Zlin Z-181/C-6

The Bücker Bü 181 was of similar design and construction to its predecessors, the famous and successful German sporting and training aircraft the Bücker Bü 131 and 133, the difference however being in that the type 181 was a low-wing monoplane with enclosed cockpit. The airframe was of wooden construction with plywood and fabric skinning while the fuselage mid section consisted of tubular steel framework covered wth fabric and the rear fuselage was a wooden shell. The crew of two sat side by side. The prototype bearing a civil registration D-ERBV was taken aloft for the first time in February 1939 with Arthur Benitz at the controls. The flying qualities were found to be excellent and, following thorough flight testing by the German Ministry of Aviation, the type was introduced into service with the Luftwaffe as their standard training aircraft with official name Bestmann. Production commenced in 1940 and there were two main versions, the B and C, which differed due to their powerplant being either a Hirth HM 500 A or B. The need for training aircraft grew as the war progressed so the type was not only produced by the parent Bücker company in Rangsdorf but Fokker in the Netherlands and Zlin in the then Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia also set up production lines too. After the end of the war, the Bestman continued to be produced in liberated Czechoslovakia for the military and also civil aviation markets, with several different powerplants installed. The type with the original powerplant was known as the Zlin Z-181 in the civil aviation or as the C-6 in the military. They kept on serving until the end of the 1950s.

This kit contains the same plastic parts, PE fret and resin parts as the earlier model with cat.no. SH48181, the decals provide for a civil Zlin Z-181 machine with OK-ZZE registration flown by a famous character of Czechoslovak aviation, a female aerobatic pilot Boena Krajcová (who, in 1949, fled her homeland for the fear of communist persecution and settled in Australia) and the second scheme option is a military C-6 type bearing UA-46 fuselage code which flew in Prostejov Aviation School.