Warbirds | Rotol Flared Blades with Spinner and Backplate in 1/24th Scale
Reviewed by Mark Proulx
Vasko Barbic of Warbirds Productions has just released some new resin sets for the Trumpeter Spitfire Mk Vb in 1/24th scale. These items address some of the oversights found in the model. The first item to be reviewed is their Rotol Three-Blade Propeller.
The propeller, as supplied by Trumpeter, is quite nice. It closely resembles a De Havilland three-blade propeller. This unit was fitted to some Mk Vb's, while many were fitted with a Rotol wooden three-blade assembly.
The new Rotol prop from Warbirds Productions consists of resin spinner, backplate and three propeller blades. No instructions are included, however none are required due to the simplicity of this set. Each of the pieces is well cast with a minimum amount of flash. No air bubbles or pinholes were evident in the review samples. Only a minor casting block needs to be removed from the spinner. This should be easily done with light sanding which is not beyond the skill of most modelers.
The spinner has scribed surface detail. It looks like the backplate fits the spinner perfectly and I would expect to encounter no problems. One of the peculiarities of the Rotol Propeller is the armoured leading edge fitted to each blade. This is quite evident in photos found in the book Spitfire by Morgan and Shacklady. A close examination of the blades reveals that Warbirds captures this perfectly. This should be apparent in the close-up photo of the propeller tip.
As with all Warbirds Productions products, you can be assured that you are purchasing well researched, quality products. The new Rotol Propeller in 1/24th scale is a very welcome addition to their rapidly expanding product line. I am sure that these Spitfire add-ons will prove to be popular and it is great to see aftermarket items for the larger scales.
Review sample compliments of Warbirds Productions.
© Mark Proulx 2003
This review was published on Saturday, July 02 2011; Last modified on Wednesday, May 18 2016