First and Best for Reference and Scale

March 2019 • £4.75

Volume 41 • Issue 01

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Fiat CR.32
Scale Plans and Profiles

Legacy’s Angels – Kinetic’s Hornet in Blue Gotha Go 150 – Master-X Volkslugzeug in 1/72
Walkaround – Bell P-59 Airacomet How to Guide – Moving Forward…
Leiston’s Mustangs – 357FG P-51s in 1/48 American Patrol –More US Miscellany

Built for Speed Forgotten Fighter Blackburn Buccaneer An Accurate Miniature

Bristol Blenheim Mk I Bristol Scout Remembered NA.39 Prototype Kit Bash B-25 Mitchell in 1/72
New Tooling in 1/48 Gavia Kit in 1/48 Sixtieth Anniversary Build Making the Best of Airfix
Military & Civil Aviation – Military Weapons & Equipment – Naval Vessels
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The Spitfire Pocket London City Airport Wings of the Black Next Level Wreck Recovery in Aircraft of the Duel 91 Hellcat vs The Bulgarian Air
Manual: 1939-1945 M Ginsberg Takes Cross Number 11 Perfection-Taking Britain Then and Aces:Ju88 Aces of Shiden/Shiden-Kai Force in the Second
M Robson With the reader through the M Proulx Photo 1/72nd to the Limit Now P Moran World War 2 Pacific Theater World War A Mladenov
illustrations and an in- history of the London album of Luftwaffe This dynamic book Details the last 50 years R Forsyth Initially 1944-45 T Holmes This study features
troduction by historian Docklands, once the Aircraft with captions. truly has something which have seen an designed as a fast This fully illustrated many unseen photos
Martin Robson, This busiest port in the With rare photos of a for every modeler. You incredible interest in medium bomber, the book compares these accompanied by
book is an essential world to the contro- Bf 109 as flown by will also find a gallery the excavation of Junkers Ju 88 was fascinating aircraft, colour artwork show-
volume for any Spitfire versial birth of the Oblt. Josef Pips Priller of inspiration. Colour crashed aircraft. also used as a Zersto- using first-hand ing camouflage and
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Airways Corporation Tamiya’s 1:48 The Focke-Wulf Ta Showdown in Supermarine Rolls US Navy’s Central Vietnam’s Final Air The Desert Air War
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History of The British Spitfire Mk 1 Detailed guide which T Cooper Offers a Examines the August 1943- Linebacker 1&2 Photographs from
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 SHOWCASE
Aero L-29 Delphin
Kit No: 8099
Scale: 1/48
Type: Injection Moulded Plastic
Manufacturer: Eduard
www.eduard.com
T
he pretty Aero L-29 Delphin (Dolphin) irst
lew on 5th April 1959, and after a few
minor tweaks proved itself to be a worthy
aircraft to take Soviet Bloc training into the jet
age. Whilst speciically marketed as a trainer, the
L-29 has also seen some combat action with
pylons being rigged by Nigeria and Egypt so that
it could be used in the ground attack role too.
Eventually the L-29 was replaced by the L-39
as the main lead-in jet trainer in many Soviet
Bloc countries but not before a total of 3,665
airframes had been delivered, making it the
most numerous jet trainer produced to date. It
will be no surprise to learn that a reasonable
number of L-29s still ly in private hands to this
day.
Eduard quite rightly make no secret of the fact
that this is a reboxing of the well regarded Avant
Garde model kit (AMK) but with the usual
additional Eduard etch and masks as well as
extra decal options. It’s worth noting at this
point that if you want to produce the vivid black
and yellow tiger scheme marked L-29 Eduard
also provide the same plastic parts as a Weekend
kit, which includes this decal option.
In addition to the already packed Eduard box I
added a pair of Eduard Brassin L-29 ejection
seats (648375), the Brassin L-29 wheels set
(648374) and the L-29 etch upgrade set (49870)
which consists of two extra frets of etched brass
parts.
Reference wise I found the Mark I limited
Dozen Set book on the Delin (ISBN 978 80866
372 11) to be perfect, because as
well as supplying a series of
twelve alternative colour
schemes to the
already generous kit
options, it also has a
complete
set of
4 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
walkaround photographs to aid colour and part
placements.
The kit itself consists of a set of ive sprues
containing inely engraved parts, a set of
injected transparencies and masks for them, as
well as three etch frets with prepainted parts
included. The instructions are Eduard’s usual A5
style booklet with a series of clearly illustrated
drawings with colour where needed along with
colour illustrations for the stencil and
decal/painting diagrams. Colour call outs are for
the Mr Color range, as Eduard stock these in their
online shop, although it’s simple enough to
convert these to your favoured brand.
Constructions starts with the traditional
cockpit area, and I set about building the rather
inely cast Brassin ejection seats and making the
required adjustments to the cockpit to it the
coloured etch before painting the various
components and ixing them in place. It’s a
testament to AMK’s and Eduard’s engineering
that all the various bits, including the additional
etched detail go together without drama and so
the bulk of the fuselage was soon built. The
Eduard bunny makes a point of reminding you
to put nose weight in, so I illed every nook and
cranny with small pieces of lead off cut ixed in
place with superglue.
The additional etch upgrade set provides you
with extra detail for the wheel wells, and it
would be worthwhile spending some time
adding the visible wiring too as this is the one
things missing. I didn’t and it’s a step I regret not
taking.
I had a few issues getting the wing to slot into
place with the intake assemblies itted, although
a small adjustment by removing a wedge out of
the front of the tab soon solved this, and I
suspect that my habit of working out of
sequence with the instructions may
have been the cause of
S H O W C A S E
By Colin ‘Flying’ Pickett
this anyway, and I will never, ever learn!
Ease of construction is the phrase that springs
to mind, and with the bulk of the build complete
I looked forward to painting the Delphin as I
didn’t need to use any iller or preparation
beyond a coat of primer to make sure things
were ready for this next stage. The kit contains
ive marking options as well as the different
stencil colours to match:
• 4902, 11 Fighter Regiment, Zatec, Czech
Republic, 1993 in light grey
• 1597, Egyptian Air Force, Bilbais, Arab
Republic of Egypt, late 1980s in yellow, green
and brown over light grey
• 3246, 3 Flight, 1 Fighter Regiment, Plana Air
Base, Czechoslovakia, 1969-1970 in overall
metal inish
• N179EP, Reno, USA 2009, owned by Tactical Air
Services in a mix of grey and blue camoulage
• 3250 International Fighter Pilots Academy,
Kosice, Czech and Slovak Federative Republic,
1993, in overall grey with white, red and blue
wing surfaces
I had already masked the canopies and so
ixed these in place over the cockpit using some
Blu-Tack to seal any overspray out, and did the
same with the service hatch in the nose. I also
plugged the various undercarriage openings
with chunks of foam rubber cut to size.
I chose
the irst
option, as shown
on the box cover,
simply because this
aircraft has the
Dolphin cartoon
on the nose
along with

