Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk.V British Overseas Airways Corporation

[Paul A H]

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk.V British Overseas Airways Corporation

1:72 Vingtor Decals

You may know Norwegian outfit Vingtor Decals for their rather super range of Norwegian military aircraft decals. What you may not know is that their range doesn’t stop at the borders of Norway; they also cover other interesting subjects including wartime BOAC aircraft. Following on from their pair of BOAC De Havilland Mosquito sheets is this neat set covering BOAC Whitleys.

Fifteen Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys were converted to civilian freighters by having their turrets removed and additional fuel tanks installed in their bomb bays. Four of these aircraft found their way onto the Leuchars to Stockholm route, ferrying diplomatic mail, passengers and vital products such as ball bearings. The creaky old Whitleys were not a great success, however, and they lasted just two months before being replaced.

Vingtor’s set provides the decals you need to build any of the four Whitley Mk. Vs – G-AGEB, G-AGEC, G-AGCG and G-AGCK. All four aircraft are finished in Dark Earth and Dark Green camouflaged upper surfaces over Aluminium lower surfaces. A full-colour, four-view painting guide is provided.

The decals themselves look excellent. They appear to be glossy and thin and everything is in perfect registration. Excess carrier film has been kept to an absolute minimum and I’d be surprised if these decals showed any signs of silvering in any case. The colours also look accurate; the dull red is nice and dark and not too bright as is so often the case. The British Airways Speedbird logos, outlined in silver, are particularly nice.

Conclusion

This is a great set of decals. Whether you have the Jurassic Frog kit or the brand-new Fly Model kit (lucky old you) this will allow you to build something a little bit different. Highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of

[David@ SBX Model Shop]

I haven't opened a pack of these yet but have seen them come through for customers and they seem to be very like the Mosquito ones. I have built a BOAC Mosquito and I found that the depth of colour in the decals was not sufficient to mask the background colour of the aircraft. The result was they looked quite subdued. I will take a picture so that you can see what I mean.

However, having just had the FLY Whitley come through, I think that this is a must build.

David

SBX

[Vingtor]

We were not fully satisfied with the "roundel" colours for the 1/72 scale Mosquito decals. Thus, when we upscaled these to 1/48 we added white backing to the colours to avoid translucence. We also changed the red and blue colours slightly. These changes proved to be good and the BOAC Whitley decals are produced from the same recipe.

Nils

[David@ SBX Model Shop]

We were not fully satisfied with the "roundel" colours for the 1/72 scale Mosquito decals. Thus, when we upscaled these to 1/48 we added white backing to the colours to avoid translucence. We also changed the red and blue colours slightly. These changes proved to be good and the BOAC Whitley decals are produced from the same recipe.

Nils

Thanks for the info and glad that some manufacturers actually think about their customers.

David

SBX Models

[Antoine]

Thanks for the review.