Roden Vickers Super VC10 Tanker K3 - Roden (327) 1:144

[bootneck]

Vickers Super VC10 Tanker K3

 

Roden 1:144

 

 

The beginnings for the design of the Vickers VC10 can be traced back to the period when the “V-bombers” were being developed in the mid-1950s. Vickers were keen to transition themselves from a propeller based airliner producer to jet powered airliners, mainly to service the Empire and for the long haul Britain to America route, thereby reducing flight times. At the time, the only V bomber flying was the prototype Vickers Valiant but Vickers could foresee a civil version being derived from a larger design; designated the V1000, and this eventually became the Vickers VC7 specification. Unfortunately, orders to progress the VC7 were curtailed due to the RAF’s refusal to allow specification details of the V1000 to be published, thereby restricting Vickers’ sales teams from promoting the VC7 to potential civil buyers; such as Trans-Canada Airlines and Pan American Airways. Another setback occurred when the aircraft manufacturing companies of the 1950’s were all merged under the new nationalised brand of British Aerospace and much of their individual uniqueness became absorbed within the larger corporation. Later, in 1955, the government at the time cancelled the V1000 for the RAF which consequently impacted the VC7 and made it virtually dead; however, not long after, BOAC approached Vickers about producing a jet-engined airliner to a similar design. This ultimately led to the production of the Vickers Type 1100 series, more popularly known as the Vickers standard VC10s, and being further developed into the Type 1150 series; the Vickers Super VC10. The Vickers VC10 was a welcome addition to both military and civil operators, with the RAF operating them for troop transporting, freighting and CASEVAC duties, whilst civil operators utilised them for long-haul around the Empire and to the USA..

Commitments for the RAF to the far flung reaches of the Empire meant that long-haul flights necessitated regular staging stops for refuelling but, as Britain’s control of those bases began to recede, requirements were needed to develop in-flight refuelling for both strategic and tactical requirements. Over the following years, in-flight refuelling was provided by converted V-bombers such as the Vickers Valiant; Handley Page Victor and even the Avro Vulcan. By the late 1970’s these aircraft were getting to the end of their airframe fatigue life; with only the Victor K2 still operational, therefore a new air tanker was required to which designs were being put forward. This culminated in 1978 with the Ministry of Defence authorising British Aerospace to purchase and convert former civilian VC10’s to the tanker role.
Nine aircraft were eventually purchased by the RAF; five former Gulf Air standard VC10’s, which were converted to the K2 spec., and four former East African Airways super VC10s that became the K3 spec. These aircraft were flown to Filton near Bristol, where the conversions were to be undertaken; with the design work and parts manufacturing being done at the Bristol division of British Aerospace’s Weybridge plant. The conversion programme was to be extensive, mainly as many of the original components were in need of either replacing or a major upgrade, especially in avionics and engineering. Each aircraft was stripped down to the bare frames and then virtually rebuilt; with the engines being replaced with Rolls-Royce Conway R.Co 43 units and had an Artouste APU fitted in the tail cone.
The fuel for refuelling other aircraft was carried in five double skinned fuselage tanks fitted within the VC10s cabin area, plus the K2 had additional capacity in fin fuel tanks which provided a combined total of 181,000lbs of available fuel. Each aircraft had three refuelling points; two if which were provided from underwing strong points with a third position under the rear of the fuselage. These carried a Mk.32 refuelling pod that was attached to a Mk.17B hose drum unit in the rear freight bay of the aircraft.


The Kit

The kit is packed in a good sized and sturdy card box with top opening, which is useful for placing in the stash until all the research is completed and we are ready to start the build. On the front of the box is a very nice colour image of ZA149 (H) of No.101 Squadron RAF refuelling two fully armed Tornado aircraft.

Within the box there are five sprues plus two fuselage halves in light grey plastic, plus another sprue containing clear parts for the windscreen and cabin windows. There is some flash but that looks to be fairly thin and should a simple task to clean up. As can be seen below, the window openings are not fully open across all of them therefore work will also be needed here before the clear window pieces will fit correctly.

