Search the Community

Mother Nature was merciful and allowed the sun to shine a few rays through the clouds today around ten o'clock. I was ready with my camera, and here it is, Vickers Vincent K4134/D of No 8. Squadron, as photographed near Dhala, Aden Protectorate, mid-1935, build from the Azur/FRROM/Special Hobby 1/72 kit. The kit has a few errors, which I have decided to deal with, as you may observe in the build thread here: I corrected the wrong area around the rear cockpit and replaced the smallish engine. Both errors are common to all boxings of the kit, except the Spanish Vildebeests and Vildebeest Mk.IV, the latter with the same wrong arrangement in the rear gun area, however, with Bristol Pegasus replaced by the Perseus from the same stable. Additionally, I rescribed quite a few panel lines, as they were wrong for a Vincent. Nevertheless, in general, it is a nice kit and I loved the build. And I believe that even without the corrections, it would look impressive just so out of the box. Engine by Radial engines & wheels, guns by Mini World and GasPatch, light bomb carrier by Eduard, other small details either from my own stock or scratchbuild. Decals are a mixture from my stock, only the stencils come directly from the kit. Brush painted with combination of Humbrol, Model Master and Revell enamels. As usual in my case, without rigging. Enjoy the pictures. The last one gives a direct comparison of the Vincent with the Vildebeest Mk.IV built five years ago.

Full of vim after vacation, starting new build, 1/72 Vickers Vincent Mk.I by Azur/Frrom, so in fact Special Hobby (SH). I am not novice to the kit. I have built another boxing, Vildebeest Mk.IV, some 5 years ago. Therefore, I know very well that I must correct the rear cockpit again (Scarff ring – wrong vs. Fairey High Speed mount – correct). Additionally, the Vincent was a three-seater, so I will have to butcher the fuselage even more in order to open the observer’s cockpit behind the pilot. Vincent boxing contains additional sprue, featuring i.a. equipment for the extra cockpit. I want the Vincent to look as much different as possible from my previous and future (Mk.III) Vildebeest builds, so it is going to be built with the underslung long-range fuel tank, message pickup hook, bomb racks and with no wheel spats. For that reason I have decided to represent one of the early machines in the service of No. 8 Squadron in Aden, K4134/D, especially as I can easily modify the surplus serials left from my previous Vildebeest Mk.IV build. While inspecting the decal sheet, I have also found the fuselage roundels are too small for a silver-doped machine, so they will be replaced from the spares. There is one conundrum in the kit – two resin radial engines. The reason is that the engine had been for sure all wrong in the very first Azur/Frrom Vildebeest Mk.III boxing . They had provided (I suspect) Mercury instead of Pegasus. So in the next radial boxing – Vincent – they provided two engines. One smaller (Mercury?) and one bigger, likely Pegasus. Without single word in the instructions, and without altering any of the related injection moulded engine installation parts. Now the references say the diameter of Pegasus was 55.3". The smaller engine in the kit is just 47", which is some 3 mm difference in 1/72. For me, too much to ignore. The bigger engine is for sure better, but still not perfect. 51" = 1.5 mm difference in diameter in 1/72. However, the bigger engine requires altering/replacing all the exhaust collector pipes (4 x 9 pcs.), which were designed for the small one. Therefore, I suspect, SH just silently provided two engines and left it to the modeller to use either the funny small one, fit the collector rings as they are and be happy with it, or use the bigger one and go through the ordeal of replacing all the piping. I decided to make it even more complicated, ordered replacement Pegasus by Radial engines & wheels and after I receive it, I will post here more detailed report on the engines. Finally, the obligatory shot of the reference material, which is in case of Vincent quite satisfactory, especially the photographic references are really plentiful.

Special Hobby has just re- released the Azur-FRROM (link & link) 1/72nd Vickers Type 267 Vildebeest Mk. III kit - ref. SH72400 Sources: https://www.specialhobby.eu/en/our-own-production/special-hobby/vickers-vildebeest-mk-iii-1-72.html http://www.specialhobby.info/2018/10/sh72400-vickers-type-267-vildebeest.html In box review: https://www.detailscaleview.com/2018/11/special-hobby-vickers-type267-sh72400-review.html V.P.