History

In the 1960s, following a request from the Spanish Air Ministry, CASA projected a transport plane to replace the DC3, DC4, C-207 AZOR, and JU 52 aircraft used by the Spanish air force. The project, headed by Ricardo Valle Benitez, was to develop a versatile and simple aircraft in civil and military versions.

Two prototypes were ordered in 1968, with their manufacture starting in November that year. The first flight of the prototype (XT.12-1) took place at Getafe on March 26, 1971, and an order for eight pre-production aircraft was made the same month. The prototype was also displayed at the Paris Air Show that same year.

In 1972, the Spanish Air Ministry ordered 32 of the first version, the Series 100, which was powered by TPE-351-10-251C turboprops. From February to May 1976, the C-212 was demonstrated in various South and Central American states, as well as the USA.
Licensed manufacture was granted to Indonesia, and in August 1976 the first C-212 came off their assembly line. The Indonesian army is a major user of the aircraft, as is the MERPATI airline.

The 100 Series was replaced on the assembly line by the 200 Series (change of engine), and then by the 300 Series version with more powerful Garrett turboprops and increased wingspan.

The biggest C-212 users are from the countries where it was built, Spain (478 units) and Indonesia (100 ). This simple and adaptable aircraft has been widely exported and adapted to many military missions including transport, parachuting, photography, medical evacuation, maritime surveillance, customs, electronic warfare, and US Special Operations Forces use where it is designated C-41A. It is also widely used for civil passenger and freight transport. Following the integration of CASA into Airbus Industries, the latter company took over the manufacture of the C-212, with Series 400 coming off Spanish assembly lines in December 2012.

In France, four Series 300 aircraft were purchased for service with the Centre d'Essais en Vol (Flight Test Center). One of these aircraft, registration F-ZVMR, was sold to Dolphin Air Express, which then transferred it to the CAE Aviation under registration F-HBMP. This aircraft sports a very spectacular livery in two shades of gray. Another aircraft transferred to Boogie Performance as F-GOGN was used in the James Bond movie "The World Is Not Enough".

In the box

Fromm's CASA C-212-100/300 kit is based on the 2017 release of the CASA C-212-100 kit from Special Hobby.
This kit is packed in a top opening box depicting a CASA of the Test Flight Center, Armée de l'Air in flight as a painted picture.
The contents contain six grey sprues, one clear sprue, one small photo etch, two decal sheets and the instruction booklet.
A lot of the parts are not used, mostly doors, and one set of props.
This kit looks to hark back to Special Hobby's short run kits as no locating pins are found on most of the parts.

Detail for the exterior is rather good, with recessed panel lines adorning the surfaces, which the photos actually make look a lot deeper then they are.
The main feature of the CASA C-212-100/300 is the longer nose, which the standard CASA C-212-100 hasn't. Fromm's answer to this is a separate forward section which needs to replace the moulded on section on the two fuselage halves.
Three of the four schemes supplied need the longer nose, so if you don't feel like hacking the kit apart, you can still build the standard C-212-100.
Elevators, and flaps are moulded with the wing, so are not positional, but the rudder can be positioned off center. The flap hinges are separate.
A lot of antenna's adorn the fuselage, and depending on which version you are modelling depends on which antenna's need attaching.

Interior detail for the cockpit is rather basic, but considering you can't really see a lot through the windscreen, adding tons of detail is a little pointless.
The seats don't have any harness's, and remind me of some early Airfix seats, which were rather simple and bare in the detail stakes.
A four piece decal for the main instrument panel is supplied.
Behind the cockpit bulkhead is, err nothing, nada, zip, but as there is no detail or parts for the main cabin, your not really missing anything.
As there are various different forward and rear doors found on the sprue, for the different requirements made, so check that you fit the right ones for the scheme your building.

The main wheel wells do have a little detail inside, but once the wheel is fitted, not much can be seen anyway. None of the wheels are retractable, so there's no need to worry about gear doors.

