Tamiya Aircraft 1/48 Arado Ar196A Seaplane Kit

In 1938, the German firm Arado built the Ar. 196A twin-float reconnaissance seaplane. After being selected as the winner of a design contest, the Ar.196 became the standard aircraft of the German Navy during WWII. This seaplane was powered by a BMW132K air-cooled engine which produced 960hp. The 196A is equipped with two 7.92mm guns, two 20mm cannons, and two 50kg bombs. The Arado Ar. 196A was carried aboard the Bismarck battleship, the Prinz Eugen heavy cruiser and many other camouflaged cruisers. These planes served as commerce raiders and were deployed to many coastal squadrons for use in reconnaissance and observation. It exhibited excellent attacking performance against the Allie ships and submarines. Only 600 planes were produced in the A-0 prototype to the A-5 final version.