Rocket Man!
Belcher Bits 1/72 Missiles by Tim Upson-Smith
M
issiles are always a bit
of grey area: do they
feature in our aircraft
modelling magazine or in our
military modelling title? Some of
the missiles released by Belcher
Bits have seen service with either
the USAF or the RAF, whilst
others like Trident, Polaris, or
Poseidon are submarine based.
But as they all are capable of
flight I will cover them here!
All of the missiles in the
Belcher Bits range are 1/72
scale full-resin kits. Some of
the kits feature Plasticard andwire to add detail that cannot be
moulded on the resin parts.1/72 SCALE
BL-12: Thor Missile
BL-20: Polaris A-1/A-2 IRBM
BL-21: Minuteman I (LGM-30A or B)
BL-22: Poseidon C3 SLBM
BL-23: Trident I C4 SLBMThe majority of these kits are
relatively simple with few parts,
the exception being the Thor,
which includes part of its launch
base as well as the missile. As with
any limited-run resin kit, you
will need to clean up the parts,
remove the casting blocks, and
test-fit before committing to glue.
I have already assembled the
Polaris and Minuteman, and
they await primer and their final
colour scheme of overall white.
I cleaned up and assembled
both of these missiles in a short
evening modelling session, and I
will write up a full build on these
and the other missiles from the
Belcher range in a future issue.The Thor missile will be finished
as an RAF example and eventually
may include a scratch-built launch
base, since an example of the real
thing is still at the site of the former
RAF Harrington, which is fairly
close to where I live. Displaying
the other missiles will need a bit of
thought; I am currently thinking
of having them on a woodenblock displayed in chronological
order, but we shall see!
My thanks to Belcher Bits
for supplying these samples,
and to my wallet for the Thor.
For details on these and other
missiles from Belcher Bits,
visit http://www.belcherbits.comcard, in order to strengthen the
joint, would be a wise move.
There are no locating pins on
the fuselage sides and wings, but
shallow holes are made for all the
smaller bits. That notwithstanding,
the model looks buildable, the
most difficult stages being the
aileron/flap assemblies. Wisely
enough, these are made as long,
continuous pieces, so if yousubstitute a few of the hinges with
appropriately shaped pieces of wire,
hanging them under the wings
will not be much of a problem.
There are the same concerns
with the main undercarriage
units. The legs and their respective
actuators are relatively thin,
looking a bit flimsy, and in my
opinion, it would be better to
substitute them with somewhite-metal pieces, but for the
moment there aren’t any in the
market dedicated to this kit.
The manufacturer gives us
no clue with regard to the colour
of the interior of the plane; I
think it should be light grey.
The exterior colours are defined
only as ”field green“ for the
upper surfaces and sides, ”light
blue“ for the undersides, and
”silver“ for the engine gondolas
and covers. Obviously, the latter
should be “aluminium“. For
the light blue I suggest Tamiya
XF23, and for the green, XF51
or XF5 from the same range.
There are two painting schemes
proposed, one representing the
above-mentioned Firebird covered
with white feathers, the other in
operational camouflaging, without
the feathers. Let me guess that
the first scheme will be the first
and only choice for all of us!CONCLUSION
Obviously, being a short-run product,
this is not a kit for a novice. Still, it
looks like any modeller with some
experience with polystyrene models
will have no trouble assembling it.
Photo-etch parts need no bending,
and the parts breakdown is well
thought out and typical. Pre-cut
masks make preparing the model
for painting much easier. Of course,
it will take some time and patience
to finish the Firebird, but isn’t
that the sense of our hobby?
In my opinion, Mikromir’s Kalinin
Firebird is worth the money, and I
think that soon it will find its place
on many modellers’ shelves.WWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • MARCH 2018 • 55
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