Review: Just landed on my front porch – Special Hobby 1/32 Westland Whirlwind
Special Hobby announced they were doing the Whirlwind in 1/32 two years ago. The kit was delayed by The Past Godawful Year, and has now been released. I've been awaiting its arrival with bated breath.
It was worth the wait.
This is without a doubt the best kit of the Whirlwind released by anyone to date. The kit has beautiful surface detail with both raised and engraved rivets and panels, all done in a very petite manner. The cockpit is fully detailed and caters to both early and late production details. Bombs and racks are provided for a “whirlibomber,” though none of the four markings options would cover that role. The markings include four options, all from 263 Squadron - two in Dark Earth/Dark Green/Sky, and two in Mixed Grey/Dark Green/Sea Grey Medium; all come from the 1941-early 1942 period by the insignia. The two-piece canopy has a windscreen molded integral with the surrounding fuselage, which will guarantee no gaps. The kit does not include any photoetch and a modeler will have to source seatbelts in aftermarket.
Special Hobby will obviously release other options - airplanes from 137 Squadron, Whirlibombers, etc., as they always do to maximize the life of the molds.
The kit does not appear to be difficult and is relatively simple in overall design. Test-fitting parts shows things go together nicely, so a minimum of filler will be needed.
It hasn't reached the major distributors yet. MSRP is around US$70.00
Have fun with this one ! I’m starting to discover the special hobby kits. They look very well made. Just bought their Pembroke.
Just remember they're limited-run kits. Bring your A+ game to the show.
Looks promising.
I really hope they pan this down to 1/48.
I agree, Dale. This kit looks great, but I’d actually buy one in 1/48. Let’s hope that the substandard Trumpeter kit didn’t saturate the more then likely tiny market for 1/48 Whirlwinds. That dog sits in my stash waiting to be built. I got it second hand and cheap, ?. Every time Trumpeter releases another of their poorly done British aircraft, I cringe.
I've got the CA kit in the stash and as we both know it's a lot better than the Tpumpeter trash but it's a PIA build. I don't waste money on Trumpeter kits any more.
Looks like a good one. Too bad about those Vulture engines. The firepower coming out
the nose would have been nasty.
Yeah, one of the coolest planes that wasn't.
LOOK AT THAT WINGSPAN! Looks pretty big in 1/32 and he kit looks awesome. Can't wait to see this one go together, have fun Tom!
Looks like a really great kit, but take a look at those flat tires! Almost as bad as True Details. Well, almost.
1/32nd is too big for me. I’ll just have to keep looking at my 1:48 CA Whirlwind from 25 yrs ago. That was a nightmare of a kit. Enjoy this one! I’m’ sure it will go together ten times smoother.
Along comes SH to make the Whirlwind we wanted. It's almost too big in 1/32 for me (but I built the Tempest so...)
Look forward to the review when it comes out.
It's not as big as the Tempest. 🙂
Special Hobby is a low-key company that is capable of the best and very often its themes are unique, as here .
It may not have exhausted the possibilities of rendering details, but at the same time keeping the costs at very reasonable levels, but it gives us the opportunity to choose how deep we will go. What is certain is that whichever path we follow , OOB , +some aftermarket or everything we will find on the market plus some scratch , the result will be great, since everything we really need is there.
I am waiting for my copy from day to day , I look forward to receiving it .
P.S. What do you think about a group build dedicated to one of the most expected kit of the year ?
That's an interesting idea. Let's see how many other IMers have it.
Looking great, Tom, looking forward to see this beauty done!
Very interesting kit, Tom.
Looking forward to this being build.
Looking forward to the build, Tom (tcinla). The newer Special Hobby kits are really nice, but the older kits are definitely more challenging.
Nice. Unusual to say the least in this scale.
TC, at your record-building pace, we'll probably see the finished product in what...3 days? Enjoy the build.
I'm doing "final finish" on a couple other projects so I can review them and give myself time on this one.
Looking forward to getting this kit. Has always intrigued me. I know it wasn’t built in big numbers, but there are kits made that depict a number of aircraft that didn’t have as many built as this. Too bad.
Looking forward to this build Tom.