The Aviation Royale Khmère (Royal
Cambodian Air Force) was created in April 1954, under French military advice and
supervision, and received several aircraft and helicopters, including some 15
AD-1 Skyraiders from France. Later, other Skyraiders came to the inventory from
defecting South Vietnamese pilots. These planes saw action against Khamer Rouge
guerrillas and North Vietnamese troops along the border in late 1960's and were
out of service by 1970.
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images below to see larger images
THE
KIT
It
seems to be one of the oldest Heller kits, with heavily raised panel lines and
rivets, no wheel bays and some crude cockpit detail consisting of a control
panel, a seat and a bulkhead. The cockpit floor did not match fuselage interior
correctly and it required a lot of sanding. Detail inside is scarce and demands
some scratch building to make it a little bit more realistic. Fuselage halves
and wing joints also required a lot of sanding and putty to look acceptable.
Ordinance consisted of 10 simplistic HVAR rockets, a couple of 500 lbs bombs and
three fuel tanks. Bomb pylons were not accurate in shape and position.
CONSTRUCTION
As
usual, cockpit is first. The kit included a base for the seat with bulkhead, but
no pedals or side control panel, which were added from scratch. Then I closed
the cockpit and proceeded with masking and painting. Wings required a lot of
putty in all joints, which made me erase some rivets and panel line detail. I
drilled the cannon barrels and placed all aerials and antennas from scratch,
including the small air intake behind the cockpit. Also the radar operator's
door, which was never really used by this air force, was rescribed and a rounded
piece of clear plastic was placed as a window in both sides.
PAINTING
This
was my chance to try a new tip found in the forums. First, I applied a coat of
Testors enamel Silver to achieve a smooth surface for the metalizers. Then, I
masked flaps with wet squared pieces of newspaper. It worked better than
expected and I was able to spray the rest without damaging the already painted
areas. However, it is hard to notice the different shades. I think I did it
better with the SVAF Bearcat. All red bands were painted after the coat of
silver and before metalizers, using the wonderful Tamiya masking tape.
DECALS
I
obtained the Cambodian roundels from the Microscale set by exchange in the ARC
Forums. They proved to be very useful, but some of them very fragile. I lost
several during the application. Special thanks to ARC members Glynn Jacobs and
ed_s. Numbers were printed
in clear decal paper.
WEATHERING
I
applied very thinned black paint (about 80% alcohol + 20% flat black) with my
airbrush at cannon barrels. Then I did the same after applying several fast
passes in flat gray + black trying to replicate the typical exhaust stain
pattern of the Skyraiders.
CONCLUSION
This
kit needs a lot of work and some skill to make a good representation of the real
one. You would need to use aftermarket pieces or do a lot of scratchbuilding
work to improve detail, but I think this kit is not worthy of such investment.
Better try with a Hasegawa or Fujimi. Anyway, it offers a good chance to
practice techniques and to do some experiments.
REFERENCE
The
Air Combat Information Group website. www.acig.org
Thank
you all and regards from Monterrey, México.
Fernando
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