Kovozávody Prostějov 1/72 Avia S-199 “Mezek”
By Matt Bittner
Introduction
After World War II, Czechoslovakia kept producing German Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6s as the Avia S-99. When they ran out of Daimler-Benz DB 605 engines they started to substitute the engine used in the Heinkel He 111, the Junkers Jumo 211 F. Unfortunately with that engine and the propeller used in combination made for a difficult handling aircraft which took much care to control.
The Kit
The Kovozávody Prostějov (KP) 1/72 Avia S-199 "Mezek" ("Mule) consists of 70 pieces of tan, injected plastic (these are just the number of parts used since there are other parts for other versions of the S-199) and one clear, injected one-piece canopy. This particular kit (#KPM 0019) also includes a photoetch fret with seven pieces, a piece of "clear foil" that contains the instruments and a piece of metal tubing that is to be cut in half and used as gun barrels for the underwing gun pods. Decals are for three aircraft:
- Avia S-199, 40, GY-37, 2nd Sq., 3rd Fighter Regiment, Pilot por. Ferdinand Ivan, Czechoslovak Air Force, Brno Airfile, Spring 1953
- Avia S-199, 210, MP-10, 1st Sq., Air Regiment No.5, Czechoslovak Air Force, Pizen - Bory Airfield, 1st half of 1950
- Avia S-199, B-7542, Czechoslovak Police Air Patrol unit, unknown airfield, spring 1950
Decals appear to be in register and are nicely printed.
Construction naturally starts with the cockpit and between the excellent molded-in detail and the photoetch fret and clear "foil" the cockpit will look first rate. Use enough washes and dry brushing and the cockpit will seem to come to life. Once it's all assembled then it's added to one fuselage half and the fuselage halves glued together.
On this same page of instructions are steps for assembling the prop to the spinner, gluing the landing gear together, assembling the underwing gun-pods with metal gun barrels, and assembling part of the landing gear wheel wells. Pay close attention to the landing gear wheel wells as there is some cutting needed to be accomplished before gluing pieces together.
Now it's time to glue the wing pieces together along with the separate flaps that can be displayed either opened or closed. The separate external fuel tanks are also glued together but best left off until the end. Glue the wing and all tail pieces to the fuselage but pay close attention to the instructions. Depending on the aircraft being built you may need to slice off the rudder control tabs. Plus there are different tail wheels again depending on the aircraft being modeled.
Once painting and decaling is finished then you can glue the external tanks on, although you'll want to glue on the separate gun pods before painting. The last steps are adding the prop, landing gear and other pieces to the fuselage (some to add before painting, some after).
Conclusion
This is an excellent model, KP went all out on this release of the Avia S-199. It will look great on any shelf.
My thanks to Kovozávody Prostějov for sending the review kit.