History
The Cessna 180 was developed from the precedent Cessna 170 in 1951as a high-performance, four-seat replacement for the radial engined Cessna 190/195 series, which was beginning to lose appeal in comparison with lower priced, more modern designs such as the Beech Bonanza and North American Navion. From the beginning the new design was intended to adapt easily to floats, skis and cargo-hauling with operation in the bush in mind. The new continental 225 hp, horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine and a Hartzell constant-speed propeller were selected for the new design; these required a larger vertical tail than on the 170 for directional stability and adequate rudder authority. 6,207 180s and military U-17Cs were built between 1953 and 1981.
As tricycle landing gear gained popularity through the late 1950s, the 180s found their niche shifting more and more toward utility and bush operations. This dictated the need for a more powerful engine. Thus the 185 was built with a 260 hp Continental O-6 and a still larger tail. Later a Continental O-6 of 285 hp was fitted to further enhance performance. The 185 was built from 1961 through 1984. 4,427 185s, U-17As and U-17Bs were produced by Cessna in their main Wichita, Kansas facility. Although they are not seen much in the “Lower 48” these days, a great many are still hard at work in Alaska, Canada, South and Central America, Australia, Africa and elsewhere.
The Kits
Lars Opland, Major Domo of Khee-Kha Art Products, has just released another iconic “Bush Plane” (No, George never flew one). Khee-Kha's self-assigned brief is to kit “Bush Planes” and this is the fifth in their line. The precedents being the Fairchild F-71, the Bellanca CH-300and CH-400, and, just prior to this Cessna, A Waco YKS biplane . As a general statement I believe it is fair to say that Khee-Kha's kits are, at least, on a par with the best vacs in the kit industry, Esoteric, Bye-Planes, Broplan, Rareplanes, &c. And, unlike the others, the details parts are not mysterious blobs of white-metal or low-pressure, injection molded parts in peculiarly colored styrene but are, rather, clean, crisp, parts expertly mastered and cast in bubble-free resin. This kit caters for the most common versions of the Cessna 180/185 series. To make one of the earliest 180s a little tweaking of the wing TE/fuselage area is required. I mention this because I think I'd like to model Jerry Mock's 180, “Spirit of Columbus” which she flew solo round the world. Keith Davidson, owner of Red Pegasus Decals, defined and drew this plane in a fine article in Bent Throttles No. 45 of September 2008. A comparison of Keith's and Lars' drawings shows what needs to be done to modify the kit to the early configuration; it's minor. The plane is now in the NASM collection.
One of the best features of Khee-Kha's vacs is the very comprehensive instruction packet comprising eight pages of text and drawings with, in addition to the kit specific instructions, many general tips on building vac kits. Lars' very well designed and easily navigated web sitehas many more vac tips and is well worth a lingering visit.
The biggest drawback, according to many, of Khee-Kha's kits is the absence of decals. The instructions with this kit include details regarding the colors and markings for four airplanes. The instructions for the accessory floats include three more. All can be done using alphabet/numeral sheets of decals/dry-transfers available at most hobby shops for model airplanes and/or model railroads.
The accessory resin Edo 2870 floats released concurrently with the Cessna 180/185 kit are at least as good as Khee-Kha's three previously released Edo K-4650, J-5300 and Fairchild P-7 floats. These Edo 2870s come with separate retracted water rudders, two small brackets and six tiny mooring cleats so that you can feed four of them to the Carpet Monster as you only need two.
The Cessna kit costs $20.00 and the Edo floats cost $12.50; shipping is $5.00 for up to four kits in the USA and $15.00 Elsewhere. Khee-Kha accepts cash, US checks, money orders or PayPal. Khee-Kha's products can only be obtained directly from the manufacturer.
Conclusion
This kit represents another success story from Khee-Kha Art Products of Wasilla, Alaska. (Lars can see Sarah's house from his workshop window!) This is a very good vac kit with great resin detail parts and terrific instructions. Any competent modeler can build a fine representation of this iconic tail-dragger from Khee-Kha's new kit.
References
Cessna – Wings for the World: William D. Thompson, maverick Press, USA, 1991, ISBN 0-89228-221-2.
Five additional references are cited in the instructions