The clear parts, of which there is loads, including square side windows (which are not used in this boxing), are quite clear and thin. The cockpit and side windows need to be installed before closing the fuselage up, as they are all fitted from the inside.

The photo etch contains on the most part the various antenna's, but does include the two windscreen wipers.

Instructions, decals and markings

The instructions are printed on glossy A4 size sheets, and are well drawn, with the build taking place over multiple steps.
Each step includes any details needed, such as internal paint colours, holes drilled, and areas that need cutting or filling.
The instructions are basically in two parts, one for the long nose variant, then a second build sequence for the standard short nose variant.

The decals are printed by Cartograf and the smaller one printed by Propagteam. Both are in register and have a satin finish. The de-icing boots along the wings, tail and stabilisers are supplied.

Four marking options are supplied, three for the 300 version, and one for the standard version.
Cam A, C-212-300 Aviocar F-ZVMP, c/n 378, Test Flight Center, Armée de l'Air. Jan 2015, Istres, France.
Aircraft is white with dayglo orange tips and a blue cheat line. French military insignia adorn the fuselage and wings.
Cam B, C-212-100 F-GOGN, operated by Boogie Performance, Agen-La Garenne, France. Damaged on the 15 th of Nov, 2009. Appeared in a movie.
White with a blue and red cheat line.
Cam C, C-212-300 F-HBMP, ex F-ZVMR (1988), c/n 387, CAE Aviation. France, 2009/2014.
Light grey with a darker grey livery.
Cam D, CASA C-212-300 Aviocar, F-ZVMO, c/n 377, Test Flight Center, Istres, France, 2009/2011. Changed to F-ZAEA in 2015.
Same as camo A, but a different aircraft code.

The build

The first thing you have too decide is which version you are building. I went for the 300 version with the longer nose.
So the first job is too remove the short nose. This is actually very easy to do as Frrom/S/H have made the cut along a panel line, and the insides have been thinned.
The thinned part also serves as an attachment point for a ledge on the new separate forward section.
Once fitted there is a little filling to do, but the fit is very good.
Next up is the cockpit, and as already pointed out its pretty basic, so only some painting is really required, and adding the four decals for the instrument panel.
The main interior was sprayed light gull gray, and then the side windows were added.
As no masks are supplied, then the old fashioned way of using a masking material needs to be used. I opted for a liquid mask.
Once all the windows and the cockpit is installed, some nose weight needs to be added, the instructions don't state how much so I bunged in as much as I could in the nose.
A few holes need to be drilled out for the various external antenna's, then the fuselage can be closed up.
The build from now on is very simple with the larger landing gear sponsons, the tail plane fairings, and the rudder, which needs the top removed, all added.
The various antennas are also fitted, but I left these off until after painting and decaling, as they would only be knocked off.
The wing is in three parts, one upper and two lower. Two trim tabs on the wing need to be removed, and the hinge line filled. The eight flap hinges fit into slots on the lower wing, and once done the entire wing can be mated to the fuselage.
The engine nacelles are made up of three parts each, with the thinner Dowty-Rotol all-metal propellers needing to be added before attaching the engine facing to the nacelle.
Upturned wingtips and the engines can be glued on before or after attaching the wing to the fuselage.
Painting is pretty straightforward, with the main body having a gloss white scheme. The wing, stabilisers, rudder and a ring around the nose all have da-glo orange markings. I used a orange paint for a base coat, then sprayed Fluorescent orange over the top.
Once the main painting is done, and a gloss coat is sprayed over the aircraft, its time to apply the decals. These look daunting at first with the cheat lines spread over four (right side) and five (left side) decals, but they line up and go on very well.
There isn't too many decals to worry about as there are only a few stencils to apply.
The props have a spiral pattern on the hub, which needs to be painted as no decal is supplied (I haven't got round to that yet).
Once all the decals are applied the last thing to do is add all the antennas.

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