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Handley Page Hampden (A04011V) 1:72 Airfix Vintage Classics The Hampden began development in the early 1930s as a response to a requirement for a twin-engined bomber, that was required to improve performance substantially over previous generations, with Vickers and Handley Page both submitting candidates for the task, that went on to become the Wellington and Hampden, respectively. Handley Page’s design was encountering issues with its intended Rolls-Royce Goshawk power-plants, switching to a more powerful radial engine once the unladen weight restrictions were relaxed from the initial restrictions. The Bristol Pegasus engine was eventually chosen, and by 1936 the type flew for the first time, but when the press first saw it, a remark that its deep and narrow fuselage resembled a flying suitcase was made, and that nickname stuck for the duration of the Hampden’s service life. Some alterations to the design took place over the next few prototypes, including a change of engines that was reversed to the Bristol Pegasus XVIII by the time the first production examples left the factory, but the weight-saving manually operated Vickers-K guns in Perspex blisters proved to be ineffectual for self-defence once the aircraft entered active service. In-flight, the aircraft was said to be responsive by pilots, in part due to a well-designed control system and excellent visibility for the pilot, who was surrounded by wide expanses of Perspex in a position above the line of the engines. Its accommodation was less impressive however, as the crew had to be seated in-line due to the 3ft width of the interior, which prevented crew members from passing each other to obey the call of nature on long trips, so it was generally considered to be an uncomfortable aircraft to spend any considerable time in. The most recent bomber to reach service before the beginning of WWII, the Hampden entered service in 1938, increasing in number until the outbreak of war, with over two hundred and twenty in service at the time. Bomber Command had established early on that even modern bombers were vulnerable on daylight raids, so the Hampden and its colleagues were limited to night-time bombing during the opening days of the conflict, laying mines and generally harassing the enemy whenever they could, whilst suffering minimal casualties. A switch to daytime raids confirmed that the aircraft’s armament was ineffective, but other roles were forthcoming, including torpedo bombing and convoy protection across the freezing seas to Murmansk in Soviet Russia, flying its last operational bombing sortie in 1942 before it was withdrawn to conduct other tasks that involved a transfer of some airframes to Coastal Command, where it became a long-distance torpedo bomber, and conducted maritime reconnaissance until 1943 when it was retired, with almost half of the airframes and crews being lost on operations in British service. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand also flew Hampdens in variable numbers, with a small number also serving in the Soviet Naval Air Force as reconnaissance assets, and one solitary Hampden being assessed by Sweden. In line with many British aircraft that were retired during the early portion of the war, very few Hampdens survived, with only a few recovered and restored airframes in existence, a few partial airframes retrieved from crash sites, but sadly none in flight-worthy condition. The Kit The original tooling of this kit was released in 1968, and has been reboxed several times in the intervening years, although there has been a long gap of fourteen years since the last time it appeared. It has been reboxed with new decals as part of Airfix’s Vintage Classics range, and arrives in a medium red-themed top-opening box, and the original Roy Cross box art on the front, depicting a trio of Hampdens unleashing their bomb load in a daylight raid, led by an airframe that has Popeye painted on its nose, and the squadron code P*EA. Inside the box are four sprues and seven loose parts in grey styrene, a separately bagged sprue of clear parts, decal sheet and instruction booklet. Because of the age of the tooling, the sprues don’t have runners around their edges, the panel lines are raised, as are the rivets, and there has been a modicum of mould wear in the 50+ years that this model was initially tooled. The clear parts appear to be in good shape, but there is a little flash here and there on the other sprues and parts, so take the time to test fit the parts before applying glue, and adjust them where necessary. The fuselage parts have been torn from the manufacturing sprues in quite a rough manner, resulting in a small pit and a hole in the joint behind the mid-upper turret, as pictured further into this review. It’s not something that will take too much time to correct, but it’s worth knowing it’s possible in advance. Construction begins with the cockpit, which is a simple affair, consisting of a main rectangular floor with a sloped front, and a raised platform on which the pilot’s seat and control column are placed, along with the legless pilot figure if you feel the urge to use him. At the rear of the floor is a simple stool on a single support, which accepts the mid-upper gunner figure, who is hunched over his twin Vickers machine guns that are joined by a simple pivot. Another stool is supplied for the bombardier/nose gunner, and a short bulkhead with circular seat is fitted into the rear of the fuselage for the lower gunner to sit with his pair of K-guns projecting from the clear canopy. An instrument panel with decal dials applied is fitted in front of the pilot, allowing the fuselage to be closed around the cockpit and gunners after detail painting. While the glue sets up, the four sections (made from eight parts) of the two