Welsh Models Kits Explained…. and Our Latest Arrivals

We have received a shipment from Welsh Models, and have some new kits in stock.

I am often asked what materials Welsh kits are made of, and how easy they are to build.

First, materials. Welsh uses 1.5mm thick sheet white styrene to make vacuform parts. Thicker styrene is usually easier to work with than thinner material. A kit with a “V” as the last letter will have a vacuform fuselage, wings, stabs and fin.

A kit with “P” as the last letter of the product code has a vacuform fuselage, while the rest of the airframe will then usually be resin.

A kit with “R” as the last letter is an all-resin kit, with no vacuform parts.

Most kits provide engine parts and landing gear made from resin, with some containing metal gear legs, wheels and props.

The “all resin” (“R”) kits are probably the easiest to build, but due to the high cost of resin and the labor intensive nature of their manufacture are also the most expensive. The “all vacuform” (“V”) kits are the opposite – generally requiring more work and skill to build, but the cheapest. Wings, stabs and fins can be particularly challenging to get nice thin trailing edges. The “P” kits are in the middle, both in terms of difficulty to build and cost. Vacuform fuselages are reasonably easy to build, and the resin wings, stabs and fins remove a lot of the complexity from building the airframe.

If you want to learn to build vacuform kits, I recommend starting with a smaller “P” kit, working up to larger kits (longer fuselages are harder to prepare without distorting them). Then try a “V” kit. Again, I’d tackle a smaller aircraft (which generally have shorter wings) first before trying a kit with longer wings.

I still have a few copies of Clint Groves video titled “Building Vacuum Formed Models” available. The video has now been re-mastered to DVD. I have personally used his techniques to build 1/144 scale Electras, Embraer ERJ145s, and more with good results.

See AHC-030 in my store to order your copy.

The new arrivals are:

WSL-277P Lockheed 188 Electra, Channel Express