Airfix Vickers Valiant B(PR)K.Mk.I 1:72 Airfix (A11001A)

[Julien]

Vickers Valiant B(PR)K.Mk.I

1:72 Airfix (A11001A)

 

 

The Valiant was the first of the V-Bomber fleet into service, and was also the most conservative of the three, being of a very conventional design. It dropped Britain's first Atomic bomb during exercise Grapple, but once the nuclear deterrent role passed to the Royal Navy, shortcomings in its design became evident. In the low level bomber role, where the air is more turbulent, and the demands on the airframe during manoeuvres are more intense, the spar of the aircraft was found wanting. One aircraft's rear spar fractured during flight, but it managed to limp back to base and landed safely. Examination of the rest of the subsequently grounded fleet found that tiny stress cracks were starting to appear, which led to the remaining serviceable airframes being re-tasked with in-flight refuelling before they were permanently grounded on the basis of the cost of repairs in January 1965. Sadly, the B.2 "Black Bomber" version that had progressed to prototype stage as early as 1955, with upgraded wing strength and extended fuselage would have been a much better aircraft for the Valiant B.1's eventual role, but that was cancelled and ended its days as a gunnery target. Although designed from the ground up as a high-altitude strategic bomber, the Vickers Valiant was adapted to a number of other roles throughout its career. The Valiants high-altitude performance and long range made it ideally suited to the photo reconnaissance role. The first converted aircraft, known as the Valiant B (PR) K Mk. 1, equipped No. 543 Squadron, based at RAF Wyton. The photo reconnaissance equipment was installed in the bomb bay, with nine windows being fitted to the bomb bay doors. Photo reconnaissance Valiants operated successfully until replaced in service by PR Canberras. Valiants were also deployed successfully in the tanker role. These aircraft, designated B (K) Mk. 1 were adapted by the installation of a Hose Drum Unit (HDU or HooDoo) in the bomb bay. The benefits for the RAF were immense, providing true strategic offensive capability as well as prolonging the endurance of the fighter force. 

 

The Kit

The kit arrives in a gigantic top-opening box, with a lovely CGI painting of a PR Valiant banking over clouds. Inside are seven sprues of light grey styrene, one of clear parts, a large decal sheet, instruction booklet and a large folded A3 decal instruction sheet. This is a re-issue of the original kit with the inclusion of the Photo reconnaissance parts Airfix released as an additional set back in 2016. 

 

 

 

 

 

The cockpit is depicted with all 5-seats, with the three rear crew situated on a lower platform facing the rear. Decals are provided for both instrument panels and side consoles, as well as control yolks for the pilots and a ladder for the pilots to exit the cockpit. Detail here is acceptable and streets ahead of the Mach2 kit, but given the small size of the windows, very little will actually be seen, even if the crew access door on the port side is opened. The large coaming behind the pilots is included, scoring point here for accuracy over expediency, as it will hardly be visible. The bomb bay can be posed open or closed, and a separate set of bay doors is included if you opt for the closed version, as well as four strengthening bulkheads, which are numbered for ease. If opting to open the bomb bay, the modeller can choose configurations for Blue Danube, closed doors; or the PR pack, and again two bay roofs are included depending on which option you choose. The Valiant had a retractable portion of the fuselage behind the bomb bay, which stopped any falling munitions from impacting the rear of the bay due to the speeds at which the Valiant could fly. This is depicted by an insert that fits behind the open bomb bay, or if you close up the bay, this panel is attached to the main bay doors. The open bomb bay roof was a criss-cross pattern of ribs and stringers, which is replicated well here, and the bomb "pallets" for the conventional bombs are supplied, plus a full complement of 21 x 1,000lb iron bombs are still in the kit. The Blue Danube nuclear weapon filled the bay, and was suspended from the roof by a cradle, which is depicted here. The bay doors retracted almost totally into the bay to reduce drag, and here they plug into sockets in the bay roof, with the actuating arms also provided.

