Julien Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Grob Viking Glider1:48 Heritage Aviation Models The Grob G103A Twin II, or Viking T.1 in RAF service is a high performance twin seater sailplane or glider made by Grob Aircraft of Germany. The aircraft is made of glass fibre featuring a T-tail configuration. It has a six inch main wheel fitted behind the centre of gravity equipped with a hydraulic brake, and a nose wheel. Approach control is handles by top surface Schempp-Hirth type airbrakes. A total of 549 aircraft were produced with 100 being bought by The Royal Air Force for it's Air Cadets training programme. The aircraft is also used in the same role by The Belgian Air Cadets.The kit There is not much to this one. The kit consists of a one part moulded main fuselage, including the rudder. The two main wings, the tailplane, two seats, two instrument panels and two control columns. Care will be needed in cleaning up the main fuselange as the landing wheels are moulded on. The resin casting is good with no short shot areas or pinholes visible anywhere. Clean up will be minimal with none needed on the main wings. Canopy The canopy on this one is vacformed, its good that there are two because if you are like the reviewer you invariably stuff one up. The canopy is clear and well moulded. Decals The decals are printed by Fantasy Printshop and look up to their excellent standards. It looks like you are able to build any glider currently in service with the serials provided. The orange stripes for the nose and rudder are provided, however the rest of the orange areas on the wings will have to be painted. Instructions To quote from the Instructions "Its not exactly rocket science this one, so we'll let the pictures do the talking". Well they say a picture is worth a 1000 words but not here I am sorry to say. While fitting the main parts is no problem you are faced with different sized seats, and different sized instrument panels. No mention is made of which goes in which cockpit. I am told by someone who has flown one of these that the larger items go on the rear cockpit. A colour match for the orange to match the decals would also be helpful.Conclusion I think this is the only kit available of the Grob, with good resin casting and excellent decals the kit should make up into a nice model. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of Ian at 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blogs On Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Hi Julien Not sure why the " NO STEP" markings are on the decal sheet, as they are definitely not on the aircraft. Still, they will be good for the spares folder. Regards Darren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julien Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 That's good to know, thanks for the information. Julien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 I did the artwork for both the decals and instructions and the 'NO STEP' markings are in fact the BGA numbers for each aircraft and the location is shown on the instructions. The orange markings for the wings wouldn't fit into the available space allocated for this kit on the A4 sheet and the section required for the wingtip wouldn't have worked very well as a decal due to the compound curves. Unfortunately I don't think there is an exact match for the orange in any model paint range so it will need to be matched to the decal. The instructions should have a page with the 3-view on and another with photos, in case your kit hasn't got this, here they both are; Hope this helps. Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julien Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 TBH I cant read those even in 1/48! All we got with the kit is a one double sided instruction page, certainly not the photos you have posted, with that page it makes a lot more sense. You would not expect that much orange to be as decals, like you said it would not fit on the ends anyway. Thanks for your input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blogs On Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Hi Steve, Thanks for that. The kit I bought was missing those pages and the decals for which I am still waiting for. Interesting photos, but I think that something is missing!!! The aircraft at the time was allocated to my unit and the organisers at Long Ashton hadn't realised how big a glider was!! (It's still quite common even when we take the trouble to pass on the vital statistics!) Still.....nice day to catch a few rays. Regards Darren 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritJet Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 The BGA numbers are very small so I'm not surprised they aren't readable. I'll mention to Ian at Heritage that the instructions are incomplete and the decals you're waiting for. Does seem strange seeing a wingless glider as the wing is the important bit! Don't know who it was we were talking to at Bristol about the Viking but they very helpfully opened both cockpits for the photos to be taken. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian @ KitsforCash Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 Hi Steve, Thanks for that. The kit I bought was missing those pages and the decals for which I am still waiting for. Interesting photos, but I think that something is missing!!! The aircraft at the time was allocated to my unit and the organisers at Long Ashton hadn't realised how big a glider was!! (It's still quite common even when we take the trouble to pass on the vital statistics!) Still.....nice day to catch a few rays. Regards Darren So why not call me or email about the decals.... .Looks like a page disappeared from the print run.....my fault i missed it but had several runs going on at the time will add a sheet to the kits. rgds ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian @ KitsforCash Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 looking at the instrument panels....the one with the seat cushion on the front face is the rear panel....the cushion is for the front seat pilot.....I did think this was quite obvious? the front seat is the one with the side cushions. hope this clears it up..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blogs On Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 "Does seem strange seeing a wingless glider as the wing is the important bit! Don't know who it was we were talking to at Bristol about the Viking but they very helpfully opened both cockpits for the photos to be taken." Steve Hi Steve, On the whole we're a pretty helpful bunch and we do like to show off "our" aircraft. I can't help you with who assisted you, but if you would like a closer look at a Viking, if your going to RIAT then our sister unit will have an aircraft on static display as part of the Air Cadet Display Regards Darren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blogs On Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 So why not call me or email about the decals.... .Looks like a page disappeared from the print run.....my fault i missed it but had several runs going on at the time will add a sheet to the kits. Ian, I did. I have forwarded my earliest email on the subject again. I look forward to a prompt resolution. Regards Darren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian @ KitsforCash Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 So why not call me or email about the decals.... .Looks like a page disappeared from the print run.....my fault i missed it but had several runs going on at the time will add a sheet to the kits. Ian, I did. I have forwarded my earliest email on the subject again. I look forward to a prompt resolution. Regards Darren nothing here, sure youre using [email protected]? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blogs On Posted July 6, 2015 Share Posted July 6, 2015 (edited) Ian, Email forwarded to your gmail account. Regards Darren Edit: Too many thumbs getting in the way! Edited July 6, 2015 by Blogs On Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham77 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Thanks for the extra page Steve, I have a day off tomorrow and was hoping to crack on with this and now I have the reference pics for the cockpit I can get cracking without having to trawl the Internet for more piccies. It looks great Ian I hope I can put it together as easily as the instructions infer Cheers Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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