rudder panels are joined together and mated with the elevator panel, which is made from two halves, plus a separate flying surface. The nose glazing has a machine gun inserted through a hole in the lower portion, and four three-part bombs are made if you intend to display them in the bomb bay. Once the fuselage seam has been dealt with in your preferred manner, and you have made a decision regarding the rivets and raised panel lines, the tail is joined to the tail boom, the nose, cockpit, observer and mid-upper gunner’s glazing are installed, with the choice of an alternative mid-upper canopy depicting it in the open position. You have a choice of posing the bomb bay doors open to expose two bomb ‘ladders’ that each mount two of the four bombs made earlier side-by-side, or you can close the bay using an alternative single part instead. Each wing is a separate assembly made from upper and lower halves, but first, you need to trap the twin landing gear struts in position with a pair of inserts that fit over parallel guides to allow the gear legs to pivot if you wish. The twin retraction jacks are added later along with the two bay doors, but in the meantime, the ailerons are trapped between the two wing halves on their pivot-pins, although if you leave them unglued, they will both succumb to gravity, giving the impression of a broken control wire, so if you wish to make a more realistic model, either glue both flush with the wings, or offset them both in opposite directions to portray a more realistic state of the controls. Each gear leg has a four-part wheel flex-fitted between the struts, and a scrap diagram shows how the completed assemblies should look, omitting the upper wing half for clarity. The two wings can then be slotted into the fuselage, but test fit them before doing so, as they were tight on our review sample, and will need some thinning or widening of the slot to fit neatly in place. Each wing has most of the engine nacelle moulded into it, leaving the engines and their cowlings as separate assemblies. The cowlings are each a single part, into which a basic depiction of the Pegasus engine slots in from behind, adding a three-bladed propeller to the centre on a long spindle that is held in position with a thick styrene washer that is glued behind the engine. A small spinner is fixed to the centre of the prop, accompanied by an intake under the cowling, and the exhaust on the side, both of which are oriented identically, rather than being handed. The completed engines are glued in place on the wings, adding intakes and sensors on the top of the nacelles, horn-balances under the ailerons, a landing light in the port wing leading edge, tail-wheel, and other sensors around the nose glazing. Another pair of bombs are included, again made from three parts each, and fitted under the wings on the inner/outer wing joint on a small carrier. A radio mast and D/F loop are inserted into holes in the spine of the aircraft between the navigator’s window and the mid-upper turret to complete the model. Markings There is just one decal option on the sheet, ‘Popeye’ from the box art. From the box you can build the following: ‘Popeye’ No.49 Sqn., Bomber Command, RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire, England,1941 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion You’ll need to keep your wits about you to make a good job of this old kit, but it’s worth the effort, and with a little care and skill you should be able to come up with a creditable replica of this early WWII medium bomber. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk.V (A08016) 1:72 Airfix Surprisingly, the Whitley entered service as late as 1937, despite having a look of an aircraft from a bygone age. It was a twin-engine medium bomber that was commissioned in 1934 as the replacement to the ageing biplane Heyford, as part of a programme that saw the Wellington and Hampden also enter service in time to take part in the early days of WWII. Powered by a pair of Tiger radial engine that drove three-bladed props, an unusual feature in the day, the design had a high angle of incidence engineered into its wings, which was due to the initial intention not to use flaps, which was later reversed, although the wing stayed the same. This gave the aircraft a nose-down attitude in-flight, creating drag that negatively affected its performance, although other aspects of its design were more competent, and in some respects ground-breaking, using sheet material for structural strength, rather than hanging the skin off a tubular framework. A small batch of Mk.Is were built before a more advanced variant of the Tiger engine was introduced in the Mk.II, followed by a Mk.III that had a powered nose turret and a drop-down ‘dustbin’ ventral turret that added even more drag to the equation, resulting in its removal in the Mk.IV that was powered by Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, improving its performance despite the drag. The Mk.V was an incremental improvement, with changes to the equipment fit and empennage, and this was the most common variant, with almost 1,500 built before it was replaced in Coastal Command service by a more specialised Mk.VII that was configured for Maritime operations, adding more fuel stowage to extend its range, and a new ASV Mk II radar that required a new crew member to operate it. Although the type was seriously outclassed by the end of WWII, it was still in service until 1946 with the FAA, playing to its strengths and taking advantage of the dwindling power of the enemy as the war turned against them. Several airframes were converted to civilian specification by removing the turrets and fairing them over, adding more fuel stowage in the bomb bay, and fitting seats for passengers. These few BOAC aircraft were in use for only a few short months