1:32 Fieseler Fi 156C Storch part 1 - Legion Condor, over Balkan and East Front

The aircraft that landed almost anywhere

The Fieseler Fi 156 Storch was one of the most unusual machines of the Second World War. Thanks to high-lift flaps along the whole span and long landing gear shock absorbers it could take off and land on a patch of ground that another aircraft could hardly have flown over. It served as a liaison aircraft, an ambulance, an artillery observation post and a machine for special tasks where the ability to put down away from an airfield came in useful.

This sheet offers four particular aircraft. The oldest is an aircraft of a unit deployed in Spain in 1938, that is, from the time when the type was still new. The second, with the works number 5061, is captured during the campaign in the Balkans in April 1941. The third belonged to a long-range reconnaissance unit on the Eastern Front around 1943 and the fourth served with short-range reconnaissance in Poland in the summer of 1944.

For a builder that means four different settings and four different finishes, from the early light scheme to the late Eastern Front ones. The model can be placed in a particular campaign, which is rewarding with an aircraft of this type, because a scene belongs with a Storch: a muddy field, a staff group by a car, a stretcher.

While applying the decals it helps to know that the fuselage of the Storch is largely covered with fabric over prominent ribs. A decal is brought over them with the help of a softener and gentle pressure, so that the print follows the surface and does not stay stretched like a membrane over an unevenness.

The set is intended for 1:32 scale and contains four schemes on one sheet.

Given the span of years the schemes cover, it pays to think the finish through in advance. Early aircraft had a lighter appearance than the late Eastern Front machines, and the decision about color comes before the markings go on.