Special Hobby 1/72 CAC CA-9 Wirraway ‘In training and combat’
Reviewed by Zac Yates
Scale: 1/72
Item #: SH 72473
Price: €19.00 direct from Special Hobby. Also available through quality hobby retailers worldwide.
Contents: three sprues (two grey and one clear); three resin parts; two decal options.Background:The CAC Wirraway (an Aboriginal word meaning "challenge") was a training and general-purpose military aircraft manufactured in Australia by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) between 1939 and 1946. It was an Australian development of the North American NA-16 training aircraft. The Wirraway has been credited as being the foundation of Australian aircraft manufacturing.
During the Second World War, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) deployed a number of Wirraways into combat roles, where they served in a light bomber/ground attack capacity, striking against the advancing forces of the Empire of Japan. While the type had been primarily used as a general-purpose aircraft, being present in small quantities within the majority of front-line squadrons for these purposes, the aircraft was often pressed into combat when required. Typically, fighter versions of the Wirraway were operated over theatres such as New Guinea to perform ground attack missions and other Army co-operation tasks over extended periods until more advanced aircraft had become available in sufficient quantities. On 12 December 1942, the Wirraway achieved its only shoot-down of an enemy aircraft—thought to be a Mitsubishi A6M Zero at the time, but later determined to be a Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa —while flown by Pilot Officer John S. "Jack" Archer.
Following the end of the conflict, the Wirraway was operated for over a decade as a trainer by the RAAF, the newly formed RAN Fleet Air Arm, and the squadrons of the Citizen Air Force. During 1957, the last of the RAN's Wirraways was retired, having been replaced by the newer jet-powered de Havilland Vampire; as the CAC Winjeel came into squadron service, the RAAF phasing out its remaining fleet of Wirraways during the late 1950s. Officially, the last military flight to be performed by the type was conducted on 27 April 1959. Notably, the Wirraway had also functioned as the starting point for the design of a wartime "emergency fighter", which was also developed and manufactured by CAC, known as the Boomerang. (from Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAC_Wirraway)
Today three dozen Wirraways survive, mostly in museums, with four flying as warbirds and a handful under restoration to fly.
Special Hobby’s modelSpecial Hobby’s Wirraway was first issued in 2010 and was welcomed by fans of the type who had previously had to make do with 1990’s limited-run mixed media High Planes kit (also released by Ventura and currently available through JAYS Model Kits), another short-run injected kit of dubious quality by Beechnut Models from the 1980s, or through a conversion of their own design. However, excitement was soon dampened when it was discovered the kit seemed to be based on inaccurate drawings of the type, resulting in an undersized rear fuselage and vertical tail as well as a too-short canopy. Author and historian Derek Buckmaster has produced the most accurate drawings of the Wirraway and his own comparison of this kit’s parts on the Britmodeller forum (
https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235098207-wirraway-rivet-counting/) shows this to great – and rather demoralising – effect. For the casual builder the end result will, vitally, still look like a Wirraway but it’s disappointing the original mouldings were not corrected or replaced in favour of more accurate parts.
Despite this reviewer’s misgivings about the accuracy, the kit itself looks pretty good. The mould’s age is evidenced by ejector pin towers and some flash but these should prove no problem to the moderately experienced builder. The tubular framework of the fuselage is well represented but given the near-scale thickness of the parts, and the many sprue gates, care will be needed when removing them from the sprue. There are no aids to locate parts so careful review of the instructions – and use of reference photos – will be helpful.
Detail is largely well done with fine engraved panel lines and some raised detail. Fabric representation is reasonably well done but appears a little on the “starving cow” side on the control surfaces.
A fairly comprehensive cockpit is provided with well-detailed instrument panels (unfortunately no instrument decals are provided) and radios and the two differently-styled control sticks supplied, but the rudder pedal assembly will be challenging for some due to the size of the parts and the rear gun is very basic. No seatbelts are provided, nor are the oleo “scissors” on the main landing gear. Buckmaster notes the colour callouts for Aircraft Gray Green on interior parts are incorrect and that Silver should be used in its place.
The instructions note resin replacements for the three wheels are available in the CMK range of parts. The kit only provides for extended landing gear, and Buckmaster notes the retract rams (part B14) should be left on the sprue as, on the real Wirraway, these were located inside the wing.
Three resin parts are provided, these being the firewall and exhaust moulded as a single piece, an engine and a single-piece engine cowling.
The Pratt & Whitney R-1340 engine as fitted to the Wirraway features a distinctive nose casing which is duplicated with the resin part however the rest of the engine seems rather anaemic, with very thin cylinders and almost-invisible cooling fin detail. For the scale it’s acceptable but disappointing. The panel lines on the cowling are deeper than those on the injected parts but the carburettor intake is delicately moulded. A two-part cowling without the intake is included in the injected sprues but these parts are crossed out in the instructions, as is an alternative forward fuselage upper coaming.
The clear parts are two landing light covers for the wing leading edges and the canopy.
Similar to, but not the same, as that on the closely-related North American T-6/SNJ/Harvard the canopy part is relatively thin and quite clear. The instructions note a masking set is available from Special Hobby but the more experienced modeller should have little trouble doing it themselves. The rear portion of the canopy is not mentioned in the instructions, nor is it marked as not for use.
Instructions:
The instructions are up to Special Hobby's usual high quality standards:
Markings:The kit features two marking options, both of the Royal Australian Air Force.
1. A20-617 of 86 Sqn, Northern Australia, Spring/Summer 1945. This is the box art aircraft in overall Trainer Yellow, and it is noted in the instructions the rearmost sliding canopy was scavenged from another, camouflaged aircraft and left in Foliage Green. Buckmaster, referring to a period photo of A20-617, notes the rollover truss should also be Foliage Green rather than Silver as suggested in the instructions.
2. A20-637 of 4 Sqn, New Guinea, 1944. This is in the classic Pacific Theatre scheme of overall Foliage Green with white tail surfaces. The instructions relate a story of this aircraft being written off after a wheels-up landing thanks to fuel exhaustion – hardly the most glamorous reason I’ve seen a model subject chosen! Buckmaster notes this aircraft was a CA-16, rather than a CA-9 as described by Special Hobby.
Decals:Unlike other Special Hobby kits received for review recently the decal sheet is very small and simple and arrived with wax paper protecting it. The decals (17 are numbered) seem thicker than other recent SH kits and with more carrier film but the colours, registration and detail look correct.
Summary:The number of options for the modeller eager to add a Wirraway to their collection is limited and unlikely to change in the near future. While the High Planes/Ventura/JAYS kit is more accurate in dimensions, in terms of ease of construction this kit is the one to get. Despite the accuracy issues this reviewer is very keen to get started on the kit and add this charismatic type to his display shelves.
Verdict:Recommended, with caveats re rivet-counting!
(Review sample kindly supplied by Special Hobby. Please support the businesses that support your Forum.)
