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were powered by Bristol Pegasus 9-cylinder radial engines and carried two twin-gun Frazer-Nash FN-5 turrets for self The early Mk I/Ia versions defence. Later versions switched to Bristol Hercules power.KIT Airfix’s new issue of the Wellington continues its assault on the British aviation history book, sitting neatly alongside contemporaries like the Whitley, Blenheim I, Fortress III, Beaufighter, and Lancaster. The kit is moulded in a now-characteristic light blue plastic; the 141 parts have excellent detail and finesse but display a tendency towards over-engineering and the use of multiple components where one might suffice. The breakdown of the kit

suggests further variants to follow, with the presence of the side windows for a Mk III, and indications around the nose and wing underside that a radar- equipped Coastal Command version might be in the offing. Despite the apparent complexity, however, Airfix’s new-style instructions are crystal-clear, set out over 101 steps; the multi-coloured indication of the parts fitted in the previous step is particularly useful. recall, the kit instructions For the first time that I can explicitly suggest that one might leave out certain internal detail parts if a quicker build is required. These parts are noted in green and are mostly those which would be nearly invisible in the finished model. I have to say that I understand the concept, and I admire Airfix’s boldness, but it begs the question of who is the

intended audience for the model: the builder or the external observer. the internal detail offered is terrific. It’s all there; rest bunk, Amateur philosophy aside, flares and launcher tube, toilet, bomb bay, radios, and navigator’s station. No doubt the aftermarket manufacturers will come forward with brass and resin improvements, but for now, the only thing missing is a set of seat belts. of the internal geodetic structure is perhaps a bit heavy-handed However, the representation when compared with historical photographs, and there are a number of knockout pin marks on the inner surface (though most if not all will be invisible in the finished article).complex, but fit looks to be excellent, and there are some well thought-out touches, like the up The engineering may appear stand moulded on the clear landing light part, which allows it to be

handled and prevents it falling into the wing, and the fuselage seam locations which have very positive tabs rather than feeble pins.The external texture is intended to replicate the fabric outer covering over the aluminium and wood geodetic structure. In the raw plastic, it appears to achieve this pretty well, but the proof is in the final painted result. As usual with modern Airfix kits, there are no parts or sprue maps, which I personally find irritating. Neither airframe has the waist guns associated with the -1C, and both are in the standard early-war bomber scheme of night undersides and fin with a high demarcation line, and dark green/dark earth upper surfaces.the now standard Airfix approach of full-colour four-views on a separate A3 sheet. Colour callouts The schemes are illustrated in are for Humbrol colours with no cross-referencing, and with rather sketchy colour references, especially to the interior.

Airfix’s New 1/72 Vickers Wellington Mk.1a by Huw Morgan A World War II might suggest that the mainstays of that effort were the big four-engined Lancasters, Stirlings, and Halifaxes. In reality, casual examination of the activities of the RAF Bomber Command during the big hitters didn’t appear in significant numbers until mid-1942, and prior to that, it was the twin-engine medium and light bombers that carried the burden of daylight and night bombing. Blenheims, and Hampdens, one particular design, the Vickers Wellington, was built in greater In among the Whitleys, numbers than any other RAF bomber during those early years and went on to remain in front-line operational service throughout the war. Intended primarily as a medium bomber, its role was extended significantly, particularly into anti-submarine warfare, and the aircraft served on all major fronts. was distinctly unconventional, being the brainchild of eccentric engineer Barnes Wallis, and was The structure of the airframe

made up of a basket weave of duralumin profiles into a geodesic (sometimes called geodetic) structure of crossed members. The characteristic diamond-patterned structure was rather anachronistically clad in fabric, leading to one of the Wellington’s nicknames of Cloth Bomber, another being Wimpy after a well-known wartime figure from the Popeye series of cartoons.lightweight airship shells and Invented initially for later applied to aircraft in the Vickers Wellesley single-engined bomber, this structure was easy to manufacture and immensely tolerant of battle damage, and it seems surprising that the technique didn’t see more widespread use.

Box art represents the heroic actions of Sergeant Pilot James Allen Ward. BOMBER

Cloth

MARKINGS ARE PROVIDED FOR TWO AIRCRAFT:• Wellington Mk1C AA-R No 75 Squadron (New Zealand) Feltwell, Norfolk, July 1941. In this aircraft Sergeant Pilot James Allen Ward climbed out onto the wing to attempt to smother an engine fire. His actions awarded him the Victoria Cross. • Wellington Mk1A “R”-Robert, No 20 OTU, Lossiemouth, 1940, currently preserved at the Brooklands Museum of Motor Racing and Aviation.

WWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • OCTOBER 2018 • 7

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6 • OCTOBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

1/72BY SACCO DE VRIESWELLINGTON MK.1ABY HUW MORGAN

are provided as decals and in this scale are quite effective. Note that each side panel is slightly different so it is important to follow the instructions closely. the fuselage halves was quite straightforward, in theory at least. I did find, however, getting the nosewheel bay and the cockpit Fitting the cockpit into aligned caused a few issues. But after a lot of test fitting the two fuselage halves joined very well, but it did take a little patience and wiggling to get it all lined up. One other thing to note is that the rear cockpit instrument

coaming should not be grey as indicated, but black. The rest of the fuselage went together quite easily. Although again a little care and test fitting of the parts to make sure everything is neat and aligned will significantly reduce the amount of remedial sanding filling required afterwards. As it was, I found that on the underside of the left engine there was a significant sink mark, which needed filling, I used Squadron White Stuff for this as.together at this stage in the The wing halves are joined instructions, however, I would advise leaving off the flap actuator Tbeing delivered in 1988. Serving mainly in the training role, it also acts as a liaison aircraft for fighter units as well as being the current he Kawasaki T-4 Dolphin first flew in 1985 with the first production aircraft mount of the Japanese aerobatic display team, Blue Impulse who have flown it since 1995 when it replaced the Mitsubishi T-2. This boxing contains two kits with markings for the 2017 team. Whilst the overall scheme has remained consistent since the team started flying it, the main difference is the decals supply the correct crew names for 2017. The decals also look to be cleaner and brighter than the original issue kit where the white decals had a distinct cream tone to them. The Instructions are in the usual Hasegawa layout with colours called out in Mr Color paint codes.

First, as almost always we start with the cockpit. This is a uniform grey, which makes life easy. THE BUILD However, there are a few small errors on the instructions here. The rubber boot at the base of the control columns should also be black and the overall seat cushions both back and bottom should be an orangey red. A mix is given for this colour, but I went with Xtracrylic Red Arrows Red as a suitable alternative. I also, perhaps foolishly, elected to add seat straps from lead foil using pictures from the internet as a guide. This probably trebled the cockpit build time, as the strap arrangement is actually quite complex. The straps themselves appear to be a silver grey - I used a simple light grey. Once assembled, fiddly as it was, it did look a lot better than just the basic seat. Instrument panels

KIT DETAILSMANUFACTURERSCALETYPE: 1/72: INJECTION PLASTIC: HASEGAWA STATUSNO. OF PARTSDECAL OPTIONS: REFRESHED MARKINGS: 67 PER AIRCRAFT: 1

KITS AND AS FAR AS I KNOW, THE ONLY MODEL OF THE TYPE ON THE MARKET”“THIS IS ONE OF HASEGAWA’S OLDER

IMPULSE

A Blue Hasegawa 1/72 T-4 Blue Impulse 2017 Markings by Jonathan Davies

Aerobatic Wings sponsored by Hobbylink Japan

6 • OCTOBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL WWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • OCTOBER 2018 • 7

1/72BY SACCO DE VRIEST-4 BLUE IMPULSEBY JONATHAN DAVIES 1/

Victor K.2 /SR.2 First look at Airfix Victor K.2 /SR. OK.2 Air to Air Refuelling taker aircraft that was in service from 1965 to 1993 and saw vital service during the first Gulf war and ne of the most eagerly awaited release of the year was the Airfix Victor during the Falklands war was pivotal in the Vulcans “Black Buck” bombing missions.manufacturer has previously Obviously based on this released B.2 bomber in 2016 and this new kit has just one grey sprue extra that supplies the modified short wing tips as well the as the underwing and fuselage air to air refuelling equipment. Special mention must be made of the retracted refuelling basket, which with careful painting will look amazing.

mouldings is that the short wing tips do have some slight sink marks in them that will need filling.The only downside on these new Markings are supplied for two options.• HP Victor K.2, 57 Squadron, Royal Air Force, Operation Black Buck, Ascension Island, May 1982. This aircraft carries the original scheme of white undersides, with grey and green upper surfaces. Like all the RAF tankers this has a large number

of Day-Glo stripes under the fuselage and wing and these are supplied on the decal sheet. HP Victor K.2, 55 Squadron, Royal Air Force, Operation
Granby, Bahrain, 1991. The decal sheet also supplies over 100 stencils, which should
keep you busy for a couple of nights if you use them all.addition was the inclusion of bomb bay camera pack and additional But that is not all a surprise
electronic reconnaissance equipment to produce the Victor

B(SR).2. One of the rarer variants with only nine aircraft produced these aircraft were in service for less than nine years before being converted into tankers.• This aircraft was used for the HP Victor B(SR).2, 543 Squadron, Royal Air Force, Operation Attune, Lima Airport, Peru, 1971. collection of Radioactive Samples from French Government Atmospheric Nuclear Tests, between May and September 1971. Following on from their superb Valiant, the Victor is just as good in fact, so good that you really do not need any aftermarket sets. CONCLUSION Certainly any added detail in the cockpit will be mostly invisible.well with most Airfix releases I am Is there any downside to this kit, sure this kit will hard or impossible to find in a year or two. So if you think you want a Victor on your shelf at some point lay one down sooner rather than later. And can there be any doubt a new tool Avro Vulcan will appear at some point in the future? If it is to the same standard as this kit I sincerely hope so. My thanks to Emily Houghton of Hornby, as always for supplying the review sample.

