Miniwing 1/144 Supermarine Attacker FB2

[MerlinJones]

In-box review here.

Although this is resin, the fit of parts is greatly assisted by well fitting slots and tabs for the flying surfaces.
The separate intake pieces are very finely cast and care was needed to properly remove these from their casting block.
The cockpit is, for this small scale, adequately furnished with a generic seat. The cockpit should be black, but decals are provided for the seat. with a representation of a harness and there's even an instrument panel. Being familiar with Miniwing, I knew to look for these particular decals. Someone new to the brand may miss them.







Providing care was taken in removing the parts from their respective blocks and cleaning off any small amounts of excess resin, the build was easy enough, with a good fit of all parts. The instruction sheet could be a little more clear, regarding the inner undercarriage doors, but these are simple enough to place in their closed position. The main doors and in scale-thickness and painting the tiny wheels will prove challenging for some.

I also found the placing of the four cannon a tricky fellah. Fortunately, Miniwing have cast tiny sockets for these to sit in, so gluing these into place wasn't as difficult as I'd expected.
Also nicely moulded were the 8 rockets, intended to be mounted on individual photoetch racks. However, there was no indication as to where these should go, along the wing underside, so I thought that if Miniwings couldn't be bothered, then neither could I!
I did use the etched aerials for under the nose and the supplied plastic rod did come in handy for the wingtip pitots.

[MerlinJones]

The simple FAA scheme of Humbrol H90, with Humbrol H123, for Extra Dark Sea Grey, was simple enough to mask off and paint. More challenging was the red nose and, if I was being picky, a decal would've been nice for this detail. As it was, Humbrol H220, Ferrari Red, gave me what I wanted.
Also requiring a bit of care was the painting of the canopy. The FB2 Attacker's canopy has a quite complex framing to it. Whilst there is a suggestion of this on the parts themselves, I had to use the boxart and on-line references to be sure.

Miniwings 1/144 Supermarine Attacker FB2, No.800 NAS, FAA, HMS Eagle, 1953

[ajmm]

Very nice! I've got mine near the top of the pile of kits to start soon. I suggested to Radek that he do a Firefly the other day. He liked the idea a lot but said he's doing an Ouragan next. Perhaps we can get a Firebrand after that...

[Jonathan]

One of the nicest Miniwings kits Ive seen here, nicely executed.

I always liked that FAA dark grey over pale green scheme. I had a couple of FROG FAA aircraft painted like that back in the day.
The Hawker sea Hawk comes to mind.

[ajmm]

I agree - has to be one of the most pleasant camo schemes.

[MerlinJones]

Some small challenges with this small kit, but that aside, I’d recommend it anyone who will be sensible when working with resin and who appreciates just how sensible 1/144 can be.

[smeg1959]

Nice one, Bruce! The Attacker stands out as a bit of a novelty as most jets from Day One featured tricycle undercarriages. Totally agree with everyone's comments about the Dark Sea Grey over Sky scheme. Got a Wyvern and a Sea Fury in those colours ... very smart indeed.

[Wege]

I was reading a certain magazine today and going "hmmmm... this seems a fraction deja vu'esque and blow me down it was!

Nice stuff.... no wonder you have to keep bashing through the kits... getting supplied as you do.

Do they get posted out from the Ed. or come straight from factory... that is if I may ask that question.... Feel free to utterly ignore it (or delete the line) if it is out-of-place.

Does that also mean that you get to see and (maybe hear about or play with) various other toys like the Victrix kits? Which (according to the images on page) seem to be rather nice representatives of the Tiffie and Stuka...

[MerlinJones]

Editors receive kits from the manufacturers, as well as tools and accessories.
Sometimes, the Ed may direct a manufacturer to send stuff direct to reviewer.

Editors then send out The List of Available Kits to those who do the reviews and articles and we get to choose what we'd be happy to work with.
(Needless to say, anything 1/144 and not airliner-shaped usually has me asking).
The Editor then distributes the kits, taking into account the quality of previous reviews, whether or not the reviewer has kits outstanding and a little soupcon of personal knowledge about individual reviewers. Sometimes, if something has to be done quickly, then the review will go to someone who can build quickly.

Besides building a kit, (which is obviously the nice part), photos of a certain standard need to be taken during the build and then a write-up has to be done. This is a little tricky, 'cos any write-up should be as good a read in a shortened form and in a full-length form

Anyone can submit a review of a kit they acquired themselves and this is a good way to get oneself noticed.

Oh...and if you please certain manufacturers, certain manufacturers may send you new kits direct, either as something to review, or just as a thank you pressie for a previous positive review.

[smeg1959]

Very topical with recent changes at a certain magazine (for those not in the know, we're talking Scale Aviation Modeller International, a periodical for which our erstwhile Merlin Jones is a regular contributor). In a recent editorial, new Editor David Francis called upon those who believed that the magazine was becoming a little too 1/72- and 1/48-centric to submit articles, amplifying Bruce's comments about the photographic component. As David points out, the Editorial team can reword submissions to improve readability, but they can conjure good photos of someone's model out of thin air.

Have to admit, I've been thinking about extracting the digit and putting something into the mag. Biggest issue at the moment is my digital camera which is not giving me the quality of photos I reckon are necessary for publication (as should be patently obvious from some of the happy snaps I've posted on the forum here, especially more recently). And the macro option has gone on the Fritz.

I certainly echo Bruce's comments regarding submissions to SAMI and reckon there's a wealth of talent amongst our forum members that should be translated into articles in the mag. After all, it promotes the scale, meaning more manufacturers join the throng producing 1/144 scale kits. Everyone's a winner, Babe ...