Hawker Typhoon 1B - Victrix 15mm

Well, followers of my blog probably weren't expecting to see one of these appear!  It's true, usually I like to see my wargaming done with lines and columns of scarlet and blue clad infantry!

I have of late ventured into some WW2 wargaming.  This resulted in me desiring a suitable model for the allied airstrikes in the game.  Hence I am pleased to introduce my 15mm (1/100) Hawker Typhoon 1B made by Victrix.

I have to say that I am really impressed with the model.  Everything went together just as it should do and very cleanly.  The parts fitted together really well.

It's been a very long time since I made a model aircraft.  I made a Skytrex Fokker DVII some years ago but that was of a smaller scale if I recall and very straight-forward.  In my teens I made lots of kits, the aircraft adorning my ceiling with thread and sticky tape...with every so often that awful thump on the floor above telling me that the tape had given way after many months and drastic repairs would be required!

I last made a 'proper' plastic kit aircraft in around 1993 for a friend who had just passed RAF jet training and gone solo. That was a Jet Provost 1/72 scale which I presented to him in a perspex case.

Some years have passed since (23 years!!!), and I have to say I got a lot more detail into this smaller model than I ever did in any larger kits!  Painting eyes on 28mm figures and such like has been good training!

There were a few things that I should have thought about before glueing parts of the plane together and painting. For instance, I should have put the decals on before sticking the rockets and rails on!  This made things much harder later on!  The instructions are very simple indeed, possibly over simple as a few little reminders such as this (which I'm sure Airfix would have given) would have been much appreciated.  I do also blame my modelling inexperience so I do accept that a bit of forethought might have helped me!

The Victrix kit is sold in a box of 3 models. There are 3 different sets of decals for aircraft of three different squadrons.  This does make the schemes interesting, but does mean that your 'cab rank' is going to be composed of mixed force.

There are also three flight stands.  Now these are really good indeed!  They are telescopic and allow the aircraft to be set at different elevations above the table.  Pleasingly the base has a wide footing to help prevent accidents from happening. The plane can also be set to bank, climb and dive on a pivoting ball at the top of the flight stand.

The fit of the flight stand is excellent as it just clips into the two holes shown above in the wing root either side of the fuselage.  You will also see the decals which had to go around the rocket pods.  I did resort to using paint for part of the invasion stripes rather than prising off the rockets after I had glued them on!

The Hawker Typhoon really is a gorgeous aircraft and I really got to appreciate it as I made the kit. I couldn't help but view the footage on YouTube of it's missions over Normandy. Truly a purposeful aircraft, which really played its part in those skies in 1944.

I was away from home on a course for 2 weeks when I built this kit. I have to thank my room-mate Dave for his enthusiasm and encouragement when I was building this.  It became something to look forward to doing each evening after some pretty trying days!  Dave's tip of trying a light wash with the black between the panels really worked well. I was going to try a very fine pen but the carefully applied black wash was perfect applied with a very fine brush and the surplus wiped off straight away.

In conclusion, I am really happy with my model and it will be gracing the airspace over my board during games, no doubt much to the dismay of whoever is commanding a panzer battlegroup!

More WW2 updates will follow in due course, though as usual I am flitting between other projects...more of those to follow soon too!