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Vickers Vincent Mk.I - 1:72 Azur FRROM


woody37

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Vickers vincent Mk.I

1:72 Azur FRROM

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The large, ungainly and yet somewhat attractive Vildebeest was first flown in 1928 using proven design methodology incorporating an all metal airframe with fabric skinning. Crewed by either two or three, production variants predominantly used the Pegasus radial engine. Whilst the Vildebeest was primarily employed as a torpedo bomber, a private venture by Vickers was to create a general purpose version to replace the Westland Wapitis and Fairey III’s in supporting the army out in the Middle East. Successful trials in the hotter climates were successful and this was to become the Vincent. The Vincent first entered service in 1934 with 84 Sqn based at Shaibah in Iraq and by 1937 equipped 6 squadrons in Iraq, Kenya, Sudan and Egypt. Differences on the Vincent were fairly minor with the most noticeable change replacing the torpedo with a long range underbelly tank. By WWII, the Vincent was mostly replaced by Blenheims and Wellesleys, however 84 aircraft continued service into WWII. They operated bombing missions against the Italians in the East African Campaign and Iraqi rebel forces attempting a coup in 1941 as well as coastal patrols from Aden. A notable achievement was the attack on the Italian submarine Galileo Galilei which led to its surrender. Vincent’s were retired from front line RAF service in 1943 although continued on in some more unusual activities until 1944. Around 60 of the retired machines were passed to the RNZAF in 1939 where they served in the reconnaissance and attack role. Altogether, 197 Vincent’s were either produced or modified from Wildebeests.

The kit
Azur released the Vildebeest a few years ago (See Paul’s review HERE) and it was warmly welcomed by the modelling community. This is a release of the same kit with some additional parts as necessary to create a Vincent. Whilst it’s a limited run kit with typical characteristics like a lack of location pins, the quality of the moulding is quite stunning. So what’s included in the kit? Firstly, there’s 4 medium grey injection moulded sprues holding around 80 parts of which some aren’t used. There is hardly any flash present. This is supplemented by 24 resin parts; a clear sprue and a fret of etch containing over 50 parts. In the box I received, there was also an additional larger resin engine that isn’t mentioned in the instructions but I assume to be a Perseus engine with moulded on connecting rods. This was only used in small numbers on the Vildebeest Mk.IV, 12 of which were sold to the RNZAF so there is the possibility to make one of these. The A5 instruction booklet is provided with text in English and French. The diagrams were well drawn with useful exploded views of some of the more intricate elements such as accurate location of wing struts relative to each other. Paint schemes refer to Gunze paints. Rigging diagrams are also included.

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Perseus engine ?

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Construction starts with the cockpit interior. Azur don’t just provide great external detail, they make sure the interior is well provided for too. A combination of etch, resin and plastic is used to give the cockpit a comprehensive and scale accurate look. The interior of the fuselage halves include detail to represent the metal framework. Etch parts include seatbelts, trim wheels and rudder pedal straps. The control column is finely produced out of resin. One of the more tricky elements of the kit is the clear windows. Whilst most mainstream kits tend to have a tab that windows locate against, these simply push in from behind with a very subtle taper to hold them. Take care to ensure you glue them carefully and adequately so they don’t push in when it comes to painting.

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With the interior complete, the two fuselage halves are closed up and mounted onto the lower wing. Surface detail on the exterior is a combination of fine recessed panel lines and raised fabric effect and access panels. Mounting the tail and tail planes looks to be simple by way of the design of both aircraft and kit. What I think will be the most difficult part will be mounting the upper wing to the lower one via the struts. This isn’t a skill that I’ve readily mastered, so I’ll let someone else off advice on this step! (Edit: See Christopher's comment below :) ) One thing to be aware is that the location points for the struts in the wing are very shallow and a few are marginal, so it might be worth drilling them out with a suitably sized micro drill.

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With the feathers on, the engine comes next. The assembly is quite a complicated affair and Azur have replicated this superbly. The resin engine is sandwiched between the exhaust manifolds and the exhausts mounted to the sides of the fuselage. There are no location pins for the exhausts to mount to the fuselage, so care will have to be taken when gluing them, especially if you prefer to fit these parts after painting.

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The undercarriage has two options; spatted or non-spatted so at this point you will have to choose your scheme to suit. According to the instructions, there’s a hook mounted to the starboard unit but it’s not clear how it’s stowed. As with the wing strut points, the holes for the undercarriage mounting points are either fine or non-existent, so take care. It might be worth doing this before you even build the model as a dry fitting exercise.