The cockpit tub its snugly in place, with
lumps of lead weight just visible below
A coat of Light Grey as a base coat for more
masking and detail painting
the chequer tail and I’m easily sold on such
things. With this decision made I set about
airbrushing an all over coat of Tamiya Light Grey
as this was the closest colour I had in stock to the
grey inish shown in my references. Mr
Color/Eduard claim that it’s Barley Grey but I beg
to differ on this occasion as I thought that Barley
Grey looks a touch too dark. I’d left the rudder off
as the it was near perfect, so this received a
couple of coats of white ready for the
chequerboard decal to be itted. I then coated
the whole aircraft with gloss acrylic varnish to
make the surface ready for the decals.
The decals are typical Eduard
quality, and by that I mean
excellent, in perfect register,
great colour depth and
accurately printed. Despite
having a reasonable number of
decals and stencils to apply
the task was completed in a
couple of short evenings and
another coat of gloss varnish
sealed them all in place. I then
masked off for the other small details
such as the antiglare panel on the nose
and the green antenna before I added a
coat of dark grey Vallejo wash to the
panel lines to make them stand out more.
The Delphin was then given a coat of Vallejo
Satin varnish to dull down the gloss inish to
something more representative of the
real thing. Before I went on to
complete assembly I also
added a few minor oil
and luid
This was followed by a coat of gloss acrylic
varnish to make the surface smooth for decal
application
leaks to the underside to relect the wear and
tear of an in-service aircraft.
I’d purposely cut off the kit pitot probes and
set them aside as I planned to make some
thinner items from brass tube. I also itted the
undercarriage and wheels, and the various
antenna and crew steps. I’d decided that I
wanted the nose section open along with the
canopies to show off the detail provided by the
additional Eduard etch and Brassin parts as I feel
these do add to an already superb package. The
Brassin wheel set does add a fair amount of extra
detail as the kit wheels are a little bare, and you
do get a stronger resin section of nose wheel
leg, although something I feel could be
improved on is the mounting point for the
front undercarriage leg as it’s a bit feeble,
although accurate to the actual
aircraft. I think we have to make a
choice as modellers; do you
prefer scale effect or strength?
It’s a minor point on an otherwise
excellent original kit, and I
for one never
MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01
SHOWCASE
With the colour etch parts in place the cockpit
starts to come together
The decals themselves add extra colour and
life to the Delphin
thought I’d see a 1/48 L-29 kitted.
Again Eduard have taken an already excellent
kit and added some extra magic to it to the
modeller’s beneit. I certainly appreciate the fact
it is possible to pick up a box with most of the
bits you would want in it, and then add a bit
extra if your budget or tastes allow it. This
particular kit certainly offers excellent value for
money.
This is the sort of kit that would be perfect to
add to a line-up of Soviet era aircraft, or with the
TAS decals, a collection of modern training/Top
Gun style aircraft. With Eduard also reboxing the
Special Hobby L-39 it’s possible to build a very
colourful line up of Soviet jet trainers. With the
excellent parts it and the L-29’s attractive looks I
may just have to hunt down that Weekend Tiger
Scheme kit next.
5
CO N T E N T S

