The Gladiator was a follow on to the Gloster Gauntlet, the design was submitted to the Air ministry in June 1935 and the spec F.14/35 was written to accommodate it. The first batches of 23 were delivered in February/March of 1937.      The Mk.1’s carried Lewis guns in underwing gondolas as did the first 37 of the second batch of 100. Further orders brought the total of RAF MK.1’s built to 232. An exceptionally agile aircraft, it was used by 87 squadron in “tied wing” aerobatics whereby three aircraft were literally tied together with string throughout a display from take off to landing.  

            Gladiators were first issued to 72 squadron at Church Fenton although quickly replaced by Hurricanes and Spitfires by September 1939. The “Glads” were then re-issued to home based auxiliary units, four of which were operational when war broke out.

            The Gladiator saw service with 18 RAF squadrons and the Fleet Air Arm. It distinguished itself in the Norwegian campaign; the battle of France and of course 3 Gladiators Faith, Hope and Charity became famous in the defence of Malta. After being withdrawn from frontline service the Gladiator continued to serve the RAF in communication, liaison and meteorological reconnaissance until 1944.

            Gladiators were operated by the following countries: Belgium, China, Egypt, Eire, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, RAAF, RAF and Sweden.

            This issue of the Matchbox Gladiator Mk 1 harks back to the mid 70’s I believe but despite its age it stands up well to modern offerings. It comes in the standard two colours; this example was in silver and pale grey (nice!). I offered the fuselage up to some 1/72 scale drawings and all the dimensions are just about there. The only real major fault is the cockpit fuselage bulge is approx 3mm to far back at the junction with the canopy. In a comparison with the Heller kit, which does not have that fault, the Matchbox kit for me is the superior kit.

The fabric over formers from the cockpit back is nicely done and from the cockpit forward engraved lines denote panelling. Not for this kit the great trenches we are accustomed to seeing on other Matchbox kits, just finely scribed detail. As ever the cockpit is a sparse affair but as the glazing is a one piece job there is not much to be seen. Only one type is on offer here with no choice of parts. You could leave off the underwing machine gun gondolas and add a three bladed prop to depict a Mk II. The decal options are for 73 squadron RAF and 8 squadron Royal Swedish Air Force. Both these machines came in silver dope. The decal sheet on my example is thick, off register and the roundel blue is the same as the Swedish blue and therefore wrong.   

            What can be said of a kit directed at children? It was a breeze! I went a little crazy on this one, cutting off the control surfaces for repositioning as Matchbox kindly make the tailfin a separate item and to make construction a little more time consuming and hopefully a more interesting end product. I know many of you will know this but we all have to find out these things one way or another, the wing control surfaces oppose each other i.e. one set (side) goes up, the other goes down! The rear tail planes are a pair and should be either up or (usually) down. I constructed a pseudo cockpit from stretched sprue and plasticard, putting in a floor, rear bulkhead and instrument panel. Stretched sprue was used to frame the outer panel lines around the door etc and add a joystick, essential in most aircraft I understand. This was painted interior green or black as appropriate. The main assembly of gluing the fuselage halves together was only outdone in complexity by the attachment of the lower wings; the latter requires a little attention to obtain the correct angle. All pieces went together well with very little filling needed (like your editor, I do not think I have ever made a kit that did not require some filling somewhere). My chosen subject had a snub propeller so I sanded that off too.

The biggest fault in construction was the last thing I did. After finishing the whole thing I added the exhaust pipes, the locating point was just all wrong to allow the pipes to sweep around the wheels. This might have been my fault but better to know of a possible problem sooner rather than later. Just to while away yet more time I drilled out the machine gun barrels and the exhaust pipes. Not as difficult as you might think. I also sanded of a millimetre or so off the bottom of all wheels for that “weighted” look.

            I sprayed the whole thing in Humbrol light grey and then a topcoat of Humbrol Metalcote flat aluminium. The tail got Humbrol roundel where required. I followed this up with a light dusting of Humbrol Glosscote varnish to give the aftermarket decals a good surface to bed down on. As mentioned earlier the kit decals were useless, I had a sheet of Modeldecal 31A on which there is a Mk. 1 from 87 squadron display team of 1938. Perfect. These went on without fuss or bother. I used a decal setting solution just in case and no ill effects resulted. After cleaning, another slightly heavier coat of glosscote sealed the decals.

I then attached the upper wing. Care is needed here to make sure the dihedral of the lower wing is maintained and not pulled out of line by the upper wings. The fuselage struts did not fit exactly into the upper wing location holes so pedants may like to fill them in and re-drill, I reasoned they are rarely going to be seen so did not bother. The cockpit glazing was painted silver using acrylic paints. The make I use (miniature paints) dries quickly but remains soft for a while. This allows you to remove any slips with a cocktail stick leaving a very tidy job.

This is a very easy kit and a pleasure to make. Attaching the upper wing may require assistance for the very young but that’s about it. If you need something to do in between the glue/paint/filler drying on those 350 part monster kits then this will occupy at least some of your time and give you a worthwhile result at the end. For more the experienced modellers there are opportunities galore. You could adjust the control surfaces, detail the cockpit, add the rigging and of course it doesn’t have to be silver.  A combination of this and the Heller kit  for the better cockpit, 3 part glazing and undercarriage skids and you can produce a  really spectacular 1/72  “Glad” of just about any type. There are aftermarket accessories to improve a Gladiator model, etched brass cockpits, vacformed canopies, decals, propellers and wheels. Go on, for the price of a hasemiya kit this could be a real show winner. Highly recommended for all.

 Military aircraft markings and profiles. B. Wheeler.

The Gloster Gladiator. F. K. Mason. Profile publications.

Aircraft archive Vol 1. Multiple authors. (Detailed 1/72 drawings of WWII aircraft).