Fw190AFirst look at Pacific Coast Models 1/32 Fw190A-1/ 2/ 3, Fw190A-1/ 2/ 3/4, Fw190A- 1/2/ 3/4/4-U I bit different because no one has produced a high-quality tooling of the early short-nose models of this outstanding can almost hear the groans at yet another Fw-190, but this one is a little Luftwaffe fighter in 1/32 scale. Coast Fw190A-1/2/3 was going to be the start of a whole family of Fw-190s, but unfortunately these First released in 2010, the Pacific plans did not come to fruition, as Pacific Coast Models closed and no further kits were released. In fact, actually finding one of these kits became a bit of a treasure hunt for large-scale Luftwaffe fans. PCM have released the original boxing, as well as two new versions.But now under new ownership PACIFIC COAST MODELS FW190A-1/2/3This is the original kit, reissued with no changes. This means that you have the same 76 high-quality grey plastic and five clear parts. The detail features a nice level of engraved detail that rivals more established manufacturers (in fact, the plastic is supplied by Czech manufacturer Sword). another Czech manufacturer had had a hand in the 24 resin parts that It would not surprise me if detail the cockpit and undercarriage bays, as well as details like the

hollowed-out exhaust pipes. This is the type of set that you would pay extra for to detail in a Revell or Hasegawa kit. pre-coloured brass supplies the instrument panel and the seatbelts, and for a change I actually quite like the look of the A small set of Eduard’s RLM 66 instrument panel, which is a more accurate colour than on other Eduard sets I have seen. The instruction manual supplies all you need to know; you will need to do a few simple updates using the supplied parts for whichever version you wish to produce.really nice decal sheet, which has a The whole package is topped by a good selection of markings showing the range of colour schemes carried by the early Fw-190. FOCKE-WULF FW 190A• • Fw190A-1, W.Nr. 100, Lt. Horst Sternberg, 5./JG 26, Merseele (Germany) Fall 1941.Fw190A-1, W.Nr. 027, Oblt. Walter Schneider, 6./JG 26.

• Fw190A-2, Nr.20 202, Ofw. Bruno Hegenauer, wingman to JG 26 Kommodore Major Gerhard Schoepfel.Fw190A-3, W.Nr. 333, Lt. Jakob Augustin, 7. / JG 2.

• • • Fw90A03, W.Nr. 2187, Lt. Heribert Hufnagi, 8./JG2, November 1942.Fw190A-3, W.Nr. 2181, 8./JG 2.Fw190A-3, W.Nr. 2261, 2./JG 51.Fw190A-3, W.Nr. 437, Ulfz. Johannes
Rathenow, 10./JG 1

Holland 1942.PACIFIC COAST MODELS FW190A-1/2/3/ This boxing contains all the parts from the previous set, including decals and colour profiles, plus a further three resin parts, reproducing the late louv red cooling vents (familiar from the later 190A-6 to A-8 versions), as well as a fin tip which includes the antenna stub.U-8 version were included in our No instructions for this or the samples, so you are on your own with carrying out the conversions, but most of it is pretty obvious – have a look at Eduard’s website for the instructions for their early models to give you an idea.decaling guide which supplies marking for five A-4 models: an You do have a new full-colour aircraft operating in a sand finish over the desert; one in white operating in mid-winter over Russia; one that features a mix of at least five colours used in Russia during the spring and summer months; and if that was not enough, two classic 74/75 grey fighter schemes, one with the full eagle marking of JG-2 along the nose and flanks and a second featuring JG.1s black and white nosebands. • Fw190A-4 of 11./JG 2, flown by Group

• Commander Dickfeld, Tunisia 1943 (W.Nr. 0140750).FW.190A-4, flown by Ft.Otto Kittel of 2/JG 54, Krasnogvardeysk, February 1943.Fw190A-4, flown by Ulfz. Karl-Heinz

• Cordes of 1./JG 54, Krasnogvardeysk, early 1943.Fw.190A-4, Jaboschowarm 1./JG 54 Krasnogvardeysk, spring 1943.Fw190A-4 9/JG 2, flown by Siegfried

