ICM 1/32 Bücker Bü 131D

By John Summerford

This is the Bücker 131D in 1/32 from ICM.

The kit comprises three gray color styrene sprues and one clear sprue totaling 65 crisply molded parts. Fit of the parts is superb. I did not use any filler at all. Care must be taken however to clean the sprue gates and to not misalign parts during the build.

Before I removed any parts from the sprues, I used a rotary tool to thin the plastic on the inner face where the rigging wires attach. I then drilled holes for the rigging. In this scale, I like to use unpainted .020 steel piano wire.

The attachment points for the rudder and elevators are to scale and fragile. I glued them on just before painting and decaling. (Note that the decals do not include swastikas for the fin.) The cockpit doors are separate pieces, so they can be glued flipped down, put there are not any positive glue locations to do so. A lovely engine is included and you have the option to remove the cowl panels as you wish to show it off. I didn’t bother because the exhaust manifold does not attach to the pipes, nor does the prop shaft connect to the engine. I assembled and painted the cowl separately and glued it on at the end.

The instructions have you glue the struts to the upper wing and then mate it to the rest of it the airframe. Somehow, I didn’t get the cabane struts to fit to the fuselage properly. I suggest gluing the cabane struts to the fuselage first by creating a form will hold them at the correct angle while the glue sets, then offer up the top wing, then add the interplane struts. Add the wires between the cabane struts and the model will be sturdy enough take the handling during the rest of rigging.

I found this kit to be a lot of fun to build Out Of the Box. I spent about the same amount of time painting the winter scheme as I did assembling the plane.

ICM 1/32 Bücker Bü 131D

By John Summerford

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