Supermarine Stranraer

[Paul A H]

Supermarine Stranraer

1:72 Revell

The Stranraer was the last in a line of biplane flying boats designed for the Royal Air Force by Supermarine Aviation Works. It was also the last flying boat designed by R. J. Mitchell, who also created the Spitfire. Tracing its lineage back to the Supermarine Southampton, the Stranraer was originally known as the Southampton V, its name only changing once a contract had been placed for seventeen aircraft in 1935. Despite its somewhat dated appearance, the Stranraer was still in service at the outbreak of the Second World War and continued in the anti-submarine role until replaced by the Consolidated Catalina in 1941.

The Stranraer was also used by the Royal Canadian Air Force and 40 examples were manufactured in Canada by Canadian Vickers Limited. Not only did these aircraft serve throughout the war, but many examples were sold to commercial airlines after the cessation of hostilities and soldiered on well into the late 1950s. A single intact Stranraer survives to this day, in the excellent RAF museum at Hendon.

From time to time, Revell like to treat nostalgic modellers to goodies from the Matchbox back catalogue, and the Stranraer is one such kit. Opening the box and handling the sprues is like a trip down memory lane for dewy-eyed modellers like me. Memories of childhood trips to model shops, eagerly scanning the shelves for the biggest model that my pocket money could buy come flooding back. Memories of kits with action-packed box artwork and multi-coloured plastic sprues, of salad days, jumpers for goal posts, long shadows on cricket grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs, dog lovers... what? Oh. Sorry. I got a bit carried away there, didn’t I?

Revell are not coy about this kit’s origins (a description on the side of the box explains that these are ‘period mouldings (ex Matchbox)) and neither should they be, for this was one of Matchbox’s finest products.

The large, end-opening box is adorned with artwork reminiscent of the original Roy Huxley painting used by Matchbox. Inside are four sprues of light grey, glossy plastic and a single, small clear sprue. The moulds seem to be in remarkably good condition for their age (over thirty years old) and what little flash there is, is present only on areas such as the trailing edges of the wings. Surface detail is made up of reasonably fine engraved panel lines (so no jibes about Matchbox trenches here), delicate rivets around the raised structural areas on the fuselage sides, and pleasing fabric details on the wings.

The cockpit is fairly basic, as you might expect, but there is enough detail to ensure that it will look just fine under the relatively small canopy. There is a seat and control column for the pilot and three internal bulkheads, one of which holds the instrument panel. You have the choice of painting the instrument panel using the rather nice raised detail as a guide, or using the supplied decal instead.

The transparent fuselage windows are not the thinnest, but they are nice and clear and they should do the job well enough.

The wings are made up of upper and lower halves and are fairly simple items, with ailerons moulded in place. The centre section of the upper wing, which also holds the engines, is a separate piece, which should make construction a little easier. The horizontal tail has a slightly clunky moveable elevator, but it should add a little interest to this part of the model. A diagram is provided to help you get the dihedral of the wings right. The Bristol Pegasus radial engines are pretty simple, but are detailed enough to pass muster under the cowlings. The main landing gear is fixed, rather than retractable, and the gear legs look pretty nice. The wheel hubs are separate to the tyres, which will make painting much easier, and a nifty little beaching trolley is also provided.

The three gunners’ positions are fairly basic, but the .303 in Lewis Guns are really excellent and wouldn’t look out of place in a kit manufactured yesterday. Revell have done their best to make the process of rigging the model as painless as possible by providing a four-step guide in their instruction booklet.

The decal sheet provides options for two different aircraft –

K7287 of No. 240 Squadron, Royal Air Force, Scotland, January 1941, finished in the camouflage scheme depicted on the box artwork; and

K7292 of No. 228 Squadron, Royal Air Force, Pembroke Dock, Wales, November 1938, finished in overall silver/aluminium.

The decals are nicely printed and feature bold, opaque colours. They are slightly matt, however, so you might want to use a little decal softening solution when applying them.

Conclusion

The return of this kit is most welcome indeed, and Revell should be warmly congratulated for re-releasing it. There are plenty of examples of the finished article on the internet that are testament to the qualities of this endearing model. If you want to add one of these impressive flying boats to your collection, or if you just fancy a trip down memory lane, then this will be an essential purchase. Highly recommended.

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

[CarLos]

Still a great kit after all these years.

[woody37]

I think this is one of Matchbox's best kits so it's good to see Revell doing it again. I've got one on the go, must dig it back out again with this fresh inspiration

[Scott Hemsley]

Now... are you going to do another excellent online build and show me how I should tackle this beast?

