Vickers Valiant B1 – RAF Camouflage with nose weight 1/144

From Amercom comes this brilliant 1/144 scale Vickers Valiant B1 XD829 in superb RAF grey green disruptive camouflage livery. PLEASE NOTE: The Planecrazy Valiants have had nose weights inserted so they sit on their nosewheels. This is not the case with the standard model. Wingspan 24cm, Length 24cm

Constructed of a mixture of metal and plastic with lowered undercarriage and stand in a sealed plastic blister. Amercom have vastly improved the finish of their products recently, as these have properly indented, authentic looking panel lines. As such they look perfectly at home alongside their far more expensive Corgi equivalents but at a bargain price!

The Vickers-Armstrongs Valiant was a British four-jet bomber, once part of the Royal Air Force’s V bomber nuclear force in the 1950s and 1960s. The Valiant was the first of the V bombers to become operational, and was followed by the Handley Page Victor and the Avro Vulcan; however it was noticeably less advanced than its counterparts. Several Valiants were soon converted to perform various support roles, such as aerial refuelling tankers and reconnaissance aircraft.

The Valiant was intended for operations as a high-level strategic bomber. By late 1964 it was found that all variants of the Valiant showed premature fatiguing and inter-crystalline corrosion in wing spar attachment castings traced to the use of a poorly understood aluminium alloy, DTD683. Rather than proceeding with an expensive rebuilding program, the Valiant was formally retired in 1965. Its duties were continued by the other V-bombers which remained in service until the 1980s.