Matchbox 1/72 HP Heyford

MATCHBOX 1:72 HANDLEY PAGE HEYFORD
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: Jason Sou (jsou@comnorth.com.au)

Kit: Matchbox 1/72 Handley Page Heyford

Most modellers would be familiar with such well known R.A.F. bombers as the Lancaster, Halifax and Wellington, but mention of the Handley-Page Heyford is likely to result in many blank expressions and quizzical looks! The Handley-Page company designed and built many bombers for the Royal Air Force including the 0/100, 0/400, V/1500, Hyderabad/Hinaidi, Harrow, Hampden/Hereford, Halifax and the Victor.

The Heyford was the last of the R.A.F.’s biplane heavy bombers and it’s performance (carrying over 3000 lb of bombs at speeds of around 140 mph) earned it the nickname "Express Bomber". One aircraft was even looped at an airshow which shows how agile this large (75 foot wingspan) aircraft was. It’s configuration was, for a biplane, quite unorthodox. The upper wing was shoulder-mounted to the fuselage, and beneath it were installed two Rolls-Royce Kestrel engines. Heavy interplane struts then supported the lower mainplane and undercarriage, some distance beneath the fuselage. This layout gave the Heyford a height on the ground of over 20 feet, and allowed armourers and fitters head high clearance to service and re-arm the aircraft quickly.

Altogether 122 Heyfords were built, and the first Mk I entered service with 99 Squadron in November 1933. The main production version , the Mk III, saw service with eleven squadrons, beginning with 38 squadron in September 1935. By September 1938, with war clouds approaching, only 6 squadrons remained equipped with Heyfords, and by September of the following year (when WW2 broke out) none flew with front-line units. 166 squadron was the last unit to relinquish their aircraft, and were re-equipped with Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley’s. The Heyford soldiered on in No 3 and No 4 Bombing and Gunnery schools , and most were finally withdrawn and scrapped by August 1940. The last two aircraft were struck off charge in 1941 and, unfortunately, no examples are preserved in museums.

The Kit

Matchbox kits are generally viewed with disdain by serious modellers and the major gripes are
1) oversimplification and poor fit of parts,
2) inaccuracy of components and colour schemes,
3) two and three colour moulded pieces for "the kiddies who prefer not to paint their kits", and
4) the "trench lines" engraved into major components.
However, I think most modellers can thank this company for their many adventurous releases (which may have lead to their demise and eventual purchase by a competitor- Revell). R.A.F. aircraft including the Supermarine Stranraer, Armstrong-Whitworth Siskin, Vickers Wellesley, Fairey Seafox, and H.P. Victor have not been kitted by any other major manufacturer of injection moulded kits and if you want examples of these aircraft in your collection, there is little choice. The first 4 kits mentioned above are quite acceptable, and the Victor can be made into a decent replica ( love those gaps in the splitter plates inside the air intakes though!) with a lot of work.

Upon opening the large box, one notices a large decal sheet (more on this later), 4 trees of multicoloured (olivey green, black and a nice bright green – yuk!) pieces, 2 large pages of building and painting instructions (paint colours are listed as Humbrol numbers) , and a small sprue containing 9 transparent pieces. There are over 150 well moulded parts, with no sign of any flash. Panel lines are raised and the fabric effect on the wing skinning is well reproduced in my opinion. Four crew members are included for those modellers who like to "crew" their aircraft – 2 are standing gunners with separate arms and the remaining 2 are seated pilots. The fuselage is split horizontally and the open cockpit area reveals one of this kit’s major failings – the lack of cockpit detailing and floor! Only an instrument panel and 2 control columns are provided, so one must scratchbuild here. As one could imagine, interior photos of Heyfords are not exactly common!!!! Most parts appear to be well moulded and accurate with the exceptions being the chunky Lewis guns (raid the spares box ), simplified bombracks, tailfins of bombs need drilling out, and trailing edges of tail unit need thinning.

Decal options allow modellers to finish their Heyford as a Mk I of 99 squadron (1930), a Mk II of 7 squadron (1935), or a Mk III of 102 squadron. All decals seem ok with register and printed colour acceptable and carrier film appears nice and thin. The earlier two variants are finished in the standard heavy bomber finish of overall NIVO (Night Overall Varnish Orfordness) which is a dull grey/green colour. Matchbox recommend using Humbrol 75 (Bronze green) to replicate this NIVO finish, although other better alternatives are Humbrol Authentic ( does anyone still have tins of these in their modelling ‘workshop’??) HB1 which is equivalent to Humbrol 30 according to the Humbrol comparison charts I have. NIVO is also listed as being FS 34096 which Humbrol claim to be represented by their colour Number 105(Matt Marine Green)!!!! In the face of all this conflicting information, I would personally use a readymix tin from a range such as XTRACOLOUR or AGAMA/BARVA. The Mk III example is shown in a camouflage scheme of NIVO(?) and Humbrol 29 (Dark Earth), and unfortunately, I don’t have any references which show Heyfords in this scheme – so I can’t comment on the accuracy of this scheme.

In summary, I think this kit is well worth purchasing if you have any interest in R.A.F. aircraft of this period (1930's) and is accurate enough to produce quite an acceptable replica with some work being required to scratchbuild cockpit details. With open cockpit types, a well furnished ‘office’ is essential. I would rate this kit as a 8/10 and as Matchbox rate this as a skill level 2 kit, I wouldn’t imagine too many holdups in the construction process – the major problem for many modellers would be tracking down suitable references for this aircraft and the kit itself ,as I don’t think Revell have the Heyford in their latest catalogue. I would suggest trying to pick one up secondhand at club swap/meets or through a secondhand kit dealer. Happy modelling……………..

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