Military Model Scene

It had been a while since I last looked at a kit from Great Wall Hobby and this one was irresistible.  It was during the Falklands War in 1982 that the RAF carried out very long range bombing missions using Vulcan bombers flying from Ascension Island and which required multiple air-to-air refuelling hook ups to get there and back.  This involved two Vulcans for each mission, one to carry it out and the other as a flying reserve.  To enable them to make the long round trip required 11 Victor tankers to support them.  This in turn led to some of the aging Victors to become life expired.  In order to replace them, as new replacements were not going to be ready in time, 6 Vulcans were converted to the tanker role as a temporary measure.

The kit itself is very cleanly moulded, and moulded on the inside of the fuselage halves is the indication that the mouldings have actually been done by another kit producer, Pit Road.  Before the two main airframe halves are joined, there are two crew figures to put in the cockpit while the two large intakes are moulded as one piece each, which is good that there are no join seams to have to deal with.  You will also need to pre-drill the location holes if you want to fit the missile pylons under the wings, weapons which were fitted for the Falklands operations.  Also the additional parts under the tail for the housing of the refuelling hose reel and basket.  Undercarriage can be assembled either up or down.  If you are putting the undercarriage down then don't forget to add some weight into the nose too.

For finishing options you can complete it as the standard bomber, and markings are included for both XM597 of 101 Sqn and XM607 of 44 Sqn.  For the tanker though, then either XJ825 or XM571 from 50 Sqn, which have the extra fittings and the rear section of the undersides of the big delta wings in white, with transfers of the red lines which the refuelling aircraft would use to line up on the tanker.

​

The Great Wall Hobby kits are imported to the UK by Tiger Hobbies Ltd, where I bought my example.

​

Robin