Well - I got the BIGGEST box from Hannants this morning, with my Mach 2 Valiant in it… oh, and a few tins of Red Arrows Red for my Gnats & Hawks.
The kit box is a large flat affair, with a rather simple pic of the bomber on the front as it leaves a mushroom cloud behind it… kind of says a lot about the purpose of the Valiant really.
Inside, there are 2 sprues of quite brittle plastic, with quite a grainy surface overall. Ther panel lines are adequately scribed, if a little deep for scale, but then aren’t ALL panel lines at 72nd scale? There’s quite a bit of flash on some of the smaller parts, and also quite a few areas of the tail section in particular that seem to have an uneven surface. Fortunately, the panel lines are deep enough to survive what will necessarily be quite a sanding & buffing job when the time comes. There are also quite a lot of ragged mould seams across the trailing edges of the wings, but with a little careful sanding they should disappear nicely.
The cockpit is surprisingly well detailed, however the ejection seats are the most flash covered pieces of styrene I’ve seen in a long time. A better choice would be a set of Aeroclub metal seats of the appropriate mark. The wheel wells are also quite well detailed considering the reputation of the manufacturer, and with a little extra detail to busy it up will look quite nice. The clear parts are again flash strewn, and a little rough, but with the windows being so small, this will hardly notice once they’ve been futured.
The decal sheet is small, and the decals are tightly packed as a result. The Valiant wasn’t the most heavily marked plane in history, so all the sheet consists of are a few roundels (with separate centres) and some codes… nothing much else, really. They have a kind of yellowed look which even extends to the clear carrier film, a bit like the ancient decals you get from an old Matchbox kit, so I’m not looking forward to using them. The yellow tint may look a bit silly against the anti-flash white scheme I’m planning on doing in honour of the only surviving Valiant thats at RAF Cosford. I was lucky enough to get up close & personal with her just after she was re-assembled, and my good friend Dave, who works there even managed to get me a load of “in-progress” shots as she was rebuilt.
The parts are still on their sprues at present so I’ve no idea about the fit of the parts yet, and I’ve not had time to take any pics as yet. To me though, it looks like a Valiant, but will need a lot of work, particularly on the surface finishing to make a good model.
More news later.