Gloster E28/39 (Pioneer), Highplanes 1:72nd

This limited run injection moulded kit is produced by High Planes models in Australia. Consisting of 17 parts on a single sprue with a white metal nose undercarriage and vacuum formed canopy it is somewhat rare and some consider it a collectors item. The one that I have aquired (via EBay) has a lot of flash and according to the instructions will require considerable work as you need to fabricate a cockpit floor and rear bulkhead before you have anywhere to attach the seat and you will also need to do some construction work in the undercarriage bay before you can fit the main undercarriage.

Despite the flash the parts do carry a nice level of detail and it seems like it builds into a nice kit as shown below. The decals supplied are unfortunately only for W4041 and the kit doesn't include the option of adding the extra directional fins fitted at Farnborough later in its life. The other issue is scale, measuring the unassembled parts show it too be about 15 inches too long and 21 inches too big in wing span. This is probably not too noticable as the length and span are both out by the same amount unlike the Frog/Novo kit where the wings are OK but the fuselage is much too large. If I decide to model the E28/39 for myself then I will let you know how it fits together although due to the rarity and cost of the kit I will probably build the Novo kit first as I have mangaged to get a hold of two so far at reasonable cost although correcting the scale problem will present a challenge.

Reviewed by Andrew Broxholme, December 2003

The Highplanes kit built up as the second E28/39 W4046 (Jean-Pierre Veret)

Review of the Frog (Novo) kit