The Tucano is a beautiful arcraft that graced the skies of the United Kingdom for years. This black and yellow beauty (previously raspberry ripple style) was a sight of my childhood, and like many aircraft one I wish I had appreciated more.

The Tucano was the start of most pilots journey in the RAF. It was a development and localisation of the Embraer Tucano (from Brazil). The aircraft was designed to make sure pilots could transition to fast jets – from Tucano to Hawk to Tornado. It’s sleek lines and modern turboprop meant that it had jet like performance whilst being much more forgiving in the inexperienced hands of a newbie.

This mmodel kit is somewhat similar; a sleek and modern design that is fairly forgiving for the consumer. That’s why this kit ends up being so dissapointing…but we will go into that later. You can see from the sprues this isn’t a kit with a million parts. The kit however is relatively modern considering it has recessed panel lining, a snug fit, and a nice amount of detail.

Ok…so why is it that I was so let down by this kit? Well..it’s a tailsitter. Now I don’t mean that it just needs so weight. Almost every single kit needs some form of nose weight. But this kit…you can load the propeller cone, the cockpit…everything…and it’ll still end up looking like someone hit the landing too hard on the back.

There is a way to fix it…and I mean I did fix mine. But it means spending more money, and (if you had already completed it) duplication of work. I bought white metal extra parts from Combat Conversions. I didn’t use everything in the set, opting to use the engine exhausts and propeller. I magnetised mine, of course too.

The plane is easy to paint because despite their age the decals are quite pigmented. This means that you don’t need to do any white under the yellow stripes – they shine through even with the darkest black below. My choice of black was the Revell rattle can black. I don’t think it’s even a primer but most rattle can paints essentially are. I sprayed it outside (yeah this was a summer build) and it was pretty much just the one layer. A gloss coat and decals after and boom – it was sorted! For the decals I did of course use the obligatory microsol and microset too. Lastly is just the canopy – I lined it with black (Lifecolor) and then stuck it on with Glue n Glaze from Duluxe Materials.

Buy or Fly?

I’d recommend this kit but only if you either intend to put something under the tail to prop it up or base it so it can nevermove. You can of course buy the white metal set – which I do fully recommend – but that is an additional £10-20 meaning you’re spending £30-40 for the kit.

It’s a shame as it’s nearly a perfect kit and comes with such amazing decals – like the WW2 inspired camo decals, the jubilee, or just some of the display aircraft. Yet each of them will have the exact same issue….

Look, if you love the Tucano go for it. Just bare in mind t