Vickers Wellington Mk III British Bomber

I received this kit for Christmas and finally got around to starting it at the beginning of February and completed construction during the final week of May. This kit was tons of fun to build and the only aftermarket product used was masks for the perspex pieces. I highly recommend you do the same as there are many tiny areas to be ruined should you try to paint the clear pieces by hand without masking. The kit comes in at well over 600 pieces. Now this may sound daunting (and it is ) but many of the pieces will not be used depending on early/late version of the Mk. III being used, open vs. closed bomb bay and the actual bomb load chosen. If you choose to build her with the bomb bay closed it is a single piece door and the 30 separate doors that would be used for building the kit with the doors open, can be discarded. Additionally should you choose to build it with the doors closed there are dozens of pieces that would have gone into making up your bomb load that can be added to the spares bin. The overall fit of the kit is excellent with only minor filling and sanding being required. The interior is nicely details but quite sadly most of it disappears from view once you close up this model and join the fuselage halves. Both the front and rear turret look quite nice when done. The front turret must be installed at the time of joining the fuselage halves. The big danger going forward is that there is still a lot to do to complete the model and the risk of breaking off one of the .303s is quite real. Trust me, I did it but was able to repair same. The rear turret can be held aside and snapped into the opening at the completion of the kit. The engines are superbly detailed and make up into wonderful representatives of the real deal. They fir very snuggly into the cowlings so care must be taken in getting everything just right. The flaps are separate as are the ailerons and are multi piece units. Care and patience is called for and the flaps can be assembled either up or down. The rudder is separate from the fin and looks great and the elevators are nice and I completed my model with them drooped. The landing gear is made of metal pieces and soft rubber tires. Very nice. The land gear bays are photo etched and together they go together to create an ultra strong set of gear that is more than capable of supporting this large model. The decals are okay and I know there are many aftermarket sets available but I liked the fact that a Canadian Squadron came with the kit so I went with it. Decals are fairly rudimentary but look good. The instruction book is just that....a book. It is very well illustrated but lacks some information as far as alternate pieces and when to use them. I would suggest that one does some research into the Wellington in order to make the correct piece choices when constructing their kit. All in all this kit was a great joy to put together. I put around 80 hours into mine so when one breaks it down into a per hour price tag the kit is excellent value. I have no hesitation recommending this kit and I am anxious to put together the Mk.1 which I have sitting in the stash.