SCALE T H I S M O N T H
AIRCRAFT
MODELLING
VOLUME: 40 ISSUE: 12 04
March 2019 Proudly

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86
6 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
 E D I TO R I A L

’ S F E A T U R E S
W
elcome to our
March issue, the
irst of Volume
41. I am writing this
editorial in January
contemplating an
anniversary due to
happen in April and a kit
release that will presumably follow
shortly thereafter. I tend to avoid too
much coverage of anniversaries on the
grounds that ‘time has no divisions to
mark its passage, there is never a
thunderstorm or blare of trumpets to
announce the beginning of a new month
or year. Even when a new century begins it
is only we mortals who ring bells and ire
off pistols’, but in this case I will make an
exception as 2019 looks like it may be
the year of the Buccaneer… at last.

20 April sees the sixtieth anniversary of

the irst light of the NA.39 prototype, an
event suitably marked by Ray Ball in this
issue, and this occasion has been blessed
04. Showcase 64. Colour Conundrum by the promise of a new injection
Eduard’s L-29 Delin Colloquial Colour Conundrums of the moulded kit from Airix in 1/72, a release
By Colin ‘Flying’ Pickett Luftwaffe Part Two that will at last put the type within the
Upper Surface Colours 1940-45 scope of we ham isted bunglers whose
By Paul Lucas aspirations outweigh our abilities. I
18. F/A18 A/B/C/D Blue Angels With Artwork by Jan Polc mean there are plenty of kits of the thing
2017 about, but they all take so much work to
Kinetics Latest 1/48 Hornet 72. Volkslugzeug inish! I built a leet of the things back
By Andy McCabe Gotha’s 150 along, all old Airix kits with the intakes
by Huw Morgan from Matchbox kits grafted on. The lack
20. Built for Speed of a readily buildable Buccaneer has
A New Blenheim in 1/48 86 First Fighter been the only thing holding me back
By Rick Greenwood The Forgotten Scout from revisiting the Fleet Air Arm in 1/72
by Dave Hooper of late, so let’s hope for a nice easy build,
30. Walkaround not compromised by too many options
Bell P-59 Airacomet and with iligree panel lines that will
By Steve Muth make me sigh. It’s not too much to
Peregrine Publishing hope for?
With: Thanks to Ray for this month’s
34. Leiston’s Mustangs Part 2 8. Update – our monthly news round-up inspirational build, and thanks to Airix
A Selection of 1/48 Scale P-51 76. Marketplace – product previews and
in advance for the prospect of a new kit
Mustangs to a Common Theme reviews
of an aircraft long overdue a new
By Neil Robinson 82. Sub-Cutaneous – under the skin with
Paul Lucas tooling.
84. Stash in the Attic – Trevor Pask works By Gary Hatcher
40. Guide to Scale Modelling through the loft insulation Editor
Moving Forward 90. IPMS UK Column with Chris Ayres
by Gary Hatcher 92. Books – edited by Ernie Lee
Distributed to the UK and International news trade by
94. American Patrol – US modelling
Intermedia
45. Aircraft in Proile matters with Steve Palmer http://www.inter-media.co.uk/
Fiat CR.32 via MarketForce (UK) Limited
110 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SU
By Richard Mason http://www.marketforce.co.uk/
Scale Plans and Colour Proiles
By Jan Polc
STORE FINDER
Books-A-Million, Inc. presently operates over 200 stores in 18
58. An Accurate Miniature states and the District of Columbia. To ind the store nearest
Airix B-25C/D Mitchell Cover Artwork: 8099 1/48 Aero L-29 your location visit:
By Brian Derbyshire Delphin by kind permission of Eduard www.booksamillioninc.com/store_inder/index.html

MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01 7

NEWS BY SORGE
NEWS FROM THE
MESSE
An update from those
exhibiting at this year’s
Toyfair
Photos by Michael Hase.
Thanks to IPMS Deutschland for
assistance and information
www.ipms.de
The growth of the Internet has
changed the face of reportage from
the industry. The annual
Nuremburg Toyfair reports used to
bring a host of eagerly anticipated
surprises, but nowadays most of the
information seeps out over the
preceding months. Thus the
following information may not all
be entirely ‘news’, but much of it will
endorse what had hitherto been
only vague suggestions. Thanks to
Michael Hase for his photography.
Where we have included lists they
are, hopefully, based on reliable
information as opposed to the
endless ‘best intentions’ that used to
promise hundreds of new kits a year
that were never more than glints in
their manufacturer’s eyes…
ACADEMY
News from Academy include
8 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
reboxings of the Ta 183, Vought
Vindicator and B-25 in 1/48, a 1/72
EA-18G and of most pressing
interest a new 1/144 B-1B Lancer.
The Vindicator and the B-25 are,
presumably, Accurate Miniatures
toolings.
www.academy.co.kr
'
AIRFIX
Not so many new toolings for
2019 but some interesting
reissues from the old catalogue,
including the Heron and the
Jetstream. Of interest is the
decision to rebox some of
Academy’s 1/35 armour:
1/72
A06021 Blackburn Buccaneer S Mk
2 RN New Tool
A04016 Bristol Blenheim Mk 1
A01055V Bristol Bulldog
A01003 Curtiss Hawk 81-A-2
A03001V de Havilland Heron Mk II
A03029A Douglas A-4B/Q
Skyhawk
A01047V Fiesler Storch
A01020A Focke-Wulf Fw190A-8
A02052A Gloster Gladiator Mk
I/Mk II
A03012V Handley Page Jetstream
A01052V Hawker Demon
A03009V Hawker Siddeley
Dominie T.1
A02041A Hawker Typhoon Ib
A02051V Henschel Hs123A-1
A02107 Hunting Percival Jet
Provost T.4
A06019 McDonnell Douglas
Phantom FG.1 RAF
A03090 Messerschmitt Me262A-
2a
A03091 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-
17F 'Fresco' New Tool
A01005 Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero
A06020 North American B-25B
Mitchell
A04006V Northrop P-61 Black
Widow
A04007V Savoia-Marchetti SM79
A08020 Vickers Wellington Mk VIII
72
1/144
A05107V Concorde
A05170V Concorde Prototype
(BOAC)
1/48
A04104 de Havilland D.H.82a Tiger
Moth New Tool
A11002 de Havilland Sea Vixen
FAW.2
A09189 Hawker Hunter F.4
A07114A Junkers Ju87B-1
A05138 North American P-51D
Mustang
A05135 Supermarine Spitire FR
BRENGUN
Mk XIV
1/24 Brengun’s major announcement
A19004 Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat at the Toyfair was a new 1/144
New Tool Douglas Dauntless, and this was
A19003A Hawker Typhoon Mk 1B on display alongside other recent
'Car Door' toolings in the scale.
AMUSING HOBBY
A new tool 1/48 Triebfugel is due
from this source in 2019
CMK
Some very useful new resin sets up
and coming from CMK including
cockpits for the Airix Deiant and
Revell Beauighter in 1/48
NEWS BY SORGE
EDUARD
The big news of course is the new
1/48 Mustang, but also of
considerable interest to many will
be the 1/144 kits, which will
presumably be Platz toolings with
all the Eduard trimmings:
1/32
Messerschmitt Bf 109E ‘Legion
Condor’
1/144
Douglas A-4E/F Skyhawk
F-8E Crusader
Focke Wulf Fw 190D
Grumman F6F Hellcat
Lockheed F-104G Starighter
Republic P-47D Thunderbolt
1/72
Focke Wulf Fw 190A-8 ProiPACK
Fokker D.VII Royal Class
Fokker D.VII (Alb.) ProiPACK
Fokker D.VII (Fok.) ProiPACK
Fokker D.VII MAG ProiPACK
Fokker D.VII OAW late ProiPACK
Grumman F6F-3 ProiPACK
Grumman F6F-5 Weekend
MiG-21MF Weekend
MiG-21MF ‘MF’ in CZ Service
Limited Edition
MiG-21MFN Weekend
MiG-21PF ProiPACK
MiG-21PFM ProiPACK
Spitire HF Mk VIII
1/48
Albatros D.V Weekend
Avia S-199 /CS-199
Bell P-39 Airacobra ProiPACK
Bodenplatte Fw 190D-9 / Bf 109 G-
14/ G-14AS Limited Edition
10 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
Dassault Mirage III C ProiPACK
Dassault Mirage III CJ ProiPACK
Focke Wulf Fw 190A ‘Jabo’ Limited
Edition
Focke Wulf Fw 190A-5 48
Weekend
Focke Wulf Fw 190A-8 ProiPACK
Grumman F6F-3 ProiPACK
Hanriot HD.2 Weekend
Hawker Tempest Mk V Royal Class
Hawker Tempest Mk V series 2
ProiPACK
Lockheed F-104J Starighter
Limited Edition / Hasegawa
MDD F/A-18C Hornet Limited
Edition / Hasegawa
Messerschmitt Bf 108 Taifun
Weekend
Messerschmitt Bf 109E-4 Weekend
Messerschmitt Bf 109F ‘Operation
Barabarossa’ Limited Edition
Messerschmitt Bf 109G-10 Erla
(WNr. 15Xxxx/ WNr.48xxxx)
Messerschmitt Bf 109G-10
WNF/Diana ProiPACK
Messerschmitt Bf 109G-12 (based
on G-4/G-6/G-19)
Messerschmitt Bf 109G-14
Weekend
Messerschmitt Bf 109G-14/AS
(WNr. 46Xxxx)
Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6/AS
Messerschmitt Bf 109K-4
MiG-23BN (without corrections)
eDay Limited Edition / Trumpeter
Mighty Eight Limited Edition DC
NAA (P-51D) Mustang IV
ProiPACK New Tool
NAA F-6D Mustang ProiPACK New
Tool
NAA Mustang Royal Class New
Tool
NAA P-51D Mustang ProiPACK
