Here's another of Aurora's old goodies in civil aviation, this time an original Aurora mold rather than a Comet reissue. This is the only injection-molded kit ever available of this aircraft, and is done to a true 1/72 scale. It's a nice complement to the recently reissued Airfix kit of the retractable gear Cherokee Arrow, both aircraft being in the PA-28 series and otherwise similar.

The version depicted by the kit is a four place aircraft designed in the early 1960s and produced with slight variations from 1963 through 1972.

The kit consists of 18 parts molded in white plastic, three clear parts for the windows and windscreen, and two more clear parts for the typical Aurora stand. The parts are well-molded and crisp with very little flash. Surface detail is recessed, slightly exaggerated for the panel lines. For some reason the location for the fin decal is also indicated by recessed detail even though the other decal locations are not (thankfully) so treated.

The decal sheet in my example is in excellent condition and appears to be for an aircraft marked for some sort of competition. I could swear that I've seen a photo of this particular machine so feel fairly certain that these markings are accurate.

The model matches well to dimensions and photos I've found online and includes fairly nice cabin detail, complete with a nicely engraved instrument panel which should respond very well to some careful drybrushing. Just a little scratchbuilding would really bring the interior to life but the cabin windows and windscreen would then need to be replaced as they're too thick to show off the interior.

This was one of the finest kits in this series and is yet another of the old Aurora tools I'd like to see Revell-Monogram reissue if they have the molds.

Before I go I've got some updated info for last's month's column about the Meikraft SPAD XIII thanks to Matt Bittner. Matt advises that the Meikraft kit was based on the Czechmaster, not the other way around. He also pointed out that the veneer included in the kit was intended for use on the struts. Yeah, sure - good luck! Thanks for the updates, Matt.

I'll look at more of Aurora's private aircraft in future issues but next month will feature one of the Life-Like 1/40 scale military series kits - treadheads stay tuned. Till then, "Build what YOU like, the way YOU want to, and the critics will flame you every time."

Al Superczynski