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Special Hobby have two new kits of the Fairey Barracuda all set for release in 1:72.

Fairey Barracuda Mk. II "Home Fleet"
The Barracuda carrier-borne torpedo and dive bomber aircraft was already kitted by our company many years ago, in a shape of the then-standards for short-run models. Now we would like to bring you something really completely different. This new Barracuda kit is being made using three all-metal mould tooling blocks and its highly detailed grey styrene plastic parts will be accompanied by one clear parts sprue. The decal sheet caters for two options, both of which saw action over the Atlantic, one adorned with a striking nose-art. There will be also an option for the modeller to arm his Barracuda with either the torpedo slung under the fuselage or to use a 1600 lbs bomb. The model comes also with under-wing bomb racks.

The Barracuda was a shoulder-wing aircraft fitted with a set of large Youngman wing flaps mounted at the wing trailing edge and featured also rather unusually looking L-shaped undercarriage legs. The aircraft was capable of anti-shipping torpedo attacks, level and dive (up to 70 degrees angle) bombing and was also used for long range reconnaissance duties. Its electronic equipment consisted of an ASV IIN radar set. Although the Barracuda had primarily been designed as a torpedo bomber, the number of actual attack missions with this weapon was rather low and these took place only in Norwegian waters. The Barracuda was most of the time used in a dive bomber role, saw action during the Allied landing in Italy, carried out attack against German battleship Tirpitz (some of the planes being equipped with ex-US 1600 pound AP bombs) and also, taking off from either land bases or aircraft carriers, flew missions against German maritime traffic off Norwegian shore and patrolled the sea against German U-boats.

Fairey Barracuda Mk. II 'Pacific Fleet'
The Barracuda model kit is produced using three metal moulding tools and consists of grey injected styrene sprues and one clear plastic sprue. A torpedo replica or a 1600lb bomb can be fitted beneath the fuselage, the model also has wing armament racks. The kit offers four scheme options with various types of national markings. These Barracudas saw service fighting the Japanese aggressors, three of the machines were used aboard aircraft carriers, the fourth one flew from a land base located on Ceylon. The most interesting airframe of all these options might be the machine flown by Sub-Lieutenant Robert McCandless (Barracuda from the Cockpit book author). It underwent some in-field modifications to achieve better performance, the ASV radar equipment was removed and the bulged side windows of the observer were replaced by flat ones. Moreover, the colour scheme of the machine was also non-standard.

Kits #SH72306 Fairey Barracuda Mk. II "Home Fleet" and SH72343 Fairey Barracuda Mk. II "Pacific Fleet" will be available soon - Price 16.60 Euros each.

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