Kit: 426
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Roden, from Squadron Mail Order, 972-242-8663,
www.squadron.comPrice: $29.99
Comments: Injection-molded, 155 film), decals
Pros: Crisp molding; good detail; rigging diagram
Cons: No seat belts or instrument few fit problems
The Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 was designed before World War I and used throughout the war, mostly as a two-seat observation aircraft. The B.E.2c appeared at the front in early 1915. It was stable, slow, and easy prey for German aircraft. Different versions of the B.E.2c carried bombs, anti-balloon rockets, and various machine-gun armament.
Roden's kit of this awkward and interesting aircraft is highly detailed, with 155 crisply molded tan plastic parts and one film strip containing windscreens and fuselage decking windows. Trailing edges and struts are accurately thin. The aircooled, eight-cylinder RAF engine is a little 13-part gem. Two different fins, bombs, rockets and their mounts, and two types of machine-gun mounts are supplied. Although not specified for use, a camera and its mount plus Lewis gun drums and their racks are also supplied. The eightpage, black-and-white instruction folder provides a history of the aircraft and a good rigging diagram.
Decals are given for six marking schemes, allowing various configurations of armament; one version has a gas tank on the lower surface of the upper wing. Two aircraft are clear-doped linen, two are green drab, one is both doped linen and green drab, and the box-cover craft is brown. Decals are good but do not include instrument faces or seat belts.
I started with the detailed engine and found the fit was better in the fuselage without the support bars (Part Nos. C18). The detailed interior also fit well, but I had to supply seat belts and instrumentface decals. You may want to back the rear end of the fuselage fuel tank with styrene because the opening shows in the cockpit.
After painting major parts Polly Scale clear-doped linen, I decaled them and oversprayed with a mix of Polly Scale clear flat and clear gloss. The wood grain on the fuselage decking, struts, and prop was applied over a base coat of doped linen using a mix of Vallejo tan and brown glazes with a drop of retarder and a slight tint of Vallejo red. The trick to wood grain is to streak it while it's still wet with a fairly stiff-bristled, flat-edged brush.
Some cleanup and fitting is needed for most of the kit's parts. After gluing the lower wing and tail surfaces to the fuselage, I made jigs from 1/4" foam board to hold the upper wing in position. I drilled holes for the eight interplane struts and glued them in place. One of the notcalled- for interplane struts with the pitot tube, part No. D18, was thinned down and used for the right front outboard interplane strut. Then I added the four upright cabane struts, trimming the lower ends as needed.
Rigging these airplanes is a challenge that takes time and patience. Most of the rigging is 2-pound monofilament line, precolored with a silver marker pen and laced into place. The double flying wires are Aeroclub's elastic silver line on brasswire J hooks, preglued into place. All control surfaces have external rigging lines, and the attachment points are represented on the fuselage. I cut off tiny pinheads to use as pulleys for the long aileron-control rigging on the wings.
The exhaust pipes and their brackets didn't allow the pipes to meet the engine without bending and adjusting the brackets to allow the pipes to come down farther.
The model is detailed and essentially accurate in dimension and contour. It took me more than 80 hours to build, which is longer than for most WWI models. However, the result is a delicate, intricate, and interesting model that is a welcome addition to my collection. I recommend it to advanced modelers, due to the tricky strut assembly and extensive rigging.
- Dr. Bill Funcke