COBI AT-6 Wolverine Set 5905

COBI's Beechcraft AT-6 Wolverine is a 1:48 model built from 263 blocks, 22 cm long with a 21.5 cm wingspan.

A propeller aircraft, on purpose

The AT-6 is a light attack aircraft with a turboprop engine, built in the 2010s, and that is not nostalgia.

Much of what air forces have actually done since 2001 involves loitering over one area for hours, watching, and occasionally attacking a small target that has no air defences worth the name. A fast jet is bad at that. It burns fuel at an enormous rate, cannot stay long, needs a long runway and a large support tail, and costs tens of thousands of dollars an hour.

A turboprop trainer with hardpoints does the same job for a fraction of the cost, stays overhead far longer, and can operate from a rough strip near where it is needed. It is also affordable for countries that cannot maintain a jet fleet — which is much of the world.

The Texan connection

The name comes from the T-6 Texan of the Second World War, the aircraft that taught over 200,000 pilots to fly. This one descends from the modern T-6 Texan II trainer, itself a licensed Swiss Pilatus PC-9, with weapons, armour and sensors added.

In the COBI range

Sets 26624, 26625 and 26626 are the unarmed T-6 Texan II trainer in American and British markings.

Specifications

Pieces: 263 · Scale: 1:48
Model dimensions: 22 × 21.5 × 8 cm (8.7 × 8.5 × 3.1 in)