Kit: 607
Scale: 1/32
Manufacturer: Roden, from
Squadron Mail Order, 972-242-8663
Price: $59
Comments: Injection-molded, 138 parts, film strip, 4 windshields, decals
Pros: Excellent scale thickness of parts
Cons: Vague instructions; poor fit; silvering decals; lack of instrument faces and seat belts
The S.E.5a, one of Britain's most successful World War I aircraft designs, was flown by a number of leading aces including Mick Mannock (73 victories) and Billy Bishop (72 victories). It was much easier to fly than its contemporary, the Sopwith Camel, and was also a more stable gun platform.
Roden's kit is good news to 1/32 scale WWI fans. This release is the Wolseley Viper engine version of the S.E.5a, but examination of the kit parts indicates a geared Hispano-Suiza engine version is also planned. Actually, the direct-drive Viper is Wolseley's improved Hispano- Suiza. The kit looks like a blowup of Roden's 1/48 scale S.E.5a with the addition of a highly detailed Viper engine.
The kit includes 138 crisply molded, gray plastic parts, and a film strip with four different windshields. There are two types of props, two types of landing gear, two pairs of exhaust pipes, two types of Lewis guns and their mounts, narrow and wide elevators, two pairs of cylinder banks, two crank cases and a bomb rack with four bombs.
The trailing edges of the wings are accurately thin. The rudder and elevators are separate and positionable, and the ailerons are integral with the wings. There are some sink marks on the prop hubs and the landing-gear fairings, but otherwise the moldings are good. The eight-page, blackand- white instruction folder provides a parts map and colors. Five marking schemes are indicated, all with olive drab (PC-10) upper surfaces and doped-linen lower surfaces. The box art shows a red fuselage. Mannock and Bishop's aircraft are included, as well as that of Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor (South Africa's leading WWI ace with 54 victories). The other two schemes are for the box art aircraft and for an American aircraft of the 25th Aero Squadron. No rigging diagrams are provided, but the modeler is referred to the box art.
Assembly begins with the engine, which is a kit in itself as it comprises 38 parts (not counting radiator hoses). The cockpit interior is nicely detailed, but neither instrument faces nor seat belts are provided. (I supplied these items from my own stock.) Many parts needed minor fit adjustments, but mounting the engine and assembling the several parts of the front end were especially challenging. I finally resorted to clamps to get a satisfactory result.
I used Polly Scale paints, but Mister Kit British WWI acrylic paints, with their semigloss finish, would probably have been a better choice to use with these decals, which tended to silver.
Having attached the lower wing to the fuselage during its assembly, I glued the upper wing into place using the interplane struts and supporting the upper wing in the correct position. Before the glue was totally set, I added the cabane struts. The rear cabanes were shortened at the fuselage end to produce a satisfactory fit.
I did most of the rigging with 4-pound monofilament nylon precolored with a black Sharpie marker. To rig the eight pairs of double flying wires, I made 16 "J" hooks from fine brass strip folded around a pin and super glued them in 16 holes in the upper wing and fuselage. The lines were then glued around these attachment points. It worked well, except my spacing between the wires was too great.
I spent more than 50 hours on this model - but I'm slow, and I fussed with the engine (even though most of it doesn't show). I would recommend this essentially accurate and highly detailed model to experienced biplane modelers.
- Dr. Bill Funcke