history

First built in 1959 by the Swiss company Pilatus the PC-6 Porter had a Lycoming GSO-480 340 h.p engine. Two years later PC-6A with a 520 h.p Turbomeca Astazou engine was produced a 550 hp Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A was later installed.
The B version has two pilot doors as well as two cabin sliding doors.

The PC-6/B2-H4 has a 680 PT6A-20 hp engine installed driving a four blade propeller. It also has improved airframe structures and extended, upturned wingtips.
Built for military use, eventually in the mid 1990s aircraft were taken out of service and sold off to private sector operators and are still in service after almost 50 years.

Great photos of the PC-6 are available at the Pilatus web site

the kit

The strong top opening box has a painting of the Pilatus in flight.

Contents

10 x light grey plastic sprues.
1 x clear plastic sprue.
1 x decal sheet.
8 x pages of construction and painting guide.
3 prop blades and nose cone from previous model release are on sprues C & D (X2) and will not be used, props for build are on sprue M.

Cockpit

The floor is one piece and requires 24 x 0.1 mm holes marked on under floor but only 20 need to be drilled for the passenger seat mounts,controls locations are located on the floor on cabin side.
Six sets of seats have 6 parts to each frames so small that this must be close to molding limits,I would liked to have had a PE option for these parts as I have said before in my Porter float plane review.
Pilot and Co-pilot seats are made of 4 parts each
Dash is one piece with decal for instruments panel.
Cockpit walls are made up of 7 pieces and have minimal detail mold on.

Canopy

There are 15 clear parts on the sprue of which 2 parts are not used.

Fuselage

The Fuselage is made up of 8 parts and the vertical stabilizer and rudder are also installed at this time.
8 parts make up the horizontal stabilizer and elevator assembly
Location for radio 23D(X2) and 23C you will need to lay out and drill 0.1mm
Engine Cover (no engine supplied)and props are made up of 15 parts.
All parts have fine recessed panel lines and hardly any flash to clean up.

Wings

24 parts make up the wings into two wing assemblies.
Flaps and Ailerons are molded separately but are not positionable.
Included in this version are two wing tanks and a radar pod.
8 X 0.1mm holes will need to be drilled for the wing tanks if they are to be used,
Wing flaps (13D) are the only parts in the kit with excess flash.

Undercarriage

16 parts make up the undercarriage assembly.
4 wheel/tire sets are supplied so you will have a set for your spares box.
Tires have the correct radial tread pattern.
Tail wheel is molded separately and four other parts make up the assembly.

Decals and markings

Decals for two aircraft are included
891 MCE France-Army, France June 2005
890 MCD France-Army, France June 2008
Decals are very glossy and the set that came with this model have the blue centre of the roundels out of round and off centre,looking on the web at other decal postings of this kit they seem to be in register so i hope this is a one off for Roden
I will be using Microscale Liquid Decal Film and Future to head of any problems with decal breakup and silvering.

Instructions

Clear instruction printed in black and white on 8 pages.
Paint colour call out is for Model Master only.
Prop bands are shown correctly in the release, the bands are only on the forward face of the prop.
31 steps make up the construction of this model.

conclusion

I do not compare models to scale drawings but the model captures the shape of the Porter.

related reviews

Turbo Porter Float Plane kit No. 445

Der Bunte Fredi kit No. 444

Air America kit No. 440

US Army and foreign livery kit No. 443

Please remember, when contacting retailers or manufacturers, to mention that you saw their products highlighted here - on AEROSCALE.