Kit Review- Special Hobby 1/48 Blackburn Roc

[Dave W]

Special Hobby 1/48 scale Blackburn Roc Mk.I



Reviewed by Zac Yates

Scale: 1/48
Item #: SH 48050
Price: €28.90 direct from Special Hobby at https://www.specialhobby.eu/en/our-own-production/special-hobby/blackburn-roc-1.html and  through quality hobby retailers worldwide.
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(All Parts images courtesy of Special Hobby)


Contents: four grey and one clear sprues; twelve grey resin blocks; one PE fret; one acetate film; four decal options.

Background:
I know next to nothing about the Roc so when this review sample arrived at my front door I immediately took to Wikipedia to educate myself.
Similar to the Royal Air Force’s contemporary Boulton-Paul Defiant, the Blackburn Roc was developed as a turret fighter for the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm. Unlike the Defiant, the Roc also featured dive brakes and bomb racks for two 250lb bombs as well as eight practice bombs. Although it was on strength with 27 naval air squadrons and three RAF units again, unlike the Defiant, the Roc never had great success and wasn’t able to find its niche. According to my research the type recorded a single air-to-air victory: one of five Junkers Ju88s that had been attacking a convoy off the coast of Ostend, Belgium.
The type was later used for air-sea rescue work (where one crew claimed a damaged Heinkel He59), but by late 1944 the Roc had completely disappeared with only a handful of turrets being retained for base defence at HMS Daedalus in Gosport. No examples of the Roc survive today.


Special Hobby’s model
Perhaps befitting the type’s inglorious history kit makers have been reluctant to produce models of the Roc: a quick survey online shows only two 1/48 kits to have been produced while small-scale builders are better off with five options in 1/72 and a solitary 1/144 resin kit.
According to Scalemates this kit was originally released by Special Hobby in 2007 and based on contemporary kit in-box reviews/previews the kit is unchanged, except for the resin parts being cast in grey rather than the original tan. Even the colour scheme options are identical.
Despite the age of the moulds the kit parts have no flash and the detail – particularly on the resin parts – is still delicate and unblemished.






SH’s short-run heritage is on display here as butt-joins are everywhere with not a single alignment tab or slot in sight outside of the cockpit, and plenty of ejector pin towers (most of which may be ultimately hidden during the construction process, but some appear in inconvenient places like seat pans and wheel halves). Surface detail is a mix of engraved lines and raised plates where appropriate.
The wing is moulded in a surprising seven parts – upper and lower halves for each outer wing, a lower centre section, and two upper stub wing/fillet pieces. As there are no tabs or spars to assist in keeping everything aligned the wheel wells must do the job as, on first glance, the mainplane assembly looks like a job for superglue…and perhaps prayer! My guess is that the parts are separated along the wing fold lines however there is no option to do this, nor any internal parts.




The clear parts are nicely moulded with raised panel lines – this is helpful as no masks are included and these lines should make use of masking liquid a breeze.



The resin parts are wonderful. These cover one-piece main wheel wells, the Bristol Perseus engine (crankcase and separate cylinders – nine are needed but 10 are provided) and a staggering 22 exhaust parts (no doubt allowing some spares for any accidents one might encounter), two large bomb racks and an assortment of parts for the dorsal turret are all exquisitely detailed, particularly the engine. The PE fret covers the instrument panels (an acetate film is also supplied for this) and seat belts, as well as the smaller practice bomb racks which will involve some delicate bending and gluing. Unfortunately, no stores are supplied for the various bomb racks – neither are locating tabs, with only measurements from the wingtip given in the instructions for guidance.

Markings:
The kit features four marking options, all Roc Mk.Is:
1.   L3114/E of No.759 Naval Air Squadron, Fleet Air Arm at RNAS Donibristle, November 1939. This aircraft wears camouflage of Dark Slate Grey and Extra Dark Sea Grey over Sky Grey with a Red spinner.
2.   L3075/L6R of No.806 NAS at Hatston Airfield, Orkneys, April 1940 is described in the instructions as “one of the few Rocs that saw combat actions[sic]” although does not explain further. This aircraft wears an interesting scheme of Dark Slate Grey and Extra Dark Sea Grey over a high demarcation line Sky Grey with the starboard wing unders completely in Black (port) and White (starboard).
3.   L3084 is another Fleet Air Arm aircraft, this time from No.778 NAS at RNAS Lee-on-Solent in May 1940. This aircraft is overall Aluminium with basic markings.
4.   RO-143 is a Finnish aircraft depicted at Dycen aibrbase[sic], Scotland in 1940. The instructions explain the national insignia (diplomatically printed in two parts on the decal sheet and similarly depicted here) “were covered by linen for flight over Great Britain” as the swastika could trigger British AA crews! This covering could make for an interesting addition to the model however more research is needed by the modeller as nothing further is explained.




The decal printer is unnamed except for a small “FH” logo, but they appear to be similar to Cartograph’s work in other Special Hobby kits: opaque whites, good solid colours, but some stencils are difficult to read without magnification and appear fuzzy.







Summary:
Based on photos of the real deal Special Hobby have nailed the look of the Roc and the patient builder will be rewarded with a lovely model. It’s a shame the engine cowls cannot (at first glance) be built open as the Perseus engine is gorgeously moulded. The lack of external stores is also disappointing but hopefully the modeller’s spares box will provide. The four decal options offer very different choices that will catch the eye regardless of which is chosen.
Verdict:
Recommended to those with some experience with short-run kits.

(Review sample kindly supplied by Special Hobby. Please support the businesses that support your Forum.)

[gedmundson]

Thanks for sharing that review. The aircraft has to be one of the ugliest of it’s era - but as a model in 1/48 scale I’m very much drawn to it. It looks like it’ll build up into a very accurate replica of the Roc.
Cheers,
Gary

[pepperman42]

Interesting bird for sure. What is a Roc? From the aircraft manufacturer that came up with great names - Like the Blackburn Blackburn....wow very original....Still, SH have provided what looks like a solid replica. This was released as they were moving beyond the more crude short run kits. Their latest releases are amazing.

Steve

[Whiteknuckles]

A Roc is a mythological Middle Eastern, rather enormous, legendary bird of prey.

Rather ambitious naming by Blackburn 

Andrew

[pepperman42]

Interesting. Now I know. Like you say - not exactly the look of a killer.....

Steve

[KiwiZac]

I was strangely taken by the kit as soon as it arrived (as I said in the review, I knew precious little about both Roc and Skua beforehand) and imagine my surprise when I found some Kiwis served in them! Hopefully this will make its way to my bench in the near future.