Scale aviation modeller international

Percival Vega Gull’s

First look at Dora Wings 1/72 Percival Vega Gull’s by Tim Upson-Smith

DW72002: Percival Vega Gull (civil service)

DW72004: Percival Vega Gull (military

service)

57 injection moulded grey plastic parts

9 injection moulded clear parts

47 photo-etched steel parts

Canopy and wheel masks

Film instruments

I

must confess that I have

been looking forward to this

release, as 1930s Golden Age

aviation has been overlooked

by a lot of model companies,

which is a shame as this period

produced some of the world’s

most attractive aircraft. The box

art for both versions is superb;

I especially like the civil box art

showing Alex Henshaws Gull

flying over a DH 88 Comet.

The introduction on the

instruction booklet credits John

Adams of Aeroclub with providing

the drawings on which the kit is

based and for providing every help

and assistance during the kit’s

development. As Dora Wings state,

”You’re the man John!“ I found this

statement about the cooperation

between the established company

Aeroclub, and this newer company,

Dora Wings, rather heart

warming. Long may it continue!

So what do we find inside the

top-opening box? Let’s take a

look: we have an A5 colour-printed

instruction booklet, which has a

brief introduction to the type, a

sprue layout diagram, and the step-

by-step construction diagrams.

The marking schemes are

illustrated in colour at the back of

the booklet. Strangely though, no

colour names or manufacturer’s

paint codes are given, so you

will need to do a bit of research

for the interior colours and then

match the paint to the decals

for your chosen civil option.

This will be easier for the

military version, as three of the

options are all-over silver dope and

the fourth option in the standard

RAF dark earth and dark green

over pale blue undersides. The civil

options include two Gulls with red

fuselages and two with a turquoise

fuselage, which looks to be almost

the same colour as the cockpit of

Russian MiG’s from the 60s and 70s!

The four colour schemes

provided in the civil version are:

• G-AEKE, the winner of the 1936
  Schlesinger Race, flown by
  C.W.A. Scott and Giles Guthrie.
  Turquoise fuselage with
  silver dyed flying surfaces.


• VP-KCC, flown by Beryl Markham
  in her September 1936 Atlantic
  flight. This is in the same
  turquoise scheme as option A.


• G-AFBW, flown by Alex
  Henshaw 1938 in Cypress. This
  aircraft has a red fuselage with
  white trim line (provided as
  a decal). The flying surfaces
  are finished in silver dope.


• G-AFBC, flown by Lady Sherborne
  in the 1952 Kings Cup Air Race,
  race number 67. The fuselage is
  red with silver doped cowling, fin,
  rudder, and flying surfaces.
  The military service boxing also
  has four markings options, 3 of
  which are overall silver dope.


• NZ571 42 Sqn RNZAF,
  Rongotai, 1944. This Gull is
  dark green and dark earth
  over pale blue undersides.


• OO-ANC, requisitioned by the
  Belgium government during the

Phony War in 1939.

This silver doped

Gull has Belgian

roundels over the

civil registration.

• L7272 ex G-AFWG was delivered
  to the Secretary of State for
  Air in 1939 and allocated to the
  Air Attaché in Buenos Aires,
  Argentina. Overall silver dope.


• T-6 ex -L7272, sold to the
  Argentine Government in
  1946. The aircraft retained its
  overall silver dope finish.
  The plastic parts are bagged
  in a resealable bag and the clear
  parts are bagged separately inside
  it. The decals, masks, and photo-
  etch are also bagged separately,
  which is a really nice touch as it
  ensures the parts arrive in perfect
  condition. The decals are printed
  in the Ukraine by Decograph and
  are in perfect register and look
  to have good colour density.
  The masks are the grey vinyl
  type and the kit supplies them for
  both the canopy and wheels. No
  mention is made in the instructions
  of how to fit them, but if you
  have used masks before it should
  be fairly self-explanatory. The
  photo-etched steel fret offers
  lap belts, the instrument panel,
  and some internal and external
  detail, including the pitot tube.
  The plastic parts are well-
  moulded and feature raised or
  recessed details as appropriate.
  There is a bit of flash and moulded
  seam lines present that will need

to be cleaned up, but nothing

major. Depending on the version

you are building there are various

optional parts, so it might be

worth marking the parts you

need on the instructions or

removing the parts you don’t

from the sprues before you start.

The transparencies are

supplied as multiple parts, with

the cockpit doors being provided

as separate parts. The parts

are not the clearest I have seen

but by the time they have been

dipped in Johnson’s Klear/Future

and the frame lines painted I

think they should look fine.

CONCLUSION

This looks to be a really nice kit

from Dora Wings, but due to

the lack of colour notes I would

recommend it to perhaps the more

experienced modeller who doesn’t

mind doing a bit of research before

they start. For me personally that

is half the fun of our hobby, but

I know it’s not for everybody.

There does seem to be a revival

of interest in British inter-war civil

aircraft from kit manufacturers,

which I for one applaud. Long may

it continue, as companies like Miles

and Percival designed and built

some very pretty aircraft, which

I would love to see produced as

mainstream injection moulded kits.

My thanks to Dora Wings for

supplying us with this kit for review.

Once my current project is finished

this will be going on to my bench,

so look for a full build soon.

42 • SEPTEMBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

FIRST LOOK!

042-45-FirstLooks-0918.indd 42 16/08/2018 17:17