however, retiring in August 1942 and returned to the RAF. The Kit This is a re-issue of a 2015 tooling from Airfix, with a maritime patrol GR.VII variant that added new parts in 2016. This new boxing uses the same artwork on the front of the large top-opening box, and inside are four large sprues in dark grey styrene, two smaller clear sprues, the instruction booklet printed in spot colour in A4 portrait format, and the decals, slipped inside the booklet with a sheet of absorbent paper. Detail is good, with fine panel lines, many raised and recessed features, all of which can be found in the usual places such as the cockpit, turrets, gear bays etc. Construction begins with the cockpit floor, which has a bulkhead with doorway installed to create two compartments, and a twin slide-rail installation opposite the pilot’s one-part seat. A control column is inserted in the floor between foot rails, adding a side console to the right of the pilot, which acts as the support for the instrument panel that has the rudder pedals moulded into the rear on supports. Inverting the assembly shows off the detail underneath, adding a short bulkhead beneath the pilot’s feet, setting it aside while the port nose is detailed with a set of equipment boxes, plus a pair of clear side windows. Before the cockpit is installed in the port side, three decals are applied to the instrument panel, gluing the assembly in place on several guide strips moulded into the fuselage side. A scrap diagram shows how the finished assembly should look from below to assist with fitting. The section of floor behind the cockpit has a radio-operator’s table installed on pegs, and a bulkhead is fitted in front of the cockpit with the beginnings of the turret ring moulded-in, plus a small tapering section of floor in the nose. The navigator’s seat is on a swivel base, and attaches to the two rails fitted earlier, adding a panel that carries the parachutes at the bottom, or by using another part and a pair of conjoined legs you can fold the ‘panel’ down to create a navigator table that the crewman can use when his seat is slid back and rotated to the left, with a scrap diagram showing how it should look. The starboard side of the nose is similarly detail-painted and has more equipment fixed to the wall, and one window, following which the nose can be joined together. The rest of the fuselage has several windows fitted on two carriers on both sides, fixing a corrugated floor into the port side, and if you plan on closing the crew access door, there is an insert that does this neatly, again on the port side. The fuselage has a separate top insert that has two paired windows and a hole drilled into it, mating the two halves together, then bringing in the top from above, and aligning them carefully to minimise clean up later. Despite the Whitley having mid-mounted wings, the lower inner wing panels are moulded as one with a section of the fuselage that includes the front bomb bay aperture, adding a pair of small windows on each side in the trailing edge before installing a substantial rear spar across the assembly, plus another further forward. The rear spar includes some bulkhead detail to the front of the main gear bays, and behind this the bomb bay walls are inserted into the recess as a single part, with a corrugated roof mounted over it after painting the details. A section of corrugated floor is slotted in between the two spars, both of which have holes in them to permit the crew to move around, mating the lower outer wing panels on the tips of the spars, using the raised guides to locate them accurately. The upper wings are full span that make for a strong joint, and there is another short corrugated section in the centre, moulded into the port wing, linking it to the starboard. Each engine nacelle has a bulkhead and tubular structure mounted in the upper wing, ready to receive the nacelle cowlings once they have been built and painted internally. A bulkhead is trapped between the nacelle halves, with an intake under the chin that pivots on a pin so that it can be installed open or closed, as shown in scrap diagrams nearby. Two auxiliary intakes are mounted on the sides of the cowlings, inserting the triple ejector exhausts for the Merlin in slots in each side, and twin intakes with mesh texture moulded into the figure-eight fronts. The completed nacelles are then lowered over the gear bay interiors, locating on the wings in recesses for strength, fitting the forward fuselage in the centre of the wing assembly, followed by the rear fuselage, again taking care to align the joins well to reduce clean-up. Flipping the model on its back you have the choice of deploying the flaps to expose the moulded-in rib detail, or by cutting away the actuators, you can depict them flush with the wing for normal flight. Righting the model you create the elevator panels from two parts each, inserting them in slots in the sides of the tail, mounting the flying surfaces on pegs in the trailing edge. The peculiar tail fins are also two parts each, and they locate in slots in the middle of the elevators, with a support strut linking them to the fuselage, and separate one-part elevators added to the trailing edges. The model goes inverted again to decide whether to use two single parts to close the bomb bay doors, or by building four bombs from two halves and a shackle, you can depict them open by cutting the closed bay parts into four sections, two of which attach to the outer edges of each bay, and the other two along the centre-line, which was another limiting factor that counted against the Whitley’s use as a bomber going forward. It couldn’t carry larger bombs. The model stays inverted for a while so that the tail wheel can be flex-fitted between the yoke of the strut, mounting it in a small hole under the leading edge of the tail unit. The