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World War II: Great Britain
Aircraft of Great Britain in WWII.
Hosted by Rowan Baylis
Classic airframes kits?
ThomasB
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Skåne, Sweden
Joined: May 17, 2002
KitMaker: 762 posts
AeroScale: 141 posts
Posted: Sunday, March 21, 2004 - 08:09 PM UTC
Just wonder if anyone have any experiences with this manufacturer, I have placed a bid on their Whirlwind on e-bay. Really like that aircraft, so I hope the kit is good.
Holdfast
Staff MemberPresident
IPMS-UK KITMAKER BRANCH
#056
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England - South West, United Kingdom
Joined: September 30, 2002
KitMaker: 8,581 posts
AeroScale: 4,913 posts
Posted: Monday, March 22, 2004 - 07:54 AM UTC
Yes it's a pretty good kit, you get 3 sprues of low pressure molded plastic which has nice engraved surface detail, a bag of resin parts, for the cockpit, spinners, wheels and other detail. There's a small etched fret, the undercarriage is in white metal and you get 2 vac formed canopies. The biggest problem I can see with construction is the large gates on the sprues, but these are relatively easy to deal with. So if you get it for a good price I don't think you will be disapointed. I paid £24.95 for mine. There is a second incarnation of this kit, the Whirlwind on the box art has a white painted nose. I don't know if the kit was up graded in any way :-)
Mal
Merlin
Staff MemberSenior Editor
AEROSCALE
#017
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United Kingdom
Joined: June 11, 2003
KitMaker: 17,582 posts
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Posted: Monday, March 22, 2004 - 11:20 AM UTC
Hi Thomas

The new version is pretty much unchanged.

You get new parts for a "Whirlibomber" i.e. some neat resin bombs with photoetched fins, an injection moulded canopy (to be honest, I preferred the original vacuform ) and a new set of decals.

To be fair to the kit, the Whirlwind was the first of the "second generation" Classic Airframes kits. The gates are a lot smaller than most short-run kits and the cockpit parts are licenced from Cooper Details - so they are superb.

Surface detail is variable on both versions - finely scribed lines, marred on the wings by what looks like mould release agent applied with a mop! I've built one and it does polish off ok...

The build is reasonably straightforward, but careful line up is needed to keep everything square. It's a kit that doesn't build itself, but you'll be rewarded with a neat model of an exciting aircraft! :-)

Hope this helps

Rowan
ThomasB
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Skåne, Sweden
Joined: May 17, 2002
KitMaker: 762 posts
AeroScale: 141 posts
Posted: Monday, March 22, 2004 - 10:05 PM UTC
Haven't really tried mixed media kits before, so it's going to be exciting. And not to mention doing something else then Tamiyas Shake-and-bake kits.
OllieC-FWOL
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Quebec, Canada
Joined: March 31, 2004
KitMaker: 446 posts
AeroScale: 0 posts
Posted: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 06:30 AM UTC
I have the same kit, but it came with a cracked canopy. I asked Classic Aiframes about a replacement, ans was told they didn't had any replacements. So now I need either a good samaritan with a spare vac canopy or some buddy of mine will make me a vac replacement...

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