eduard Trainer Type 7 

by Colin Whitehouse

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The Royal Thai Air force purchased 18 Miles Magisters from the RAF in 1947 for the princely sum of 916 pounds each. In RTAF service they had the name Trainer type 7 and served until 1952 when they were replaced by Chipmunks. I have been able to find only 1 picture of these in the RTAF which shows a front 3/4 view. Enough to confirm the colour scheme the windscreen layout and the spat free undercarriage.

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The kit was a bit of a doddle to put together apart from all the tiny photo etched bits you get with these kits. I used some of them but drew the line well before I got to the leather straps on the rudder pedals.  The only problem I had was fitting the windscreen. More accustomed to jets, I put it on wide part at the bottom before checking the photo and realising it was the other way up. Looks odd but there you are. The undercarriage was built from brass rod drilled into the wing and sleeves of plastic tubing added to give the shape. Torsion links were made from some of the PE bits intended for the cockpit. Decals came from Siam scale but the large wing roundels were from a set of disc decals I bought many years ago. Each one contains 5 decals.

Colin

Photos and text © by Colin W