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The final major step is fitting the weaponry. The aircraft was armed with bombs and a central fuel tank. The bomb racks are each comprised of a plastic body with two etch clamps to support the bomb. These look very fine indeed. The bombs themselves are made of resin with separate fin sections. Each wing holds 4 bombs. Various etch parts are finally added to the wings and fuselage such as control linkages, mass balances, access ladder etc. There are very delicate so probably better to fit after painting if you’re clumsy like me! The rear facing gun gets an equal treatment of detail from the etch fret to supplement the plastic main components.

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Decals
One of the things I like about the Azur kits is the great selection of schemes that you get straight from the box. 4 options are included, two RAF and two RNZAF. The colour on the decals look excellent, the register spot on although the small placards look a little under defined compared to some I’ve seen, but this is me trying to be balanced in my observations. The schemes included are:

K4712 - 8 Sqn RAF based at Khormaksar, Aden, August 1940 – 6 colour shadow scheme
K6363 - 244 Sqn RAF based at Sharjah, 1942 – Mid stone / Dark Earth / azure scheme
NZ344 – 30 Sqn RNZAF, Gisborne, May – July 1943 – Dark earth / dark green / grey scheme
NZ322 – 2 SFTS, Woodbourne, 1940/41 – Dark earth / dark green / aluminium high level demarcation scheme

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Conclusion
Bi-planes are typically more difficult to build than monoplanes. Couple this with the some of the issues like strut location points I’ve mentioned and the small etch parts, it’s not going to be one of the easiest kits to put together. That said, the quality of the kit is certainly worthy of praise, the moulding is superb and the detail is very well catered for, so I’m very pleased that Azur have chosen this subject as part of their range. Clearly, a lot of research has gone into its design. In a nut shell, I think this kit is a little gem!

Review sample courtesy of
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This is actually one of the easier aircraft to attach the upper wing on. There is no stagger so the struts are vertical. You're right that you do need to drill out the location holes. Once you've attached the lower wing attach the interplane (wing to wing) struts to it making sure they are vertical. Then once they have set in position attach the top wing. This is the nervous part - until the cabane struts (fuselage to wing) are attached it is a bit wobbly. Once again wait until whatever cement you use is set - if you're confident use superglue. Then attach the cabane struts which just snap in to place.

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Thanks for this review Woody, I've one of these on its way at present, it was the two Kiwi options that tipped it. :D Maybe my old Contrail one will get built with one of those after all. It comforting to know it looks as good as it does & thanks for those tips re top wing location Christpher, I'll refer back to them.:thumbsup:

Steve.

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This is actually one of the easier aircraft to attach the upper wing on. There is no stagger so the struts are vertical. You're right that you do need to drill out the location holes. Once you've attached the lower wing attach the interplane (wing to wing) struts to it making sure they are vertical. Then once they have set in position attach the top wing. This is the nervous part - until the cabane struts (fuselage to wing) are attached it is a bit wobbly. Once again wait until whatever cement you use is set - if you're confident use superglue. Then attach the cabane struts which just snap in to place.

Thanks Christopher, that's great advice :)

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Being a bit of an "Airfix modeller" I often wonder about the quality of brands that are, to me, unfamiliar. This does look nice and I am sorely tempted...

I'm sure it'll need a bit more patience than an airfix kit to assemble, but the detail is well worth it. I find bi-planes a challenge because I prefer to paint the wings before adding rigging, but end up spoiling the paint work in the process. I love the schemes included in this, so the first challenge will be deciding what scheme this will get built in !

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Thanks for this review Woody, I've one of these on its way at present, it was the two Kiwi options that tipped it. :D Maybe my old Contrail one will get built with one of those after all. It comforting to know it looks as good as it does & thanks for those tips re top wing location Christpher, I'll refer back to them. :thumbsup:

Steve.

I like the last RNZAF scheme with the red / blue fuselage roundels and high level demarcation. Similar to this one:

http://adf-serials.com.au/nz-serials/nz300.shtml

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I'm sure it'll need a bit more patience than an airfix kit to assemble, but the detail is well worth it. I find bi-planes a challenge because I prefer to paint the wings before adding rigging, but end up spoiling the paint work in the process. I love the schemes included in this, so the first challenge will be deciding what scheme this will get built in !

Oh I don't mind a bit of a challenge. By Airfix Modeller, I mean I'm a little shy of anything other than (to me) well known brands. Perhaps it's better expressed as "A-Models Syndrome" - a fear of potentially crudely molded Eastern European kits. There's nothing Eastern European looking about this one though.

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a fear of potentially crudely molded Eastern European kits. There's nothing Eastern European looking about this one though.

None of the Aruz FFROM kits I have reviewed come into this category, and I am not just saying that as I reviewed them.