 

 

 

Once the cockpit and bomb bay are completed, the fuselage can be closed up, and here a nose weight of 22 grams is suggested, although there is room here for plenty more. The engines are mounted in the wing root,. Each pair of intakes are made up from top and bottom halves, and once a couple of ejector pin marks are removed, the two parts can be glued together. A pair of compressor faces is supplied for each trunk. The intakes and the main gear bay boxes fit into the underside of the wing, with the intakes being supported on three platforms to ensure correct positioning. At this point the modeller must drill out the external fuel tank mounting lugs before offering the two wing undersides up to the one-piece wing upper. This route is a great idea, as instead of two long seams running over the smooth upper wing area, the modeller only has to deal with the two short seams fore and aft of the wing. The underside seam will be very difficult to see, so as long as care is taken here, it should need little in the way of filler.

 

 

The horizontal tail slots into a hole in the vertical tail, and the vortex generators should be on the underside once installed. It has posable flying surfaces, so the modeller can add a little visual interest to the tail, and indeed the main wings. The rudder is moulded integrally however. If modelling the Grapple airframe a portion of the rear fuselage under the tail should be cut off, as this was a different shape in later models, while a choice of tips is given for the other versions. The exhaust cans slot into their fairings and are glued to the main wing, and care should be taken here to ensure that the fine trailing edge segment lines up with the rest of the wing. The landing gear are nicely detailed, with a large retraction jack moulded into the roof of the wheel bays (paint this part white), and the main X-supports mounting in turn in the middle of the bay. If you choose to model the Valiant in flight, the same bay doors can be used but with their mounting tabs cut off. The main doors are ribbed just like the rear thing, and have strong mounting surfaces, so shouldn't be knocked off too easily. The main wheels have separate hubs to help with painting, and the tyres have circumferential tread moulded in, as well as a discreet flat spot to give a realistic impression of the weight of the airframe on the tyres. The door jacks on the outer doors are missing, but these can be quickly fabricated from rod, or brass tube. The twin nose wheels have their guards built in, which seems a shame, but the detail is crisp, and careful painting will convince the viewer that they are separate parts. The nose gear leg is detailed, and looks to be correct from my memories of hacking about the Mach2 leg. The bay doors fit into the notched edges neatly whether posed open or closed. The underwing fuel tanks that were almost ubiquitous in contemporary photos are quite cleverly moulded, and stronger due to the fact that the tanks sandwich the base of the pylon with large attachment tabs ensuring a good fit. The large round pegs then attach to the wing, making them harder to knock off. The glazing parts are All crisp and clear, with the non-glazed parts of the mouldings frosted over, making masking a doddle. There are two Bomb Aimer's windows provided, as the 2nd Prototype had a simple oval window with no side-panes. The main glazing in the prototype also didn't have a quarterlight above the cockpit side windows, so two are provided here. The small oval window next to the crew door is there, as is a large clear insert for reconnaissance aircraft, with 10 raised clear squares. 

 

 

Decals

Decals are printed by Cartograf in Italy, and from the box you can build one of two options:

 

 

WZ393 - No.90 Sqn RAF. RAF Honington 1957 - High Speed silver?

XD818 - No.49 Sqn RAF. Based at Christmas Island 1957 For Operation Grapple. This is the only complete Valiant to Survive at RAF Cosford. This aircraft dropped Britain's first Hydrogen Bomb. 

 

 

Conclusion

Its good to see this kit re-released as they were commanding high prices on the second hand market. The inclusion of the PR parts in the kit is also most welcome. Highly Recommended. 

 

Review sample courtesy of

[William_The_Legend]

the kit looks lovely. Glad to see airfix decided to do a re-release; i agree the prices were getting a tad ridiculous 2nd hand! nice to see that airfix have included many optioins for the modeller too. May i ask whether the sprues all came in 1 bag or individual bags?

