Kiwi Resins 1/72 Vickers Vincent

KIWI RESINS 1:72 VICKERS VINCENT
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: Phill Weston (rec.models.scale)

Background:

The Vickers Vincent was developed from the Vildebeest to satisfy operational requirement 16/34 for a Westland Wapiti replacement . The differences between the Vildebeest and Vincent were minimal. Early Vincents carried a message pick-up hook and fuel links for a drop tank, and deleted the torpedo attachments. All Vincents had a 660 hp Bristol Pegasus IIM3A radial engine.

The aircraft featured an all-metal airframe with fabric covering and single-bay, un-staggered wings. With a wingspan of 14.9m and a length of 11m its dimensions were only slightly smaller than the Blenheim medium bomber, making it quite a large single-engine aircraft.

Between 1934 and 1936, 196 Vincents were built for the RAF or converted from Vildebeests - 60 or 62 of these machines, (depending on source), were passed on to the Royal New Zealand Airforce (RNZAF). Records for the RNZAF Vincents (see: http://nz-serials.adf-serials.com/) show a number of accidents, several of which involved fatalities and pointing to the fact that the aircraft was poorly suited to its role in training pilots.

There are currently no airworthy Vincents, but the remains of NZ357 are (believed to be) held by the RNZAF Museum in Christchurch, and NZ311 is under restoration by the Subritzky family at Dairy Flat, Auckland.

First Impressions:

I bought my Vincent kit as an internet purchase after seeing the components of NZ311 (the aircraft under restoration). I got a friendly, prompt response to my email from Dave Lochead at the Kiwi Resins website (www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz/Kiwi_Resins.htm#Former). Dave’s email told me that he would cast my kit that afternoon (now that’s special!) and it arrived by post in two days.

A plain card box (185mm x 135mm x 65mm) with a small header picture of NZ301, in the yellow colour scheme, contained a zip-lock bag of the resin components, a smaller plastic bag with serial decals, and three A4 sheets of directions/plans.

Inside the Box

There are twenty-eight separate resin items with some of them grouped on casting blocks, whilst others are individual components. An initial inspection of the cream-coloured resin items shows that they are of very good quality, with fine, accurate outline and very few (air bubble) imperfections. There is some flash and moulding lines on a few of the components but this will be no problem to clean off.

Some time was spent examining the components and instructions just as they had arrived. If one accepts the accuracy of the drawings supplied with the kit (and I had no reason not to) then the kit components agree exactly with them both in outline and form. Examining the components and gathering references in the form of pictures from books, and the internet, filled an interesting Sunday afternoon at the end of which I was better acquainted with the actual aircraft and with the engineering of the Kiwi Resins kit. This is quite a complex resin model and time spent on research and familiarisation is easy to justify.

I am familiar with resin kits by Magna Models and CMR, and whereas both these manufacturers engineer their models along the lines of standard injection moulds (with split fuselages for example) Kiwi Resins have opted for the solid fuselage with fitted top deck. This will make for easy work in detailing the cockpit interior. Unlike Magna, which use white metal details, Kiwi Resins have supplied detail items in resin (as does CMR).

Having made a few of the Magna Resins range I found it a bit strange that the Vincent kit contained no concept sketch that showed the relationship of the major components in exploded form. This is not a problem, rather more a point of difference.

You will be well aware of the potential dangers of iso-cyanate resins. I once learned the hard way by hand-sanding and polyurethane varnishing a floor at home without using the correct facemask. I ended up spending a few days feeling like I had a bad dose of the flu. The doctor told me what an idiot I was and reminded me of the precautions I should have taken to avoid the problem in the first place; basically to avoid inhaling or consuming the dust or fumes, A sensible resin kit modeller will probably want to wet sand where possible, wear a disposable particle mask if there is dust and wash hands before touching food or drink. Nothing “over the top” is needed, just some common sense armed with the knowledge of the potential danger (to you and to others around you).

The instructions mention several worthwhile points:

the idea of making a jig for holding the wings in their correct relationship whilst assembling them. In its simplest form a wing jig could consist of four pieces of (say) 0.5 mm plastic card. Get the dimensions for the gap between the wings from the drawings, then use “BlueTak” to hold the spacers in place. The drawings have starting lengths for the struts. Place them in position and then spot some CA at the ends. For a quick job you can use CA accelerator to speed-up the cure of the glue. The kit supplies resin struts that look well -formed, straight and easy to remove from the casting block. Some modellers may consider replacing the kit items with some lengths of Contrail strut material.
using hot water to straighten components that have gone out of shape. The wings are of thin section and a small imperfection in their line would spoil the look of the model. I have used the method before and it’s simple. Quickly immerse the misshapen item in quite hot water, tweak it back to the correct line (referring to drawings other similar components) and then dunk in cold water to set the shape. The components supplied in my kit were all straight and true; no remedial work was required.
the correct AeroClub metal accessories that could be bought for this model are given by name and number. Although I am an avid fan of the Aeroclub range, and any excuse is a good excuse to use one of these products, I don’t think the kit items need replacement. With a bit of a cleanup and a good paint all you need is “in the box”.
the use of steel wire or pins to strengthen the undercarriage and wing mounting points. The main undercarriage legs already have steel pins cast into them. This is a sensible feature because (as you know) resin mouldings have poor sheer strength; in other words, they are brittle especially when thin. There is also a recommendation to use steel pins at the wing-to-fuselage joint, and this is good advice given the small surface area at this point.

The box art picture shows NZ301, in the yellow colour scheme and the kit decals supply serials for this and K4659, the same aircraft before handover to the RNZAF. The Kiwi Resins website shows NZ 332 in an appealing dark earth/dark green camouflage and this is the aircraft I will finally end-up building.

You will need to fabricate and supply a pilot’s windscreen (shown in the plans) and rigging. I will use Aeroclub stretch thread, but you may have a favourite material for this purpose.

From the outset you should be under no illusions, for this kit is billed as “Suitable for experienced modellers”; and it is. The Vincent is a cleverly engineered, quite complex, kit that supplies mouldings of a high standard. The drawings and instructions are sufficient for a modeller with some previous experience to build a very high-class replica of this interesting aircraft. Kiwi Resins is to be commended for supplying a model that I have not seen as a vac-form and would probably not be released by a mainstream manufacturer.

Phill Weston May 2008

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