Schnell early 1943, (W.Nr 746).Focke Wulfe Fw190A-4, Lt. Eberhard Burath, Gruppenadjutant 1./JG1, Deelen, April 1943 (W.Nr. 140581).
If you read Floyd Werner’s article on the Fw-190 “Tip and Run” black-PACIFIC COAST MODELS FW190A-1/2/3/4/A-4/U-
painted Fw-190A-5/U-8, based on Eduard’s 1/48 scale kit, you will be pleased to see this 1/32 scale boxing released at the US Nationals.This release includes all of the
parts for the kits listed above, plus the faired VTr-Ju87 faired racks with their associated drop tanks, as well as an under-fuselage ETC 501 bomb rack and a beautiful 500 kg
bomb. All of these parts are cast in resin, although the bomb has etched brass fins and a cast brass tail ring.markings, both of which have The decal sheet supplies two
their original colour schemes overpainted with various amounts of black paint. On one example nearly all markings except the
overwing crosses are totally obscured. If you do not like decaling then this is the option for you.• Fw.190A-4/U8 Jabo of 1/SKG 10 Amiens France July 1942. Hit and run raids over

the UK.Fw.190A-4/U8 Jabo-Rei of SchG 10, Amiens France beginning May 1943.

“IF YOU THINK YOU WANT A VICTOR ON YOUR SHELF AT SOME POINT LAY ONE DOWN SOONER RATHER THAN LATER”

The resin looks a bit grainy in this photo but a coat of primer will soon sort thatThe three parts that maker the A_1 to A-3 into the A-

The resin parts show detail that only resin can produce

FIRST LOOK! FIRST LOOK!

and generally popular with pilots. The aircraft was fast, manoeuvrable, and easy to fly (though a sharp stall was noted). When functioning properly, the Hispano– Suiza engine afforded the Dolphin excellent performance at high altitude. Accordingly, it was often sent against German reconnaissance aircraft such as the Rumpler C.VII, which routinely operated at altitudes above 20,000 ft. 87 Squadron explored the use of supplying pilots with oxygen at high altitude, but the experiment was abandoned after trials showed that the oxygen tanks exploded when struck by gunfire.The scarcity and unreliability of the French-built Hispano-Suiza 8B engine proved to be the most serious problem in the deployment of the Dolphin. The limited production capacity of Hispano-Suiza , and the priority of supply in favour of French designed

aircraft slowed the delivery of the Dolphin to the front line .the Dolphin was two fixed and synchronized Vickers machine The official armament of guns, and two Lewis guns mounted on the forward cabane crossbar. These guns fired at an upward angle, over the propeller disc. The Lewis guns proved unpopular as they were difficult to aim and tended to swing into the pilot’s face. Pilots also feared that the gun butts would inflict serious head injuries in the event of a crash, so most pilots discarded the Lewis guns.experimentally fitted some aircraft with two forward firing, Pilots of 87 Squadron unsynchronized Lewis guns mounted on top of the lower wing, just inboard of the inner wing struts. These guns could fire incendiary ammunition, which could not be used in conjunction with the synchronized Vickers

guns. The 97-round ammunition drums could not be changed once empty, nor could the pilot clear gun jams, and the field modification did not become standard. The model depicted here includes this option, as Wingnut supply the wing mounted Lewis guns in the kit. I started off by removing most parts from the sprues and cleaning up the attachment points. These I bagged up into a painting order – wood GETTING STARTED parts, metal parts, and others. I like this method, though losing smaller parts is always a possibility. The wood areas get treated first, as the grain comes from dragging artist’s oils across the surfaces after a light tan undercoat. This looks very realistic but does require drying time before it’s able to handled. I help this along with by adding a drying I in the depths of winter when the thought of sitting in my garage workshop is somewhat tend to go through periods where my modelling mojo starts to flag, particularly unappealing – and I was lately wallowing through one of these periods. The Editor must have sensed this, as he sent me the lovely new Wingnut Wings (WNW) release of the Sopwith Dolphin F.1, and as soon as I started poring over the contents my mojo came flooding back and I couldn’t wait to get started! Good old Wingnuts. Wingnut’s very high standards, packed with finely-moulded plastic parts, a clear sprue, photo-etch (seat belts, gun The boxing is well up to sights etc), a large sheet of beautifully printed Cartograf

Decals, and the usual excellent instruction manual, with period pictures, close ups of detailed areas, and colour coded guides to ease you through the build. The Dolphin Mk I became operational with 19 and 79 HISTORY (ADAPTED FROM WIKIPEDIA) Squadrons in February 1918, and 87 and 23 Squadrons in March. The Dolphin’s debut was marred by several incidents in which British and Belgian pilots attacked the new aircraft, mistaking it for a German type. For the next few weeks, Dolphin pilots accordingly exercised extreme caution near other Allied aircraft. the Dolphin proved successful Despite early problems,

