1/72 Resin Pulqui II

by Jeremias Nicolas Luchina

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The Pulqui II (Pulqui is an Indian word for arrow) was designed in Argentina by German engineer Kurt Tank (the same designer who gave birth to the Fw-190 among anothers famous planes) in the mid ´50s.

The plane had good performance and characteristics, superior in some aspects to the F-86 Sabre.  Sadly, due to political and financial reasons, the project was terminated and the Pulqui was never mass produced.  Today, the fifth prototype is on display at the “Museo Aeronautico Argentino”, in Moron,  Buenos Aires.  An Interesting fact is that Argentina was the 8th country in the world to develop a jet fighter.  

 

It is evident the similitude in concept and design between the Pulqui and planes like the Mig 15, due in part to the fact that the same people who worked with Tank in Germany were later “transferred” to the Soviet Union to work there.  In fact, the Pulqui and the Mig shared the same engine: the Rolls Royce Nene II.

This is my first resin model; before I had only worked with some resin detail items.  The kit is manufactured in Argentina by Ricardo Dacoba and is in 1/72 scale.

When the postman delivered the box I eagerly opened it and immediately realized that this project would require a HUGE amount of work.  The kit parts are nicely detailed, but all of them are marred by the presence of a great number of air bubbles, some of them in hard to reach places.  A few parts were also broken.

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The first thing to do was to give all the parts a bath in warm soapy water to eliminate the mold release agent.

The first building steps deal with the cockpit.  I added some extra detail -using reference photos- with cooper wire and some P.E. parts; and with careful painting, dry brushing and washes the office looked just great.   I added some extra detail -using reference photos- with cooper wire and some P.E. parts; and with careful painting, dry brushing and washes the office looked just great.

After that I began to work with the main wheel bay, adding hydraulic lines using cooper and steel wire in different thicknesses.  Then I applied some gloss black in preparation for the Alclad II aluminium lacquer. Then I applied some gloss black in preparation for the Alclad II aluminium lacquer.

 

 

Once finished, the cockpit and wheel bays were glued to the fuselage sides, and these in turn were glued together.  Some gaps were now evident, and I took care of them with Tamiya putty and a lot of wet sanding.

Later on I glued the wings and tail to the fuselage and repeated all the filling and sanding process.  I then masked the canopy using Bare Metal Foil and glued it using Testors’ clear glue.

After another clean-up the model was ready for painting.  I used an Aztec airbrush and white enamels.  Once the paint dried I was able to spot some more air bubbles and had to repeat the process of filling and sanding, having to recoat everything again.  Once the paint dried once more, I masked and painted the red areas instead of using the kit supplied decals.  Same goes for the antiglare panel.

I airbrushed then a clear coat in preparations for the decals.  I only used a few of them: the two “bolts” on the side of the fuselage, the “Pulqui II” on the tail, the national insignias and “I.A. X-33 Instituto Aerotecnico”.

In my sample the templates necessary to make the “fences” for the wings and fuselage were missing.  They were sent to me later via e-mail, so those and the antenna were added after all painting was done.

I further improved the kit landing gear units using styrene and cooper wire; and also made the hydraulic jacks from partially-pealed, plastic-coated paper clips.  

 

The kit took many hours of hard work to become a nice replica, and even after that it is far from perfect, but I’m very happy whit the results; and I finally have a Pulqui in my display case.

I want thank Claudio, my father, and dedicate my first ARC article to him, for his help with this article, and above all things because he taught me, many years ago to love all the things that can fly. Thanks!!!

 

Jeremias

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Photos and text © by Jeremias Nicolas Luchina