Roland C.II
Weekend Edition

Revell, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Eduard's 1/48 scale Roland C.II Weekend Edition
is available online from Squadron.com for only $17.96!

The Roland C.II Walfisch (Whale) has one of the most distinctive profiles of all World War I aircraft. The C.II’s sleek, innovative design gave it an immediate speed advantage over equivalent German two-seaters when it arrived on the front in March 1916.  However, it was a far from perfect aircraft, with poor downward visibility and some difficult handling characteristics.  The Roland design team was able to address some of these issues during later C.II production runs, but by mid-1917 the type was obsolescent and withdrawn from front-line service. The Roland C.II/IIa continued to soldier on serving in the training role.
 
First released more than a decade ago, Eduard’s 1/48 Roland C.II has proven to be one of the company’s most popular kits.  I have identified at least seven different boxings, and there may be more.  These include the usual range of Profipack, Limited Edition and Weekend Edition kits, with the first of the latter released back in 2006 and featuring markings for an attractive shark-mouthed machine.*
 
In 2012, Eduard re-released the kit as a "Weekend Edition" at a lower price without the photo-etched parts and just a single marking option.

Fast forward to 2016, and Revell has now re-boxed Eduard's plastic sprues so that the kit can see the light of day once more.
 

 
Inside the full-colour side-opening box are 82 parts in light grey plastic and seven in clear. All three grey sprues are packed into the same resealable plastic pag, with the clear parts inside a separte ziplock bag.

The sprues have fared well over the years, with no visible sink marks, imperfection or significant flash. In fact, the parts look very clean indeed.

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Thumbnail panels:

The wooden fuselage is correctly depicted as mostly smooth with only a few recessed panel lines near the nose and some raised structural features here and there.

Stretched fabric is subtly represented on the wings and tail planes.

The interior is well detailed, with both the pilot's and the observer's positions fitted out with sidewall detail, seats, bulkheads and associated equipment. Two clear windows on each side of the fuselage will ensure that you will be able to appreciate your interior work once the kit is finished.

The engine looks really good too.

If you have felt nervous about taking the first step into biplane models, Revell's Walfisch might be a good place to start. The upper and lower wings both slot directly into the sides of the fuselage - no tricky cabane struts - and there is only one wide interplane strut required for each wing. The undercarriage is quite straightforward too.

 
Marking Options

Two marking option are supplied on the modest decal sheet.

One is finished in tan and two shades of green over light grey undersurfaces with a crude shark's mouth, and the other is in overall light grey with a mustard coloured fin and rudder. Both machines saw action on the Western Front in 1916.

The decals are printed by Cartograf and are flat in finish with perfect registration.

It is nice to see Eduard's excellent sprues available again in this form.

The kit is well detailed but not overly complicated in terms of the number of parts and engineering, and by all accounts it is easy to build too.

Highly Recommended.

* Historical summary courtesy of Brad Fallen's 2012 review of the Eduard Weekend Edition kit.

References

• P.M. Grosz, LFG Roland C.II:  Windsock Datafile 49 (Albatros Productions Ltd, 1995).
  

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For details visit www.revell.de/en, @RevellGermany or facebook.com/Revell

Review Text & Images Copyright © 2012 by Brad Fallen and 2016 by Brett Green
Page Created 24 March, 2016
Last updated 24 March, 2016

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