Westland Wapiti IIA
“in RAAF Service”

CMR, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Glen Porter

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Ordered in 1928 by the Royal Australian Air Force as a replacement for the aging DH.9s, and receiving a total of 44 made up of 9 Mk.1s, 29 Mk.IIas and 6 ex RAF machines, they operated as light bombers for No. 1 Squadron and the Central Flying School at Point Cook, Victoria and No. 3 Squadron at Richmond in New South Wales. Some soldiered on to become Target Tug during WWII.

This is the other kit I mentioned in the CMR Car-Door Typhoon review. I wrote up the Typhoon first because it looked like it would be an easier build and I wanted to study this one a bit more. Even so, because there is no parts plan, I couldn't come up with an accurate parts count. The 138 mentioned above is approximate only after studying the build diagrams.

Unlike the Typhoon, there doesn't appear to be any warpage in the two fuselage halves but there is some in the wings and tailplane. It's not very severe so a bath in warm water should be an easy way to straighten out the parts.

Although the 138 is not a definite number of parts, it's still a lot and they are all resin except for the two vac-formed windscreens. No PE, no white metal and no plastic and remarkably, after a close look at the parts, there are no breakages. Some of these parts are very small and thin and will take a lot of patience to remove from their casting blocks and mount. Options include early and late wheels and an assortment of bombs of various shapes and sizes and the appropreate racks. There are a few items to be scratch-built including the message hook for three of the aircraft. A complete rigging diagram is supplied and in my opinion, the model would not look complete with out it, or at least some of it.

Decals, printed by MPD, have one set of national markings and eight sets of serial numbers with two of them having optional big or small aircraft numbers. The colours of the national markings look correct for the period plus the register is spot-on and there are no stencils or art-work.

In conclusion, on the one hand I've got to say this model scares the hell out of me. It has all the attributes that would put me off a kit like this, all resin construction, a four bay biplane and all that rigging. At the same time I'm irresistibly attracted to it. I can't explain it. Gotta have it. Gotta build it. Gimme gimme gimme!

Highly Recommended to experienced RAAF enthusiasts.

Thanks to CMR for the review sample

CMR Models are available online from Hannants in the UK,
NKR Models in Australia and quality specialist model retailers worldwide.