[Julien]

49 minutes ago, William_The_Legend said:

May i ask whether the sprues all came in 1 bag or individual bags?

All the Valiant parts are in one bag, with the PR parts in a separate bag. 

[Dave Swindell]

Quick heads up on the box art - the camera ports shown on WZ393 are artistic licence, it was configured as a bomber in this colour scheme., so use the plain bomb bay doors provided in the standard kit bag.

Only 543 Sqn operated Valiants with a PR fit, unfortunately no decals for a PR Valiant or a Tanker Valiant are included, here's hoping @26Decals will re-release his decal sheet with 543 sqn markings in the near future.

[Julien]

57 minutes ago, Dave Swindell said:

Quick heads up on the box art - the camera ports shown on WZ393 are artistic licence, it was configured as a bomber in this colour scheme., so use the plain bomb bay doors provided in the standard kit bag.

Only 543 Sqn operated Valiants with a PR fit, unfortunately no decals for a PR Valiant or a Tanker Valiant are included, here's hoping @26Decals will re-release his decal sheet with 543 sqn markings in the near future.

I see there are pics of WZ393 which call it a B(PR)K.1,

 

However this pic from Wikipedia would confirm what @Dave Swindell says as it is a Bomber

 

Dave were these HS Silver? or a different finish, the door certainly seems a little different from the rest of the airframe here?

 

Julien

[stever219]

12 hours ago, Julien said:

I see there are pics of WZ393 which call it a B(PR)K.1,

 

However this pic from Wikipedia would confirm what @Dave Swindell says as it is a Bomber

 

 

Dave were these HS Silver? or a different finish, the door certainly seems a little different from the rest of the airframe here?

 

Julien

High Speed Silver was the default option on early Valiants: WB215 was a notable exception, because no overall highly polished aluminium (I can’t remember if WB210 also wore this finish; it’s late, I’m tired and my Valiant references are not easily accessible just now.  The crew door could have been a replacement part from another Valiant or could have been subject to its own personal repaint, but unless someone still has the aircraft record cards we’ll probably never know for certain now.  Well done Airfix for reissuing this kit.  

[Dave Swindell]

11 hours ago, Julien said:

I see there are pics of WZ393 which call it a B(PR)K.1,

It was a B(PR)K.1

Other marks of Valiant included B.1, B(PR).1 and BK.1

The difference in mark depended on the wiring and plumbing fitted to the airframe - i.e. whether they could later be fitted with the specific role equipment for PR or Tanker work.

The PR role equipment wasn't a simple clip on recce pod, the airframe was returned to Vickers and the fit included replacing the standard bomb doors and rear fairing with shorter doors and fairing, and fitting the large photoflash unit in between them. This was only done for PR roled B(PR).1 or B(PR)K.1  airframes supplied to 543 Sqn.

B(PR).1 or B(PR)K.1 airframes supplied to all other squadrons were in either standard bomber configuration, or reconfigured as tankers (214 Sqn and 90 Sqn, 1962- 1965).

As @stever219 says, all early production Valiants were painted all over High Speed Silver. Later production Valiants were delivered in all over white (XD serials?) and early production machines were repainted white during overhaul in the late 50's.

Prototype WB210 was polished aluminium until it crashed, WB215 was polished aluminium initially but was later repainted HSS.

B.2 Prototype WJ954 was black overall.

The kit is welcome re-release, especially a it includes the PR and tanker parts in one box, it's just a pity that a decal scheme for each of these isn't included. 

[Julien]

Thanks Dave, I had not realised the Tanker Parts were in there as well. Unfortunately doing a lot of reviews you cant be an expert on everything.

[Dave Swindell]

2 minutes ago, Julien said:

Thanks Dave, I had not realised the Tanker Parts were in there as well. Unfortunately doing a lot of reviews you cant be an expert on everything.

This frame (sprue) is all the tanker parts.

