The
Felixstowe F.2A was a very effective flying boat. In the middle of 1917
the German sub fleet posed a serious threat to England, so the Felixstowe was
put into the hunt of German submarines and doing patrol duty. They would
fly 60 mile octagons as they searched for German submarines. Due to their
many machine gun, the Felixstowe was also effective against German patrol planes
as well as German Zeppelins.
It
was only in 1918 with the appearance of the German Hansa Brandenburg that
the Felixstowe faced a serious threat. Over 100 Felixstowe were
manufactured and after the war they became redundant as there was no need
to patrol the coastlines. Most were retired and the remainder were
transferred to Canada and Chile.
The kit
This kit is comprised of 10 sprues
of off white styrene and one sprue of clear parts (not shown in photo below). The molding is very well done with
very little flash and
plenty of delicate detail that shows up very well.
The parts break down is logical
and assembly looks like it won't be too difficult, but this is a more involved
kit due to the fact it has twin engines and many many struts between it's upper
and lower wings. Wing rigging is
shown on the instruction sheets to some degree and the boxart also has an
excellent view of the rigging. The cockpit consists
of a 2 seats with very decent detail and two control wheels for the open cockpit
directly behind the nose gunner with his side by side pair of machine guns.
Cockpit side wall detail consists of a few frame pieces
molded to the inside of the fuselage sides.
The two engines are little kits
in their own right. Each one is comprised of over 30 parts. These
engines have no cowlings on them, so their complex detailing will really add to
the detail level of the finished model.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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general view of parts |
Radiator
and engine covers |
There are 6 machine guns on this
flying boat.....a pair by the nose facing forward, a pair facing rear and one on
each side of the fuselage. Detail on these guns is very nice and will look
good with some drybrushing of the details.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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It is difficult to
capture the wing detail in these photos, but you can almost feel the cloth over the wing
spars....simply lovely and good to see such well done detail....especially in 1/72.
The 12 page
instruction booklet includes....Felixstowe history, parts breakdown of the
sprues, 9 pages of assembly and decal instructions. The line drawings
for the assembly instructions are well done and very easy to follow.
Painting instructions include Humbrol paints. |
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Decal options
are for 3 different Felixstowes including
- Felixstowe F.2A N4465
based in Killingholme in mid 1918. This plane appears to be in
World War 1 camo.
- Felixstowe F.2A (ex
N4567) renamed "Guardiamarina Zanartu" and was a gift to the
Chilean Government after the war. Markings included the white
Chilean star.
- Felixstowe F.2A serial
unknown based probably in Great Yarmouth in summer-autumn of
1918. This plane appears on the boxart and is very striking with
it's blue and white stripes.
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This is a great kit
and is quite big for a WW1 bi-plane. I highly recommend it and Roden kits in
general to anyone wanting to build some WW1 aircraft.
Special thanks to LuckyModel.com
Hobby Shop for sending me this review sample. I've ordered kits from
them and their service was excellent.
Steve
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