I would say get one and try it out, they are nice.

Julien

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Bought my Vincent at Modellbrno today. While the kit is really very nice and I can only recommend it, the two engines are a bit of a conundrum.

The smaller one is the very same as supplied with the Vildebeest Mk.III kit and it looks quite like a Pegasus to me. The bigger one is for sure not the sleeve valve Perseus. There was a notice earlier on the FRROM web site that the Vincent kit would be supplied with a correct (bigger) size Pegasus. Unfortunately the notice is not there anymore (or I cannot find it).

So this can be the case, however I am quite sure the plastic exhaust manifolds will not fit with the bigger engine.

I bought also the brand new Special Hobby Vildebeest Mk.IV in Brno today. Once more the same basic Vildebeest kit with addition of the Perseus engine, its cowling and the three-bladed propeller. For some reason you get here the “smaller” Pegasus too.

Once again highly recommended but there is one criticism that goes to the manufacturer. The original Vildebeest Mk.III kit was supplied without the interior parts for the third cockpit (behind the pilot). This was nicely corrected for the Vincent which allows you to leave the third cockpit open. Unfortunately the same option was neglected in the Mk.IV Vildebeest packing. In my opinion really disappointing.

Patrik

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I believe that the Vildebeest had trouble getting into the air with the extra crewman and a torpedo which is why said individual was never carried and the hatch slid shut. I actually thought it was a nice touch to have it closed.

Edited by Christopher
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Patrik, I think you've got a jump on the rest of us with the Mk IV, I haven't seen it listed for sale anywhere yet, a couple of sites are listing it as a future arrival. With that sort of warning it can't be far away so best I start saving my pennies. :)

Steve.

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The Mk.IV was a real (and nice, as you can guess) surprise for me either, I have not expected it to be on sale in Brno yet and additionally the show prices were quite friendly. However the pile of boxes the MPM guys had there was quite high so I suppose it must be on sale at least in web shops pretty soon.

On the other hand I was eagerly looking for the new Airfix Gladiator, but found none, so here is where you have early start :-)

Patrik

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Bought my Vincent at Modellbrno today. While the kit is really very nice and I can only recommend it, the two engines are a bit of a conundrum.

The smaller one is the very same as supplied with the Vildebeest Mk.III kit and it looks quite like a Pegasus to me. The bigger one is for sure not the sleeve valve Perseus. There was a notice earlier on the FRROM web site that the Vincent kit would be supplied with a correct (bigger) size Pegasus.

Hmm, in retrospect, the engine does look like an aftermarket Pegasus that I have, both in size and look. Thanks for pointing this out.

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My father flew Vilderbeests in 36 squadron in Singapore in 1941/2

I have belatedly decided to make this model - My last model making effort was nearly 50 years ago! So here goes

They did carry a crew of 3: pilot, navigator & wireless/air gunner

On the Endau raid where 36 and 100 squadrons were basically wiped out, the squadron COs asked to fly without navigators as there was no navigation to do

They were refused and half those "passengers" were killed

cheers

David

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I could be tempted back into 1/72 by one of these, with a collection of 30's RAF biplanes. I expect the new Airfix Galdiator would go well with it. Then an Airfix Bulldog, Matchbox Siskin & Fury.... aaagghhh what have you started :winkgrin:
Neil, no need to find struts troublesome, I overcame this with a strip of clear plasticard, a sharp point, and a microdrill.
If you are interested see here. It makes it as easy as it ever going to get.

Cheers

John

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My father flew Vilderbeests in 36 squadron in Singapore in 1941/2

I have belatedly decided to make this model - My last model making effort was nearly 50 years ago! So here goes

They did carry a crew of 3: pilot, navigator & wireless/air gunner

On the Endau raid where 36 and 100 squadrons were basically wiped out, the squadron COs asked to fly without navigators as there was no navigation to do

They were refused and half those "passengers" were killed

cheers

David

David, I have hesitated to respond to your post in view of the immediacy of it to the subject in question & also the unknowns it conjures up. I have read in a couple of books accounts of the heroic but ultimately pointless & tragic attacks by the Vildebeest squadrons on the Japanese invasion fleet at Endau. Heart breaking stuff & now to have someone here whose father was part of that scene at the time. Forgive me please if I'm being intrusive but you don't say whether or not your father survived this period or even whether or not he was actually a participant in the Endau attacks. Its been an ambition of mine to model one of these aircraft since I read about them, many of the crews being Aussies & Kiwis, so there is a strong attachment for me apart from a wish to pay tributue, I can only but imagine how much stronger your own sense of attachment must be. If you feel like it, I'd love it if you could share some more information with us regarding this time.

Steve.

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