1/72 High Planes CAC Wirraway

Gallery Article by Brian Pruitt on Aug 27 2014

 

      

This is a limited run, plastic, resin, vacuform canopy and cast metal kit from High Planes. It is recommended for experienced builders as there is a lot of flash clean-up, no locator pins and some scratch building required. Decals are adequate but, not spectacular. The panel lines are so subtle that they soon disappear under a coat of paint in 1/72 scale, that is not necessarily a bad quality. That being said, I really enjoyed building this RAAF Wirraway! I think the details are superior to the Special Hobby release in 1/72, so if you are building a display of RAAF aircraft, High Planes is really a good way to go.

I built this as CAC Wirraway A20-103, a historic aircraft because it actually shot down a Japanese Zero. The Wirraway, a license built derivative of the AT-6 Texan, was considered easy meat by Japanese fighter pilots and it's use was primarily as a close air support and light attack aircraft.

 

Click on images below to see larger images

“4 SQN RAAF, Dododura, Papua New Guinea, December 1942.

On 26 December 1942, FO John S. Archer and SGT J.L. “Les” Coulson were on a reconnaissance mission near Gona. Archer spotted a Japanese Zero below and engaged, shooting the enemy aircraft down. This was the only air-to-air victory…”

“A20-103 survives at the Australian War Memorial where it is displayed with sky grey undersides.”

Thanks for looking and happy modeling!

Brian Pruitt

Photos and text © by Brian Pruitt