1/48 Scale Airspeed Oxford (Special Hobby) - "OxBox" on Skis

[Shark444]

Whee!  The first of my oddball kits to build my British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) "Yellow Air Force" arrived this afternoon via a surreptitious knock on the front door by the FedEx delivery guy and signalled by my dogs going apesh**t at the door.  Behold, the Special Hobby 1/48 scale Airspeed Oxford.  I've never much thought of building an "OxBox" before, but realized that if I was to build a representation of all of the aircraft flown by the RCAF in the BCATP during WWII, I would have to take the plunge. 

 

So, while I'm going to give a "review" of this kit, which would certainly belong in the "Reviews" section, I'm also going to take knife and CA glue in hand to build the thing - soon... right after I finish the Classic Airframes 1/48 Avro Anson on my workbench that I'm converting to a Mk. II produced by DeHavilland Canada (plywood wings & tailplanes, and hydraulic landing gear vs. the hand-cranked horror of the British Mk.I).  If the Admin decides on putting this first post in the "reviews" section, I've learned not to sweat the small stuff...

 

 

Looking at the kit this afternoon over a "proper hot cuppa rosy" I definitely appreciate the quality of this kit.  The pieces are molded in a medium grey plastic which is completely flash free and consistency is like Goldilocks (not too hard, not too soft - juuuust right).  Panel lines are engraved and very crisp.  As you'd expect from a more cottage industry kit, locator pins are non-existent, but the ejector pin marks are on inside parts and not obtrusive.  Judging by the mold quality, I expect this to be a fairly precise kit compared with the Classic Airframes stuff.

 

  

 

Directions are provided in a rather posh glossy pamphlet with clear and detailed instructions and full-colour plates detailing colours and marking schemes.

 

  

  

 

TOP TIP: The "Foreign Service" variant of the kit is about $15 USD less expensive than the other versions like "Royal Navy" and come with all of the optional parts like turret/no turret, gear doors vs. no gear doors, etc. It just doesn't have British markings, but if you've got a stash of Type A Roundels, you'll be good to go and save yourself enough ca$h to treat your beloved bride to an ice cream to say thank you for letting you play in your "airplane factory" instead of doing the washing up.

 

 

 

The perspex fret is flawless and crisp.  A good dunk in Future Clear before masking and painting will make them stunning.  As you can see, the cockpit piece extends to the rear to include the windows aft of the flight deck which are set into the fuselage sides.  Make sure you mask these before attaching the piece to the fuselage.  On my Anson kit from Classic Airframes I experienced a similar challenge; I pinned the piece with a few drops of CA glue and shot it with INsta-Set quickly to prevent any possibility of the fumes fogging the perspex.  Then I carefully applied liquid cement and let it set overnight and then filled any gaps with Mr. Surfacer (LOVE that stuff!).

 

 

Also included is a fret of photo-etch brass with seat belts and other bits, plus a set of masks for the perspex parts.

 

 

I was also impressed with the quality of the included decals, which in this kit offer options for Belgian, American, Dutch and Czech machines (none of which I will be using), as well as the requisite stenciling (which I will be using).  The decals are silk screened, so there are no mis-registrations of colour; as well, decal carrier film is minimal and close cut to the graphics themselves.

 

 

Finally, a small set of resin parts molded in light green complete the set.  These include two options for air intakes, exhaust stacks, Vickers 'K' gun, and several internal components.  

 

 

From a BCATP perspective, the RCAF took delivery of 25 OxBoxes in 1938 where they served in navigation, wireless, bombing and gunnery training roles throughout various RCAF stations across Canada.  I've chosen to represent this aircraft below, as I like the contrast between the trainer yellow fuselage and the bare metal cowlings.  I'm also intrigued by possibly representing it on skis (most cool).

 

 

Skis look to be fairly heavy affairs with a fitting made of wood strips into which the wheel rests.  One thing is for sure - they must have had a big "DO NOT TOUCH" sign over the undercarriage retract lever to prevent forgetful student pilots from retracting the undercart by mistake and crushing the underside of the cowlings!

