Pro Resin

1/72 Bristol T.188 resin model kit

product # R72-043

Review by Steve Bamford on June 3 2008

 

This resin model kit is the Bristol T.188 prototype British jet.  This jet dates from the late '50's to the early 1960's.  The hope was that it would be the fastest aircraft on the planet except for the X-15 and the top speed for this jet was projected to be MACH 2.75.  A second aircraft was added to the program and a top speed of MACH 1.9 was achieved.  The aircraft flew 70 flights and 40 hours of flight time.  Fuel consumption was a problem and the aircraft could only do 2 minutes of flight at top speed before having to return to base. 

This new resin kit from Olimp Models is part of their new Pro Resin line of resin kits.  This little 1/72 kit comes packed in a VERY sturdy little box.  Upon opening the box, I was treated to a beautiful sight of a delicate little multi-media kit which includes resin parts, two clear vac-u-formed canopies and a decal sheet.  The parts breakdown makes sense, but this will be a complicated kit to build.  Patience will be your best ally. Included in this kit are 8 tiny little resin screens, sadly 2 were shattered, possibly due to all the parts being packed on one large plastic bag.  Separating the larger parts from the more delicate parts would possibly avoid this sort of problem.  Panel line detail on the wings and fuselage really is outstanding.  The cockpit detail is ok, but considering this will be a closed canopy sort of model, you won't see much in the cockpit anyways.   The instrument panel detail is very well done as you can see in a  photo below.

Now....this is a resin kit, so it will require the use of CA glue (Crazy Glue) to assemble it and the parts are going to need a tiny bit of cleaning up, but this is very minimal and will not in any way detract from the joy of building this kit.  If you've ever done any work with resin parts before you will have no problem tackling this kit......go slow....be patient and enjoy the build.  I did a dry fit of the fuselage halves and they lined up very well but you will need to clean up the mating surfaces before assembly.....this kit should go together well if the rest of the kit has the same very good level of fit.  

As you can see from the sample of photos of the resin parts below, the fuselage detail on the sides of the fuselage is well done.  The wings have excellently done panel lines and will look quite convincing on the finished kit.  I really liked how well done the engine intakes were done.  

The attachment points for the resin parts is not always thin on the larger parts and considering this is hard resin, you should keep your modelling saw handy.  Detail is very crisp on most parts and the finished products will be a treat to behold. 

I really do get a kick out of seeing the latest kit from Pro Resin as they produce kits of an interesting variety of aircraft.  

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The kit parts are pretty straight forward and the 4 pages of instructions cover the assembly process in a clear and easy to follow way.  The instructions include paint codes in Humbrol, Model Master and Revell colours.

There are one decal option for the second Bristol T.188 prototype "XF 926" on April 29 1963.  This aircraft is overall Steel due to the high temps (250C) from the friction of the Mach speeds this aircraft flew at.  There is a flat black anti-glare panel in front of the canopy on the nose.  

The decals are very clearly printed....not too thick...not too thin and of good colour coverage.  

I had never heard of this jet and I am pleased that Olimp Models is going to the effort to release this historical jet from British aviation history.  You can buy this Pro Resin kit directly from Olimp Models.

Steve

I would like to thanks to Olimp Models for sending me this review sample.

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Photos and text © by Steve Bamford