Scale aviation modeller international

was lost in a German air raid on

Whitechurch in 1940, “Fingal”

(G-AFDL) crashed at Pucklechurch

following a fuel pipe failure,

also in 1940, while “Fortuna”

(G-AFDK) crashed near Shannon

in 1943. The loss of “Fortuna” was

found to be due to deterioration

of the plywood structure of the

wings, and this led to the scrapping

of the last of the fleet, “Falcon”

(G-AFDJ), and the subject of this

article, “Fiona” (G-AFDM).

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Valom’s model comes in a sturdy

box with a removable lid adorned

with an attractive signed portrait

of “Fiona” in her RAF camouflage

BOAC livery. Inside the box we find

four sprues which carry all the

main components, moulded in a

light brown plastic. These appear

to be at the higher end of detail one

might expect from a limited-run

kit, which bodes well for the build.

Panel lines are fine, and as is

appropriate for a wooden structure,

sparse. There is also a clear sprue

which looks as good as any I’ve seen

from any manufacturer: crystal

clear and free from flash. Additional

details come in the form of a photo-

etch (PE) sheet which covers the

instrument panels, control yokes,

and some miniscule throttle and

other levers, which I fear are more

likely to feed the carpet monster

than make it to the cockpit.

There is also an

acetate sheet for the dials,

three resin seats for the

crew, and a decal sheet offering

“Fiona” (G-AFDM) and “Fortuna”

(G-AFDK) as options for finishing.

The instruction sheet is

excellent, with the placement of

the parts well indicated. Colours

are supplied with five different

references: Humbrol, Agama, Model

Master, Gunze-Sanyo, and FS.

You couldn’t ask for more unless,

like me, you tend to use Tamiya!

The interior of the passenger

cabin as supplied with the kit is

frankly rather bare, simply a floor

and bulkheads, but with amazing

foresight Valom sells separately a

resin set to put right this omission.

It contains 11 double seats with

their allotted tables, to give this

area a degree of appropriate

busyness when viewed through

the six lovely clear windows on

each side. This comes with its

own instruction sheet, which

curiously includes placement

details for pieces supplied in the

main kit, but does not mention

the plastic overhead shelves.

Construction of the airframe

is relatively conventional: two

beautifully tapered fuselage

halves and the wings in upper

and lower halves with a separate

lower centre section. The tailplanes

have separate elevators, which

is nice, but all other control

surfaces are fixed. As with most

limited-run kits there is not a

locating pin anywhere to be seen,

so precision and test-fitting of

all pieces is the order of the day.

STARTING ON THE

INSIDE

The fit of parts on limited-run

kits can be very much a curate’s

egg, and my initial impression

of the cabin floor was that it was

likely to fit only where it touched.

So the first thing I did was to

add to it the four bulkheads and

two half bulkheads, to see if this

would add some positivity to its

location. I don’t know what I was

worried about, as the completed

assembly dropped into place in

the fuselage exactly as it should.

The floor and bulkheads, along

with the fuselage interiors were

then sprayed grey as indicated by

Valom – Tamiya XF-14 J.A. Grey, in

this case. The seats were airbrushed

in XF-55 Deck Tan with red-

brown seat covers and cushions.

The instrument panel was

built up from a PE panel, to which

you attach the acetate film to

supply the instrument faces at

the rear. Curiously, the acetate

did not fit the PE panels, being

approximately 5% too large. I cut

the film into smaller pieces to try

and overcome this, but the result

isn’t over-convincing. However,

very little will be visible once the

fuselage is closed up, which is also

why I didn’t even attempt to fit the

tiny, tiny etched throttle levers.

The seats were enhanced

with belts made from strips of

masking tape, and once the side

windows had been attached, it

was time to cement the fuselage

halves together. The diameter

of the fuselage along with the

lack of locating pins led me to fit

several tabs in each of the halves

to ensure an accurate fit as well

as a good strong join. This made a

huge difference to the structure;

in fact, it was so good they stayed

together without any glue.

“WHEN I WAS A LAD, THE IDEA OF

A 1/72 ALBATROSS WOULD HAVE

BEEN PURE FANTASY, YET HERE

WE ARE, THANKS TO VALOM

WWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • NOVEMBER 2018 • 67

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