 

 

Looking at my online RCAF OxBox reference (http://silverhawkauthor.com/canadian-warplanes-4-the-second-world-war-airspeed-oxford_850.html), I note the photo below and wish I could find a reference of an OxBox with similar covers over the engine faces to ward off the frigid Canadian prairie winter temperatures (before climate change...), a) because it'd be an interesting look, and b) the kit-supplied Cheetah engines look kinda sucky detail-wise and I don't want to have to source replacements from Engines n' Things, or elsewhere.  QUICK QUIZ: It's not an OxBox - what is it?  I'll surface post you a cookie to the first correct response...;-)

 

 

Stay tuned for further build updates...

[Biggu]

As a fellow Canuck I'd say the answer to your question is......................... a Cessna Crane........................   I will be following this build as it looks like I am in the front row....

[Shark444]

3 minutes ago, Biggu said:

As a fellow Canuck I'd say the answer to your question is......................... a Cessna Crane........................   I will be following this build as it looks like I am in the front row....

A crane it is, sir.  I'd love to be able to find one of the Czech Master or Encore Models T-50/UC-78 kits, but they seem to be few and far between in terms of anyone having any stock!

[Biggu]

Not too shabby eh??  LOL!!  I'd also like to get the Encore Crane, that may be a hunt, but I bet they are out there, just not keen on spending MORE than is required....  I shall follow along here from B.C.

Jeff

[Biggu]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Encore-48108-1-48-UC-78-JRC-1-T-50-Bamboo-Bomber-Prem-Ed/392741528567?hash=item5b713823f7:g:ZCEAAOSwLRpefrMp

 

A little bit rich for my blood..... and check the shipping, we only want to RENT a little space in the truck NOT BUY the truck......  and with the U.S. Can exchange..................... ah no thanks...

[Shark444]

9 minutes ago, Biggu said:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Encore-48108-1-48-UC-78-JRC-1-T-50-Bamboo-Bomber-Prem-Ed/392741528567?hash=item5b713823f7:g:ZCEAAOSwLRpefrMp

 

A little bit rich for my blood..... and check the shipping, we only want to RENT a little space in the truck NOT BUY the truck......  and with the U.S. Can exchange..................... ah no thanks...

Gahhhh!!! I'd have gone for the kit but for the shipping costs.  

 

That said, my Planet Models 1/48 Fairchild PT-26A Cornell kit just arrived today!  That will be another build stream on here coming soon!

 

[LorenSharp]

Heres a cheaper one if that will help.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Encore-Models-1-48-UC-78-JRC-1-T-50-Bamboo-Bomber-48008-MISB-FREE-SHIP/164135129686?hash=item2637375256:g:G8QAAOSwusdcBJ-c

[Shark444]

3 minutes ago, LorenSharp said:

Heres a cheaper one if that will help.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Encore-Models-1-48-UC-78-JRC-1-T-50-Bamboo-Bomber-48008-MISB-FREE-SHIP/164135129686?hash=item2637375256:g:G8QAAOSwusdcBJ-c

Ugh!  Great one, but doesn't ship to Canada, and I can't get to my US post office box in Buffalo, NY because of the border closure.  😞

 

 

[RJP]

FYI on the Crane photo.

 

The original file name is just wrong - not only is it not an Oxford but the serial is incomplete.  It is 7962, not 962; you can just see the edge of the 7 under the wing and  it is the only Crane with a serial ending in 962.  7962 was used by the Test and Development Establishment at Rockcliffe over the winter of 1941-42 so presumably that's what was going on here.

[rob Lyttle]

18 hours ago, Shark444 said:

As you'd expect from a more cottage industry kit,

Judging by your summary of the contents of the box, It looks like we now have to move on from the "cottage industry" tag for these guys. 

Seems like they're going for gold! 

And thanks for the informed recce. 

I've done a few of their kits, and some more are waiting. 

