ICM has been absolutely nailing it with new kits and products despite operating in a war zone amidst constant violence and destruction. This latest series of Hampden aircraft models are no exception, although I fear I chose the wrong kit to pick back up aircraft modeling after years away building armor, but more on that later!

What’s Inside the Box

The kit comes in a top-opening box under the cereal-box thick cardboard cover featuring the cover art. Inside the flap are ten grey plastic sprues - with some duplicated, as well as two clear sprues, and a large decal sheet for the four schemes. Details of the parts are crisp and flash-free and the steps call out paint colors for the most part.

Construction begins with installing all the bits to each fuselage interior, including panels, machine gun ammo canisters, chemical toilet and base, seats, controls and compass, smaller windows, and the like. These first 36 steps went pretty smoothly and when I went to close the fuselage halves together, I ran into my first issue of there being slight warpage to the halves as the very front end was twisted a bit making the fitting of the wings and some of the later parts problematic. The machine guns are quite small and while I fit the twin assemblies together alright, when I went to attach the set to the rear canopy turret, I slipped and they went down deep into the bottom of the fuselage, irretrievable.

The bomb bay assembly went together fine and there is quite an assortment of bombs from the three weapons sprues. The instructions only call for the use of either 250lb and 500lb GP bombs or 250lb SAP bombs, but the sprues also include some larger AP bombs, and even magnetic mines which are in use for the later ICM release for Operation Gardening. Either way, plenty of bombs to throw into the spares box- especially if you skipped installing them altogether like I did since I modeled the bomb bay closed.

The tailplane assembly went off without a hitch - but the clear parts were problematic for the warped areas I was dealing with as they did not fit all too well. I don’t think the warpage was representative of the kit in general as it probably happened somehow in transit.

The wings went together well - and the engine assemblies look great and are added to the wings before they are installed. It wasn’t until the end of the assembly, when I went to attach the wings that I ran into some major issues. There aren’t two spars to insert into the two fuselage slots, but only the one in the front - making attaching the wings very difficult. Someone not so rusty as myself might have no issues, but I ran into some real problems getting things aligned and attached - especially with the warped fuselage. My inexperience made this a real challenge. The instruction manual comes with a mask template that I made copies of and used as a guide to cut some Tamiya tape masks for the clear parts. The kit provides four schemes as follows:

• Hampden B.Mk.I AE224, No.49 Sqn., RAF Scampton, 1941. Pilot: S.Ldr. D D Drakes
• Hampden B.Mk.I AE238, ‘Popeye’, No.49 Sqn., RAF Scampton, 1941
• Hampden B.Mk.I AD915, No.400 Sqn., RAF Waddington, Winter 1942
• Hampden B.Mk.I AE269, No.408 Sqn., RAF Balderton, Summer 1942

I chose the Popeye scheme and the decals laid down quite nicely over a gloss coat. After spraying the dull coat and heading to the photo booth, I realized I was missing two clear pieces- the lower nose piece and a top-side window. Despite an in-depth search I was unable to find them so suffice it to say, this one won’t be winning any awards.

Conclusion

I really think this is a well-detailed and thorough kit of this strange looking bomber. The challenges I faced and the issues I had getting things aligned makes me recommend this kit to intermediate modelers and above as I think it would be a real bear for a beginner to take on. I really hope the warpage I found was just a one-off, but someone with more skills than my rusty ones should keep an eye out. I probably should have started back on aircraft with something smaller and less complex like a fighter, but if you love details and have the skills, this one might be worth checking out!

My sincere thanks to ICM and IPMS/USA for the review sample.