FROG F239 De Havilland Hornet, Rovex Tri-ang, 1971-74
The IPMS magazine, MARCH 1971 Vol. 8 No. 3
NEW AND IN VIEW
New Aircraft Kits
ROVEX TRI-AIMG (FROG) LIMITED. De Havilland Hornet F3. Red Series. 1172 scale. Price (U.K.) 26p.
Moulded in medium grey plastic the various component parts of this kit are of a good fit and free of flash but, unfortunately, the outline accuracy of the mouldings leaves something to be desired.
The nose shape is too pointed in side elevation and not deep enough on the underside of the nose radius; similarly the fin and rudder chord is too narrow above the point where the fin fairing smoothes into the fin proper. The cockpit canopy is clear but in side view the bulge should be much further forward and not as moulded.
The most unfortunate error though is the grossly over-thick wing section and almost square-section leading edges. The wings require thinning down in a constant taper from root to tip and the leading edge radiator intakes on the inboard wing section are both too shallow and should be angled upwards from the root.
The engine nascelles with separate exhaust inserts are excellent as are the neatly detailed undercarriage oleo and wheel doors. The propeller blades and spinners are also near perfect but the instruction sheet fails to point out that the propeller units were 'handed' and should be fitted to the model so that the pitch of the prop blades turns towards the fuselage on each engine.
Decals are for an F.3 of 41 Squadron 1950 in the then current 'Intruder' scheme of Dark Green/Dark Sea Grey/PRU Blue while the alternative markings are for another F.3 of 19 Squadron, 1950 in Medium Sea Grey upper surfaces and PRU Blue undersides; decals include full national insignia, squadron crests, markings and fuselage stencil panel.
Box art is excellent as a painting guide but the colours are inaccurately reproduced. Use HUMBROL camouflage paints for this model endeavouring to obtain a smooth surface sheen rather than a high-gloss finish.
***
Air Enthusiast 1971-07 vol.01 no.02
MODEL ENTHUSIAST
My wife doesn't understand met
A Frog quartet
From the viewpoint of the modeller, one of the most neglected periods in the entire history of aviation — neglected, that is, by the kit manufacturer — is that immediately following WW II. The last generation of piston-engined combat aircraft had no opportunity to gain laurels comparable with those earned by its wartime predecessors, and thus, to the model kit manufacturer, lacked the glamour necessary for quantity sales. From time to time, of course, the occasional kit of a warplane of the immediate post-war period has appeared, and we are happy to see that Frog has courageously issued a kit of one such aircraft, the de Havilland Hornet, which makes a truly worthy subject for a model and a fitting companion for this company's recently-issued Westland Wyvern and Gloster Meteor IV.
Frog's Hornet, which, in outline, represents the F Mk 1 version with the long dorsal fin added later, gives an overall impression of accuracy, but is at fault on a number of detail points. For example, the fuselage aft of the wing is too long, and this excessive length is exaggerated by an* undersized fin. The tailplanes have too great a span and, in fact, represent those of the Sea Hornet F Mk 20, though the arrester hook and camera windows of this variant are not included in the kit, and the engine nacelles are inaccurately shaped, being too broad in planview at the wing leading edge, not extending sufficiently aft over the upper wing surface, and tapering too sharply forward to meet the slightly oversized spinners. All these errors can be corrected, but it would seem a pity that Frog did not check the outline drawings more carefully before cutting the tools for the kit.
The component parts are flash-free and assemble well, while the straight-line surface detail is commendably fine. The instruction sheet is satisfying as far as it goes, but suffers a rather important omission. The Hornet had handed airscrews, and these are provided perfectly correctly in the kit, but the instruction sheet fails to indicate which airscrew should be fitted to which nacelle. In fact, the airscrews rotated inwards, and part No 17 should therefore be fitted to the port nacelle and No 18 to the starboard. Incidentally, on the model illustrated by Frog's publicity photographs the airscrews are mounted the wrong way round! The decal sheet, which provides markings for aircraft of both Nos 19 and 41 Squadrons, maintains the usual high Frog quality, and the coloured illustration on the boxlid provides other kit manufacturers with an outstanding example in the presentation of marking detail.
Released simultaneously by Frog were re-issues of three kits that have existed for some time but have now been redesigned for motorisation. To accompany them there is a set containing two tiny electric motors with the necessary wiring and copper connections. This is a first class idea, for which we award full marks. The kits concerned are Bristol's Beaufort and Beaufighter, and the Junkers Ju 88A-4, and the motors are 0-8 in (2,0 cm) in length and 0-45 in (1,14 cm) in diameter, and thus slip easily into 1/72nd scale radial engine cowlings. Their shafts are offset, which may enable them to be used for some liquid-cooled engine installations, though nacelles such as those of the Hornet are too slim to accept them. The motors are driven by means of a pen-light battery housed within the fuselage of the model (and accessible by means of a detachable panel in the fuselage underside) and are started and stopped simply by turning or stopping the airscrew. The price of the entire motorisation set is only 42^ pence in the UK, and we foresee a wide application for this clever device.
Turning briefly to the kits themselves, the Beaufighter is an excellent model, and has now been provided with the bulge forward of the windscreen that characterised Australian-built variants and an excellent new decal sheet for a Beaufighter 21. The Ju 88A-4 is a kit of older vintage, and suffers a number of inaccuracies, notably concerning the shapes of the wings and nacelles. The new decal sheet provides markings for examples of this aircraft that served both in North Africa and the Soviet Union. Oldest of the trio is the Beaufort, but it has stood the test of time well, and is generally a very good model if one throws away the atrocious engine cowlings and replaces them with suitable cowlings from another kit. Incidentally, despite the statement on the boxtop, the markings of neither aircraft provided by the decal sheet are those of a Beaufort II (W6476 was a Taurus-engined Mk I while A9-408 was a Twin Wasp-engined Mk VIII). The cowlings of the two types of engine were noticeably different, and the box art is in error in showing the Australian machine with the forward collector rings and long exhaust pipes of the Taurus installation.
W R Matthews
RECENTLY ISSUED KITS
| Company | Type | Scale | Price |
| Airfix | TriStar | 1/144 | 85p |
| Airflx | J 35F Draken | 1/72 | 24p |
| Frog | Hornet | 1/72 | 26p |
| Frog | Beaufighter (M) | 1/72 | 36p |
| Frog | Ju 888A-4 (M) | 1/72 | 36p |
| Frog | Beaufort (M) | 1/72 | 36p |
| Aurora | DC-10 | 1/144 | $2-50 |
| Revell | OH-6A Cayuse | 1/32 | 49p |
| Revell | Hurricane I | 1/32 | £1-05 |
| VEB | Mil Mi-10K | 1/100 | — |
Air Enthusiast 1971-07 vol.01 no.02
|