I like 'em ‼️

They're building a great catalogue of subjects, many have been ignored and shunned in favour of the usual repeated subjects by the dominant makers. 

 

I'll be keeping a look out for this one too. 

Location pegs? Who cares?! Especially when they are wrong... 

Good luck with this build, and the whole Canadian project 👍

[Shark444]

Well the weather here in Southern Ontario has finally decided to cooperate, so the last couple of weeks have been spend on "honey-do" projects around the yard.  In between, I have managed to make some good progress on the OxBox.  The Special Hobby kit provides myriad PE and resin details (right down to throttle and mixture levers on the cockpit quadrant), but for the most part, I decided to leave them out since you don't see much once the aircraft is buttoned up and the perspex is attached.  I did paint the cockpit the proper British Interior Green (I use the Xtracolour one from Hannants), which received a light wash of grime from Flory Models and included the PE seat belts as the primary detail.  I know the purists among you balk at my apparent lack of care and attention to the interior, but a) it's not going to enter any modeling contests, b) it's sitting inside a glass display cabinet, and c) you shouldn't be getting your nose that close to it anyway, lest you break some delicate part.

 

The fit of the kit itself, despite no locating pins is very, VERY good.I used a minimal amount of filler, and the fillet for the wing joint to the fuselage required nothing but liquid cement and a single brushstroke of Mr. Surfacer.

 

One silly miss by Special Hobby was the open gaps left on the underside of the engine nacelles at the trailing edges of the wings.  Filled with Tamiya Putty and moved on...

 

 

A bit ham-fisted with the application of the Tamiya Putty because it was late and I was tired.  Next time, I'm going to use a technique I saw from Martin Kovacs (Night Shift Modeler) on YouTube which uses liquid cement to thin Tamiya Putty for more precise brush application.  Watch the video below to see - yes, it's armor modeling, but we can adapt!

 

 

 

Cockpit masks included in the kit went on easily and were exact fit; I also like that they are a thicker vinyl so that they will not be affected by any sanding.  The main cockpit clear parthad a bit of a difference in width from where it joined the fuselage.  I solved this by adding very thin strip styrene to each side of the edges of the cockpit where the clear joins the grey plastic.  This acted as a guide rail and kept the clear parts "spread" to allow the glue to set.  The glop of putty on the port side is to fair out that one side as the canopy sat slightly proud by the merest fraction.  It sanded out nicely in the end.

 

 

You do need to add putty to the fuselage joint at the aft end of the canopy since this is actually part of the fuselage, but Special Hobby chose to mold this all clear since there were windows there.  the rest of the gap around the perspex framing at the front of the cockpit will be filled with Mr. Surfacer.

 

 

Focus on the wing fit of the wing fillet, not the mess of putty which is my own fault, not the kit's.  The fit is tight and precise, and the panel lines and screw fasteners are crisp and the right depth for the scale.

 

   

 

The kit-supplied Cheetah engines are basic "blobs" which really is my only beef with this kit.  Some brass rod for connecting rods and the addition of some additional pipes and do-dads on the crank case, gave me something that I'm pretty satisfied with.  I just wish the camera on my phone was better at taking close-ups!

 

 

I added more defined cowling latches as the ones molded in were sanded off when I smoothed out the joints.  Note that I did not fill the joint between the two pieces as this is where thee 2-piece cowl joins on the real thing.  I then sprayed an undercoat of black on the inner and outer surfaces of the cowl and then a top coat of AK XtremeMetal Dark Aluminum and then a Flory Models Grime wash to highlight the panel lines.  I'm not sure I'm altogether satisfied with the finish and may strip it and redo with a lighter flat aluminum finish. 

 

The kit was primed with just a coat of Italeri Medium Sea Grey and then Flat Black to better identify any problem areas for touch up.  finding none, I moved onto the application of the RCAF Trainer Yellow which I mixed with about 15 drops of flat white to Insignia Yellow.  Note to self, final prime over the black with flat white first so you don't have to use most of your yellow paint covering the black.  Duh!

 

 

 

That's all for now...