Scott

[Murdo]

Mmmmm. I want one of these!

[Learstang]

I had this kit a long time ago, and I may still (I need to go through my storage!). I remembered it as being a nice kit, and it's nice to see my memory wasn't wrong. I know this has been discussed before, but it always seemed to me that Matchbox's biplanes were better than their other efforts; the Seafox, this kit, the SBC Helldiver, the P-12E, the Siskin, all come to mind. Great to see this kit out again!

Regards,

Jason

Edited July 9, 2012 by Learstang

[Dropshort105]

Great kit, I'm working on mine right now, and yes, all of those childhood memories are flooding back, right down to the sheer frustration of trying to get that bloody top wing on, in technical defence of the kit, it doesn't have retractable undercarriage because the real one didn't, it didn't in fact have any undercarriage at all.Those wheely things are detachable beeching gear which a team of poor buggers had to wade in and fit prior to pulling her out of the drink, Stranrears were not anphiobous , they could not operate on land. It was still a wonderful aeroplane and a great kit.

[woody37]

Finished mine last year, lovely kit

[stever219]

Woody,

That is a lovely renition. Did you add any interior detailing? There's a "Special" out at present that has a cutaway drawing of the Stranraer, but it's not altogether clear what goes on between the pilot's position and the midships gunner's station.

All the best,

Steve

[Learstang]

Lovely kit and a lovely job on it, Woody! I wish I could find mine, but I'm afraid it's been lost into the vortex of time.

Regards,

Jason

[Stuck]

Thankyou for this review. This is a model that I would love to make, but after reading so many negative remarks about matchbox i was a bit put off . I will now see if its in stock next time i go to town.

[woody37]

Woody,

That is a lovely renition. Did you add any interior detailing? There's a "Special" out at present that has a cutaway drawing of the Stranraer, but it's not altogether clear what goes on between the pilot's position and the midships gunner's station.

All the best,

Steve

Cheers Steve,

I did add some detailing, probably not very accurate though, more to add detail to emptyness rather than anything else as once its all stitched up you can't see much. There's a book on the Walrus and Stranraer that's very useful by James Knightly and Roger Wallgrove, I'll have to have a look through to see what pics it has for this area to see if I can help.

Neil

[Dropshort105]

Oh that is beautiful, she is a credit to your skills.

[le wombat agile]

Oh, it doesn't seem really a Matchbox kit. I got one many years ago and now it's laying on the stash waiting "to summon up the blood". My main concern is about the interiors. Now I have the Mushroom title dedicated to Walrus and Stanraer where there's something.

My compliments Paul for the beautiful paint and the light weathering that in sucha a big silver plane is a primary point.

Ezio

[Rik]

I can't see the method that Matchbox / Revell recommend building the top wing by making and fitting the centre section first then adding the outer wing panels. On top of that the struts are not right in length. The only way is to build up the entire wing then fit it in place using the inner struts then working out the outer struts. In the end I tossed them and used Contrail strut.

[stevehnz]

I bought one of these at Solent Sky a year ago, (as you do) I've seen some superb builds of these on the net, so have great hope for it, one of these days.

Steve.

[SleeperService]

Thankyou for this review. This is a model that I would love to make, but after reading so many negative remarks about matchbox i was a bit put off . I will now see if its in stock next time i go to town.

Matchbox were, and still are, a tale of two halves Some as mentioned above are superb Learstang forgets the Heyford I think. Others were OK. The rumour at the time was that the design team were told what to make most of the time but had their own pick every so often. I think we can see where their interest lies. The Lysander was pretty good as well.

The mould design was at the cutting edge for all kits for evidence look at the quality of the review sample above. I remember my tutor at college giving us all a lecture on good production design when he looked over my lunchtime purchase of the Seafox.

[Learstang]

You are correct about the Heyford, SS. I built that one many years ago and I still have the model. I probably already mentioned it but it did seem that Matchbox were better at the biplanes than some of their other moulds. If I hadn't mentioned the Seafox, as you did, that was another nice one. My Seafox kit is unfortunately long gone. It would be nice to see Revell re-issue that, if they haven't.

Regards,

Jason

[le wombat agile]

Anyway I consider always with great respect Matchbox because I remember that in those distant days there were not too much "strange" subjects in the market and Matchbox was more brave than the more famous airfix and Revell. Maybe for Frog we'd talk in a different way but this is another story to tell .....

Ezio