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Special Hobby Vildebeest


JohnMacG

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Has anyone on the forum bought this kit?

I was looking at the rather uninspiring build review in 'Scale Aircraft Modelling' when a couple of things struck me. The box top painting (on the cover of SAM) shows underwing bomb racks - only one each side, mind you- does the kit provide these?

The kit instructions apparently have the camo'd a/c in 'Earth Brown', which is surely wrong, isn't it/

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Unsurprisingly, I do have it. I have not built it yet, so am not going to comment on accuracy or fit, but in the box it looks reasonably detailed,  It is, I believe a re-pop of the earlier kit they did a few years ago which I missed out on, so there will be a few builds around.

 

On the specific markings for the kit, as you say, the box shows it in action with Japanese fighters, presumably intended to be the Endau raid. The decal options are for two camouflaged versions, one 36 Sqn, one 100 Sqn, "late 1941, early 1942" and two silver versions. However, the only offensive armament is torpedo, there are no bomb racks or bombs. Moreover, on the colour scheme, the torpedoes are shown with bright red fronts which , someone will correct me if I am wrong, I thought were for training versions and not really appropriate for war. In any event, I believe there was only one operation, at the very start of the war, where torpedoes were used, by 36 Sqn. There are lots of questions about Endau Vildebeests, but one thing that is certain is that they carried bombs, not torpedoes. So to build a wartime Vildebeest involves some work, I am probably going to use the bomb racks from the Airfix Swordfish - I assume they would be the same although I haven't checked yet.

 

The camouflaged versions are given as dark earth and dark green. There was a long thread on here by people more learned than I, which came to the conclusion that it was all rather unclear, but dark earth and dark green was certainly a possibility, indeed a probability to some.

 

Paul  

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In this thread quoted by @Ed Russell the concept of black underside of Vildebeest, as bomber appears. On photos indeed the bottom side looks rather dark - at least on those which I 've seen. Any comment on this by experts? My Vildebest III is waiting for painting, it is already even riged.  But this uncertainty stopped me with finish!

Cheers

J-W

 

 

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Some Far East Vildebeests definitely had black undersides with Type A roundels but there are also photos showing a pale colour underneath with no roundels.  I know that's rather unhelpful...but that's what the photographic evidence shows.  

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2 hours ago, mhaselden said:

Some Far East Vildebeests definitely had black undersides with Type A roundels but there are also photos showing a pale colour underneath with no roundels.  I know that's rather unhelpful...but that's what the photographic evidence shows.  

Thank you very much - I think the timing is here the most important parameter. When exactly the order about sky bottoms without roundels came for bombers? I belive that  information connection between Singapore and Crown was working OK, so such order was likely executed within a week or two.  Maybe therefore on earlier photos they are black, on later sky but how it should be durings fights in Singapore?

Regards

J-W

 

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6 minutes ago, JWM said:

Thank you very much - I think the timing is here the most important parameter. When exactly the order about sky bottoms without roundels came for bombers? I belive that  information connection between Singapore and Crown was working OK, so such order was likely executed within a week or two.  Maybe therefore on earlier photos they are black, on later sky but how it should be durings fights in Singapore?

Regards

J-W

 

 

Hi J-W,

 

All good questions but, alas, without good answers (at least not very helpful ones).  There are photos of Far East Vildebeests with Night undersides but with fin flashes and Type A1 fuselage roundels which dates the photos as post-May 1940.  According to Paul Lucas, Blenheims were being painted with Sky undersides on the production line in Feb 1940.  So...it seems AHQFE was doing its own thing, not least since all bomber aircraft (Hudsons excepted) in the Far East retained Night undersides throughout the Malayan Campaign.

 

Cheers,
Mark

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Thank you Mark. So maybe I will go for black underside, at least it was there for some time likely on all machines, whereas the sky was (if adopted during or just after campaign) not applied on machines lost in fights. So not every Vildebest could have chace to have sky bottoms, though all at some time were black! I think it is logic :).

Regards

J-W

 

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