Revell BV222 "Wiking", or as I prefer, "The Leviathan"
Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2016 4:20 pm
Welp looks like I've got a few hours to slip this in here. I finally made it 
Build thread for anyone who wants to see the whole process: http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=504&t=18803
As the title suggests and the build thread shows, this kit is huge. Something on the order of 60x55cm. Considering that's in 1/72 scale I'd absolutely love to see one IRL.
The scheme I went with in the end was of the V2 in a Norwegian fjord in 1945. I'm pretty happy with the results, there's a lot I could have improved on but that's all part of the hobby
Anyway, pictures. Note the penguin with clogs squadron marking. Yea I don't know why either.:
Ze Dutch clarinet playing penguin ja?
Cabin interior. It's nice to have a little extra detail like this, though I found the fit between the interior structure and the fuselage halves here isn't ideal, but by the time I'd noticed it was largely too late to rectify.
And for a laugh here's a shot of my meager excuse for a workbench. Yea that's a computer desk and the kit pretty much covers the whole thing. The kit has some minor problems but by far the biggest challenge was the sheer size of the thing.
And hey, I actually managed to fit it in some empty space, barely. The Mossie and Jadgpanzer are both 1/72 too and are dwarfed by this giant.
On the kit itself for anyone interested, all in all it's a good one and for the price I got it (~$87 NZD) there's a lot of plastic. Be prepared for the size, it's no small task but in general it's well engineered, the instructions are mostly logical and accurate, though I would absolutely recommend leaving the wings off until the very end as it makes working with the kit much easier and they fit very well anyway. The sprue layouts are a pain, some of it is logical but many areas of most sprues are just a mix of things from all over the kit. But the parts count isn't terribly high for the good amount of detail built into it. The interior is nice to have, though apart from the cabin area it's nigh impossible to see. If I was to build it again personally I wouldn't bother with painting the cargo decks, just build them and use them as structure. With a bit of wiggling in places the fit is generally excellent, even the fuselage halves went together very well considering the size. I just had to ensure I took it procedurally starting from one end and working to the other, gluing and clamping along the way. With the size a little patience goes a long way. The decals are alright, a little thick for my tastes but there's a lot of stencils which are nicely defined for the scale, enough that they're all perfectly readable (or would be if I knew German). If you care about having swastikas on the tail be aware you're gonna have to source some elsewhere as they're not included in the kit, and there aren't quite enough stencil decals for all the callouts in the instructions.
All in all if you're up for a fairly simple kit overall but a real challenge in terms of size, considering the price and the very interesting subject it's a great kit. There's some minor problems here and there but nothing of note other than what I've said above really. If you've got the space to keep it the Wiking is certainly something I'd recommend.
Build thread for anyone who wants to see the whole process: http://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?f=504&t=18803
As the title suggests and the build thread shows, this kit is huge. Something on the order of 60x55cm. Considering that's in 1/72 scale I'd absolutely love to see one IRL.
The scheme I went with in the end was of the V2 in a Norwegian fjord in 1945. I'm pretty happy with the results, there's a lot I could have improved on but that's all part of the hobby
Anyway, pictures. Note the penguin with clogs squadron marking. Yea I don't know why either.:
Ze Dutch clarinet playing penguin ja?
Cabin interior. It's nice to have a little extra detail like this, though I found the fit between the interior structure and the fuselage halves here isn't ideal, but by the time I'd noticed it was largely too late to rectify.
And for a laugh here's a shot of my meager excuse for a workbench. Yea that's a computer desk and the kit pretty much covers the whole thing. The kit has some minor problems but by far the biggest challenge was the sheer size of the thing.
And hey, I actually managed to fit it in some empty space, barely. The Mossie and Jadgpanzer are both 1/72 too and are dwarfed by this giant.
On the kit itself for anyone interested, all in all it's a good one and for the price I got it (~$87 NZD) there's a lot of plastic. Be prepared for the size, it's no small task but in general it's well engineered, the instructions are mostly logical and accurate, though I would absolutely recommend leaving the wings off until the very end as it makes working with the kit much easier and they fit very well anyway. The sprue layouts are a pain, some of it is logical but many areas of most sprues are just a mix of things from all over the kit. But the parts count isn't terribly high for the good amount of detail built into it. The interior is nice to have, though apart from the cabin area it's nigh impossible to see. If I was to build it again personally I wouldn't bother with painting the cargo decks, just build them and use them as structure. With a bit of wiggling in places the fit is generally excellent, even the fuselage halves went together very well considering the size. I just had to ensure I took it procedurally starting from one end and working to the other, gluing and clamping along the way. With the size a little patience goes a long way. The decals are alright, a little thick for my tastes but there's a lot of stencils which are nicely defined for the scale, enough that they're all perfectly readable (or would be if I knew German). If you care about having swastikas on the tail be aware you're gonna have to source some elsewhere as they're not included in the kit, and there aren't quite enough stencil decals for all the callouts in the instructions.
All in all if you're up for a fairly simple kit overall but a real challenge in terms of size, considering the price and the very interesting subject it's a great kit. There's some minor problems here and there but nothing of note other than what I've said above really. If you've got the space to keep it the Wiking is certainly something I'd recommend.
