Pavla 1/72 Vacuform Canopies: Ki-30, F6U, F-86A, Super Mystere, L-200
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Overview
A vacuformed canopy can offer a thinner, more realistic canopy that can reveal more detail, even when closed. Pavla is one of the biggest producers of vacuformed canopy replacements, and their latest selection in their prolific line offers some great replacements for some common and some uncommon kits.
V72-89 Mitsubishi Ki-30 Ann for AZ Model
The Mitsubishi Ki-30 'Ann' features a long greenhouse canopy, and the most recent AZ Model release features this canopy in a rather thick injection-molded option. As the canopy and cockpit make up such a large part of the fuselage of this plane, replacing the canopy with a vacuformed one makes a lot of sense. The Pavla version is very clear and thin, making it a great update to the AZ Model kit.
V72-90 Vought F6U-1 Pirate for Admiral
The Admiral kit of the Vought F6U-1 Pirate fills a niche in US Navy aviation, and for those who are interested in obscure USN jets, it will surely end up in the collection. This Pavla canopy replacement offers up a nice, thin canopy to show off any detailing you put into the cockpit of the Admiral kit.
V72-91 Super Mystere for AZ Model
The AZ Model Super Mystere is a welcome kit, with great surface detailing and nice resin details for the cockpit. The canopy, while injection molded, is rather thick and a bit murky, so all that extra detail will be obscured. This replacement canopy from Pavla will take care of that, as this one is quite clear. The thin plastic will also look more realistic should you decide to open the canopy.
V72-92 L-200 Morava for AZ Model
The L-200 Morava is an attractive twin-engined civilian aircraft from Czechoslovakia, and like other kits from AZ Model, while the regular plastic parts are excellent, the clear parts need some help. This replacement canopy helps a bit over the kit parts, but it will still be a bit of a challenge to get the canopy set in place due to the challenging assembly. Still, this vacuformed set will show off the interior detailing far better than the kit parts.
V72-93 F-86A Sabre for Airfix
This one seems a bit odd, as Airfix doesn't have an F-86A Sabre in their lineup. However, they DO have an F-86E(M), and that variant is a bit of an oddity in the Sabre family. The F-86E(M) was the designation given to remanufactured Canadair Sabre Mk 2 and Mk 4 aircraft that were then sold Greece, Turkey, Italy, and Yugoslavia. Both the Greek and Turkish examples were delivered with the F-86A-style V windscreen, so if you want to build one of those options, you'll need this canopy.
Conclusion
These are great and simple upgrades over the kit canopies, and will do a great job of accenting cockpit details in the finished models. My thanks to Pavla Models for the review samples.