Magna Models 1/72 Bristol Buckmaster T1

MAGNA MODELS 1:72 BRISTOL BUCKMASTER T1

Reviewer: Tim Beales (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 27 August 2002

Bristol Buckmaster T1 by Magna Models in 1/72 scale

The Aircraft

Following on from the successful twin-engined Blenheim light bomber, which in itself spawned the equally successful Beaufighter and Beaufort models, the Bristol Aircraft company set about designing an aircraft known as the Type 163 Buckingham. Unbeknown to them, the Buckingham would have to compete with the de Havilland Mosquito.

The Mosquito design was such a winner, and given that the problems that Bristol experienced with its intended Centaurus engine meant that the Type 163 Buckingham did not fly until 1943, and this meant that the Bristol design didn't have a hope. However, the Buckingham did have a superior range over the Mosquito, and so and was considered for use in the war against Japan, but the war ended before the 65 aircraft ordered could be delivered. For the most part, the Buckinghams had their armament removed and were converted to Type 166 Buckmasters. The Buckmaster was a large twin-engined, fast aircraft that had the principle role of training pilots for another Bristol aircraft, the ground-attack Brigand. The Brigand was used in anger in South-east Asia by the RAF. The Buckmaster continued in service with the RAF until the mid-1950s.

Kit Parts

The kit is boxed in the usual Magna format: a sturdy white cardboard box that is half the thickness of a house brick with an outline sketch of a Bristol Buckmaster T1 on a green paper sheet pasted onto the front of the box. The aircraft has code RP246 and is from the Empire Flying School in 1953. The box opens by sliding out the centre section. The resin parts, the vacuformed canopy, and the white metal parts are contained in a thin-walled plastic bag, along with a set of separate folded instruction sheets. I don’t know if I am the only person for whom the contents of a Magna kit seem to inexplicably expand on removing, but I can never get them to go back into the box again in the same manner as they were originally packed, and the box always bulges in places once I try this.

The instructions for this kit span six full sides of three A4 sheets. The first sheet provides a comprehensive history of the aircraft with technical data and some references for the modeller. As no decals are supplied with the kit, some information is given on where to obtain decals, followed by some general notes on making resin kits.

For the uninitiated, Magna kits usually involve a relatively small number of parts, and this kit is no exception. The main resin parts breakdown are: solid port and starboard wings, two fuselage halves, a tailplane with port and starboard fin units, port engine cowling, starboard engine cowling, port spinner, starboard spinner, two wheels, and a cockpit interior. The white metal parts consist of: four (two sets of two) undercarriage legs, two sets of undercarriage fins and a length of 1‑mm diameter copper wire to make support struts, eight propellers, two sets of port and starboard undercarriage doors, an instrument panel, two control columns, a pitot tube, an aerial, two rear undercarriage doors, and a tail wheel.

The resin parts are in a lovely golden resin with well-defined panel lines. The one thing that strikes you about this kit is that it really is hefty, and probably weighs as much as about 10 Airfix 1/72 Beaufighters.

Construction of the kit

As for all resin kits, superglue must be used for gluing, and the parts need to be washed in warm, soapy water before construction. The resin had to be primed before any painting could be attempted, and I used Humbrol No. 1 primer for this purpose. The interior was painted in the usual Interior Green (Humbrol No. 78). The cockpit assembly was a single unit comprising of two seats and holes for cementing the white metal control sticks in place. I painted the control panel black (Humbrol No. 86) with silver dials (Humbrol No. 11) and the seat leather (Humbrol No. 62) with brown belt straps (Humbrol No. 133) and aluminium buckles (Humbrol No. 56). The cockpit assembly sits on a ridge located on each fuselage side, and in my model fitted well. The two fuselage sides went together well and only a tiny smear of filler along the joint line was needed. I saw no casting bubbles on my model at all.

Because of the sheer bulk of the aircraft, I was a bit worried about the butt joint for the large wings to the fuselage. Once I had sanded the casting lugs off the wings, I noticed that there was a gap present. I ended up using pieces of plasticard and/or stretched sprue to fill the gap, and finished off with Humbrol model filler. In saying that, a solid joint resulted.

The engines are a solid unit in the cowling and once sanded flat from the casting lugs they locate straight onto the end of the engine housings on the wings. The propellers fit directly into the spinner unit, which is attached to the engine cowlings. I have never been a fan of individually adding the propeller blades, and nearly always get them slightly out of alignment, but in this case, I did not do such a bad job. Some care needs to be had in following Magna's drawings as the propellers are handed, but it is not difficult. Magna's instructions, as always, are exceptional.

Fitting the tail fins is no problem, but make sure that the whole tail fin unit locates square onto the fuselage, because it is quite easily to put it on lop-sided. I adjusted mine through sanding and dry fitting and used some stretched sprue as a levelling guide. When satisfied, I superglued the tail unit in place. I needed some filler around the joint, but this cleaned up all square and flush.

The undercarriage and doors fit fairly easily. There was some minor pitting in the white metal doors on my model, and this needed some attention with filler before they were cemented in place. I also screwed up separating the wheels from the casting lug, and ended up losing a part of the wheels. I had an idea to try to make them look like weighted wheels, but I feel I was not successful in this. I suppose someone like Aeroclub will have suitable replacement wheels if I decide that I can't stand looking at them anymore. Cutting the undercarriage supports from the copper wire is not daunting if you have a ruler and a sharp knife.

Two sets of canopy transparencies are provided by Magna. I only used one as it is easyish to shape, but think that it is slightly too big for the model. However, I may be wrong on this.

Decals

Colour call outs in the instructions are in generic names only. Magna provide profiles of two aircraft with dark green and earth brown upper, and trainer yellow undersides: the original prototype from 1944, and the Empire Central Flying school aircraft also shown on the box cover. In addition, there are three aircraft that are all over silver with yellow trainer bands on the wings and fuselage that are given: an aircraft from 1949 at Tengah, an aircraft from 1953 at Khormaksar, and an aircraft of OCU Colerne in 1956. A final aircraft from the Maintenance Command at Andover from 1953 is given, that has a white upper and silver under sides separated by a blue cheat line along the fuselage. This last aircraft also has an additional window not on the trainer aircraft. Provision of several painting options is a real strength of Magna.

I stuffed up again here in that I began using my Modeldecal decals to make aircraft RP198/OB-Z at Tengah, but half way through noticed I hadn't got a "Z" in my decal set, and I ended up using codes from a spare Carpena decal sheet that I had. From Magna's illustrations, I think these may be slightly on the large size, but I may be wrong. The roundals are all "Type D" and are available on Modeldecal sheets.

Accuracy

David Mondey's "British Aircraft of World War II" says the dimensions of the Buckingham were: span = 71 ft 10 in, and length = 46 ft and 5 in. My model comes in at a span of 30.4 cm and a length of 19.5 cm (71 ft 10 in and 46 ft 1 in, respectively). Beat that!

Overall

Magna has hit the spot again. I love Magna's subject matter, and although some modellers are a little daunted in working with resin, Magna's kits always come up well in the end, and I for one enjoy making them. The only drawback is the lack of decals and the asking price.

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