Handley Page Hampden

Fonderie Miniature, 1/48 scale
 

Reviewed by Mick Evans

The Hampden originated as a development to meet a Ministry of Defence requirement for a twin engine bomber in 1932 with the first prototype appearing in 1936.  Full production commenced in 1938 with the two engined bomber being one of the main weapons of Bomber Command's early war bombing strategy. 

Ten squadrons were flying the Hampden at the outbreak of the war but their role was confined to armed reconnaissance and leaflet drops before being transferred to coastal command for the torpedo bombing duty.  

The Hampden is often overshadowed by its two-engined counterpart the Wellington and Whitley.  

The Hampden has been underrepresented in scale plastic for a long time, with only the ancient Airfix offering in 1/72 scale and the Contrail vac formed kit in 1/48 scale being available over the years.

Finally modellers' prayers have been answered and we now have an injection moulded Hampden in 1/48 scale.  The release of this kit fills a void in my WWII RAF bomber collection which, for me, is now complete.

Fonderie Miniature's 1/48 scale Hampden comprises of 78 parts in low-pressure injection moulded plastic.  The eight resin parts are made up of the engines, engine mounts, "hedgehog" exhausts, and wheels.  The white-metal parts consist of the landing gear legs, seats, guns, straight exhausts, carburettor intakes and many other details.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

The detail on the plastic parts is good with the panel lines well defined and this is been one of the downfalls on some previous FM kits.  There is quite a lot of flash present around most of the main plastic parts, but it is quite fine and will be easy to remove before assembly.  The surface of the plastic parts has the usual rough finish caused by the mould release agent and will need a light sand before painting.  I usually use steel wool for this purpose.

19 clear parts are provided for the windows, bomb aimer’s panel and formation lights. The canopy, turret, and lower observers canopy are moulded in the typical vacuum formed style and as usual are not crystal clear but a quick dip in Future floor polish should fix the clarity to a good standard.  The good thing here is that there is two of each of the major transparencies just in case of accidents.

The white metal landing gear will ensure adequate strength for this area of the model as the kit will be quite heavy when completed.  The white metal parts have been crisply moulded and will require very little clean up work.  Other white metal details include bulkheads, straight exhausts, bomb racks, side consoles and controls.

Preparation is essential with FM kits to ensure a good final result with the built kit. However, the kit looks quite easy to build and should provide no problems for the above average modeller once the parts have been cleaned of flash and the trailing edges of the wings thinned down a bit. 

Typical of earlier Fonderie Miniature kits, a high level of modelling skills will be required to build the kit. This is certainly not a Tamiya or Hasegawa "shake the box" proposition.  Patience and plenty of test-fitting will be essential to build this model.

The instructions are an improvement over earlier FM kits but still lack some clarity and detail.  All mating surfaces still need to be heavily sanded, in particular the trailing edges of all control surfaces to achieve a realistic thickness.

The decals are clearly printed with very thin carrier film.  The red looks too bright for the wartime version of the colour, and the centre of the fuselage roundels are very slightly out of register.

Markings are supplied for two aircraft:

·         P4403 code EA.M of 49 Sqn RAF piloted by FLTLT Leroyd VC. and

·         AT 225 code E of 1404 Meteorological Flight.

·         Both aircraft are painted in the Dark Earth, Dark Green, and Night scheme.

Recommended for experienced modellers.

Thanks to Hannants for the sample

Fonderie Miniature Kits, in addition to
Xtrakits, Xtraparts and Xtradecals are all available online from Hannants' website

Text Copyright © 2007 by Mick Evans
Images Copyright © 2007 by Brett Green
This Page Created on 26 November, 2007
Last updated 24 December, 2007

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