New Tool
Panavia Tornado Limited Edition /
Revell
SPAD XIII early version ProiPACK
Spitire HF Mk VIII Weekend
Spitire LF Mk IXc Weekend
HOBBYBOSS
TA Yak 28 in 1/48 will be
something to look forward to, on
top of which are a number of
interesting 1/144 releases.
Otherwise a comparatively quiet
year from HobbyBoss – probably
expended their energies on those
remarkable Liberators.
1/144
83901 Antonow An-12 New Tool
83905 Chinese GX-6
83903 Chinese KJ-200
83904 Chinese KJ-500
83902 Chinese Y-8
83906 Chinese Y-9
1/72
80294 Dewoitine D.510C
80295 Dewoitine D.510TH
87266 JASDF T-4 Trainer New Tool
IBG
IBG continue their range of 1/72
Polish subjects with a new tool
PZL P.11A
72517 PZL P. 11A New Tool
72518 PZL P.11b
72519 PZL P.11C
72521 PZL P.11f
72523 PZL P.11G Kobuz
72510 PZL P.23B Karas - Romanian
Service
72511 PZL P.37A Los
72512 ZL P.37A Los Civil
72513 PZL P.37Abis
72515 PZL P.37B II Los
72514 PZL P.37B Los
72516 PZL P.37B Los - Foreign
Service
ICM
Busy days for ICM. In 1/32 both
the Gladiator and the Ki-86 are the
key new releases.
1/32
32105 British Pilots 1939-45 (3
Figures)
32033 Bücker Bü 131A
32034 Bücker Bü 131D with
Cadets
32040 Gloster Gladiator Mk 1
32012 I-153 WWII China
Guomindang AF Fighter
32006 I-16 type 10 China
Guomindang AF Fighter
32004 I-16 type 10 WW2 Soviet
Fighter
32005 I-16 type 17 WW2 Soviet
Fighter
32007 I-16 type 24 with soviet
pilots (1939-42)
32032 Ki-86a/K9W1 ‘Cypress’ WWII
Japan Training Aircraft
1/48
48186 Beech C18S ‘Magic by
Moonlight’ Airshow Aircraft
48271 Dornier Do 217N-1
48282 Douglas A-26B-15 Invader
48281 Douglas B-26B-50 Invader
Korean War American Bomber
48264 Heinkel He 111H-20
48265 Heinkel He 111H-6 North
Africa
48099 I-153 WWII China
Guomindang AF Fighter
48240 Ju 88D-1 WWII German
Reconnaissance Plane
48905 MiG-25 BM
48905 MiG-25 BM Soviet Strike
Aircraft
48254 Polikarpov Po-2VS with
Pilots
1/72
72076 I-153 WWII China
Guomindang AF Fighter
72175 MiG-25 BM Soviet Strike
Aircraft
72174 MiG-25 RBF Soviet
Reconnaissance Plane
NEWS BY SORGE
REVELL
Some interesting co-operations
from Revell this year will include a
reboxing of Dragon’s 1/32 Bf
110C-7 as well as a number of
welcome reissues of their own
toolings. The new 1/32 Super
Hornet will be along soon:
1/144
03942 Airbus A320 neo Lufthansa
New Livery
04952 Airbus A321 neo
03881 Airbus A350-900 Lufthansa
New Livery
00453 Airbus A380-800 Technik
03882 Airbus A380-800 Emirates
‘Wild Life’
03872 Airbus A380-800 Lufthansa
New Livery
03887 BAe Harrier GR.7
12 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
05686 Boeing 747-100, 50th
Anniversary
05687 Boeing 767-300 ‘Rolling
Stones’
03883 Embraer 190 Lufthansa
New Livery
1/72
03873 Avro Shackleton MR.3
03884 Euroighter ‘Ghost Tiger’
03879 F-104 G Starighter NL/B
03889 Kamov Ka-58 Stealth
/Zvezda
03890 Kir C-2
03876 MH-47 E / Chinook HC.3
/Italeri
03880 Tornado ECR ‘Tigermeet
2018’
04963 B-1B Lancer Platinum
Edition Limited Edition
03918 Junkers Ju52/3m
Transporter
03885 Nieuport 17 / Eduard
04962 Phantom FGR Mk.2 (British
Legends)
1/32
03888 Bell X-1 (1st Supersonic)
03886 Bücker Bü131 Jungmann /
ICM
04994 F/A-18E Super Hornet New
Tool
03874 Fw190 A-8 ‘Sturmbock’
05690 Hawker Harrier GR Mk.1
03875 Me262 A-1 Jetighter
04961 Messerschmitt Bf110 C-7 /
Dragon
RS MODELS
Two new toolings from RS will
include the Arado Ar 396 and the
Nakajima E8N1/2, along with a
number of reissues from their
eclectic range:
92231 Arado Ar 396 72 New Tool
92232 Bell XFL-1 Airabonita
92235 Dornier Do 17E
92229 Jakowlew Jak-11/C-11
Moose
92230 Kawasaki K-61-II Kai
92226 Ki-86a/K9W1 ‘Cypress’
92228 NAA-57 P-2 Luftwaffe
Service
92224 Nakajima E8N1 New Tool
92224 Nakajima E8N2 New Tool
SPECIAL HOBBY
The impressive 1/72 Sunderland
Mk V will be out in due course,
along with the 1/48 Siebel 204.
Both kits typify the very special
place this manufacturer occupies
in the marketplace – quality kits of
leftield subjects that no one else
is going to kit to such a high
standard!
The two-seat Meteors in 1/72 will
also be warmly received. Watch
this space…
TAMIYA
Tamiya bring a new 1/72 Bf 109G-
6 to the party
TRUMPETER
A 1/32 TBD-1 Devastator at last
from Trumpeter, among others,
including new additions in 1/24:
1/72
01640 Grumman A-6A Intruder
New Tool
01641 Grumman A-6E Intruder
01642 Grumman A-6E TRAM
Intruder
01643 Grumman EA-6B Prowler
01647 MiG-19PM Farmer E New
Tool
01688 Tupolew Tu-128 UT Fiddler
01695 Tupolew Tu-22K Blinder B
New Tool
1/32
02211 Curtiss P-40M Warhawk
02212 Curtiss P-40N Warhawk
02269 Curtiss P-40W Warhawk
02226 Douglas TBD-1 Devastator
New Tool
03225 MiG-29SMT
02246 N.A. F-100F Super Sabre
1/24
02419 Focke Wulf Fe 190A-6/8
New Tool
02421 Junkers Ju 87B-2
02402 NAA P-51B/C Mustang
ZVEZDA
1/144
7027 737-700
7029 Il-76TD Candid EMERCON
7033 Zvezda MC-21 (Yakovlev)
New Tool
7020 Zvezda A350-1000 New Tool
7031 Zvezda Tu-204-100C
1/72
7318 MiG-17F / Dragon
7283 Pe-2
#TBA Su-30SM Flanker
7319 Su-57 (modiied reissue)
1/48
Yak-1B New Tool
NEWS BY SORGE

