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Roland C.IIa Late - 1:32 Wingnut Wings


Viking

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Roland C.IIa Late

1:32 Wingnut Wings

Boxtop.jpg

After initially building Albatros two seaters under licence, the Roland company began to look at producing an aircraft of their own design. A lot of effort went in to creating as smooth and low drag a shape as possible, eliminating the cabane struts by mounting the top wing directly on to the top of the fuselage.

The fuselage itself was an innovative monocoque construction of layers of thin plywood strips laid over a mould in a criss-cross pattern. Two halves were made (just like a kit!) and joined together around an interior framework. The join line was covered with tape and the whole unit covered with doped on fabric, creating a fuselage with an excellent strength to weight ratio.

Nicknamed 'Walfisch' (Whale) the C.II proved to be significantly faster than most other two seaters, and the majority of single seat fighters. View above and behind was excellent, but downward was poor due to the positioning of the pilot high up near the wings, and made the aircraft difficult to land. The tail assembly also suffered from some lack of airflow due to the blanking effect of the fuselage. However, as long as it held on to it's speed advantage it was able to carry out its reconnaissance tasks in relative safety. The C.II and later C.IIa served from the spring of 1916 until mid 1917, latterly in an escort role or employed on troop support/ground attack. Once removed from front line service most Rolands were only to be found in use with training units.

An attractive aircraft, many will be familiar with the vintage 1/72 Airfix kit, either in its single issue or 'Dog Fight Double' with wonderful artwork showing it slugging it out with an RE.8 (and what a rare treat it was those days to afford to buy one!). Blue Max and Eduard have both issued the Roland in 1/48 and such is my liking for it that I have examples of both in the stash. Joining them now are two releases from Wingnut Wings in 1/32 covering the 'early' and 'late' production versions. Principle differences were that the late versions had strengthened wings, a forward firing 1MG 08 Spandau, aileron control rods and tubes routed through the wings, a stick type control column, and most noticeably on the very late examples, an enlarged fin.

The Kit.

The 'late' edition of the kit has been received for review at Britmodeller. Arriving in it's classy black, silver edged box with Steve Anderson's evocative painting of a pair of C.IIa's high up over the western front, this one has been eagerly awaited by many. More than usual the box has a very weighty feel, and no wonder, because when you lift the lid it is absolutely packed with sprues. We already know that Wingnut Wings never disappoint, and anticipation is by now running at fever pitch, so lets take a look!

The instruction manual is the familiar fully illustrated high quality document that Wingnut Wings always provide. The 28 pages offer a short write up of the subject, a parts map, 12 construction stages, 5 finishing options, and plenty of original period photographs. Think less 'construction drawings' and more 'reference document to retain after the model is built'. I have never seen better instructions than those provided by Wingnut Wings. And they back them up on their website with more period photographs, hints & tips, and any amendments.

Sprue A.
Covers the interior frameworks and fittings, all delicately moulded with fine detail from parts such as the dimpled and creased seat cushion, through the ultra fine matrix pattern on the radiators, to the finely fretted framework of the bulkheads. Every part is perfectly formed and free from any flash or sink marks.

SprueA.jpg


Sprue B.
A real eye catcher this one, holding the fuselage halves and sundry fittings. The lovely shape of the fuselage is captured beautifully, and features cut out louvres on the nose, various other minor 'lumps & bumps' and louvres and vents that you may need to carefully remove depending upon which finishing option you choose. The tail fin will need to be fitted from a choice of the early or later and larger option. On the inside the angled plywood construction is represented and there are a selection of flashed over holes that you may need to drill out according to your chosen option. Several parts on this sprue are marked as not for use, but still the moulding quality of them is exquisite.

SprueB.jpg

Details;

SprueB1.jpg

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Sprue C.
Two are provided, with the side window and windscreen options.

SprueC.jpg

Sprue D.
Another double set, these cover the wheels, tail planes, inter plane struts, and smaller parts needed in duplicate. Again some are marked as not for use.

SprueD.jpg

Sprue E.
Here we have the engine, a Daimler-Mercedes D.III. I have built several of these already as it is common to several other Wingnuts kits. It builds up easily and looks great when all the natural metal parts are finished in Alclad. The only thing I ever add is ignition wiring from the magnetos to the plugs, using fine copper wire. As indicated in the instructions, only two of the props are appropriate to this version - the Axial and the Wolff.

SprueE.jpg

Sprues G and G3.
These are generic sprues also found in other Wingnut Wings kits. 'G' holds a small set of Parabellum options and ammo drums, whilst G3 is a 'general fittings' set. As well as more props there are various Recce cameras, ladders, flare racks and pistols, radios, a first aid box, and other useful bits and bobs. A lot of this can go to your spares box or be used in a diorama. It is the sort of really useful stuff that you just won't find anywhere else and is a definite bonus to buying this kit.

SprueG.jpg

SprueG3.jpg


Sprue H.
One of two sprues unique to the 'late' version of this kit, this holds the wings, Spandau & roll hoop, bomb rack, and a couple of panels. The early wings had wire trailing edges (which would have produced a 'scalloped' effect) but the late wings did not. Such is Wingnut wings attention to detail that they produced a completely new tool to replicate this, and also moulded the control linkages in relief.

SprueH.jpg

Detail of the finely moulded bomb rack;

SprueH1.jpg


Sprue I.
The other one unique to this release. Here we have the cockpit floor, instrument panel, two more choices of exhaust pipes, the 'late' tailfin, and a small selection of levers, pulleys, etc.

SprueI.jpg

Photo etch.
Pilots and Observers seatbelts, gunsights and jackets for the machine guns.

SprueP.jpg

Decals.
Printed by Cartograf on an A4 sized sheet all the options are covered, with a section common to all and largely consisting of instrument faces, stencils etc. Various Eisenkreuz are provided with and without white square backgrounds according to which option you choose. A nice touch is that option A is provided with a choice of black or red fuselage bands, as it is not clear from the period black & white photographs which were used. As the instructions also include a photo you can make your own interpretation.

Decals.jpg

The printing is beautifully sharp, and is especially impressive on the smaller stencils.

Decals1.jpg


Options.
Option A, Roland C.IIa, "White 7", Kasta 2, Kagohl 1, Late 1916 - Early 1917.

OptionA.jpg

Option B, Roland C.IIa, (Li) "Black III", Vfw Hesse, Schusta 13, Early 1917.

OptionB.jpg

Option C, Roland C.IIa (Li) 3645/16, Hans Joachim von Hippel (1 victory), Beobachter Schule Cöln, Early - mid 1917.

OptionC.jpg

Option D, Roland C.IIa "White 21", Otto Burgermeister, Kasta 21, Kagohl IV, November-December 1916.

OptionD.jpg

Option E, Roland C.IIa "circles", Kagohl II?, late 1916 - Early 1917.

OptionE.jpg

Conclusion.
I'm sure that the Roland C.II has been eagerly awaited by many of us, certainly I have been really looking forward it. Iti s well up to the high standards that Wingnut Wings have set and I have no doubt that it will fit together beautifully and look stunning when finished.
One big advantage is that the wing arrangement should make it easy to build, in that both sets fit right on the fuselage with only two interplane struts. For a biplane, it hardly gets easier than this. There is a little bit of rigging, but it is minimal and simple.
Given the attractiveness of the aircraft and what looks to be an uncomplicated assembly job, I can see this one becoming one of Wingnut Wings best sellers.

Again there can be only one verdict;

Highly Recommended

Review sample courtesy of
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