This is an in
the box review of the Magna Models Shorts Belfast.
The Shorts
Belfast was an aircraft that I had been aware of for some time, but could not
remember who had produced a kit, it was the members of this forum that steered
me in the direction of Magna Models, it is also produced by Welsh Models, but
only in 1/144 scale, and my heavy lift collection are all in 1/72.
This purchase
would be interesting for a number of reasons,
-
First, I
had never bough a Magna Model kit before,
-
Second, it
was going to be big, very big, the largest resin kit I had ever purchased
-
Third, it
was very expensive at £95.00,
This whole
experience would be a leap of faith as my only other resin kit had been the Sky
Models G222, which is a lot smaller and cheaper.
The kit was
purchased from Hannants, so delivery was swift and without incident, the
original box had been packed inside another so it was in perfect condition, the
box is exactly the same size as the Airfix 1/72 Hercules.
Click on
images below to see larger images
The news paper
packaging does not exactly fill you with confidence and it became apparent that
this is a much bigger aircraft than the Hercules, while I have not yet been able
to compare them, the
Belfast
would seem to be similar in size to the AN-12.
I found the
differences between the design of the Hercules and Belfast interesting, the
Hercules having a square leading edge and tapered rear while the Belfast is the
reverse, what was also evident, was the quality of the panel lines and small
details, which when compared to the injection moulded kit, seemed to lack
definition, some varied in thickness along their length, this might be due to
the casting method or condition of the moulds, some defects on the surface would
seem hard to accept as anything other than errors in the moulds, flash and
furred edges from drilling are considered to be common problems with resin kits.
The remaining
parts for the kit are supplied in two plastic bags, one with the control
surfaces and the other contains the rest. The clear and white metal parts are in
smaller packs inside the fittings pack.
There are
several issues with this kit; all the doors with exception of the landing gear
are moulded into the body, not a surprise given the method used to create it,
but at £95.00 a throw, it would have been nice if they included some separate
parts to enable you to have the option, still, if you did that, you would want
an interior as well, and the sheer thickness of the resin body would prevent
that.
In the end, this is the only
example of this aircraft you can get, it might be better suited to vac form than
cast, certainly it would cost less to produce, once you have the machinery that
is, you have to give some credit to firms like Magna, at least they are trying
to fill in some of the huge holes in the aircraft market instead of making
another F15 or Spitfire, the only other choice? Scratch build your own! In this
day and age only the perfectionist would attempt this, I like a lot of other
builders, seem more interested in collecting an ever larger number of kits to
add to my stash, with little hope of living long enough to do them all justice,
so for me, it was £95.00 well spent.
Mike
Click on
images below to see larger images
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