BUNNY FIGHTER
CLUB
A closer trawl through the Eduard
website will reveal not only a
number of unique Bfc special
releases, exclusive to Club
members, but also a great deal of
bunnies… These are the work of
cartoonist Mr Jan Bobek, an artist
whose work we are proud to
celebrate each month here in Scale
Aircraft Modelling. Mr Bobek’s
sophisticated sense of humour has
been pleasing the Editor to the
extent that for some years now he
has been commissioning an
exclusive cartoon each month for
inclusion in these pages. Fans of
eBunny are recommended the
Eduard newsletter for further
entertainment. Of course if you
don’t like it there is always
‘Marmaduke’…
Check out www.eduard.com/info-
eduard/ for more lapine fun, as well
as all the latest news from Eduard
itself. editions – listed elsewhere in our Toyfair report. unique design and special barcode, used for
Bfc membership entitles you to a host of These are always worth getting your hands on, event discounts. This exclusive t-shirt will only
beneits and bargains at the most crucial shop but some are available only to loyalty club be available to members of BFC. You’ll also get
online – and if you are wearing your Bfc members so if you want to be sure of getting free entry at E-day so check out the website for
members T-shirt you can, of course, go and them, and indeed all Eduard kits at a knock- full details.
claim additional discounts on Eduard’s down price, you simply need to join the BFC! www.eduard.com/bfc/
products at various shows at which they are This will get you a 15% permanent club
trading! discount at Eduard’s Store, unique valuable
So be sure to grab the new Bfc boxing and club kits and accessories, even better prices at
keep an eye on the website for more special the Eduard event stand and a BFC t-shirt with a

