Roden
Kit Number 401
1/48 Gloster Gladiator Mk.II |
Reviewed By
Paul Bradley, #35554 |
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$23.99 MSRP The Gloster
Gladiator was Britain’s last biplane fighter and not a bad one at that;
the type downed more than 450 enemy aircraft during World War II, most
admittedly in secondary theaters, but an impressive record nevertheless.
Roden’s series of Gladiator kits reaches #3 with this, the improved Mk.II.
The kit comes in a secure top-opening box with pretty
good artwork depicting a Swedish Gladiator overflying a brewed up Soviet
tank – one assumes the tank was knocked out for reasons other than the
Gladiator’s four .303in machine guns! Inside, there are 91 pieces on two
light gray sprues, one clear sprue containing 6 pieces, the decal sheet
for 6 aircraft and the 12-page instruction booklet.
The parts are finely molded, with no flash present.
There are some sink marks, most easily cleaned up and a few ejector pin
marks, but the majority will be unseen once complete. Surface detail is
mostly good, consisting of fine engraved panel lines and some raised areas
denoting removable fabric panels – these I think are a little too
prominent, and I lightly sanded them down for a more pleasing look. The
main parts have a slight surface texture to them that is not all bad –
after all, this is a fabric covered aircraft – but I did lightly sand the
front fuselage areas that represent metal paneling to provide a slight
difference in texture once painted. There are no locating pins, but the
lower wings and tailplanes have nice, snug fitting tabs.
The trailing edges of the one-piece wings are very
sharp. A useful feature is the bumps indicating where the rigging goes – I
sanded them off and used a very fine bit to drill the holes for the guitar
string rigging. Another nice feature is that all the control surfaces are
separate and molded in one piece each; however, care will need to be taken
that the correct pieces are added to the correct wings, as it is easy to
mix them up! |
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Assembly starts with the engine, and this is a nice
representation of the Bristol Mercury. The separate exhaust collector
pipes that are so prominent on the real thing are included, as well as the
trumpet-like air scoops that lead back beyond the engine. The cowling is,
for some mysterious reason, molded in three parts, which led to much grief
when trying to eliminate the join lines on the front exhaust collector
ring. The top cylinder head clearance fairing is also a pain to clean up
for the same reason. In order to ensure a circular cowling, I cut a 26.5mm
disc from 30thou plasticard to aid with the alignment of the cowling
pieces, this being attached with white glue where the engine eventually
goes. Once the cowling is set, the disc is removed.
Putting the engine aside, assembly turns to the cockpit,
and this is adequate for this scale. There is a ‘floor’, seat, stick,
compass column, seat adjustment handle, rudder bar and rudder adjustment
wheel. A clear instrument panel is provided, with decals for the back, but
this is too wide for the fuselage and will need careful trimming to fit
properly. A throttle assembly is also included, but there are no other
details for the sidewalls, which are molded on the fuselage sides. A
machine gun is added in each fuselage half and these are adequately
detailed in view of the fact that they will be almost unseen once the
model is complete. The cockpit entry doors are separate pieces and have
adequate detail molded to the inner surfaces. I elected to leave one open
and one closed. The only addition I made to the cockpit was a set of
decal seatbelts as these are not indicated or included with the kit. |
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Before assembling the fuselage, there are a couple of minor
corrections to be made to the halves. On each forward fuselage, there is a
small circular panel line representing the fresh air intake – these should
be drilled out. At the rear of the fuselage, just behind the horizontal
stabilizers, are square holes to access the control cables and these also
ought to be opened out. On the lower rear fuselage are handholds for
lifting the fuselage – these will need to be opened out. Also at this
time, I elected to attach the undercarriage legs. These have large
attachment stubs to fit into large attachment holes in the fuselage.
Interestingly, one fit like a glove, while the other needed extensive
trimming; a little filler was needed to blend both in. Be sure to do much
test fitting to ensure that each sits at the same angles to each other. On
the real thing, there are fairings between the rear of the legs and the
leading edges of the wings – these are not included in the kit. I did not
add these, discretion being the better part of valor in this case!
