Avia CS-199 'ProfiPACK'

Inside the box you will find one clear and three dark grey-coloured sprues plus a fret of photo-etched and a set of self-adhesive paint masks. The breakdown of parts has the cockpit floor with the mid and rear bulkheads and seat pans separate with etched belts and instrument panels. Separate detail for the sidewalls comprise plastic and etched parts, although in this case most of the latter are given as alternative to the moulded detail. The wings have the long bulges above the wings moulded in situ with the wheel well liners separate. The elevators, rudder, ailerons and flaps are all separate, the flaps being moulded with tabs to have them drooping and the rudder having the trim tab linkage as an etched component. The wing tip lights are separate clear components, while the bulges either side of the nose are separate and offered in two styles. The radiators have etched mesh screens inside plus the exhaust flaps can be positioned opened or closed. The main undercarriage has the tyres moulded separate from the hubs and the oleo struts have brake lines in pre-painted etched. Each oleo strut has a substantial locating tab on the end to ensure the correct angle for these, as well as giving a sturdy joint. Detail parts include a drop tank, centreline rack, radio mast and pitot tube. The canopy comes with either open or closed options via separate parts and the framework inside the mid-section is separate. Self-adhesive paint masks are included for all the canopy panels as well as the main wheel hubs.

Markings
The kit offers six decal options: 
• CS-199.565, trainee Miloš Krč and ppor. Jaroslav Havránek, 4 Air Training Regiment, Prostějov, 1951
• CS-199.574, svob. Karel Tománek and por. František Hamršmíd, 5 Air Training Regiment, Zvolen, 1952
• CS-199.554, svob. Jindřich Flégr and por. Jiří Bůžek, 4 Air Training Regiment, Prostějov, 1952
• CS-199.571, Flight 1, 4 Air Regiment, Plzeň-Bory, 1952
• CS-199.559, por. Drahoslav Bartes and rt. Zdeněk Durčák, Kunovice, September 1951
• CS-199.548, kpt. Miloslav Šmíd and civil employee Vladimír Slušný, Aerospace Research Centre, Praha-Letňany, February 1953
The decal sheet looks lovely and includes a full set of airframe stencils and walkways. The sheet contains eight large and four small Czech roundels and there are decals for the instrument panels should you not wish to use the etched.

Conclusion
It is nice to at last have a modern tooling of the 199 in this scale, the two-seater has come colour decal options and it is therefore highly recommended to all those interested in post-war aviation in Czechoslovakia or as part of the whole Bf 109 story.

Our thanks to Eduard (www.eduard.com) for the review sample, UK modellers can obtain this kit from Hannants here.