I Love Kit 62402 1/24 Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a
This is a plastic model kit, which comes unassembled and unpainted. So glue, model paints and other basic modelling tools are additionally required.
The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 was a British biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War. Although the first examples reached the Western Front before the Sopwith Camel and it had a much better overall performance, problems with its Hispano-Suiza engine, particularly the geared-output H-S 8B-powered versions, meant that there was a chronic shortage of S.E.5s until well into 1918 and fewer squadrons were equipped with the type than with the Sopwith fighter. Together with the Camel, the S.E.5 was instrumental in regaining allied air superiority in mid-1917 and maintaining it for the rest of the war.
The Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 was a British biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War. Although the first examples reached the Western Front before the Sopwith Camel and it had a much better overall performance, problems with its Hispano-Suiza engine, particularly the geared-output H-S 8B-powered versions, meant that there was a chronic shortage of S.E.5s until well into 1918 and fewer squadrons were equipped with the type than with the Sopwith fighter. Together with the Camel, the S.E.5 was instrumental in regaining allied air superiority in mid-1917 and maintaining it for the rest of the war.
| General Info | |
| Scale | 1/24 |
| Type | Scale Model Kit |
| Subtype | Military Aircraft |
- Stock: In Stock
- Reward Points: 88
- SKU: ILK62402
- Over 3pcs in Stock
I Love Kit
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Alan Wheatland
The first impression is that there are a lot of sprues which is pleasing for detail. It has stainless steel pe for rigging and some other small parts.
The plastic parts are relatively soft compared to other kits so be careful in cutting out from the sprues. Some thin parts break easily.I had to replace the wheel attachments with my own brass rod segments to stiffen the attachment to the wheel assembly as the parts were too soft and broke off after glueing without warning. Same with the ailerons tabs and the rudder part which were softened by the Tamiya extra thin glue and broke off when gently handled.
Fit was sort of ok without consistent accurate fit with some sanding and filling required for various body parts. Body and wing detailing is quite good allowing panel lining to pop the parts later.
I replaced the very basic upper Lewis gun with a Gaspatch version and scratch built the Bowden cable to the cockpit. I also downloaded the Wingnut Wings SE5a assembly booklet to add other features to detail up the cockpit by building some other cockpit parts from scratch. It was also very useful to show the cabling and rigging details absent from the I Love kit. It also gave me better painting instructions for various parts.
I am torn between replacing the stainless steel rigging with Ezyline thread or persisting with the very fine and easily bent stainless steel parts. Unless you get the distance absolutely correct to make the steel rigid between joining points, it flops around looking hideous. The tail unit is a case in point so far. I'm taking the rigging off and using Ezyline thread.
Overall, the kit builds a very handsome version of the SE5a in a large scale that does require space in a display cabinet. The wingspan is surprisingly wide!