DOLPHIN

Delightful Wingnut Wings 1/32 Sopwith Dolphin F.1 by Guy Goodwin

1/32BY SACCO DE VRIESSOPWITH DOLPHIN F.1BY GUY GOODWIN 1/

who are not aviation enthusiasts. It is therefore hardly surprising that there have been many kits in all the major scales (and others too). The vast majority of these have been the single-seat variants, with only two injection-moulded trainer versions, both in 1/72 scale. For those who wanted a trainer in a larger scale you had to use one of the vacform conversion kits that have been realeased over the years.with input from the IPMS(UK) But not anymore, as Kinetic, Harrier Special Interest Group, have produced a 1/48 scale trainer to complement their recent Sea Harriers. IN THE BOXThe kit comes in a top-opening box, packed to the brim with plastic. Many of the parts seem to be carried forward from Kinetic’s earlier Sea

Harrier kits, so not all are needed (for example, a whole second set of wings appropriate for the FA2 is included). Unfortunately, this also means that the inboard wing stores pylons are appropriate for a Sea Harrier, not a Royal Air Force version, and the rocket pods are not the variant used by the RAF. It also means that some faults have been carried forward from the earlier kits. I’ll cover these during the build, but none are significant, and all are easily fixable. new fuselage and cockpit, three tail fins, two alternative noses, and two alternative tailpieces. As with the earlier kits, two sets of intakes New parts include an entirely are included, depicting the upper blow-in doors drooped open (as they would be on the ground with the engine shut down), or closed. The decal sheet provides 10

marking options: three RAF aircraft from 233 OCU and 4 Sqn; four Fleet Air Arm (FAA) aircraft from 899 NAS in black or grey overall; and one each from the US Marine Corps, Spanish Navy, and Royal Thai Navy. This is a very comprehensive selection, even given that three of the FAA options are essentially the same, in overall gloss black. small PE fret, a very comprehensive decal sheet, and an instruction booklet. Colour callouts throughout the kit instructions refer to the The contents are completed by a Ammo MiG range of paints, and there is a table at the front giving colour names and equivalents in the Vallejo, Mr Color, Tamiya, and Humbrol paint ranges. first-generation two-seat Harrier to be built from this kit, with one omission: two Martin-Baker Mk 9 All these options allow any seats are correctly included, but for those wanting an American TAV-8, you will need a pair of Stencel SEU-3/A seats, as they are noticeably different from Martin Baker seats. enough, the Editor was kind enough to pass on to me a whole package of Eduard goodies designed for it. For the interior there were As if the kit was not good two etch sets, 49882 and FE882,

the latter being the simplified “Zoom” version of the former. Both have a pre-coloured fret with instrument panels and consoles; the difference is that 49882 also includes an additional fret for extra detail, and I used that one. includes any seat harnesses! These However, neither of these sets come in a separate set, FE883, which is also pre-coloured. For the exterior details, you have set 48945, which includes the rear nozzle blast plates, detail for the undercarriage and airbrake bays, as well as smaller exterior details. new “TFace” masks, EX577. These masks allow masking of both Finally, there was a set of the the inside the canopy as well as the outside, so you can paint the interior colour on the inside. A set of masks for just the outside framework, EX576, is also available.used in this build, rather than doing it straight out of the box. However, given that etched brass is intended Naturally, these masks were landing (VTOL) capability. Pilots a revolutionary aircraft with Wa unique vertical take-off and 1969 the Harrier was hen it was introduced to RAF service in adopted my usual approach and provided simply because it is there. matters, not using everything used it only where it really improved to enhance the detail in a kit, I had to learn not only a new aircraft type, but also a completely new mode of flight, and the first Harrier pilots had to learn it without the benefit of a two-seat trainer. However, the requirement had been recognised at an early stage, and development of a two-seat trainer proceeded along with the single-seat version. flew in April 1969, and the first operational example, XW266, arrived at RAF Wittering (“Home of the Harrier”) in July 1970. As The T2 prototype, XW174, first numbers built up they were put to use training pilots for the newly-forming 1, 3, 4, and 20 Squadrons. T2s served with the

Harrier Operational Conversion Unit, 233 OCU, as well as with each operational squadron.was developed from the GR1, so As the single-seat variant the two-seater was developed alongside it, the main difference between each mark being the variant of Pegasus engine fitted. The final variant of the 1st generation two-seater was the T8. The American equivalent was the TAV-8A, and this served with the USMC, the Spanish Navy, and Thai Navy.is one of those aircraft that is instantly familiar, even to many Like the Spitfire, the Harrier

