Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer "Twin Pion Air" airlines - Valom 1/72nd

 

 

 

This well proportioned STOL plane has flown with many owners in diverse countries, wearing a plethora of colorful liveries and schemes. Its general lines and function are somewhat similar to other STOL planes, like the Short Skyvan:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2017/07/airfix-shorts-skyvan.html

and the Miles Aerovan:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2017/11/miles-aerovan-completed-mikro-mir-172nd.html

The Twin Pioneer has been released before as kit by other manufacturers some time ago, as a vac and resin kits, but this new Valom endeavor is by far the best of them all.

For the step-by-step posting please go here. It includes some references and mentions the other kits:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2025/07/scottish-aviation-twin-pioneer-valom.html

The improvement over time of Valom kits has to be recognized. This Twin Pioneer is a good example of a nice kit that with a little bit of work (and a brief plunge into some light research) can be built into a nice replica.

Valom also deserves praise for their commitment to offer civil kits for the starving modeling masses, tired of the repetitious military releases.

The kit has good detail, sharp molding, good parts’ count and excellent surface, with the bonus of a fantastic subject loved by many and for which plenty of references do exist.

It requires a modeler with a modicum of experience as a few things can be improved upon and there are some fit issues, plus you have to do a little of research on your own to correct some minor inaccuracies, as the same molds cover many subjects and some details naturally varied amongst them.

The subject of this boxing, a plane from “Twin Pion Air” (a play on words on the plane’s name, Pioneer) is a good choice as it’s really colorful. Valom fell short of providing decals or patterns for the colorful background decoration of the plane (a wavy and relatively complex pattern representing sand and sea), but provides on the decal sheet the tropical motifs and lettering that were painted over it.

I added a cabin interior with resin seats from another manufacturer, as the ones provided by Valom as an optional purchase are not the type used in this particular plane. I cut open the cabin door, added the pax seats, a restroom, a ceiling with lenses in guise of lights, and a few other details seen in photos (antennas, beacons, Pitots, lights, etc). No major trouble was encountered during the build, but again some skill is required. Valom offers this kit in other boxings with different attractive schemes.

What else would I love for this kit?

-Aftermarket decals to cater for other beautiful schemes worn by this plane for different carriers, countries and companies. There are so many of them and photos abound online. There are even museum and flying surviving examples of this plane.

-A resin set for the flaps and cabin door, and also for the plane adapted for geophysics research with two Dumbo ears on the wingtips.

-An aftermarket masks set that is in paper and not in vinyl

I think modelers will enjoy this kit as it’s well detailed but also leaves the door open for further improvement. 

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