The Fokker T.V was the only modern Dutch bomber in service at the start of WW.II. First flying in 1938, 16 were ordered, but only 9 were in service by the time of the German invasion. Despite being so few, they acquitted themselves well, mostly in low level bombing and strafing attacks. The nose mounted 20mm cannon was especially devastating against ground troops. However, the aircraft were too few to really do anything against the overwhelming might of German forces and though they acquitted themselves well in the three days of operational use, they were eventually all destroyed.

For those of you who have always sought the unusual in terms of aircraft kits and accessories, the name Aviation USK is well known. What isn't so well known is that they have a full range of interesting kits, all in 1/72 scale. Recently, they have been repackaging their kits into a single line called Xotic-72. These are all short run multi-media kits with many of the parts made in the Czech Republic so the quality of the parts is good.

In order to do a workable kit, this one has the main airframe parts done in vacuformed plastic. This comprises the fuselage, wings, engine nacelles and interior bulkheads. Included in the kit is a detailed explanation on how to cut and use vacuformed parts. Those of us who have been modeling for a while know that vac parts work just like injected plastic ones once they are removed from their backing. All of the 'fiddly' bits such as the landing gear struts, gear doors, guns interior parts, tail plane, and a myriad other pieces are in injected plastic. There is also an etched fret (not shown) that has the instrument panels, the engine cowl attachments, and some other small interior bits. All the clear parts are vacuformed plastic. While only one set is in the kit, customer service at Aviation USK is superb should you totally hose one!

The instructions are very well done. First all the parts are shown on their sprues/sheets and labeled. Construction is several exploded views with detail drawings where needed.  There are markings for at least three aircraft. One as shown on the box art in the later orange triangle markings and the other in the earlier roundels. There is also an option for the prototype in overall aluminum lacquer. The back of the box has profiles for these planes. You also have enough serial numbers to allow you do do any of the 16 planes. Decals are very well printed and appear to be quite thin. I'm guessing that Propagteam has done them so you know they are of a high quality.

Overall, this looks like a really super kit of a very interesting subject. If you have always wanted to do a vac kit but were put off by having to make a lot of the teeny parts, then this would be a perfect first kit. Guaranteed you won't be seeing this one from anyone else, at least not for a while! You can get it direct from the link below.

Review kit courtesy of the fine folks at Aviation USK Nebraska. Thank you for your support.

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