Roland C.II - 1:48 Revell

[Julien]

Roland C.II
1:48 Revell

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.

The Kit
This is a re-boxing by Revell of the Eduard kit. The packaging would indicate the plastic has come direct from Eduard. The Eduard kit was released in 2000 and re-released at regular intervals upto its last release in 2012. There are four main sprues of plastic and a small clear sprue. Construction starts inside the main fuselage with the main glazing being put in place in each fuselage half, followed by some internal fittings including the spare magazines for the rear gunner. This is followed by the gunners compartment being assembled and installed.

Next up the pilots compartments is built up and installed. Engine bearers are then installed in front of the pilots area in preparation for the engine. The engine is the next part to be built up and installed. The engine is a multi-part affair including separate exhausts. Due to the construction of the Roland not much of this will be visible once the next step of closing the main fuselage halves is complete. After this is done the scarf ring for the gunner is added along with a side mounted radiator for the engine.

Construction then moves onto the wings. Unlike most bi-plane models the lower wing is one part which attaches under the main fuselage, and the top wings are split left/right and attach to each side of the fuselage. One large aerodynamic interplane strut holds the wings apart near the tips. Following the adding of the wings the tail planes and rudder are attached. Control cable attachment points are provided for the rudder, and wing ailerons.

To finish off the main undercarriage and tail skid are built up and added to the main fuselage. The main fixed forward firing gun is added to the top of the wing, and the rear gun is also added. The main exhaust is added to the engine and lastly the propeller and hub are added to the front of the aircraft. It is worth a mention that the instructions are the new revel type of 3D CAD renders, and while the include a rigging diagram it is not as clear as the old 3 view drawings.

Decals
Decals options come for two aircraft. The decals are printed in Italy and are good quality, glossy, with minimal carrier film and should pose no problems. The options are;

• Western Front Late 1916 3 colour camo (as per the box art)
• Western Front, Autumn 1916, all over grey

Conclusion
Price is not normally something mentioned in reviews as it is dependent upon the reader's location and local distribution. However in the UK the Eduard boxing of the kit (albeit in the weekend format with one decal option) is available at a lower price point. If you are looking for more variety in decal options however, then this boxing may well hit the sweet spot, especially when the discounters have got their teeth into it.

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

[FredG]

I got this one a couple of weeks ago off Amazon for £8 with free postage. BARGAIN!

[Gav G]

I nearly picked the last £8 kit on Amazon up last week to use as a paint mule for when I finslly order an airbush kit.  In the end I decided to not to in order to not annoy swmbo! And then I went and spent £45 in Hobbycraft on Tamiya paints etc instead, and that was after using a 20% off voucher.