Brengun 1/72 Zlin Z-50 L/LA/LS
By Matt Bittner
Introduction
The Zlin Z-50 was developed in the early 1970s in Czechoslovakia. It is a cantilever low-winged, single-engine, fixed undercarriage aerobatic aircraft that had its competition debut in the 1976 World Aerobatic Championships and finished in third place. The aircraft won that competition in 1984 and 1986 but the debut of the Sukhoi Su-26 edged out the Z-50 in proceeding world competitions. There were approximately 80 built of all variants plus a number of the earlier aircraft were converted as newer variants were introduced; the major change between versions was just a new engine.
The Kit
The Brengun 1/72 Zlin Z-50L/LA/LS consists of 36 tan, injected plastic parts; one clear injected plastic canopy; two resin wheels; and a photoetch fret with eleven pieces. There are decals for 4 Z-50s:
- Ing. Petr Jimmus- OK-IRG
- Ivan Tucek- OK-IRF
- Ralf Wandzich- DDR-WTA, year 1988
- Janusz Kasperek- SP-AUA, year 1982
Colors and marking layouts are the same for the first three aircraft (overall white aircraft with red details) but Kasperek's Z-50 is painted differently, with blue/white/red upper surfaces, and mainly red undersurfaces with blue and white details and stripes.
Construction naturally starts with the cockpit and there isn't much to it, out-of-the-box. There is a floor, a two-piece seat (to which photoetch belts are added) a rear bulkhead, control stick and a piece that is added to the top of the seat. There is also an instrument panel with molded-in dials but no decals for it. Once the cockpit and instrument panel are added to one fuselage-half the fuselage halves are glued together and the two nose pieces are added (one is the radiator-front under the propeller).
Now the top wing halves are assembled to the lower wing and glued to the fuselage, the horizontal tail surfaces added and photoetch control surface trim-tabs glued on (although those will probably best be left off until after painting, since you will need to mask for some of the schemes). The undercarriage is glued on along with the tail struts, and the canopy is added along with the wheels (two types, plastic spatted or resin un-spatted) and the photoetch antenna (again, best left off until the very end).
The "fun" with this kit lies in the painting. There are a few complex-schemes this kit comes with that will require judicious masking. Thankfully, though, Brengun has released separate sets of masks to help and these masks are for the first three schemes as outlined above.
Conclusion
Out-of-the-box this could be a weekend kit, if you can get around the complex paint-schemes. There really isn't much to the Brengun 1/72 Zlin Z-50 so finishing it will be relatively easy. However, be aware if you want to add more detail – or want to try one of the complex paint-schemes – Brengun has released their own aftermarket for the kit.
Many thanks to Brengun for sending the review kit.