Piper Cub L-4J of ML-KNIL 17 VARWA Tjililitan, Dutch-Indies (Kit: Mistercraft L-4H 1/48)
Dear fellow iModelers,
First of all: Happy New Year to you all!
I would like to present to you my first completion of 2025.
A bit of history:
The build depicts a Cub of 17 VARWA (Verkennings & Artillerie Waarneming).
The squadron initially operated with five Piper Cubs borrowed from the Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij (the predecessor of Royal Dutch Shell). Four of these were stationed at Tjililitan, and one at Andir.
On August 25, 1946, the first own Piper Cubs arrived by ship in Soerabaja. Five aircraft remained with the C-patrol in Soerabaja, while the remaining aircraft were transferred to Tjililitan.
The A/E patrols were the first to be brought to full strength, followed by the B and D patrols. Additionally, two Piper Cubs were allocated to the C-patrol after it had transferred two of its aircraft to the Troop Commander of Bali/Lombok.
The squadron's primary mission was conducting reconnaissance for the infantry and observation/fire direction for the artillery. In addition, the squadron was also tasked with transport, communication, surveillance, and the delivery of mail.
The kit is a rebox of an old Heller kit dating back to 1979 and is actually an 1/50 kit. Despite the kit's age the linen texture of the airframe is nicely molded on both fuselage and wings. Fitting is average and putting together the "glasshouse" (cockpit) is rather delicate. The decals are a complete nightmare. The roundels were unusable due to an offset in printing the colors. So, I used six roundels from Dutch Decal (DDRozet/Vlag) to overcome this problem. The flags on both sides of the tail are also from Dutch Decal, as they were also unusable. The registration R-315 is the original Mistercraft decal as I had no alternative available. The letters and numbers are way too big for the fuselage and have a tendency to silver, despite my preparations.
All in all it is a lovely little aircraft in my collection of Dutch air force planes, hope you like it too!
Nice work! I think that heavy linen texture was the culprit for the silvering - not sure how much gloss it would take to "smooth" that over!
Thanks, Greg! I think so too, although the decals are not super quality. The other ones I used followed the texture better. I used Microsol on both.
@gkittinger
Nice job, Alfred.
Give the Special Hobby Cub kits a try...they are pretty nice builds. I'm sure you'd do a stellar job.
Thanks, Gary!
Just had a look at the SH cub. It’s more than twice the price of the one I built, however worth the price difference I would say.
@gwskat
That's a very nice Cub, Alfred @alfred
A pity you had a struggle with the decals. As said by Greg @gkittinger, the silvering is very likely caused by the surface texture. No idea what solution there is to prevent this.
Nevertheless, a very nice aircraft in Dutch scheme.
Thanks so much, John. Much appreciated. You can expect more Dutch stuff in the course of the year.
@johnb
Nice Cub, Alfred!
Thanks so much, John! @j-healy
Excellent job and great result, Alfred! Silvering is not that apparent.
Great historical info, as well!
My pleasure, Spiros! Thanks.
@fiveten
Happy new year, Alfred @alfred! Your Cub looks great in the dutch scheme!
Hi Felix. Happy New Year to you too!
I am glad to hear you like my Dutch cub.
@fxrob
Great work, Alfred @alfred. Planes like this are really hard to build because you can see so much through all of that glass. You have really made this one shine. Dutch scheme is cool.
Hi George, thanks for your kind words. Much appreciated.
@gblair