Fairey Battle
Crystal Clear Canopy for Trumpeter Kit

Falcon, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Trumpeter's 1/48 scale Fairey Battle is riddled with flaws but easily the worst of these is its canopy.

The top of the long main section is squared off, far too wide and too flat. These are very noticeable errors.

Also, the Trumpeter windscreen is too wide and it does not taper downward and inward as it should.

Falcon from New Zealand has now come to the rescue with a brand new vacform canopy that is a great improvement over Trumpeter's plstic kit canopy.

It has been sized to fit the Trumpeter kit too, which will make it fairly straightforward to install.

The set comprises a single canopy vacformed on a single rectangular base.

The windscreen, the sliding canopy section, rear canopy and the three small windows on each side of the fuselage are vacuum formed in place.

The individual parts may be separated to depict open canopy and gunner's clamshell if the modeller wishes.

The photos below show the canopy removed from the base by Tore Martin.

Falcon has vacformed a section of fuselage to the bottom of the windscreen. This has presumably made it possible to present the much narrower and more accurate front face of the windscreen.

I have taken photos comparing the new Falcon vacform canopy with the kit canopy. Note that the Trumpeter canopy is the one that is radically squared off. The difference is astounding.

No less remarkable is the width and shape of the windscreen. The Trumpeter windscreen is to the right in the photo.

Instructions offer useful information about working with vacform canopies and specific notes on the use of this new canopy on the Trumpeter kit.

In particular, you will have to cut two small triangles away underneath the windscreen, and do some filling and fairing at the rear of the fuselage.

Trumpeter's 1/48 scale Fairey Battle is riddled with flaws but easily the worst of these is its canopy. Falcon has now come to the rescue with a highly accurate replacement vacform canopy that has been sized to fit the Trumpeter kit. Anyone contemplating the Trumpeter 1/48 scale Fairey Battle really should have this highly visible improvement.

Highly Recommended to experienced modellers.

Falcon canopies are available from:

United Kingdom

Hannants - www.hannants.co.uk

United States

Squadron Hobbies - www.squadron.com

 

Germany

Modellbau und Technik Agentur (MOTAG) – www.motag.de

Modellbaustudio Rhein Ruhr – www.classic-plane-mrr.de

 

Italy

Misterkit – www.misterkit.com

Pronto Model – www.prontomodel.com

 

Australia

High Planes Models – www.hpmhobbies.com/brands/High-Planes-Models.html

Jays Hobby Products – www.jaysmodelkits.com

 

New Zealand

Jays Hobby Products – www.jaysmodelkits.com

Thanks to Falcon for the sample

Text and Images Copyright © 2025 by Brett Green
Page Created 29 August, 2025
Last updated 29 August, 2025

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