I was after a Corsair but I hadn’t really heard of Waltersons, there seem to be lots of different ones out there that are produced by the big boys and some at ridiculous prices. However as Jadlam were practically giving these away (£6.99 with free postage) I thought I’d take a punt but wasn’t really holding my breath.
When the kit arrived, my initial concerns were rapidly dispelled, each spruce was individually packaged and the canopy was even wrapped in foam! The kit went together really well and much of it was such a good fit (the male and female locators are almost a push fit joint) you could probably build most of it without glue – fuselage, upper and lower wing sections, fit of wings and tail wings to the fuselage didn’t need to be glued, the prop just pushes on and stays in place and the canopy has little adaptions so that just pushes on without the risk of glue going everywhere.
The undercarriage is a little fiddly but pales into insignificance when compared to that of the Wildcat/Martlet. The cockpit is a little sparce (seat, joystick, instrument panel) and the pilot looks like he’s sat on the loo but at the price I paid I’m not complaining.
The kit has adaptions on the wings for drop tanks, so if these are not being used something else will have to go there – in my case bombs!
The decals are nicely spread out but do have a noticeable border – I wasn’t going to use them anyway!
There was only one bit that had excess plastic and my fear that it would not survive contact with the scalpel turned out to be wholly unjustified.
My only gripes with kit is the fact that the pitot tube is part of the lower wing section, how I didn’t snap it off, I’ll never know and the painting instructions are somewhat limited but as I usually download either the Tamiya, Airfix or Eduard 1/48 destructions as their painting instructions are a lot more detailed, this wasn’t an issue really.
So, if you’re after a nice kit at a ridiculously cheap price, they are/were in Jadlam’s clearance section (I don’t have shares in them btw, other model shops are available), I’ve bought another one after building this!
Any inaccuracies with the kit are above my pay scale I’m afraid but hopefully someone can advise when I get round to putting the finished product in the Aviation Section.
Admins - if this breaches any advertising rules, let me know and I'll remove the shop name!
Cheers,
J
