In the last several years, Academy has released a number of 1/72nd scale subjects. Included in their wide assortment is the North American T-6G Texan. I decided to build this kit as one of my quick-builds, the basis of which is to make use of my growing decal collection in as little effort as possible. Since I try to minimize my work, and maximize the impact of the final product I try to start with the nicest kits available.

Academy has done a beautiful job of engineering their 1/72nd scale line. The Texan (and others I've built) fit together very nicely. My Texan was completely assembled and ready for paint in just 2 hours! That's right, 120 minutes - and I was watching television at the time.

Molded in light grey plastic, the Texan comes with adequate detailing in the cockpit. Consisting of a floor- board, two sidewalls, control sticks and the pilot's seats. I chose not to detail anything, in the cockpit since the canopy was going to be closed. I simply painted everything with Polly Scale acrylic Zinc Chromate Green paint.

Once the interior was painted (and somewhat dry) I glued the assembly into the fuselage half. I then assembled the remainder of the fuselage, and the wing assembly. By simply taking a moment to dry fit parts it's easy to avoid the need for any liquid putty. I then proceeded to do some minor cleanup with fine sandpaper. Once cleaned up, I attached the wings and tails to the fuselage and my Texan was assembled.

Being Canadian, I have purchased a large collection of decals for a wide variety of Canadian subjects. I had a copy of Leading Edge Decals' Harvard Mk. IV markings. These decals depict the entire "Goldilocks" aerobatic display team - all seven aircraft. While my decals were for a Harvard, I still decided to use the Texan kit (there are subtle differences).

I first painted the fuselage and cowling with Polly Scale acrylic RLM Night Black. I also painted the wingtips with a Polly Scale blue that was close to the same shade of blue from the decals. These areas were then masked off with Tamiya tape. At the same time I masked the canopy with Tamiya tape and attached it to the fuselage. I then proceeded to paint the canopy frames with the same green as the interior. My model was now ready for the main colour. I used a Polly Scale Railroad acrylic that looked close to RCAF Trainer Yellow and airbrushed my entire model with two solid coats.

Once these colours were dry, I airbrushed a coat of Future floorwax over the entire model to act as a gloss coat for the decals. I allowed the coat of floorwax to dry overnight, and then started on the decals.

Like all my other uses of Leading Edge's products, these decals were in perfect register and very thin. I applied the markings according to the instructions (minus some very small stencils). My usual use of Gunze's Mr. MarkSofter settled the decals into the finely engraved panel lines without difficulty.

Once decaled, I allowed my model to sit overnight before I applied a final coat of Future as a decal sealer. Because the black is supposed to resemble the anti-glare panel and anti-skid walkways, I brush painted them with Polly Scale's acrylic Clear Flat to remove the sheen.

It was now time to attach all the small bits to my model. I started with the main landing gear legs. These were painted the same yellow, and super glued into position. I also attached the engine, cowling, propeller and wheels at this point. The final step was to scratchbuild a "Canadianized" exhaust. A piece of scrap sprue of the correct diameter was cut to length. The ends were then rounded to shape with sandpaper, while the aft end was hollowed out.

I'm very happy with Academy's offerings in this scale. In roughly 6 hours, I have a beautiful and eye catching representative of an important RCAF aircraft. While it isn't 100% accurate for a Canadian Harvard, it's close enough for me.

The kit is beautifully molded with fine, engraved panel lines and tight fitting parts. My only down point on the Texan kit is the ejector points on the main wheels. While some putty can cure this, it prevents me from calling this a perfect kit! Still 9.75 out of 10 isn't bad. I highly recommend this model for anybody who needs either a Texan or a Harvard in their collection, or for those who want almost instantaneous gratification.

Leading Edge's decals were very nice. I personally don't think that all the stencils were needed, but some people do. I'd like to see other manufacturer's do some decals for this subject (Cutting Edge has done a set too). Dozens of countries have operated these planes in everything from bland to outrageous and bright colour schemes (ie: South Africa and Portugal).