My kit isn't arriving til this afternoon so I haven't seen the instructions yet, if they don't include assembly instructions for the tanker parts they can be found here

https://www.scalemates.com/products/img/6/9/8/142698-75-instructions.pdf

[Julien]

2 minutes ago, Dave Swindell said:

My kit isn't arriving til this afternoon so I haven't seen the instructions yet, if they don't include assembly instructions for the tanker parts they can be found here

https://www.scalemates.com/products/img/6/9/8/142698-75-instructions.pdf

Thanks Dave. There is no mention of these parts in the instructions.

[Timmas]

I picked this up from my local model shop on Saturday. I now have two; one of the early releases and this one. The problem I now face is, I want to build more variants than I have kits for, which means I'll have to buy at least one more. Hmmm, what with my other Vulcan(s) Victors and Nimrod I'm rapidly running out of space.

There's a small house for sale just down the road from us and Mrs T (half jokingly) suggested we buy it so that I have room for all the kits that I have...and the ones I want! This modelling lark can get a bit pricey 😬

[Bish]

Thanks for the review, deffinetly grabbing one this time round. And thanks for the heads up Dave. I was in 2 minds about doing the bomber or SR version, thinking the aircraft could be switched between the 2 roles. Bomber it will be.

[sroubos]

Might just have to grab it this time round. Such a great aircraft. I'm sure my six-year old won't mind it hanging off his ceiling.

[Ruskin Air Services]

Just watch out for the wings sprue B mine was badly warped and damaged. But at least Airfix were kind enough to send me a new sprue of parts within a week 

['V']

Oh IF ONLY !!

Nowadays with Airfix Victors, Valiants and Vulcans you have an easy life.

Might be expensive though at around £50 a time.

It's not THAT long ago when we were delighted that the Vulcan came out, Matchbox offered the Victor K2, but if

you wanted one of the very elegant looking Valiants there was just the option of a Contrail vacform.

 

XD870 214 Sqn BK1 first flew 10/5/57 had to hand paint the fin marking ! From before I had a digital camera, so this is a scanned print.

 

 

WZ366 49 Sqn B1 first flew 18/8/55. Dropped a nuclear bomb on Australia 11/10/56

 

 

Then of course we got the (Un-buildable) Mach 2 kit. Looks like a Valiant to me, although it was a lot of work.

 

WP221 207 Sqn B(PR) first flew 27/5/55

 

 

My final Valiant build and even with the new Airfix offering will stay that way !!

 

XD815 90 Sqn BK1 first flew 11/7/56 All roundels and codes printed at home as no commercial ones available at the time.

 

 

Funny but after that I didn't fancy making aircraft models again - drifting back after about 13 years.

 

'V'

 

[Hook]

Mine arrived at my LHS today - I will pick it up tomorrow, completing my Airfix V-Bomber Triumverate!

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

['V']

Hi Hook,

 

And what a great trio they'll make - All you ned is the space to display !!

We need a WIP thread !!!!!

 

'V'

[Maginot]

Wow! Looks great. Sorely tempted though it falls outside my eras of modelling. I like PR types.

 

Only ever saw one once. Up in the Yorkshire Dales when I was fishing with Dad circa 1962. Came out of nowhere, low, white, noisy and massive, up the valley of the River Ribble, passing right in front of me. Left a lasting impression, as you might imagine. Was it practicing the then new low-level penetration profile before the fatigue problems emerged?

[Hook]

On 11/18/2021 at 8:09 PM, 'V' said:

We need a WIP thread !!!!!

What? My very first WIP, with such a massive project? That's crazy!

 

...

 

I might do it.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

 

['V']

Plunge in - The waters not that cold.

You'll also have lots of help at hand should you feel you need it.

 

'V'

[MikeC]

@'V' You are the first person other than myself who I've ever seen build a Contrail Valiant.  But two?? And so well done too.  Respect, Sir.

Edited November 21, 2021 by MikeC

[Blacktjet]

I've just opened a couple of these, the fuselages are covered in sink marks, not an issue on the first release.