Luft 46 Models: Arado kits


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Ar E 580
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Arado E 580
CMK Kit # 272  1/72
John Clarke N.Z.

The Ar E580 lost out to the He 162 for the production order towards the end of WWII. The aircraft has a similar layout to the He 162.

The kit comes in a segmented plastic bag with instructions on one side of a A4 sheet. The kit comes without a decal sheet or any history on this interesting aircraft. CMK kits are also not normally boxed. (The Planet version did come with decals but as they were MPD ones I wouldn't bother anyway - William Moore )

The kit comprises a one piece fuselage and a one piece wing, ( there is no room for any extra weight in the nose for the tricycle undercarriage). The rest of the parts are split into two groups one joined by a wafer thin membrane, the rest loose.

Although the surface quality of the resin casting is excellent there is some cleaning-up to be done on the fuselage and most of the loose parts which show plenty of flash. There are also plenty of small resin balls that have leaked out during casting on my example.

This kit will require more work than is normal for a CMK kit, but would not be beyond the skills of most modellers.

This aircraft is also available from Planet.



Arado E 580
Planet Models 1/72 AUD $35 # 15

William Moore

This is a kit that for it's size requires a lot of filler . Namely around the wing joint and the cockpit panel . Neither seems to fit well and require a fair bit of scrape and fill to get a good look . John's comments in the second last line summarise exactly my feelings towards this kit .

The above kit price was current around May 98 - since then Planet have ceased production in late 99 of this kit . By careful looking you may find one of these kits now ( 2000 ) but I suspect that by 2002 they will be a collectors item.