Classic Airframes 1/48 Supermarine Walrus Mk.I

CLASSIC AIRFRAMES 1:48 SUPERMARINE WALRUS MK.I

Reviewer: Richard Stracey (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 4 April 2004 (#100!)

Kit Details:

CLASSIC AIRFRAME # 451 1/48 -- SUPERMARINE WALRUS I

Aircraft History:

The Pemberton Billing Co. Ltd. Became the Supermarine Division of Vickers and one of their first designs was the Seagull V designed by RJ Mitchell for the Australian Government. It first flew on 21^st.June 1933 and after extensive testing by the RAF and RN, specification 2/35 was issued for what was to be known as the Walrus. In all seven hundred and forty six were built of which one hundred and ninety were wooden hulled Mk.II’s. The amphibious Walrus proved to be rugged, reliable and versatile flying from land, carriers, water and catapulted from capital ships. They were used as bombers, recon, transport and target tugs but were best remembered for their air sea rescue role. Surprisingly they were fully aerobatic and served with British and Commonwealth forces as well as France, Ireland and Argentina and post war civilian operators. The Walrus I was powered by a 9cyl. 635hp Pegasus II M.2 radial pusher engine driving a four (two by two) blade propeller and the Mk.II by a 775hp Pegasus VI. It had a span of 45’10” and a length of 38’ and was armed with two Vickers .303 machine guns, bombs and/or depth charges.

The Kit:

This is a limited run kit from the American Classic Airframe Co. It is actually made in the Czech Republic and consists of sixty eight plastic, fifty eight resin and four clear vac form parts. The comprehensive instruction sheet consists of fourteen pages followed by a four page painting instruction quoting FS numbers. The well printed decal sheet by Microscale is for four aircraft. A supplementary decal sheet # 48-006 for a further four aircraft is available. The box art is not particularly inspiring looking a bit washed out and faded.

Construction:

The construction sequence is broken down into twenty sections beginning with the interior. Quite honestly, I can’t see any reason for any of the parts to be made from the very much more expensive resin and am still not sure how the floor parts (46 & R25) fit and wonder why the winch (R1) is supplied when it can’t be seen. For a kit in this price bracket I would expect a photo etch sheet containing seat belts and a dashboard amongst other things. As it is, a rather poor resin dash (R31) is supplied but the control wheel pedestal (R5) doesn’t seem to exist. Some aircraft didn’t have the spray deflectors (R9) fitted.

Both the wings and tail planes really need drilling and pinning as they have just butt joints. The wheel wells (R27) need very careful sanding to fit. Classic supply two vac form canopies but don’t say which one is required for which decal option and they are not the best compared with Aeroclub or Tasman efforts. They can be cut open if preferred. The first potential disaster area is the wingtip floats. The struts (7) really need drilling right through from top to bottom so that a wire can be inserted to join the float to the wing. Using piano wire as rigging also helps to hold the floats steady. I don’t know why it was considered necessary to supply all sixteen rigging attachments (R26) as separate items rather than moulding them into the wing surfaces. Somehow I managed to mount the engine “egg” complete with it’s 5 deg. off set onto the four struts and onto the fuselage.

I didn’t fancy Classic’s ideas of constructing the top wing. I built the entire wing (38, 32, 35, 37, 36 and 31) flat on my workbench before adding it to the rest of the model. Classic have made a classic error (no pun intended) as they supply four identical main struts (23, 27, 25 and 28). A glance at any photo will reveal the fact that the front struts are half the diameter or profile of the rear. As such, I replaced the front ones (23 and 25) with suitable lengths of Contrail strut. For the time being they needed toothpick splints to stop the considerable weight of the top wing from bowing them. After the “egg” to top wing struts (12, 13 and 14), that are too short and have to be replaced with Contrail strut, have been added and piano wire rigging fitted, they can be removed.

Now for the undercarriage! I cut the lugs and axles from the top and bottom of the legs (19 and 20) and replaced them with wire parts. Even this wasn’t enough as, after time, the poor old girl did the splits and I had to drill right through the lower legs into the fuselage and superglue a steel pin through. I would have thought that an alternative tail wheel without the water rudder should have been offered as many aircraft were operated without them especially in muddy conditions.

If the rear hatch is modelled open, it needs cutting and bending to form a wind/ water deflector as can be seen in many photos. Lastly, check the position of the ariels on the upper wing as some aircraft had them further inboard than that shown. I added a fuel hose from part # R11 down to the “egg” and added a couple of string “ropes” dangling from each side of the rear hatch foreword to just behind the undercarriage.

Colour Schemes/Decals:

Pre-war Walrus were painted aluminium but all the Classic decals are for camouflaged ones except for the post war Argentine example. Decals are for a 700 Sq. (1940/41) one on HMS Shropshire, RAAF (1943), Operation Torch (1942) on HMS Cumberland and an unusual 700 Sq. machine in Egypt in Dark Earth, Middle Stone over Azure Blue! The supplementary sheet consists of four machines, 277 Sq. (1944) at Normandy with D Day stripes (painted not decals), 1700 NAS HMS Ameer (1945), the Argentine aircraft and “Darby” W 3085 on HMS Victorious off Japan (1945).

My problems were not over as I wanted to make “Darby”. There were two on board, the other, naturally, being “Joan” L 2322. They were taken on board on 22^nd.June 1945 in Sydney and W 3085 was lost on 10^th.August 1945. Surprisingly, W 3085 has been depicted many times in Profile Publications # 224 (1971), Squadron Signal “Fleet Air Arm”, Scale Aircraft Modelling July ’02 and Warpaint Books “Walrus” as well as the Classic decal sheet which, indecently, includes the wing walk ways that should have been included in the kit. The problem is that none agree in detail so I e mailed Squadron Signal, SAM and Hallpark Books asking where they got their information to produce their artwork. No reply! I did get a reply from Classic but not what I wanted to hear after shelling out for a very expensive decal sheet. “I have no clue as to what the markings should really be like” Somewhere out there there must be a photo but after twelve months of searching I haven’t found it, any ideas? I will keep looking. Scale Aircraft Modelling “Aircraft in Detail” of April ’86 features the Walrus and there is an extensive review in June ’02 that contains 1/48 plans except that they are not 1/48. Some twit has reduced them to fit the page!

Overall Recommendation:

By now you may have gathered that I was not too happy with this kit and you would be correct. It is badly engineered, un necessarily complex and not good value. I suspect that if it had arrived direct from the Czech Republic with an MPM (or whoever) logo on the box, it would have cost half as much as it did. With the extra decals, it cost seven and a half times the price of the old Merit / SMER kit #0815 that with extra work would, I am sure, “scrub up” OK. I will try one day. Surprisingly, Eduard don’t seem to do a photo etch sheet for the Walrus but Aeroclub make suitable guns.

RHS / 100

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