|
|
|
TRUMPETER 1:48 VICKERS WELLINGTON III |
Reviewer:
John Armstrong (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted:
6 April 2008
Aircraft History:
The Vickers Wellington was one of the most successful and versatile RAF designs of WWII. It first flew in 1936 and was based around Barnes Wallace’s geodetic design. This design conferred on the craft great structural strength, and the ability to survive substantial battle damage.
In the early years of WWII, the Wellington was in the front line of bombing attacks on Germany. As the type was replaced by 4 engine design such as the Lancaster, the Wellington saw distinguished service in other roles, especially maritime and ASW patrol. The Wellington soldiered on well into the 1950s as a training platform. Total Wellington production was over 11,000.The Kit:
As a boy, I was thrilled to build the old 1/72 Airfix Wellington (with its dramatic box art). When I got my hands on this kit I was no less impressed by things in the box. The raised surface detail reproduces very well the geodetic design patterns. Some have wondered if the raised detail is over done. Although as one commentator has pointed out: there isn’t a kit anywhere that doesn’t have overdone surface detail (!) – such are the compromises of scale modeling. For me, I would say that the kit certainly looks the part once you have primed, painted and varnished it.
Other notable features of the kit are the photoetch panels for the wheel wells; the white metal undercarriage; and the rubber tyres. These are all nice touches from Trumpeter, and enhance the already impressive package. There was little flash.The Build:
The kit contains a large amount of internal detail. This in itself is to be welcomed. However, as the Mk. III lacks the long length fuselage windows of the Mk. Ic: most of this detail is not visible on the finished model. Still it’s nice to know it’s there – even if no one else does!
The principal drawback of this kit is the fit of the main parts. In that, it leaves a lot of work for the modeler to do if you want a decent end result. Three areas provide particular challenges:
The fit of the fuselage halves – here you will need to do a fair amount of filling and sanding (I used typewriter correction fluid and wet-and-dry sand paper). Inevitably, some of the surface detail is lost, but things turn out pretty much OK.
The wing to fuselage joint – the wings are pretty much butt-end joined to the fuselage, which is frustrating. I can see the point of this on the Ic where you can see inside the length of the fuselage. However, with the III a proper locating design could be used. As it happened, I left the wings off until after painting; so I used Humbrol Clearfix as a filler, which worked well.
The fit of the pilot’s canopy – this was dreadful. The aperture was just way too small to accommodate the plastic part. With a scalpel, I had to remove 1-2mm of forward fuselage to get the canopy to fit properly. The whole thing was blended in with filler (Clearfix in this instance).
Painting:
The kit was primed with a couple of coats of Halfords Grey Primer. The whole model was then sprayed with Halfords Matt Black. The upper surfaces were then masked off and sprayed with Rail Match Acrylics – RAF Dark Green over RAF Dark Earth. The Rail Match paints were diluted 15-20% with acrylic thinners and sprayed on using a Revell Starter Class airbrush. The Engine front of the engine cowlings were hand painted with Humbrol 55 Bronze.
The paintwork was then sealed in with a couple of coats of Johnson’s Future/Klear.
© John Armstrong 2008
Decals:
The kit contains decals for two examples. I chose to model the RAF example supplied by the kit. The decals went on nicely, although the fuselage codes did prove a little fragile: so care must be exercised here. The decals were sealed in with a single coat of Humbrol Satin Cote.
Conclusions:
It is to Trumpeter’s credit that they have tooled a 1/48 Wellington bomber. Whilst this is by no means a straightforward build, the end result is worth it. The model captures well the Wellington’s geodetic design, and will provide the modeler with an impressive addition to any WWII RAF bomber collection.
This kit probably isn’t for the beginner. However, it is recommended for any fan of the RAF, or for any modeler who wants to test his/her building skills.
© John Armstrong 2008
SMAKR Home
| What's New | Submissions
| Information Requests | News | Links
| Reference Corner | Site
Info
1/72 Reviews | 1/48
Reviews | INBOX Reviews