KIT DETAILSMANUFACTURERPRODUCT NUMBERSCALETYPE: 1/48: INJECTION MOULDED: KINETIC: 48040 STATUSPANEL LINESVERSION/MARKINGS OPTIONSVARIANTS, 10 MARKING OPTIONS.: NEW TOOL: RECESSED: FIVE

Completed seats with Eduard harness and details added

VERTICAL

DO UB LE

Kinetic 1/48 T-Harrier (Harrier Trainer) by Michael Chilestone

1/

1/48BY SACCO DE VRIEST-HARRIERBY MICHAEL CHILESTONE

booklet is literally crammed with illustrations and appears rather intimidating at first glance. monotone appearance; I believe the This booklet has a traditional phrase “retro; would be appropriate. The Zoukei-Mura instructions are concise and well laid out, but with each of the 47 construction stages drawn from multiple angles, one is left with sensory overload. A paint guide is included, though only Vallejo colour codes are referenced. FLEXIBLE FUSELAGEConstruction begins with the six-piece ejector seats. These are slightly disappointing, in that

they lack harness of any kind, despite the seats themselves appearing to be well detailed. I chose to replace them with Quickboost items (4142), which supply single-piece resin seats and a multi-part etched harness. sufficiently furnished and features a single-piece floor section, the The rest of the cockpit is reverse side of which forms the roof of the nose wheel bay. Separate sidewalls also extend down to form the bay walls, making for a rigid internal structure. Separate rudder pedals, control columns, and numerous consoles are supplied for both front and rear stations, all of which feature crisp raised and recessed detailing that rewards careful painting. consoles and panels, though to my Decals are provided for the

eye these look overly simplistic and the colours did not match the descriptions supplied in the paint guide. I did, however, use some of the clock faces. as being Dark Sea Grey, and although this seemed unlikely, the colour did appear to be a close match to the reference photographs The cockpit interior is described I had from the internet. Individual panels and consoles were picked out in a darker grey and black, with various knobs and buttons picked out in red and yellow. mentioned above, no other internal modifications were necessary and everything went together Other than the ejection seats as described. The completed sub-assembly fitted comfortably against the starboard fuselage half, but with a lack of locating pins of any kind there is some

ambiguity as to the positioning of the tub. The instructions are uncharacteristically vague, other than suggesting that the cockpit assembly be cemented in place while the fuselage halves are temporary taped together. taken to ensure that the nose wheel bay aligns centrally. Despite doing Extreme care must therefore be so, however, my cockpit ended up slightly out of position, which caused me some problems when I eventually closed up the fuselage.A pair of rudimentary engines are included, onto which are mounted two nicely detailed intake vanes with separately-moulded turbine stays. Internally is a Quick Build of Zoukei-Mura’s 1/72 F4-C Phantom IIJay Blakemore Strays from His Comfort Zone with a A CONFUSING CONTENTSanecdotal information website in search of visit to Zoukei-Mura’s remain visible once the engines wash of black enamel, whilst the a coat of Alclad Aluminium and a are completed. The fans were given pair of afterburner rings, which to begin this article resulted in wading through paragraphs of confusing prose, the meaning of which, it seemed, has become somewhat garbled in translation. Other than the photographic evidence of their growing range of large-scale kits, figures and accessories, there was little information of any relevance about the Japanese manufacturer worth sharing, other than the year of their establishment, which is 1992. This fact came as something of a surprise to me as I had been unaware of the company’s existence until fairly recently with the appearance in the modelling press of their full-page advertisements.

Quite what Zoukei-Mura have been doing in the intervening years remains unclear; what is clear is the prodigious rate at which they are releasing new products. Their ever-growing range of aeronautical subjects has received much acclaim, and one such new release is kit Number Six in Zoukei-Mura’s Super Wings Series: the F4-C Phantom II. Packaged within an impressively large top-opening box, which is emblazoned with some very fine artwork, are nine grey sprues, a single sprue containing the clear parts, and a large and colourful Cartograf decal sheet featuring a single colour-scheme option. The 31-page instruction

DETAILING IS WONDERFULLY “THE SUBTLE SURFACE WROUGHT”