tail wheel is fixed, but the main gear is retractable, which is depicted by placing the single parts over the bays. To portray the Whitley with its gear down, two wheels are made from halves that have a small weighting flat-spot moulded-in, which are flex fitted into the twin struts, inserting them in the gear bays on pins that attach to the forward edge of the front spar, adding a Y-shaped trailing retraction jack, and two individual doors to the sides. Note that the closed option includes the bottom of the tyres, so remember to paint those a suitable dirty grey colour before you hang it from the ceiling or mount it on a stand. The aft turret is first to be made, bearing a family resemblance to most British WWII bombers, starting with the turret floor that mounts on a choice of two styles of base. The four barrels are split between the outer frames and a centre section that are mated and fixed into the turret floor, painting them and surrounding them with two-part glazing, installing the completed turret between a pair of ‘blinkers’ in the rear of the fuselage. The front turret is provided with just one gun, which is installed in a small frame that has two extra parts to create the frame, sliding the glass dome over the top, inserting it in the nose, fairing it in with a clear U-shaped part that you are told to sand back internally for a close fit, and installing a triangular bomb aimer’s window underneath. You have a choice of two styles of main canopies, one with, the other without an astrodome in the rear, fitting it over the cockpit opening, adding a clear lens over the landing light in the port wing, which has a pitot probe installed nearby, plus two aerial masts on the spine of the model, a faired-over D/F loop behind the cockpit, and if you have left the crew door open, a new door is supplied that hinges up, and an optional ladder can be found on the sprues. Another smaller door fills the rest of the hatch, and is either fitted closed by removing the lugs, or can be posed open by following the scrap diagrams nearby. The two three-bladed props are each moulded as single parts, and they are trapped between spinners and backplates, with a collar behind them that is held in place by a pin, so that they can remain mobile if you wish, or don’t overdo the glue. Markings There are two decal options included on the sheet, one in typical WWII British bomber green/brown camo over black, and the other in all-over black for night operations. From the box you can build one of the following: Flown by Sqn. Ldr. John Charles MacDonald, No.102 Sqn., No.4 Group (Bomber Command), RAF Driffield, Yorkshire, England, March 1940 No.10 Sqn., No.4 Group (Bomber Command), RAF Leeming, Yorkshire, England, December 1941 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion This is a kit that makes me wish I built in 1:72 scale. Good detail, a weird-looking aircraft, and it’s British engineering near its kookie prime. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

AVRO Manchester in RAF Service Photo Archive Number 23 ISBN: 9781908757364 Wingleader Publications AVRO designed the two-engined Manchester as their response to an Air Ministry requirement that was issued in answer to the clouds of war that were gathering over Europe, and the prototype first flew just a few scant months before War was declared following Germany’s failure to withdrawn their invading army from Poland. The first Manchesters entered service after the “phony war” was over, and hostilities had been ongoing for a year, and while it wasn’t everything that it had been hoped to be, its crew did their best with what they had available, putting up with the powerful but unreliable Rolls-Royce Vulture engine that had to be de-tuned in an attempt to improve its reliability, although with little benefit. The Manchester laid the groundwork for the Lancaster however, as it was designed with ease of manufacture, maintenance and repair in mind, which made the upcoming four-engined Manchester B.III a less daunting task. The more operations that the Manchester undertook, the more the type’s shortcomings came to the fore, although some of these were resolved. The first grounding of the entire fleet was due to engine bearing failure, with the second due to control anomalies and flutter, plus other problems too numerous to mention. Production was halted at just over 200 airframes toward the end of 1941, as the Manchester B.III, which was now called Lancaster, was showing promise, and re-engined with the trusty Merlin engine in place of the troublesome Vulture, it wasn’t particularly missed, although the prototype Lanc showed its origins in its fuselage design and tail, the central fin lingering only as far as the prototype, thankfully. The AVRO Lancaster became the mainstay of Britain’s Bomber Command once it reached service, pushing out the inferior Stirling and mediocre Halifax, burying the memory of the disappointing Manchester to become the workhorse that was the Lancaster, which seemed able to transport any bomb load offered to it from sea mines to specialist bouncing bombs and the Grand Slam earthquake bombs that were used to great effect toward the end of the war. The Book Printed in landscape format to match the rest of the Photo Archive volumes, this twenty-third book in the series is written by Peter Allam, whose name may be familiar if you have read their Lancaster series, as knowing about all things Lancaster requires the aircraft’s heritage to be understood first. Consisting of a genuine 72 numbered pages and more photos and information printed on the insides of the covers, it is printed on a satin stock in colour, although the colour is only see on the annotation and the profile pages that are spread amongst the book with copious notes to assist the modeller in building their next model. Covering the Manchester from