Trumpeter 1/48 scale Wellington Mk.Ic

Kit: No. 02808
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Trumpeter, from Stevens International, 856-435-1555, www.stevenshobby.com
Price: $109.95
Comments: Injection-molded, 654 parts, (6 cast metal, 13 photoetched metal, 3 vinyl, 2 photo film), decals
Pros: Much needed subject in this scale, metal landing gear struts, optional bomb loads, good photoetched parts
Cons: Complex, little interior color info, overdone fabric representation

Trumpeter has finally released its long-awaited 1/48 scale Wellington bomber. Molded in light-gray plastic the kit has more than 650 parts. The use of photoetch is limited to only a few parts. The landing gear struts are cast-metal, an excellent choice for a kit this large and heavy. The tires are vinyl, but have plastic wheels. All of the basic components for the interior are included, as are a large variety of bombs, allowing several different types of bomb loads to be installed. All of the main control surfaces are moveable. The clear parts are well-molded, but some are a little thick. The representation of the fabric-covered wing and tail surfaces is overdone; it's too bad Trumpeter couldn't have been more subtle, but it does show off the Wellington's geodesic inner structure. The instruction booklet has large, easy-to-follow diagrams. Decals are provided for two Wellingtons; while they are in good register the red is too bright.
I started assembly by painting and assembling the interior components. A lot of work goes into the interior; sadly little of it is seen on the finished model despite the large number of windows. Even with all of the parts installed, the interior is still quite simplified compared to the real thing. Thankfully, the gun turrets are well detailed. Little information is given in the instructions about what color to paint the interior. I used light gray for most of it, but painted the cockpit black.
I was concerned as to whether or not the joint of the box spars to the fuselage would be strong enough to support the large wings, so I reinforced them with some small nuts and bolts.
Getting all of the parts inside and gluing the fuselage together was aided by many rubber bands and tape. Even so, some filler was required along the joint. I didn't install the ventral "dustbin" turret (there's some question whether it was mounted in the Mk IC) so I just glued the plate into the hole in the bottom of the fuselage. The nose entry door didn't fit very well and requiring trimming and filling.
I masked and installed all the clear parts before painting the fuselage. I assembled and painted the wings before I attached them to the fuselage. This made handling things much easier. The engines are well detailed, but alas, little can be seen once they're in their cowlings. My model was painted with Tamiya acrylics custom-mixed to make British dark green and earth. I added white to flat black to make dark gray for the night undersides.
My Wellington took about 36 hours to build. Its large number of parts and large size will test an experienced builder. The finished model matched perfectly the dimensions in Alan W. Hall's Warpaint Series No. 10 Vickers Wellington. If you can live with the wing texture, the Trumpeter Wellington will fill a nice large hole in anyone's collection of British bombers.
- John Plzak