AZ Model Plastic Model kit Nord 1300 / Slingsby / Fokker Baby IIb — 1:72

Manufacturer

AZ Model is a Czech specialist model-kit manufacturer with a strong catalogue of unusual aircraft and variants. The AZ7463 belongs to its family of 1:72 Grunau Baby IIb-based kits, which also included AZ7461 for the German version, AZ7462 for Sweden/Spain/Hungary/Poland and AZ7464 for Czechoslovakia.

An in-depth contemporary build review confirms that these kits share the same principal injection-moulded sprue, with different boxings using alternative tail components and decals to represent the various national and licensed versions. The review specifically states that the Slingsby T.30 version uses a different fin/rudder component and identifies it as AZ7463.
Kit contents

The AZ7463 is a 1:72 injection-moulded plastic glider kit. The basic tooling was designed as a 2-in-1 arrangement, allowing the modeller to build alternative versions from the common parts.

Documented contents/features include:

Injection-moulded plastic fuselage

Upper and lower wing components

Wing bracing and struts

Tailplane

Alternative fin/rudder components

Cockpit and pilot's seat

Control column and rudder pedals

Instrument details

Undercarriage/skid components

Clear windscreen material

Decals for the subjects represented by the boxing

Assembly instructions

The contemporary review describes the moulding as finely detailed and notes that the kit includes two sets of the principal injection-moulded components, hence the "2 in 1" concept. It also notes that the clear windscreen is supplied as transparent sheet which the modeller cuts and bends to shape.
History of the full-size aircraft

The Grunau Baby was one of the most influential and widely produced German training and sporting sailplanes of the 1930s. It was designed by Edmund Schneider at Grunau in the Riesengebirge, then part of Germany.

The original Baby appeared around 1931 and was developed through a series of progressively improved variants. The design was deliberately straightforward, robust and relatively inexpensive to construct, making it extremely suitable for the rapidly expanding gliding movement.

The Baby became one of the world's most widely built gliders. A contemporary historical discussion of the AZ kit states that at least 4,000 Grunau Baby aircraft were produced between 1931 and 1945 in Germany and other European countries.
Development of the Baby IIb

The Baby II represented a substantial improvement over the original design. Changes included:

Larger ailerons

A strengthened rear fuselage

A detachable/open cockpit canopy arrangement

A strengthened fuselage

Increased wing span

The later Baby IIa and IIb incorporated further structural improvements.

The Baby IIb became particularly important because it incorporated Schempp-Hirth dive brakes, increased permitted flying weight and further enlarged ailerons.

Published technical data for the Baby IIb gives approximately:

Length: 6.15 m

Wingspan: 13.50 m

Wing area: 14.20 m²

Empty/ready mass: approximately 160 kg

Maximum take-off mass: approximately 250 kg

Maximum speed: approximately 160 km/h

Minimum speed: approximately 45 km/h

Best glide ratio: approximately 17:1

Minimum sink: approximately 0.9 m/s

Nord 1300

The French Nord 1300 was a post-war French production version of the Grunau Baby IIb design. France produced the type under licence as part of its effort to rebuild and expand civil aviation and gliding after the Second World War.

The Nord 1300 retained the fundamental characteristics of the Baby IIb: a wooden, fabric-covered single-seat glider with a high-mounted braced wing and open cockpit.

This makes AZ7463 particularly interesting because it represents the international evolution of a design that began as a German glider but subsequently became a platform manufactured and flown in several countries.
Slingsby T.30

The British Slingsby T.30 Prefect was another licensed/developed member of the Baby family. Slingsby Sailplanes adapted the German design for British gliding requirements.

The AZ7463 tooling includes the specific alternative tail component required for the Slingsby T.30, which is one of the reasons this boxing is titled Nord 1300 / Slingsby / Fokker Baby IIb rather than simply Grunau Baby IIb.
Fokker Baby IIb

The Dutch Fokker company also produced the Grunau Baby IIb under licence. The design's simplicity and suitability for elementary and club gliding made it attractive to manufacturers outside Germany.

Consequently, the aircraft family represented by AZ7463 is an excellent example of how a successful pre-war sailplane design became an international standard glider, with licensed production and local modifications in several European countries.
Post-war use

The Baby IIb remained useful long after the Second World War because its construction was comparatively straightforward and its flying characteristics were well suited to training.

In the former East Germany, for example, 396 Baby IIb aircraft were produced between 1952 and 1957, with some continuing in service with the Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik (GST) until the 1970s.

Surviving examples can still be found in museums and private collections. The type remains popular with vintage-glider enthusiasts because its wooden construction, simple controls and classic appearance make it representative of the early development of mass gliding.