PHANTOM

Full-on

QUICKBUILD

1/

1/72BY SACCO DE VRIESF4-C PHANTOM IIBY JAY BLAKEMORE

Oma’s GliderAZ Models Grunau Baby IIb by Adam Rehorn Slegendary. Most people who have even a casual interest in aviation immediately recognize the P-51 Mustang, the C-47/ome aircraft are so well-designed and well-received that they become DC-3, SR-71, and Boeing 747, among others. However, there’s one aircraft that truly belongs with these immortals that many do NOT know the name of, the Grunau Baby. referred to as the Schneider Grunau Baby) was designed by Schneider, The Grunau Baby (now often Hirth and Kromer back in 1931. Since then, this very successful glider has been produced in numerous countries the world over, and over 6000 have been produced. Many pilots from many nations have first gotten their “air legs” (if you will) on the Baby, and it has proven to be a favourite with military and civilian air schools and glider clubs for 70-plus years. from Grunau, the eastern German mountain town where Schneider’s factory was located. This area, The name of the glider came with its many mountains and thermals, was a perfect place for gliding, and a natural birthplace for such an esteemed aircraft. aircraft to the sport of gliding and the role it has played in getting so many generations airborne, it is somewhat surprising that there Given the importance of the hasn’t been an injection moulded kit of this plane before now. It is high time that someone finally made a nice replica of this graceful

and important aircraft, and thankfully, the folks at AZ Models have stepped up to the plate. THE BOXBecause the Baby was used in so many countries at so many times, it has worn a lot of different colour schemes. It would be impossible for AZ to issue a kit with the decals to cover all the options; heck, even to cover the most important options would require a huge number of liveries. To make matters a bit simpler (and to sell a few more kits, likely) AZ actually sells multiple versions of this kit, each one coming with markings and painting guides for 4 different machines. This also means there are different boxes for each of these variant sets. box is SMALL. This makes sense; One thing about this kit: the after all, it’s the Grunau BABY, not

the Grunau “Gigantic Plane”. The box is smaller than most 1/72 WWII planes, and is only slightly larger in surface area than the Matchbox Wellesley. This shows just how well packed the Wellesley was, I guess!First things first: the title here is THE KIT a bit misleading because it should say “Kits”. Yes, there are actually two full Babys in the box, as you get a pair of identical sprues in the box! And they contain everything you need to build a complete plane, except for a windscreen. The kits in my box were a medium beige colour, and the fabric detail is nicely and finely done. while others didn’t. The windscreen was very small; it seems that back in the day it was thought to Some Babies had a windscreen, be important for pilots to be able

to feel the wind in their faces. Indeed, even on the real Baby, the windscreen is little more than a curved piece of plastic. To replicate this, the AZ kit comes with four windscreens printed onto a thin acetate sheet. They wisely give you a few extras in case you mess up. Sounds like a good plan to me! In my boxing, it came with markings for Sweden, Poland, The decal sheet is very nice.

Hungary, and Spain. The decals look good and are printed by Eduard so there should not be any problems with them, although I didn’t use them in my build.BUILDING A BABYTo make this Baby you don’t need to know about the birds and the bees! The first step is to build the interior. This is made from two floorboards, a seat back/headrest, and a control stick. In addition, there are two very tiny rudder pedals. There is also an instrument panel with a couple of round “dials” on it. cockpit are not overly clear. They Sadly, the instructions for the appear to show the control stick’s “t” mounted under the floorboards, with the floor separated around it, but I found that it actually seems to fit better when the two floor pieces are mounted flush. Also, it’s not clear if the floor attaches to the bottom or front of the seat back. problem with this model; the This would end up being a instructions put simply, are actually not helpful when they need to be. It’s a shame, because with a kit this low in part count, you’d think it would be pretty easy to show things properly

into the fuselage was an issue, probably because I had glued it together wrongly. But eventually, I found fitting the cockpit with a bit of sanding, I got it to fit. Before attaching it into place, I painted it using Model Master Acrylic (MMA) Dark Tan, which

was followed by a brown wash with Devlan Mud from Citadel. I also added a light coat of Baddab Black on the inside of the fuselage sides to bring out the frame detail. passably, and the rudder is a good fit. However, despite the rectangular tab on the stabilizer the fit is not great and it does not The tailplane fits on guarantee a proper alignment. rectangular block on the top of the fuselage does not even fit into the The wings are even worse; the

hole in the wings at all. It is too wide and too tall. Even when you get it to fit width ways, the wing is too far off the fuselage. What I thought would be a 10-minute assembly job ended up taking far longer than it should have. Once everything’s together, though, it does look nice.

windscreen easier, I used my scriber to cut a mounting groove for it on the front fuselage. There’s a slight indentation showing where the To make attaching the window goes, so I just thought I’d help it out. This was one of the best ideas I’ve had of late, and it saved me tonnes of trouble later! I aligned the wings and tailplane by eye; you could use the bracing struts, but they’re better added afterwards, at least in my case. I

knew that I would have underwing decals and I did not want to decal around a support strut! PAINTING THE BABYFor reasons that will be revealed shortly, I wanted to do the glider as an NSFK (Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps – national socialist flying corps) craft. The NSFK was formed in the early 1930s to encourage a resurgence of aviation in Germany. Doing some research led me to the conclusion that the Baby would thus likely be painted in RLM 05 cream. look right at all, so I took a light My Model Master RLM 05 didn’t yellow mixed paint I’d had for a while, and made it paler. I did this until it matched the colour chip I’d found online. I then primed the airplane in grey primer, and used my Badger 155 Anthem to put on a few coats of the paint. It took about three coats to cover, and I was worried that the fine detail on the wings and tail would be obscured. They weren’t too badly affected, though, and I could see them alright after some light sanding.

