Meng are going back to the early battles of last century with their latest kit, the 35th scale "RR" Rolls Royce armoured car 1914/1920 type. Both eras can be made from the same box with a relatively low parts count so we thought we would show you what we know about the car and the kit in our preview...
Luxury comes at a cost for the victims of Meng's new RR Armoured Car
BRITISH R-R ARMORED CAR Pattern 1914/1920
From MENG Models
Kit No# VS-010
147mm long and 58mm wide
190 parts
Clear light parts & PE parts are included.
The Rolls-Royce Armoured Car was a British armoured car developed in 1914 and used during the First World War, Irish Civil War, the inter-war period in Imperial Air Control in Transjordan, Palestine and Mesopotamia, and in the early stages of the Second World War in the Middle East and North Africa.
By December 1914, the first three 1914 Mk.1 Pattern armoured cars appeared in service with the first Dunkirk RNAS squadron. In all six squadrons of cars were used until August 1915 and then the unit was disbanded, with some cars transferred in the Middle East theatre. They distinguished themselves in Syria-Palestine, in Aden, Iraq, and Iranian operations against the Turks, and notably in the desert with the Arabs irregulars of the “Arabian revolt” led by Col. T.E. Lawrence (which used a squadron of nine vehicles). He estimated them “more valuable than rubies”. They also saw action in German South-West Africa and, later, East Africa. Two squadrons were sent to Gallipoli in April 1915, and were the only ACs to see action there. Others accomplished an absolute record-breaking mileage under Commander Locker-Lampson’s force in Russia, until the 1917 Revolution, almost without repairs or maintenance.
By the 1922-23 Irish Civil War, 13 British vehicles were given to the Irish Free State government. They were widely used for convoy protection against guerrilla attacks, street fighting and were instrumental in the retaking of Cork and Waterford. By 1944 they were still in service, and one, the ARR-2 Sliabh na mBan (part of the convoy which saw General Collins killed) is officially still in active service (although for the parade). In 1940-1941, about seventy-six Mk.I 1924 Patterns were still in service.
They were sent to the East African theatre against the Italian forces. By 1941, some Fordson truck chassis received the armoured bodies of former Rolls Royce ACs (Number 2 Armoured Car Company RAF). It is no mystery its legendary qualities of reliability participated in establishing the RR as one of the most famous British armoured vehicles. There are four other surviving examples.
It may be difficult for some people nowadays to imagine that an armoured vehicle which worked on the muddy battlefields could ever carry the elegant Rolls Royce trademark. In 1914, the British Admiralty took almost all the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost chassis and added a rotatable machine gun turret onto the chassis. Those were known as the RR armoured cars which took part in the WWI, WWII, and some local wars and conflicts. They had a surprisingly long life and some, like this example below are still in working order today.
The kit from Meng:
This MENG VS-010 BRITISH R-R ARMORED CAR Pattern 1914/1920
147mm long and 58mm wide.
It has a total of 190 parts.
It can be built as a 1914 or 1920 pattern.
1914 pattern.
1920 pattern.
Two types of wheel rims and tires are included.
The roof machine gun mount is rotatable.
Clear light parts and fine PE parts are included.
This kit should be available int he first two months of 2019 sometime...
