Roden | Ro 607: 1/32 Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a

Reviewed by Jay Laverty

Rapid Expansion

WWI subjects are certainly gaining popularity in 32nd scale, and thanks to companies like Roden, the variety of aircraft to choose from is expanding at an exponential rate. The latest release from the Eastern European injection manufacturer is the Wolsley Viper engined version of the best British fighter of WWI the S.E.5a.

Plenty of Choice

Roden's box art has always been very dramatic and well illustrated, and this kit certainly follows that pattern. With the striking red mount of Captain Duncan Grinnel-Milne (Sqn. C.O.) gracing the box top this kit certainly gets your attention. Given the fact that all of the other 4 options are Olive Drab, I am sure “Shweinhund” will be the subject of choice for most of the models built from this kit. The stature for the rest of the markings lie in the fact that they belong to some very famous names, Billy Bishop and Mick Mannock being among them, with a USAS machine thrown in for good measure.

Roden's instructions lack nothing, being very clear and simple to follow, and in a touch that seems to be a dying art form in model kits, they include an interesting and multi-lingual historical essay. The decals are nicely printed, the colours look very good, and the entire sheet is in perfect register. Not having used Roden decals before, unfortunately I cannot offer any insights into how well they will go onto the model, but Roden are not one of the companies I hear complaints about in this area of their kits.

Well Detailed and Crisp

Moving onto a close examination of the plastic sprues, it is immediately apparent that there is very little flash to contend with and the only visible occurrence is a minute amount surrounding one of the elevators. The parts are very crisply cast, and retain a great amount of detail. There are some parts that admittedly could have been done better, such as the very basic looking seat (even for a WWI airplane) however, the amount of intricately detailed parts far outweigh the lightly detailed ones, and so far things are looking decidedly excellent for this model. The engine is a very complex and intricate bit of work, as you can see from the partially assembled one from the review here. I couldn’t resist starting it right away.

I am undecided about the one piece wings, and I am not sure how well they will be received by WWI modellers used to doing rigging with two part wings, but the surface detail on them is simply superb, although the inspection windows on the outer parts of the wings are a bit roughly done. In fact, had the wings been done in two parts, the inspection windows would have been much easier to correct and detail should you wish to do so.

A Suitable Platform

Judging by the instructions, this is not a very lengthy nor complex build, so I would say it would be appropriate for just about any level of modeller, which for me is perfect. A young modeller wanting to make this would not be out of his league while a more experienced modeller wishing to add a lot of extra detail will find this a more than suitable platform for modification. Providing the fit is good however, and there is no way to judge this until the model is built.