start to finish, it illustrates the raft of the amendments and upgrades that the type went through to improve its performance, some of which would be important due to their reuse in the Lancaster later. In some ways, the Manchester was a first attempt at creating a truly versatile heavy bomber, even though it was never intended to be a “heavy” at outset, and its development headaches helped short-circuit the development of the Lancaster, shortening the gestation and bug-hunting that was inevitable with any major aviation project of its time, and still is to a great extent. Some of the photos are staged of course, but there are also a large number of candid shots, some interesting in-flight shots, and a few of battle-damaged aircraft that are doing a creditable impression of a colander. A few more aircraft are shown lying flopped in a field or runway after issues during take-off or landing, and one of a Manchester that was forced to crash-land at the sea’s edge on the way back from a mission, although the full crew survived that one to end the war as POWs. The photos of the crew or pilots who were later lost in other raids are saddening, seeing the smiling faces of these brave young men that were understandably unaware of their impending fate. Conclusion A visually impressive book with plenty of reading material into the bargain that will have you coming back to it again and again, although finding a kit of the Manchester in almost any scale is an achievement in itself, a fact that isn’t lost on the editor Mark Postlethwaite in his introduction on the inside front cover. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Avro MANCHESTER Warpaint Series No.103 The Manchester's origins go back to Specification P.13/36 of 1936, which the Air Ministry tendered out to eight different companies, requiring proposals for a new medium bomber. Of those proposals tendered Avro's design for the Type 679 was placed first, with the Handley Page H.P.56 second, both twin-engined machines which were to be engined by the underdeveloped and controversial Rolls Royce Vulture X-inline engine. Eventually a contract for two prototypes were awarded to Avro who produced the airframes L7246 and L7247. The Air Ministry specification also quoted requirements for a bomb capacity of 8,000lbs (3,629kg) which was envisaged as: sixteen 250lb (113kg) and eight 500ib (227kg) or four 2,000lb (907kg) bombs (other parts of the specification also quoted for the ability to carry two 18in (45.7cm) torpedoes). Avro responded by quoting their design could achieve 12,000lbs (5,442kg) which could be six 2,000lb bombs. The highest possible cruising speed was requested which at 15,000ft (4,572m) had to be at least 275mph (442km/h). Defence weaponry would need to include nose and tail turrets, mounting two and four machine guns respectively. The Book The book has been produced and printed to the standard and easily recognised format of all previous Warpaint series publications; with the familiar blue front cover being overlaid with a photo of the named aircraft in flight, plus a colourful line drawing inset. On turning the cover we are presented with a colourful four-view plan and profile illustration of the aircraft, beautifully drawn and colour-defined by Richard J. Caruana to his usual high quality layout. Another for-view illustration is produced inside the back cover. The history of the Avro Manchester is covered very well by the author Tony Buttler, who has obviously researched this aircraft in detail in which he describes and provided details over twenty two of the forty pages, including covers. Tony's observations about the Manchester being a failure, virtually from inception, is interesting and informative; including the elements that led to the development and production of the Lancaster. There is a total of sixty four black and white photographs printed throughout the book, all with detail information about the type, serial, location and date where known. There are also three sets of tabulated data which provide details of specifications; squadrons, units and their representative aircraft; plus a section on kits, decals and accessories; all being listed by scale. The information on this latter data sheet has been supplied by Hannants and therefore is presumed to be up to date at the time of print. Some of the photographs will be really useful for the modeller wishing to identify marking details, as with the demarcations of the ripple effect camouflage separation from the black sides, as in the images below. Stapled within the centre pages is a two-sided A3 landscape formatted set of plans of the Manchester drawn to 1:72 scale. The drawings show the Manchester I and Ia versions and include the Frazer-Nash FN-5 front; FN-4 rear; Fn-7 dorsal and the FN-21a (dustbin) ventral turrets. As before, these drawings are finely drawn and detailed by Richard J. Caruana and should be of immense use for the modeller. There are no fewer than twenty seven full colour profile illustrations of this aircraft. Each has a short narrative beside the illustration, describing the type, serial, squadron, date and event for which this aircraft was marked up or coded for; as with the first one below - L7417/ZN-V which was lost on May 19th 1942. Close in photographs are included in a short section towards the back of the publication and these provide details of specific elements, including the Fraser-Nash FN-21a ventral turret mount. Conclusion The Avro Manchester is considered to be one of the failures in British military aviation, with its time spent in service with Bomber Command not being a happy one. The aspects leading up to its production, service life, plus the transition to the making of the Lancaster heavy bomber are all described in clear detail in this fine book. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of .