Red Roo Models 1/72 RFD Winged Target

Designed as a high speed towed target, the winged target was a twin boom aircraft, constructed of resin bonded plywood. It was able to be towed above 200 knots, so was a more realistic target than the previously used fabric drogues.

 Developed in Sweden, the winged target was produced in Britain by Rubberised Fabric Developments, better known for life jackets and dingies. Ten were supplied to the RAAF in 1952 and allocated serials A88-1 to 10. They were not much used, and declared surplus in 1954. Just the thing to put behind a target towing Meteor, Beaufighter, Vampire or other 1950's tow plane.

There are eight resin parts to this simple kit, cast in grey resin, with sharp edges and details. There are visible small bubbles on the wings, and a large bubble on the trailing edge of the tailplane. The long parts, the wing, and the two fuselage booms were slightly warped, but easily fixed with hot water. Some lengths of wire were included for rigging. A jig is also supplied to line up the twin booms with the wing and tailplane.

 The instructions are four A4 pages, with photographs, sketches, a three view, extensive assembly notes and a short history. They are sufficient to build the kit. The parts list differs significantly from the parts supplied, as it describes separate fins and tailplane parts, whereas the tail assembly came cast as one part.

 The parts were removed from the casting blocks, and cleaned  of flash, then all given a wash. I followed the instruction order and added the rigging to the tailplane and fin casting first. Having this part already as one piece made this straightforward. It seemed strange to do rigging as a first step, but access was easy at this stage, and it was no problem to hold the part rigid for drilling. I used invisible mending thread instead of the supplied wire. I filled a gap between the tailplane and one of the fins, and repaired the large bubble on the trailing edge. The dag ends of the rigging were trimmed and sanded flat.

 Assembly of the two fuselage booms and the wing was easy using the jig, which kept everything square. I added a fillet of superglue to these joints as the fit was not the best. Joined the tail assembly, and finished the rigging. I added the small wing tip skids, parachute and trigger housings, then added the rigging between the parachute housing and the mainplane. I didn't make or add the wire towing rings and ground trigger which are detailed in the instructions. My eyesight is just not up to such fine details.

The initial stage of painting was to apply a coat of Mr Surfacer 1000, to deal with the small bubbles, then a light sand and wash. The scheme on the instructions was simple, overall flat red, I used Tamiya PC-2 gloss acrylic as my flat red had gone gritty. Needed a couple of coats as coverage was not good. When dry I touched up the skids with Mr Metal Colour Iron. Didn't apply any markings. The jig was useful in holding the kit while painting.

 A quick and easy build of a different sort of aircraft. With a wingspan of 26 feet it is larger than you would expect. A good introduction to resin kits. Recommended for all.

 Ross Gillett, Australia's Military Aircraft, Aerospace, Canberra, 1987.

 Peter Burstow

May 2013

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