RAAF Vickers Wellesley Maritime Patrol

[The Rat]

1 by Dave Bailey, on Flickr

After the successful flight of the three Vickers Wellesleys of the RAF Long Range Development Unit from Egypt to Australia, the Royal Australian Air Force was sufficiently impressed with the type to order six examples. These were pressed into service as long range maritime patrol aircraft, with an armament of one torpedo slung under the fuselage, and one depth charge in each underwing bomb pannier. These could be replaced with 6 x 100lb bombs, or a combination. of one depth charge in one pannier and the bombs in another. The wing walkways were delineated with red lines rather than the 'bootprints' of the British versions. Colours were dark grey top and white on bottom, repeated on the bomb panniers.

2 by Dave Bailey, on Flickr

At the outset of the war they had few encounters with German shipping, but did claim two merchant vessels destroyed and engaged at least one submarine, with no confirmation of
sinking. Their use was noticed by the RAF which used their last Wellesley Squadron, number 47, in the maritime reconnaissance role over the Red Sea until September 1942. By the start of the war in the Pacific they had been withdrawn from front-line use, with the Lockheed Hudson supplanting them in the role.

3 by Dave Bailey, on Flickr

4 by Dave Bailey, on Flickr

5 by Dave Bailey, on Flickr

It goes without saying that this is the Matchbox pressing, the only injection molded kit of this type, and one which Revell might be wise to reissue. The kit has its faults, but the subject has appeal to those with a taste for the esoteric, and although its wartime role was not as storied as other British aircraft, it did play a significant role in Africa, and should be more widely known than it is.

The model is a great base for whiffery, and in the hands of someone with more skill than me (Translation: almost anyone!), it could be turned into a show-stopper. The main faults are a simple interior, shallow wheel wells, and the infamous Matchbox trenches. The gear arrangement is a bit fiddly, and younger modelers may have trouble with it, but it will hone their skills.

The torpedo and mounting racks came from the Matchbox Beaufighter, and the depth charge was cobbled together from a spare bomb, I just carved the pointed nose off and substituted a piece of plastic for the typical flat end of those weapons. Carving open the bomb pannier was not all that difficult if one has patience, but internal detail is lacking. It would be really nice to see an after-market product available for these. Grey was Tamiya XF-54, white was Tamiya XF-2. Decals came from the old Airfix B-25. Might add an aerial wire some day, but it's not a priority.

[stevehed]

 I like the change of roles and the new colours. The privacy glass is another good idea.

[kitbasher]

Nice 

The Wellesley was actually designed to take a torpedo.

[PR19_Kit]

Yes, that's a ZINGER of a model, love the new tasking and the colour scheme.

[NARSES2]

You've actually made the Wellesley look relatively attractive Ratty  Brilliant job, I particularly like the colour scheme.

As to kits of the Wellesley, Vallom do a 1/72 injection kit, new tooled in 2013, which I have in the stash.

[Dizzyfugu]

That's looking very good. Even though I'd have left away the underwing bomb containers and just added the depth charges directly under the wings?
I just wanted to mention the (relatively new) Valom kit, too - a very nice model, even though the Matchbox kit goes together well and has a nice surface structure. It just lacks landing gear wells... 

[zenrat]

Good job Ratty.



I keep seeing it's name as Vickers Wesley.  Which of course was a smaller aircraft which rapidly developed a reputation for being annoying...

[Leading Observer]

Nice work

[loupgarou]

Very nice build. It looks even pretty.

[The Rat]

Thank you, gentlemen!

[PR19_Kit]

Even though I'd have left away the underwing bomb containers and just added the depth charges directly under the wings?

I may be being a tad JMN-ish, but I don't think Wellesleys could carry bomb loads directly under the wings as the strong point attachments were distributed over the geodetic structure and the bomb carriers spread the point loads. There's some mention of it in the Profile Publications bookazine on the Wellesley, but my copy's 120 miles away from me just now

Yeah, I know. 'This is WhiffWorld'. 

[The Rat]

Even though I'd have left away the underwing bomb containers and just added the depth charges directly under the wings?

Yeah, it does look like a 'pimple on a drum', as my mother would have said. But the reasoning is that the aircraft is already set up to have bomb panniers, and modifying it to a different style of underwing hard point wasn't in the cards, so the depth charge itself was modified to hang on the shackles in the pannier. Might put that in a revised back story.