editorial staff, presided over by machine that has been

THROG IN THE
MACHINE
As a child my favourite weekly
read was ‘We Are The Sparky
People’, which appeared in Sparky
comic and depicted an imaginary
editor Throgmorton, and working
in the shadow of an autocratic
despot referred to as ‘Sir’, whose
only manifestation was as a
booted foot kicking the hapless
Throg out of his office in most
episodes following some spanner
in the works. As Editor
Throgmorton was of course
responsible for all the omissions
and oversights of his colleagues,
and was quite rightly carpeted
whenever some error had made it
into print in spite of his best
efforts to strive for perfection.
There was never any doubt upon
whose face the egg was ultimately
laid.
Fifty years have passed and I ind I
am Throgmorton. Apologies, then,
for the misplaced boxart and the
two blank captions in the last
issue…
overlooked by the industry and
enthusiasts up until now, despite
its near-legendary service in RAF
markings during the Cold War. The
Tornado is now back on the
agenda for many of us since the
release of Valom’s kits in 1/72 – no
less than ive boxings – and while
1/48 scale so far has only seen the
Collect-Aire multi-media kit it can
only be a matter of time before
someone realises there are
enough Spitires and we get a
new tooling in the larger scale. My
Coming Soon
money is on the Chinese…
WARPAINT NO.118
In the meantime this latest book
Price £15.00
offers a complete guide to this
NAA B-45 Tornado handsome machine with all the
By Kev Darling usual coverage that makes
No not our Tornado. This is a long Warpaint an essential series for
overdue title on America’s modellers.
forgotten nuclear bomber, a Ilustrated by Richard J. Caruana.

14 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
AIR AMBULANCE
Anglia’s Air Ambulance
By Barry Brine
T
his year Scale Aircraft Modelling and
Guideline Publications are proud to act as
one of the sponsors for the East Anglian Air
Ambulance. The charity provides air ambulance
cover for East Anglia, in association with East of
England Ambulance Service NHS Trust, which
provides highly skilled critical care paramedics
who ly with the charity. Doctors are seconded
from their home trusts. Air ambulance machines
are a common enough sight across the country
but this important and dynamic branch of
aviation is often overlooked by modellers. Let’s
have a look at the service and see what it has to
offer…
The EAAA provides Helicopter Emergency
Medical Services (HEMS) across the counties of
Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and
Bedfordshire. Flying commenced in January
2001 and the service now operates two
helicopters from its bases at Cambridge and
Norwich airports, operating 365 days, covering
over 5,000 square miles and a population of
approximately 3.5 million.
EAAA's irst aircraft was a Bolkow 105,
commissioned from Sterling Aviation. The
16 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
aircraft was based at Norwich International
Airport and had the call sign Anglia One. In June
2006 a new helicopter, a MBB/Kawasaki BK117,
G-OEMT, was commissioned from Sterling
Aviation. The aircraft replaced the Bolkow 105,
G-EYNL, and went into service as Anglia One. In
August 2007 a second MBB/Kawasaki BK117, G-
RESC, went into service with EAAA as Anglia Two.
In March 2011 EAAA changed operator and
moved from Sterling Aviation to interim supplier,
Bond Air Services. Bond later successfully
tendered for the contract to operate Anglia One
and Anglia Two. During the interim period EAAA
lew red aircraft but soon returned to their more
familiar yellow livery with the introduction of the
Eurocopter EC135.
In 2012 EAAA commissioned the fully night
capable EC135 T2e and commenced the CAA
approval process to begin the night HEMS
service.
In April 2015 EAAA received a new EC145 T2
helicopter, based at Cambridge airport. It was
the irst EC145 T2 to be delivered to the UK and
was number twelve off the production line. The
introduction of the EC145T2 provides EAAA with
a helicopter that is capable of carrying two light
crew, three clinicians and a patient, whilst
providing a considerable increase in cabin space
and performance. In February 2016 a second
EC145 T2, G-RESU went into service as Anglia
Two. Both Anglia One and Anglia Two are itted
with the most up-to-date medical equipment
and are dedicated ambulance helicopters.
Anglia One covers Norfolk and Suffolk and is
based at Norwich International Airport. Anglia
Two covers Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire
and is based at Cambridge Airport although
both can and do ly further aield when required.
East Anglian Air Ambulance has attended over
22,000 lifesaving missions since the charity's irst
aircraft was launched in 2000. The average cost
of each mission lown as of 2015 was £3,500 and
EAAA aircraft can reach patients anywhere in the
region within twenty ive minutes. Prince
William, Duke of Cambridge, was a pilot with
East Anglian Air Ambulance from 2015-17.
For the majority of call-outs Anglia One and
Two will carry a crew of four; one pilot, one co-
pilot, one critical care paramedic and one doctor.
The EAAA crew with their expertise and training

