WELLINGTON MK-X
This is
the biggest of all my decade old 1/72 scale planes, The Vicker's Wellington MK-10 by
Machbox, bought this at a time when I don't really care about the exploit of the
planes this toys depicted. Sometimes I just pick them for the satisfaction of imagined
quantity for my stack or sometimes I base my acquisition on what I see on
television, prints and old books, and during those times (mid 1970's) one's
selection consideration base on the information mediums I've just mentioned are
not as varied as today. This kit is also a holiday purchase, and contained in
the biggest box of the brand’s 1/72 scale kits. Originally, I planned to get a big or medium sized American strategic bomber but it was sold out at that
time, the biggest box cost about thirty-five pesos back then.
When I
took this model out of the old "milk box" after those many years in neglected storage it was
in shambles like my other old models but after a short scavenging I found most
of the crucial parts of the landing gears. Many of the prop blades was already
missing so I have to make "mock-blades" out of discarded CD cases, I kept it
unpainted except the scratched–built portions, sadly it also have marks of
over-gluing. Painting will hide the glue marks, but it been a while since I had
a bottle of model paint, using regular hardware paints tend to overcome paneling details specially a
piece at 1/72 scale, so the painting option was abandoned indefinitely.
The
Vicker’s Wellington Medium Bomber although rarely a subject of
glamorous Aviation or World War II (WW2) stories is said to be the most
numerous British built bomber during the Second World War and used extensively during the early days of the said war
in Europe. As the conflict progresses on it fiercest stages it became apparent
that this flying bomb bins are very vulnerable to fast enemy fighters in spite of having a
nose and tail gun turrets for defense. As new more heavily armed Allied bomber
was introduced to the war the Wellingtons service was shifted more for night
raids, reconnaissance and Coast Patrol. The Wellington was use up to the end of the war
because of load capabilities and its ability to remain operationally airborne even
after sustaining heavy damage from enemy fighters and anti-aircraft fire. At
the end of the war some Wellingtons was converted by other countries for civil aviation use.
The
Wellington is quite an ordinary plane in reality and in model replica form,
remove the tail and nose armaments and it will look like a regular late 1930’s passenger
or cargo plane, subjectively and aesthetically wise an American Flying Fortress or a German Heinkel
bomber would have been a more misdemeanant choice for most collectors, but in
my collection the Wellington’s insignificance in popular aviation history made
it a novelty piece on its own.
Wellington with a 1/72 scale Machbox Grumman Hellcat.
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