Lockheed Hudson Mk.I/II
WWII RAF Patrol Bomber

MPM, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Glen Porter

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The British Purchasing Commission, while touring the USA looking for aircraft for the RAF, were offered the Hudson, a modification of the Lockheed Model 14, by the US Lockheed Company. They accepted and it was generally used in the maritime patrol role and used also by Canada and Australia.

I haven't seen the Airfix Hudson kit for years so its very timely for MPM to release this one now. Done in cooperation with Italeri - theirs will be along soon - and with Classic Airframes recent 1/48 scale releases of the same aircraft, we Braille Scalers have been champing at the bit.

So, what's in the box?

 

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

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There are five main sprues in mid-grey and one clear sprue. Sprue A holds the two fuselage halves plus most of the fuselage interior parts, wheels and props. There is detail throughout the length of the nose and cabin although much of it won't be visible unless you open up the port-side access door. I think MPM would have been better off, if they had moulded the door open, as they supply a separate one anyway. This is the first time in an MPM kit that I've seen the use of locating pins for the major parts. I guess this is part of Italeri's influence. There are no parts “Not for use” on this sprue.

Sprue B has the four main wing halve plus tailplane lowers and four fin/rudder halves. Again, the main wing halves have pins but tailplane and fin/rudders don't. There are no spare parts on this sprue.

C has the tail plane upper, main interior floor, Cyclone engines, wheel bay roofs, undercarriage legs and nacelle fronts plus many small parts, some, such as Twin Wasp engines and a solid nose, are not for use in this kit.

There is no D sprue. I assume it's for another variant yet to be released.

E has the four Cyclone engine cowlings plus many parts “Not for use”.

Sprue F has parts for the turret mount, twin Brownings and again some parts “Not for use”.

There is no G, again, I assume the same as D.

H is the clear sprue and very clear it is. With canopy, nose cone split vertically, gun turret split horizontally, front of nose cone and two optional astrodomes plus sixteen side windows.

Decals by Aviprint have markings for three early war Coastal Command aircraft, QX-W of 224 Squadron, NO-U of 320 (Dutch) Squadron and VX-M of 206 Squadron all in 1940. As I’ve said before of Aviprint decals, the printing is excellent but I'm not sure about red in the national markings. It looks too bright to me.

There has been some discussion on Australian websites about whether or not this kit could be built as an RAAF aircraft. MPM's offering is meant to be built with the Wright Cyclone engines only. Although they give you the P&W Twin Wasps, they don't give you the cowlings for them. I'm told, the Italeri kit will build into the P&W engined machine and rumour has it that it may include RAAF markings. However, according to Stewart Wilson's book, Anson, Hudson & Sunderland in Australian Service, the fourth batch to be received by Australia were British Mk.IIIs which had the Cyclone engines but with a longer scoop on top of the cowling, a part which is included in the kit along with others to build an Australian aircraft.

This kit is just so much better than the old Airfix kit that I don't care if someone else might find any niggling little faults. I recommend it highly.

Highly Recommended.

Thanks to MPM for the review sample.

Review Text Copyright © 2006 by Glen Porter
Images Copyright © 2006 by Brett Green
Page Created 19 June, 2006
Last updated 18 June, 2006

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