Is this what my great uncle saw? This is as close as I can come to mimicking that photograph in my great aunt’s album. I don’t have someone off-camera balancing the wing, so the Baby assumes its natural pose of resting on one wingtip. I hope Otto will forgive my misspelling, but the model was done before I found out it was a “t”, not an “l”.

This is the very Spartan interior of the Baby. There’s a control stick and rudder pedals, and that’s about it. You can see the wooden frame texture on the side of the cockpit “walls”. Simple, but with a wash, it pops out. Sadly, you can’t see it when the Baby’s all built up This is a picture of my Oma (right) and great uncle (left) when they were kids in the late 1920s. About a decade later, both would be involved with the legendary Grunau Baby

windscreen. Note that the tail band goes from the lower Here you can see the thin black frame around the edge of the rudder to the bottom of the fin cap. That’s two layers of decals, and alignment is critical! From this angle, the pastelling on the wing ribs and “solid/fabric” divide is clearly evident on the Baby’s huge wings and tailplane. Only the control surfaces are outlined in pencil, where there would be a “break” on the real plane

BUILT THESE PLANES AND MY GREAT “I STARTED THIS BUILD WANTING TO PAY TRIBUTE TO MY OMA WHO UNCLE WHO ACTUALLY FLEW THEM”

KIT REVIEWS

A AMARG (formally AMRAC) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base just outside Tuscon in Arizona.AMARG’s proper name is the little day trip before the 2018 IPMS Nationals for the SAMi team was to 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, but for most it is more famous as the Desert Bone yard. The unit has 4 functions.

Long-term storage for future use.• 2. Parts Reclamation, useful items are removed and used to keep other aircraft flying.

Flying Hold, aircraft in short term storage• 4. Excess, aircraft that are no longer required by the United States Government, which may
be sold on normally for scrap.

storage facility for all United States Government aircraft and currently has nearly 4000 aircraft in storage with 300 new arrivals each year. The Bone yard is now the main As this is an active airbase you can only access the facility by a coach trip from the nearby Pima Air Museum which needs to be booked in advance. This tour, which last approximately 2 hours, gives you

just a sneak peak at the aircraft in storage. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to leave the coach which does make photography a challenge.This month we are going to share with you some photographs of the US Navy aircraft in storage on the 31st July 2018.

One of a number ofF-18A in parts reclamation including a former Blue Angels aircraft, this would make a great diorama

History Row has an example of most of the types in store including this T-39 Sabreliner painted in a retro 1930s colour scheme for the US Navy centennial in 2011 A large number of S-3 Vikings and ES-3 Shadows were seen on our tour including this former VS-3 aircraft in history row

These Vikings have been declared excess and will shortly disappear from the world at the hands of the scrap man

Seahawks and Vikings in long term storage though ultimately most will be scrapped

Just a small part of the S-3 fleet in long term storage

BONEYARD

DESERT SCRAPBOOKPart One: US Navy by D Francis and Tim Upson Smith

Hard to believe that the Tomcat left service left service 12 years ago but a number are still in store

PARTONE

PHOTO REPORT

6 Cloth Bomber Airfix’s New 1/72 Vickers Wellington Mk.1a by Huw Morgan

22 A Blue Impulse Hasegawa 1/72 T-4 Blue Impulse 2017 Markings by Jonathan Davies

42 First Looks Airfix Victor K.2 /SR. Pacific Coast Models 1/32 Fw190A Big Sky 1/32 Schopf Tow Tractor

66 Wind in the Wires Wingnut Wings 1/32 Sopwith Dolphin F.1 by Guy Goodwin

14 Double Vertical Kinetic 1/48 T-Harrier (Harrier Trainer) by Michael Chilestone

30 Full-On Phantom Jay Blakemore Strays from His Comfort Zone with a Quick Build of Zoukei-Mura’s 1/48 F4-C Phantom II

62 Oma’s Glider An extended review of AZ Models Grunau Baby IIb by Adam Rehorn

72 Desert Boneyard Scrapbook Part One: US Navy by D Francis and Tim Upson Smith

CONTENTS

35 The SAM News 38 Czech News 46 Accessories 50 Tool of the month

52 Decals 56 Reviews 76 Books & Media 82 Show Diary

ALSO INSIDE

NEW SERIES!

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