MiniArt Avro 671 Rota Mk.I RAF (41008) - 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd

[Julien]

Avro 671 Rota Mk.I RAF (41008)

1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models Ltd

 

 

There was a time when the Autogyro was looked at with great promise but the never materialised,  The Avro 671 was a license built Cierva C.30 designed by Juan de la Cieva. This was built from the fuselage of the Avro Cadet biplane and used an Armstrong Siddeley Genet Major engine. Lift was provided by an 11.3m diameter 3 bladed rotor. The RAF purchased 12 of these under to equip the school of Army Co-operation.  It was to be used for observation and light duties but was not taken any further in this role.  It was the invention or Radar which was to find a wartime use for the 671. In order to calibrate the Chain Home stations the RAF needed an aircraft which could fly very slowly on a pre-defined heading and altitude.  The RAF formed Flight 1448 at RAF Duxford to preform these duties. This later become 529 Sqn at RAF Halton.  Post war 592 Sqn was disbanded and the gyro copters sold off.  One of these was sold to Sweden and purchased back by the RAF Museum. 

 

The Kit

Until now I don't think there has been a kit of this in 1.35 scale. The kit is upto Minart's modern standards; there are 4 main sprues, 4 smaller sprues, a small clear spure and a sheet of photoetch in the box. Even in 1.35 scale this is not a large kit. Construction starts with the front mounted radial engine. The cylinder banks are made up with the exhaust and collector ring being added. Ancillary parts are then attached to the engine and it is put aside for later. 

 

 

Construction then moves to the interior/cockpit. The two seats are made up complete with PE seatbelts. These then attach to their mounting frames.  Onto the cockpit floor are mounted the rudder pedals and control column.  Additional controls are added to the side frames and then these frames can be attached to the cockpit floor. Front and rear control panels are then added. The seats are added in and then the side frames added.  The cockpit can then be closed up inside the main fuselage,

 

 

Next up the mount for the rotor blades is made up and attached to the fuselage. The tail wheel assembly is added as are the tailplanes. At the front the engine cowl are is made up. The engine and its propeller are then added. The landing gear struts are made up and the wheels are added.  Lastly the rotor blades are made up and added, these can either be in the flying or stowed positions.

 

 

Markings

There are four decal options provided on the sheet   From the box you can build one of the following:

 

• K4230 used on HMS Courageous in the 1930s
• K4235 RAF Training use 1939-40
• AP516 1448 Flight RAF Halton 1942
• DR627 529 Sqn RAF Halton 1943-44

 

 

 

 

Decals are printed by DecoGraph and have good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. 

 

Conclusion

This is a really nice rendition of this unusual but important aircraft. Very highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of

[Whofan]

I picked one up yesterday at SMW, and perusing the instructin sheet cam across what looks like some incorrect colour call outs.

 

Firstly, on the  HMS Courageous version, the fuselage of the copter/autogyro/plane/ thingummyig is shown as white, when the colour ar printed looks decidly light grey ish to me, and the forward section of the fuselage behinfd the engine looks decidly metallic in the illustation but is printed as being tire black!

 

I'm sure this latter one is a simple mistake, but trying to decide which f the metallic " silver " coulours to use is proving t a cnundrum.

 

Do any of te august contributers here have a possible clue as the whether the fuselage should be a white, or a pale grey colour, and which of the umpty gazillion silvery shades of metal would be more appropriate?

 

I'd like to do it as an FAA  type for personal reasons.

 

Thanks in advance, chaps and chappesses.

[Jb65rams]

@Whofan

 

Hope this helps, taken at the RAF Hendon Museum .

 

 

[Whofan]

thanks for posting this.

 

Looking at the photo it does seem as though the fuselage is a pale grey colour, rather than a white which I picture as similar to Coastal command white, and the engine cover is to my eyes the same greyish colour as the fuselage, rather than the more overtly metallic finish of the u/c legs.British

 

 

[Julien]

Is it a case that was doped silver fabric? 

 

I know thats a museum example but the rotor head is almost identical to the helo boom behind it and the fabric will always be slightly duller than the metal if painted with the same colour. Given the time frame I think some kind of silver could be realistic.

 

Good close up pictures here;

 

http://aircraft-photographs.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/helicopter-avro-rota-mk1-cierva-autogiro-c30a-ww2.html

 

Julien