1/72 Heller T-28D Fennec

Gallery Article by Fernando I. Moreno Villa on June 30 2009

 

Force Aerienne Congolaise

Finally I can show you a project I had in mind for a long time. The history of the T-28 is well know. In the COIN role, it proved to be rough, reliable and easy to maintain. For instance, it saw extensive service in many air forces, including Mexico. Knowing that T-28s were widely used in Africa, I became attracted by one of its less known users in that continent.  

In 1964, right after the end of the Katanga secessionist crisis, the new "unified" Congolese central government faced a new threat: the Simba rebels, which started another violence spiral against government officials, rival tribes and white Europeans. In order to prevent a genocidal war and the establishment of another pro-communist country in the region, the CIA provided undercover support by supplying the Congolese Air Force with COIN aircraft like T-6G Texans, A-26 Counter Invaders and T-28D Fennecs.  

These are some interesting facts I found in my research: 

  • Most of these planes were flown by Cuban exiles, some of them veterans of the Bay of Pigs fiasco. 

  • Moise Tshombe, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo that received this help from the CIA, was the same leader of the failed Republic of Katanga that fought against the Congolese government and UN forces between 1960 and 1963.

  • The attack runs of T-28s in Congo were highly effective and deadly for Simba rebels mostly because the latter had no anti-aircraft defense equipment and training. 

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THE KIT

Although the kit was older than me, it has very good surface details, accurate dimensions and good interiors, including closed wheel bays. With less than 40 pieces, it is relatively easy to build. However you must know this is a terrible tail-sitter and you will need A LOT of weight in the nose. Clear cockpit glass is thin, clear and nicely moulded, but comes only in one piece and if you want to have an open cockpit you would need to cut it yourself.  

There are few drawbacks present: 

  • This kit has mostly raised panel lines and rivets. 

  • T-28D was an armoured version of this trainer and must had 4 wing pylons for weapons, but this kit shows only one pair.

  • Some T-28s had two large underwing supports for gun-pods and this kit has them moulded in lower wing sections, forcing you to cut them in order to build other versions. 

  • No weapons are included but a pair of "rocket launcher pods" which are two simple solid plastic tubes. They are useless except for the support pylon and must be replaced by other pods of better quality (Hasegawa, Academy, etc). 

CONSTRUCTION

As always, this process starts with the cockpit which is very well done. All buttons and gauges are raised and very easy to make them realistic. The tube was painted in Interior Black and received a dry brush hand of silver and light gray. Seats were painted in Olive green, upgraded with belts made with masking tape.  

The second step was to build and paint wheels and landing gear. Then the main assembly took place with both fuselage halves glued, after painting the cockpit walls in Black and adding as much weight in nose as I could, which later proved to be insufficient. In the meantime I started to scratchbuild the gun-pods based on pictures, taking two spare 100 gal. fuel drop tanks from a P-47 kit and cutting sections of a hypodermic needle pieces to turn them into gun barrels.  

After smoothing all joints, the main body was ready to receive the first coat of primer and paint. 

PAINTING

Right after a coat of Tamiya primer to find and erase seam lines, I applied a pre-shading to give some sunshade effect. According to the pictures and sources, which were very scarce, all T-28D Fennecs pressed into Congolese service used the standard US Navy scheme of Light Gull Gray over White, with flaps, rudder and stabilizers also in White. Future is my standard gloss coat before and after decals. All paints used were Model Master acrylics.  

WEATHERING

I only applied a wash with diluted black artist's ink in all control surfaces to show some dirt, but I tried to keep it more or less clean, like in the first days of operation of T-28s. Final step was a coat of semi-gloss clear coat.  

DECALS

Thanks to the ARC Forums, I obtained the Congolese roundels and fin flashes from an Italeri Counter-Invader kit, and all fit almost perfectly.  Numbers and nose art were printed in decal paper.  No stencils are provided in the original decal set, which includes two versions: South Vietnam  and French EALA. The first were used in my F8F Bearcat published here in 2008!  

CONCLUSION

This Heller kit is a beauty and you can still find it at a fair price in modeling stores and ebay. In addition, the Heller and the Monogram kits are the only options available in 1/72. There are many aftermarket sets available to make this plane even more realistic and detailed. This is a bird that every modeler should have in the display.  

REFERENCES

Thank you all and regards from Monterrey, México.

Fernando I. Moreno Villa

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Photos and text © by Fernando I. Moreno Villa