Vickers Wellington Mk. IC

MPM

Reviewed by Brett Green

MPM's 1/72 scale Wellington Mk. IC will be available online from Squadron.com

A new Wellington is well overdue. Although the 1/72 scale Airfix, Matchbox and Frog kits (in various Russian reboxings) have been available since the 1960s, they certainly show their vintage in terms of detail, surface texture, mediocre clear parts and general wear and tear on the old moulds.

MPM has now bestowed this significant aircraft with the benefits of their long-run injection moulding process in a brand new 1/72 scale kit.

MPM's 1/72 scale Wellington Mk. IC is a beautiful model.

The kit comprises 115 parts in medium grey coloured, long run injection moulded styrene and an additional 13 injection moulded clear parts. All the parts feature small sprue attachment points and are crisply moulded. There are no sink marks present on visible surfaces, and only about ten ejector pin marks on the inside of each fuselage half. This is not really a criticism, as these marks are a necessary evil of the injection moulding process. I would consider the standard of moulding to be on a par with new Revell releases.

What really grabbed my attention was the surface texture. The Wellington featured a unique "geodetic" cross-hatched framework. On the real aircraft, the diamond grid of the structure showed through fabric surfaces. MPM has captured this geodetic pattern beautifully with softly raised framework on the wings and tailplanes. The fuselage exterior is finished in a combination of fabric texture and finely raised ribs. The interior of the fuselage is detailed with a cross-hatch geodetic pattern. The bomb bay panels are crisply recessed. The combined effect of these surface features is really spectacular.

The smaller details have not been ignored either. The pilot's seat, floor and rear bulkhead are nicely detailed. The instrument panel is presented "a la Tamiya" with recessed blank dials. I like this option, as it offers to opportunity to use individual decal instruments.

Transparent parts are quite clear and relatively free of distortion. Each turret comprises twelve parts, including four clear parts that must be glued together. Extreme care will be required to avoid messing up these clear parts with excess glue. I will be dipping the parts in Future and using tiny spots of super glue to secure my clear turret pieces. The long side windows for the fuselage feature vertical frames, but photos of the Wellington clearly show the geodetic framework behind the clear perspex. Adding this detail behind the windows (either by painting or fine stryene rod) will be a noticeable improvement.

Other details, including the undercarriage bays, gear legs and engines, are also very nice. The gear bays are split vertically, and have detail moulded onto their sidewalls. The engines feature separate cylinders. Superdetailers may choose to add more wiring detail, but it is not entirely necessary in this scale.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Kit engineering is solid. The wings and tailplanes are secured with the assistance of slots and tabs. The larger parts, including the fuselage halves, feature locating pins too.

Instructions are by way of a ten page booklet, with construction called out over thirteen steps.

Four marking options are offered, including one Mid Stone and Dark Earth scheme. The other three are conventional Bomber Command colours of Dark Earth, Dark Green and Night Black. Two of the options have the white section of the roundels blacked out too. Decals are nicely printed with a satin texture and minimal carrier film. Registration on my decals was perfect.

MPM's 1/72 scale Wellington is another example of the continuous improvement in quality on the part of Czech model manufacturers.

In a matter of little more than a year, Eastern European manufacturers such as Eduard and MPM have proven that they can match the standards of the big boys in the industry. With its superb surface texture, logical parts breakdown, narrow sprue connectors, injection-moulded clear parts and locating pins on larger parts, there is little left to define MPM's Wellington as "limited run". The kit is certainly well within the capabilities of the average modeller, with no special preparation or skills required.

MPM has catered for the advanced modeller, however, with the announcement of four resin detail sets for this kit even though the detail is pretty good straight from the box.

MPM's 1/72 scale Wellington will be welcomed by all fans of WWII British bombers - newcomers to the hobby and superdetailing experts alike.

Highly Recommended.

Review Copyright © 2002 by Brett Green
Page Created 16 August, 2002
Last updated 22 July, 2003

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