Avia S-199
Here are some shots of my Academy 1/48 Avia S-199 built a couple of years ago.I removed the wing flaps and ailerons in order to position them in a more lifelike way and added a few details inside the office other than that it is OOB .The avia wasn't a particularly succesful aircraft being a combination of the Me 109 airframe and the engine from the He 111 the Junkers Jumo 211f , kind of like taking a Ferrari and putting a tractor engine in it, but in the early days of the IAF there was little choice and the incredibly brave pilots, mostly ex RAF and USAF made it perform well.
I will post more from my IAF collection in the coming days and weeks ,mostly the usual stuff we have all seen before but also one or two more unusual examples.As my interest in the Israeli airforce grew I realised that you can by random kits of late and post WW11 aircraft and find that the Israeli's probably flew it at some point,including Spits ,Mossies, Mustangs even B17s.
Comments please N.
Interesting background story, Neil...I particularly liked the power plant analogy 🙂 - Lookin' forward to more IAF stuff. Thanks.
Thanks for looking.
N.
Nice work on this not-so-great kit. Looks very good. I'm not sure of the color (since my monitor might be different than yours), but it should be RLM02. Yes?
Hi Tom,You raised an interesting point about the colour of my Avia, you may have seen pictures of the aircraft in Israel, it is in an outdoor museum and is painted in a sort of biscuity colour and is also the colour used by Academy on the box artwork (I can't quote RLM colours as I never do German stuff by the way),there is a lot of discussion about the correct colour for this aircraft ,but the information I got from talking to modellers in Israel is that when the aircraft first arrived in Israel from the Avia factory they were in primer only but due to the urgency to get them into action they were quickly given national insignia etc and put to work hence the slightly odd colour.I have seen pictures of them toward the end of there service life painted up in full camo but I don't think it looks as good,as for the light brown aircraft in the aircraft museum in Isreal I got told that this may have been painted in the museum by the restorers and may be wrong, I would love to hear from anyone with any information on this subject though.
It is interesting to note that when aircraft were aquired by the IAF very often it's test flight was also it's first mission!
N.
Very nice job Neil! Interesting background info too, thanks.
Gary
Really nice build, Neil. I noticed one small problem, & I wouldn't mention it
if it weren't a real easy fix. Your prop is mounted backward.
The curved edge is the trailing edge, unlike many of the scimitar blades on
today's military turboprops. ~M.P.
Hi Michael,well spotted on the prop! when I first built the kit I got told that the Junkers engine spun clockwise which would mean that the way I first built it is correct,but photo's of museum examples show it the other way round,which is how my kit now is by the way,to be honest I'm not really sure which is correct but I think it is probably the way you suggested.The prop and spinner are not glued just pushed together so I can swap around easily,thanks for your input though.
N.
Hi Michael,further to the prop conversation,looking at my photo's even if the prop did spin clockwise it still isn't right because the angle of attack is the wrong way round isn't it ? I guess I never thought that one through!.
Cheers N.
Cool...I'm kind of a prop freak...always spend too much time on them.
The Fw-190D used a similar prop with a larger diameter on it's Junkers Jumo installation. That prop had laminated wood blades.
I suspect the S-199's did too.
Neil, nice build. This Academy kit is one hard kit to find and when I do see it the sticker prices scares me away. I have seen a few of the Academy S-199 built and I feel they have done a good job capturing the likes of this aircraft. The colour after painted from the factory is RLM02 but after a while especially under the sun this will become an interesting change from its original look. Looking forward on your second S-199 build.