On the starboard fuselage, the prominent oil cooler “mat”
would be nicely represented, but there is an ugly sink line across the
rear that would be very difficult to correct. I elected to ignore it and
used a convenient camouflage color change to slightly disguise it. |
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Once the interior is added, the fuselage halves are joined,
and this proved not too difficult despite the lack of locating pins. I
added the lower wings and their solid locating tabs ensure that the
correct dihedral is fixed. Some minor filling was needed to blend them
into the fuselage. At this point, I opted to do the majority of camouflage
painting, before adding the top mainplane and tailplane surfaces.
Unfortunately, I encountered big problems at this stage.
Although I thought I had thoroughly washed the parts before construction
began, my first masking efforts, using Frisket masks, pulled up much of
the Dark Earth camouflage. Theorizing that there was still mold release
residue on the parts, I stripped the remaining paint and thoroughly washed
the model again. When dry, I airbrushed the Dark Earth and re-masked using
poster putty and Micro-Mask prior to adding the Dark Green. The same thing
happened. I ended up brush painting the camouflage colors. So it appears
that some Roden kits have a surfeit of mold release material that is
resistant to washing with warm, soapy water. At this point, even a strong
cup of tea was insufficient to soothe the savage beast, so I left the
project for a week.
Once the paint was dry and my motivation revived, I
added the interplane struts. This proved to be a bit tricky as each strut
is separate and will only go in one position – take care not to mix them
up…after much fiddling, I managed to get them in place. At that point,
careful inspection of some photos revealed that the ends of the struts do
not end in mounting plates as depicted in the kit. By this time, it was
too late to correct them, but careful study of photos will reveal what
needs to be done.
The kit offers decals for six Gladiator IIs: two RAF
(263 Sqn in Norway and 247 Sqn in Southern England), two Swedish and two
Finnish. I am led to understand that the Swedish and Finnish options are
fairly accurate, though the Finnish roundel blue is too light. Option VII
ought to have a winged skull marking under the cockpit that is not
included on the decal sheet. Aeromaster 48-187 has correct markings in
that respect. For the RAF schemes, the code letters are far too dark,
being printed as Extra Dark Sea Grey rather than the correct Medium Sea
Grey. I opted for a 247 Sqn, RAF, camouflaged machine from 1940, and
though I have lingering questions about the exact demarcations of the
camouflage as presented by Roden, I am satisfied with the look. |
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Roden decals have a reputation for being difficult to work
with, so I tested some spares from the sheet on my resident “hangar
queen.” These proved to be thick, immune to MicroSol and Set, and silvered
terribly, so Roden’s reputation remained intact. Aside from the serial
number, I used Modeldecal roundels and codes from my ample spares box and
donated the remainder of the Roden sheet to the local landfill.
I completed the model by adding .30mm guitar string as
rigging. Please note that my photos do not depict the full set of rigging,
as I am waiting for the opportunity to visit the music shop and pick up
some .20mm guitar strings. This will be used to depict the finer rigging
between the ailerons and on the tailplane.
Looking at the model, it certainly has the air of the
Gladiator, and dimensionally, it squares up well. There are no major
errors of outline or detail, and the few small details I added were of a
personal preference rather than essential. Interior detail is adequate for
the scale and in general the surface detail is nice, though a little heavy
in places for my liking. Construction is relatively easy, though I would
suggest two thorough washings of the parts before beginning construction,
lest you fall foul of the mold release residue as I did. A jig to aid with
positioning the struts would be a big help, unless you happen to have been
born with three hands. Overall, this is a nice kit that I can recommend to
those with a couple of biplanes under their belts. |
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I have included a number of photos of real Gladiators that
I hope will be of assistance when you start your kit. Gladiator L8032 was
the last example built and is owned today by the Shuttleworth Collection
in England. She is the last remaining flying example of this fascinating
interwar fighter. My thanks to Roden for supplying
the review sample. |
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