This has finally appeared on my door mat.
It's been a long time coming, and is a subject that has been sadly lacking in anything above quarter scale.
It is new, so I thought it would be worth giving my impressions of what's in the box as a completely unbiased 'man on the Clapham omnibus'. I have no connection to the manufacturer or any other interested party, other than those who might fancy a stab at this themselves.
In the box you get two bags with eight grey plastic sprues, a sprue of clear parts, a decal sheet and instructions. There's the usual bit of promotional stuff for you to recycle. It's exactly what you would expect. I'm sure the after market people will be producing upgrades in the future, but for now what you see is what you get.
I've built several kits from this manufacturer and my first impression was that it has a fairly large parts count! Second was that the grey plastic looks very nicely moulded. The detail is crisp, much more so than the rather soft detail on some of their kits, and a cursory inspection revealed little flash or other mould marks. The clear sprue has a handful of parts which all look, well, clear. So far so good. I am no photographer but I have attempted a snap of one of the instrument panel options, as it gives a good idea of the quality of the moulding.
Obviously I can't comment on the fit and engineering of the kit as yet, but I am definitely encouraged.
Special Hobby produce some interesting instruction sheets. This one is recognisably in their style, but again is better than some of the efforts I have had to interpret. All nicely done.
The decals are by Cartograph. My experience with Cartograph decals has always been good, though some care is needed when applying them. They don't take well to rough handling!
They are nicely printed, in register, etc., as you would expect.
The kit gives options for four different aircraft, two in the Temperate Land Scheme (Dark earth/Dark Green over Sky, one option has a black port wing underside as seen in late 1940) and two in the Day Fighter Scheme (Ocean Grey/Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey). I think that's generous, but there is a problem with some of the markings. I'm afraid that Special Hobby have made a bit of a dog's dinner of a couple of the options.
Kit Option 1: P6985 HE-J, No. 263 Squadron.
This one is okay. It crashed and was destroyed on 11 March 1941.
Kit Option 2: P7061 HE-A, No. 263 Squadron.
This is okay too, though eventually it passed to No.137 Squadron, coded SF-A, where it was involved in a collision on 13 January 1943 and subsequently written off.
Kit Option 3: P7118 HE-F ‘Bellows Argentina No. 2’ No 263 Squadron.
This one is completely wrong. P7118 was coded SF-O and was a No. 137 Squadron aircraft. It was also ‘Bellows Argentina No.4’
You can make ‘Bellows Argentina No. 2’ by altering the serial number to P7116 (easily done by chopping up the available decals) and using the code HE-F from the kit (or J or S, which this aircraft also wore).
Kit Option 4: P7081 HE-E ‘Bellows Argentina No. 3’ No. 262 Squadron.
Without beating about the bush, unless they know something I don't, P7081 was not a serial number for a Whirlwind. I have no idea where Special Hobby found the number. I have two different lists of serials for all the Whirlwinds supplied to the RAF and this number is not in either of them.
You can easily make ‘Bellows Argentina No. 3’ by altering the serial number to P7117. You may then apply the kit code of HE-E (or A, G or H all of which this aircraft wore).
I haven't decided which option I will make, but it will either be 2 (in the Temperate Land Scheme) or 4 (in the Day Fighter Scheme)
My only other niggle would be that there is no seat harness supplied in a kit which costs not far short of seventy quid. I will definitely be adding one, which will put something like a tenner on the overall cost. It adds up to a lot of anyone's money!
Small complaints aside, if the kit builds as well as it looks it should be fun! We'll see :smiling3:
Edit: Looking at the decal sheet, some of the roundels would be wrong for some of the versions in the DFS. It looks like I will be checking my spare decals and masks!
It's been a long time coming, and is a subject that has been sadly lacking in anything above quarter scale.
It is new, so I thought it would be worth giving my impressions of what's in the box as a completely unbiased 'man on the Clapham omnibus'. I have no connection to the manufacturer or any other interested party, other than those who might fancy a stab at this themselves.
In the box you get two bags with eight grey plastic sprues, a sprue of clear parts, a decal sheet and instructions. There's the usual bit of promotional stuff for you to recycle. It's exactly what you would expect. I'm sure the after market people will be producing upgrades in the future, but for now what you see is what you get.
I've built several kits from this manufacturer and my first impression was that it has a fairly large parts count! Second was that the grey plastic looks very nicely moulded. The detail is crisp, much more so than the rather soft detail on some of their kits, and a cursory inspection revealed little flash or other mould marks. The clear sprue has a handful of parts which all look, well, clear. So far so good. I am no photographer but I have attempted a snap of one of the instrument panel options, as it gives a good idea of the quality of the moulding.
Obviously I can't comment on the fit and engineering of the kit as yet, but I am definitely encouraged.
Special Hobby produce some interesting instruction sheets. This one is recognisably in their style, but again is better than some of the efforts I have had to interpret. All nicely done.
The decals are by Cartograph. My experience with Cartograph decals has always been good, though some care is needed when applying them. They don't take well to rough handling!
They are nicely printed, in register, etc., as you would expect.
The kit gives options for four different aircraft, two in the Temperate Land Scheme (Dark earth/Dark Green over Sky, one option has a black port wing underside as seen in late 1940) and two in the Day Fighter Scheme (Ocean Grey/Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey). I think that's generous, but there is a problem with some of the markings. I'm afraid that Special Hobby have made a bit of a dog's dinner of a couple of the options.
Kit Option 1: P6985 HE-J, No. 263 Squadron.
This one is okay. It crashed and was destroyed on 11 March 1941.
Kit Option 2: P7061 HE-A, No. 263 Squadron.
This is okay too, though eventually it passed to No.137 Squadron, coded SF-A, where it was involved in a collision on 13 January 1943 and subsequently written off.
Kit Option 3: P7118 HE-F ‘Bellows Argentina No. 2’ No 263 Squadron.
This one is completely wrong. P7118 was coded SF-O and was a No. 137 Squadron aircraft. It was also ‘Bellows Argentina No.4’
You can make ‘Bellows Argentina No. 2’ by altering the serial number to P7116 (easily done by chopping up the available decals) and using the code HE-F from the kit (or J or S, which this aircraft also wore).
Kit Option 4: P7081 HE-E ‘Bellows Argentina No. 3’ No. 262 Squadron.
Without beating about the bush, unless they know something I don't, P7081 was not a serial number for a Whirlwind. I have no idea where Special Hobby found the number. I have two different lists of serials for all the Whirlwinds supplied to the RAF and this number is not in either of them.
You can easily make ‘Bellows Argentina No. 3’ by altering the serial number to P7117. You may then apply the kit code of HE-E (or A, G or H all of which this aircraft wore).
I haven't decided which option I will make, but it will either be 2 (in the Temperate Land Scheme) or 4 (in the Day Fighter Scheme)
My only other niggle would be that there is no seat harness supplied in a kit which costs not far short of seventy quid. I will definitely be adding one, which will put something like a tenner on the overall cost. It adds up to a lot of anyone's money!
Small complaints aside, if the kit builds as well as it looks it should be fun! We'll see :smiling3:
Edit: Looking at the decal sheet, some of the roundels would be wrong for some of the versions in the DFS. It looks like I will be checking my spare decals and masks!
Comment