Large Scale Planes

Roden 1/32 Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a
Kit Number 607
Review by Mike O'Leary

The Roden Se5a is a long awaited WWI kit that fills in another gap in WWI aviation history. A very sturdy plane, the Se5a was flown by such aces as: CAPT Albert Ball, CAPT James T McCudden, LT Rhys-Davids, and LT Duncan Grinell-Milne, whose aircraft is depicted on the box art.

First impressions are good, with plastic parts separated from the decals, eight pages of instructions, and the clear parts. There is a lot of plastic in the box, with a range of duplicate parts provided for some of the fiddly bits. My kit is molded in tan coloured plastic with well thought out sprue gates, some alternative parts, and no flash.

The fuselage is a three piece affair consisting of two halves and a center piece for the top of the cowl and 'pit. Only one small sink mark is visible on one side of the windscreen mount. Both the large and small windscreens relevant to this aircraft type are provided. The detail is good, and the stitching, (very noticeable on the real plane), is well rendered. The clear view window is let into the upper fuselage piece, a nice detail.

A detailed engine is provided with interior frames to mount it. The radiator is the variable opening type and two props are included in the kit. The cockpit has an acceptable level of detail, but has no instruments for the panel provided. The MG’s are well rendered, as are the two Foster mounts for the upper wing. YES! A spare! The rails are very delicately molded, with two mgs being provided. One with and the other without a water jacket.

The wings are also well done, with sprue gates on the leading edges of the wings. The trailing edges thin to a lovely fine line. The wings are molded as one piece affairs, upper and lower. This feature greatly assists in keeping them in the same dihedral. The tail plane has also been molded with sprue gates on the leading edges of the separate tail and elevator surfaces. A nice touch I thought. The lower wing forms the cockpit floor, and is a tight fit. Whilst this is a little fiddly it should result in a tight, strong join.

An interesting feature of the Se5a was a window in the lower wing, and the bottom of the upper wing, through which the aileron pulleys could be seen. This is replicated with decals. A nice touch, but one that leaves me wondering: why no instruments for the 'pit?


Click on the images above to view the full size images.

The wing struts and undercarriage are delicately molded with the correct airfoil shape and definite "pins" to positively locate the wings and undercarriage struts. Two types of wheel struts are also provided. The wheels themselves are good, with just a hint of the spokes on the outer covers, and the access for the inflation valve open. A delicately molded center-line bomb rack is included, with four bombs.

The decal sheet just fits in the box, with plenty of choices for the builder. "Mick" Mannock, Billie Bishop, Beauchamp-Proctor, and the afore-mentioned Grinell-Milne, are included in the RAF selection. A USAS machine can be done as well. The markings are complete, with RAF geometric symbols provided for the various planes, along with the markings unique to the American plane. The instructions detail the various markings well, and provide reference to Model Master Paints.

I have a few Roden kits now, and the quality is coming up. This kit has obviously been set up to do the earlier Se5, in addition to the Se5a. The use of sprue gates shows this in the parts layout. Features such as the two props, choice of guns, and extra Foster mount, add to the value. The complete engine is a nice bonus as well. On the downside, the lack of gauges for the instrument panel is an annoyance, especially given the detail relative to the rest of the kit. Another problem is that there are NO rigging instructions. The Se5a was a heavily rigged plane, with a series of twin, and single wires supporting the struts. The lack of even an addendum for the rigging leaves the modeller using the box art as a reference. This is in contrast to the rest of the kit, which seems very well thought out. Still, this kit fills an important niche in the WWI aviation market, and will hopefully be followed by more British WWI types.