It’s
been at least two years in the making at the gifted hands of the CMR pattern
makers. As you would expect from CMR, the kit is beautifully crafted in a
creamy resin that is virtually free of blemishes. There are no white metal
parts, whilst the transparencies are a mixture of vacu-formed and clear epoxy.
What
you can’t see in these photos is highly detailed cockpit, and particularly the
stations behind the pilots. It is complete with seats, radios, things that
look suspiciously like torpedoes, and fire extinguisher. Virtually none of
it can be seen, even through the large, round cabin windows, and super clear
cockpit canopy.
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You
will need a donor kit to supply wings, main undercarriage (except the wheels –
CMR provide weighted beauties with separate hubs) and depending on which version
you build, tail fins. I used the Airfix kit, though you can use the
Hasegawa kit. The fit of the Airfix nacelles was awful. I think I
must have spent more time cleaning up the engines and nacelles than I did on the
rest of the kit. Some 9mm has to be cut from the root of each wing.
By
contrast the CMR resin parts exhibit great fit. Everything slotted
together. I was most surprised that the external framing on the sides of
the cockpit canopy were so easy to connect. I think the only weak part was
the central fin. I suspect if (unlike me) you spent a little more time trimming
it then the fit would be better and not require filler. I also cheated
with the round windows. Electing not to use the CMR clear epoxy parts, I
filled them with Kristal Klear.
Only
time will tell if the resin tail wheel stands up to the rigours of handling and
heat. Yes, it does occasionally get hot in Blighty.
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I
chose the Dan-Air scheme, though I was sorely tempted by the war time B.O.A.C
scheme. Unfortunately I couldn’t as I wanted to use the superb exhausts
provided by CMR, and had hacked off the shrouded exhausts from the Airfix
nacelles.
I
utilised a variety of paints. Halfords white primer for the white bits.
The ocean grey bits round the nacelles should have been dark sea grey. I
had thought that Halfords grey primer would go dark with a coat of Future/Klear,
but it didn’t. However, I did find a photo of a Dan-Air aircraft where
the nacelles looked ocean grey. The light grey bits were painted with Life
Color’s Light Compass Ghost Grey, lightened with Citadel’s Skull White.
Citadel also provided the Chaos Black and Blood Red.
The
decals are ultra thin, and fit the aircraft well.
Apart
from the Airfix bits, this was an enjoyable build. A much fuller write up
should appear in an edition of Scale Aviation Modeller in the near future.
Angus
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