450-lb Depth Charges
(British Pattern)

Red Roo Models, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Mark Davies

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Despite the lessons of WW1, Britain entered WW2 with comparatively ineffective 100-lb and 250-lb anti-submarine bombs. A more powerful and effective weapons was sought, and the answer proved a relatively simple case of adapting the RN's ship-borne 450-lb Mk VII depth charge for aerial delivery. In fact, I have read that the aerial weapons was developed alongside a version for use by ship-borne spigot-mortars (as opposed to rolling overboard from racks), these being the Mk.I for aerial delivery and Mk.II for spigot-mortars.

In each case, the drum-like explosive warhead was the same, but the aerial version had a central strap with a lug to engage the aircraft's bomb-rack release mechanism. A rounded aerodynamic nose-cap and a conical tailfin section (similar in appearance to those of German bombs) sandwiched the warhead, and were held in place by three equally spaced tie-rods running the length of the warhead casing.

Whitley, Sunderland, Catalina, and Liberator aircraft carried the 450-lb depth charge.

This is a simple set from Red Roo, and comes in a resealable plastic bag containing the resin parts in their own small sealed bags, and a two-side A-4 sheet of images, and notes, including a technical description copied from a British Ordnance Manual.  Red Roo and other sources advise that the warhead was a dark green, like the British Army's Bronze Green (FS-340994), with red and green identification bands. The few images I have seen show some colour and/or shade variation in the nose-cap and tailfin sections, and in some cases, I would guess that these were the dirty yellow or light-buff colour seen on some British WW2 bombs.

The parts are well cast, but the mastering looks just a little "home-spun" when compared to the CAD-derived masters used by some leading Czech companies. The appearance is OK; but in being a bit meticulous, I did notice that the nose and tail bands are thicker in width and section than they appear to be in photos, and the noseband is not quite at 90 degrees to the weapons longitudinal datum. The prominent central band and its mounting lug is also absent, as are the equally noticeable tie-rods and the two pressed circumferential rings on the circular tail. This said; it should be a relatively easy matter to scratch-build at least the first two of these missing details. Finally, Red Roo seems to have rounded the nose caps more than the flattened end to a blunt taper apparent in the images of the real thing.

I am unaware of this weapon being offered previously, and they will certainly add interest to models of the aircraft that carried them. Red Roo have done over 90% of the hard work for us, but I feel a there is room for more detail and precision in the mastering.

Despite my minor quibbles, I am still happy to recommend these depth charges with the caveat that they need some added detail and reshaped noses to look their best.

Recommended.

Thanks to Red Roo Models for the review samples.

Review Text & Blue Background Images Copyright © 2014 by Mark Davies
Page Created 6 February, 2014
Last updated 7 February, 2014

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