SMER (Heller) 1/72 Fieseler Fi 156 Storch (0833) In-Box Review and History

I’m still trying to build up my rusty aviation kit building skills. And there’s one thing I really struggle with: painting canopy frames. Recently, I purchased a vauuform canopy to replace one I broke during a build. It cost pennies, but there was a fixed postage charge, so it seemed logical to order a kit at the same time. Then, I spotted this 1/72 SMER Storch for less than €8. Well, it would have been rude not to buy it at that price, and the Storch has an awful lot of canopy framing to paint, so it’s a great chance to practice.

SMĚR is a Cech company that market a range of aircraft, ship and car kits in various scales. However, this particular kit isn’t really by SMĚR: it’s a re-box with new decals of the Heller Fieseler Storch that was first produced back in 1976. This is a fairly old kit, but given that the 1/72 kit market isn’t exactly awash with models of the Storch, there isn’t a great deal of choice. So, it’s cheap and it’s old. But, is it any good? Let’s have a look…

History

In 1935, the Luftwaffe issued a specification calling for designs for a new army co-operation aircraft with short take-off and landing (STOL) capability. The winning design was submitted by Fieseler Flugzeugbau Kassel, the company started in 1930 by WW1 flying ace and aerobatic champion Gerhard Fieseler.

An early Storch lands on Unter den Linden in Berlin in 1939

There was nothing particularly radical about the design. The fuselage was constructed of metal tubing covered in fabric. The wings were made of wood and also covered in fabric. Fixed slats were attached to the leading edge of the wings with large slotted flaps and ailerons that drooped when the flaps extended beyond 20˚ at the trailing edge. Power was provided by an Argus As 10C air-cooled, inverted V8 engine producing less than 250hp.

A restored Storch shows its wing-folding ability

However, the combination of a large wing area and relatively light weight gave what was designated the Fi 156 truly astonishing STOL capability. Landing speed with flaps was just 50km/h (that’s just over 30mph folks!) and in a headwind, it could come to a stop in under 10 metres, little over its own length. In a headwind, it could take-off after a run of around 3 seconds/50m.

A Storch fitted with an auxiliary fuel tank

In addition, it’s large glazed cockpit projected over the side of the fuselage, giving great visibility even below. The wings could be folded for easy transport and storage and the long legs of the undercarriage contained oil-and-spring shock absorbers that allowed the aircraft to land and take-off safely on rough ground. These legs drooped when the aircraft was in flight, leading to the name by which it became universally known: Storch (stork).

A Storch on the Eastern Front in 1941.

This was a truly versatile aircraft that was used in a variety of roles including artillery spotting, observation, casualty evacuation, aerial photography, cable-laying and even bombing and anti-submarine missions (a few Fi 156 were adapted to carry a single depth charge). The Storch served on every theatre in which Germany was involved during World War Two and around 2,000 were produced by Fieseler in total, mainly the Fi 156-C version modelled in this kit.

An MS.500 with a radial engine

Amongst other locations, the Storch was manufactured during WW2 in Puteaux in occupied France and after the liberation of that country in 1944, the French Armee de l’Air requested that production continue, initially using parts provided from Germany and later, with new aircraft manufactured by Moraine-Saulnier (as the MS.500 Criquet) using a variety of engines including air-cooled radials. Almost 1,000 examples of various models of the MS.500 were produced and these were used in operations in Indo-China and Algeria.

What’s in the Box?

Inside the sturdy, end-opening box you’ll find three sprues moulded in light grey plastic and a single transparent sprue.

Alternate parts are provided so that you can build this as a Fi 156 or as a MS.500. You get two alternate canopy tops and different tailplanes. However, you don’t get alternate wings – the decals provided are for an aircraft used in French Indo-China (present-day Vietnam), and it was found that the humidity there rotted the wooden wings on the MS.500 which were quickly replaced with metal versions that would obviously have lacked the rib detail shown here.

The canopy parts seem cleanly moulded and the framing is well-defined, something that will help with painting. The cockpit access door on the right side is provided as a separate part, so you could show this open.

Surface detail is OK, with an attempt at replicating the fabric finish on the wings and fuselage. However, the few panel lines are raised rather than recessed and there is a fair amount of flash here.  

Detail is about what you’d expect for a 1970s kit, i.e., not wonderful. Here, for example you can see the control stick (top) and the the MG 15 machine gun for the rear cockpit mount (middle). It’s also notable that there is no engine, though in the original it can be clearly seen throught the cooling vent in the nose and the exhausts are too small and the wrong shape.

The decals cover two aircraft, a German Fi 156 used in Yugoslavia in 1943 and a French MS.500 used in Vietnam in 1952. I was surprised to see that the nasty swastikas for the tail are provided (though they aren’t shown on the box-art or colour scheme), but each is split in two, presumably so that you won’t be offended by the presence of this fascist symbol if you decide not to use them. Given that the Storch was also used by Italy, Spain, Sweden, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria, amongst others, there are lots of options if you want to source alternate decals.

Two colour schemes are provided.

The instructions look fairly simple, and include a brief history of the Fi 156.    

Would You Want One?

What is provided here looks OK, but it’s pretty sparse compared to more modern kits. The cockpit (which will be visible through the greenhouse canopy) is particularly spartan, no crew figure(s) are provided and the Argus engine, clearly visible through the large vent on the front of the nose on the original, is completely missing. Some of the fine detail looks a little overscale and the machine gun, for example, doesn’t really look much like the original at all. However, in terms of overall shape and proportions, this does look pretty close. In many ways, this is a typical kit of the 1970s, providing a decent starting point for a detailed finished model rather than including the exhaustive detail we’re used to in more modern kits.

If you don’t fancy this Storch there are, as far as I’m aware, just two alternatives in 1/72. Airfix released a 1/72 Storch all the way back in 1967. Given its age, It isn’t terrible apart from the undercarriage legs. Two versions are provided in compressed (landed) or extended (in flight) form. Unfortunately, both are too long and look rather odd. If you care, the Airfix kit also shows the cockpit access door on the left, for some reason, while it was actually on the right. Academy released a 1/72 Storch in 1998, and it really isn’t bad. It’s available in several forms with different markings and it can be built as either a Fi-156 or an MS 500 (though it provides only a single set of wooden wings), and it even includes a radial engine if you want to model the MS 500 fitted with the (uncowled) Salmson 9AB nine cylinder radial engine. Some versions of the Academy kit also include a Kubelwagen if you want to put your Storch in a diorama.

Neither the Airfix nor the Academy kits model the Argus engine at all and in both (as in this kit) the cockpit interiors are pretty rudimentary. You might think that there are other 1/72 kits of this aircraft, but those offered by AZ Model, MisterCraft, Aurora, Pantera and others are, like this kit, just re-boxed versions of the original Heller kit.     

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