The fuselage pieces have quite a lot of clumpy sprue points along the join lines; I counted twenty on one fuselage half and thirteen on the other which makes for a lot of sanding before any further work can be done here. Panel lines on the surfaces are finely engraved, with additional raised sections set above and below the main cabin and cargo doors.

These spigots of plastic appear to protrude from the join line and slightly overlap onto the fuselage exterior, which means extra care will be required when sanding these areas smooth, without impacting those fine panel lines.

The wing sections showed most of the flash on this kit but it is really fine and should break away or cut easily without any real issues. Panel lines are very fine here, as with the fuselage, however it is very nicely detailed. The attachment points to the sprues are equally as clunky as with the fuselage so care needs to be taken when removing these components.

 

The next sprue holds the tail fin and engine nacelles and connecting strut. The outlet gratings, shown as rectangles on the outer nacelle and fin, are just rectangular indentations. These are in need of some after-market p.e. to be produced in order to enhance this rather bland area.

Sprue D has the tail planes pieces, nose-wheel, main-wheel flaps and the centre-line refuelling control unit. There are other components on this sprue which are not required for this version and therefore can be added to the spares box.

There are two identical sprue F sets and these contain the engine intakes and exhaust components, along with the main wheel assemblies and the underwing hard-points with the hose deployment unit. The over-wing strakes for the main wings are also part of these sprues, as are various antenna blades.

 

The final sprue is the one containing the clear parts. There are four windows strips, two for each fuselage half; plus the main windscreen and roof area. The cockpit is bereft of any detail whatsoever, not even a floor piece; however, the opening where the windscreen and roof piece fits is large enough to allow for any enterprising modeller to construct seats etc. before this component is fitted into place.

A set of masks for the windscreen and cabin windows is supplied in this kit. There is a very tiny mask for each individual window which will be good news for those who wish to paint the model after the clear parts have been inserted.
 

Decals

Decals are provided for a single K3 tanker, namely ZA149 of 101 Squadron, Royal Air Force, and comes with all the demarcation lines, unit badges and cheat lines necessary to complete the VC10 tanker.

A colour sheet is provided which gives details of two different schemes for ZA149; the first with the hemp coloured livery and another in the standard RAF grey scheme

Conclusion

 

This kit has a few areas of concern over the thick sprue connectors to the components but they are not insurmountable with a little care in preparation. I have not had a chance to compare the components to a scale plan but the parts do look good and the panel line details look to be correct and well defined. I envisage that this will be a popular kit and I shall be buying at one or two more so that I can have them in different liveries.
 

Review sample courtesy of
UK Distributors for

[Dave Fleming]

Be interested to see the decals in real life, not sure they have either the fonts or the colours right.

[bootneck]

Hi Dave,

that's probably due to my scanner settings, rather than the colours being off. I have just taken a quick photo of the sheet and it shows the colours to be a better match. The colours on the actual sheet look fine to me and any anomaly in this photo is more likely to be the lighting conditions where I took this shot.

Mike

[Teeradej]

Lately I like the way Roden choose to deal with many cool subject which never been kitted before or simply surpass some obsolete kits from previous age and how latest kits gradually get better in terms of research and parts fit. I think this one would be no exception.

[Foghorn Leghorn]

Be interested to see the decals in real life, not sure they have either the fonts or the colours right.

Yeah same here, the fuselage grey stripes looked way off ...

Hi Dave,

that's probably due to my scanner settings, rather than the colours being off.

...but now they look better. As a result the kit's just been moved to the 'A' buying list

[stringbag]

Lately I like the way Roden choose to deal with many cool subject which never been kitted before or simply surpass some obsolete kits from previous age and how latest kits gradually get better in terms of research and parts fit. I think this one would be no exception.

Well said Sir.

My thoughts exactly

Chris.

[Dave Fleming]

That does look better. The last Airfix release of the K2 had beautifully designed decals, but for some reason they were printed appallingly