FROG F128 Vickers R-100 Airship

FROG F128 The Trail Blazers Vickers R-100 Airship, 1966

PLASTICS of the MONTH

Frog kits in the "Trail Blazers" series this month are the R-100 airship above and the Bleriot XI below. Each is moulded in the natural colours of covering so that painting is restricted to a minimum. Airship comes with mooring mast and bent wire to support it in position.

Two really out of the ordinary types come from Frog this month. A 1/500 scale R-100 Airship and the famous cross channel Bleriot XI are included in the "Trail Blazers" series although the qualification for the former escapes us. Nevertheless it is a fascinating project with the stringered hull no less than 17 inches long and a replica of the Montreal airship tower included as part of the kit. The box helps too by offering a grass effect base. Bent wire and brass bearing tubes permit the ship to be mounted at mooring and the silver moulding offers an easy-to-make 15 shillings worth that would grace any model collection. The Bleriot kit reminds us strongly of the French sets we discovered a couple of years back. Purists will wish to thin the longerons but the overall effect, especially the wing and tail fabric is first class. For 2s. 6d. it is fine value.

AeroModeller JANUARY 1966 Vol.XXXI No.360

UPC 5040 Vickers/AGC R.100, 1968

Universal Powermaster Corporation, New York 10, NY. USA

Compared to most other kit companies, UPC is something of an oddity. They had a very large number of kits in their range - more than 150 at one time or another - but they never made any moulds of their own. Instead they repacked kits from countless other manufacturers and sold these under the UPC label. The company was apparently more or less a "one-man show" under the management of Mike Tager.

The first Frog kits bought were the ten ship kits, in quantities of 15-25,000 pieces each. The R.100, Gannet, Barracuda, Beaufort and Lancaster followed in 1968 with the rest of the aircraft in 1969. Quantities varied between 10,000 and 20,000. The 5,000 Jaguar kits were scheduled for 1968 but eventually delayed until the following year. Most kits had new artwork but used stock decals supplied by Rovcx. Instruction sheets were standard Frog, except for a change of logotype.

The R.100 came without the cardboard base of the Frog issue. A UPC R.100 with kit number 6040 has been reported elsewhere, but this is probably just a misprint.

5040

Vickers/AGC R.100

FROG model aircraft 1932-1976, R. Lines, L. Hellstrom

NOVO, Novo Toys Ltd.,

Novo Toys Ltd., Maxey, Peterborough, England PE6 9HQ

Period: 1976-1981

...the Britannia, R-100 and the car kits were considered to be of little interest to the Western market, and consequently no Novo numbers were ever assigned.

FROG model aircraft 1932-1976, R. Lines, L. Hellstrom

Maquette MQ-5000 R-100 Airship moored at Montreal Mast 1:500, Maquette Ltd, 90/00-s

25.02.2023