Armstrong Whitworth Whitley MkV - FROG 1/72
Discussion
This is a project I started YEARS ago but ran out of motivation after a few weeks. It has sat in a box for over 10 years in a part completed state so I decided it was time to try and get it finished.
For many, many years, the FROG kit of the Whitley was the only game in town. It was originally issued in 1972 (per Scalemates) so is of a similar vintage to my recently completed Firefly. It is therefore basically accurate in outline shape but a lot of the detail is simplified or simply non existent. In line with my philosophy of getting stuff finished, I plan to try and get this done without too many additional embellishments. However, when I started it in 2010 I hadn't quite adopted this simplified approach to model building so I'd acquired an Airwaves etched brass cockpit interior.
As you can see from the box art, this is a more recent issue of the kit from one of the myriad of Russian and Ukraine outfits that had access to these old FROG moulds over the decades since FROG's demise in the mid 1970s. By the time this version was released, the moulds had grown very tired and there was tons of flash all around the parts. The plastic was reasonable (some Russian plastic is brittle and impervious to polystyrene cement).
Here are some pictures I took when I first embarked on the project. I've done a bit more in the past week or so but not enough to warrant additional pictures for the moment.
Apart from the cockpit interior, the main additional work I did was open up window apertures in the fuselage, which had been represented on the kit by lines rather than openings. The landing light (as on the Firefly) was also represented by a simple set of "panel lines". I therefore cut out the landing light and boxed in the resultant gaping hole. I drilled out the exhaust ports as well. Hopefully, in the intervening decade, I haven't lost any significant bits.
Since 2010, Fly and Airfix have issued much more modern kits of the Whitley which, in line with modern practice, pack in a lot more detail - at the expense of cost and complexity.
For many, many years, the FROG kit of the Whitley was the only game in town. It was originally issued in 1972 (per Scalemates) so is of a similar vintage to my recently completed Firefly. It is therefore basically accurate in outline shape but a lot of the detail is simplified or simply non existent. In line with my philosophy of getting stuff finished, I plan to try and get this done without too many additional embellishments. However, when I started it in 2010 I hadn't quite adopted this simplified approach to model building so I'd acquired an Airwaves etched brass cockpit interior.
As you can see from the box art, this is a more recent issue of the kit from one of the myriad of Russian and Ukraine outfits that had access to these old FROG moulds over the decades since FROG's demise in the mid 1970s. By the time this version was released, the moulds had grown very tired and there was tons of flash all around the parts. The plastic was reasonable (some Russian plastic is brittle and impervious to polystyrene cement).
Here are some pictures I took when I first embarked on the project. I've done a bit more in the past week or so but not enough to warrant additional pictures for the moment.
Apart from the cockpit interior, the main additional work I did was open up window apertures in the fuselage, which had been represented on the kit by lines rather than openings. The landing light (as on the Firefly) was also represented by a simple set of "panel lines". I therefore cut out the landing light and boxed in the resultant gaping hole. I drilled out the exhaust ports as well. Hopefully, in the intervening decade, I haven't lost any significant bits.
Since 2010, Fly and Airfix have issued much more modern kits of the Whitley which, in line with modern practice, pack in a lot more detail - at the expense of cost and complexity.
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