are able to 'take the hospital emergency room to
the patient'. The speed in which EAAA
helicopters can get the medics to people
suffering a medical emergency or accident is
critical in ensuring a good recovery for the
patient. EAAA can provide at the scene of the
incident just about all the procedures that would
be expected in a hospital. For that reason, once
the EAAA doctor and paramedic crew have
treated the patient, it is often safe for them to
then travel on to the hospital by road for further
treatment. EAAA ly approximately a third of
their patients and this is either because of the
critical nature of their condition or the
remoteness of the incident.
The East Anglian Air Ambulance is a charitable
service and does not receive direct funding from
the government. It is estimated that it costs in
the region of £11m per year to keep both
helicopters and the service operational. This
money comes entirely from public donations
and fundraising activities, including the
purchase of weekly lottery tickets, corporate
donations and legacy giving.
We are proud to be associated with the
service and wish them the best of luck in their
ongoing mission.
Modelling the EAAA
Modellers wishing to depict the EAAA’s
helicopters do have a few options, although
decals will almost certainly need to be
homemade and images studied for speciic
modiications. The MBB Bo 105, EAAA’s irst
helicopter, has been widely kitted in plastic with
1/72 kits from Airix, Eastern Express and
AModel, while Top Gun released a 1/72 resin kit
in 2013. 1/48 kits appeared from Fujimi, as well
as an Esci/Ertle boxing that has also been
released in Italeri and Revell boxings. Both Revell
and Italeri have kitted the type in 1/32 with
some colourful civil makings, including a smart
yellow German ADAC machine. In smaller scales
Roskopf have kitted the type in 1/100 while
Roco’s 1/87 HO kits are presumably aimed at
MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01
AIR AMBULANCE
railway modellers.
The MBB/Kawasaki BK117 has a 1/144
Gashapon available from F-Toys, whilst Revell
have kitted the type in both 1/72 and 1/32, both
kits reissued by Hasegawa although the 1/72 kit
is a vintage Matchbox tooling.
Revell’s EC135 kits have been reissued again
and again in both 1/72 and 1/32, with a wide
variety of colourful schemes, and it appeared in
2013 as a snap-tite Easykit. The EC145 too has
been exhaustively covered by Revell in both
1/72 and 1/32 and between the various boxings
and available aftermarket decals there is scope
for quite a collection of Air Ambulances to be
amassed. Sadly no current sheet exists for the
EAAA, or indeed any other UK Air Ambulance
services, but are we not modellers? And did not
Mr. Brian Griffin only recently discourse on the
subject of homemade decals?
It’s a great subject, with some great kits, and
long overdue some coverage in the modelling
press. Let’s see what we can do…
17
HORNET
Kinetic’s Hornet in Blue
By Andy McCabe
F/A18 A/B/C/D Blue Angels 2017
Kit No: 48073
Scale: 1/48
Type: Injection Moulded Plastic
Manufacturer: Kinetic Models
www.luckymodel.com
T
his latest Kinetic kit of the F/A-18 is of the
aircraft used by the US Navy Aerobatic
Display Team the Blue Angels, which
are based at NAS Pensacola in Florida. The
team have three F/A18 A, one F/A 18B, ten
F/A-18C and two F/A-18D Hornets in the
squadron, of which only six are used for displays.
From the 2020 display season onwards the
Blue Angels will be performing with the Super
Hornet, retiring all of their current versions of
the aircraft, which include some of the oldest
airframes in the US Navy inventory.
The kit contains eleven sprues of grey and
three sprues of clear injection moulded plastic,
one small etched fret, one decal sheet covering
seven aircraft and one
assembly/painting/marking booklet. Colour call
outs are for Ammo by Mig paints throughout the
build but a cross reference chart gives other
paint manufacturers too.
The parts are nicely moulded with engraved
panel lines. The decals are printed by Cartograf
so the combination of the two, providing the
builder (me) makes it correctly, should build into
a very colourful and detailed F/A-18 Blue Angels
Hornet.
I have been fortunate to see the Blue Angels
practice at NAS Pensacola and they are very
precise and impressive with some extremely
close lying.
18 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
Work begins with the interior
and there is quite a nice cockpit (or
cockpits should I say as the kit can be
built in either single or dual seat mode)
supplied with the kit, but some time ago I
purchased the Hasegawa F/A 18 Blue Angels
Hornet and also bought the Aires F/A-18A
cockpit and exhaust set so this was an ideal
opportunity to use them.
I was not sure whether the Aires cockpit
would it the Kinetic fuselage but a few dry
itting tests convinced me to go ahead. Aires
cockpits have a very high level of detail and with
very careful painting are superb.
The Aires cockpit its surprisingly well into the
Kinetic opening while the equipment bay does
it but leaves a small gap between, which I illed
in with plastic sheet. No-one will ever know!
From here on the bulk of the build is purely
Kinetic. The intakes and main landing gear bay,
nose wheel bay, undercarriage and doors were
all sprayed white and then the engine fronts
were painted and the intakes assembled. The
main gear bay and intakes were then itted to
the lower fuselage.
The intake splitter plates and intake rings
were now itted. It may be wiser to it these irst
and then the intakes so that they both marry up.
The lower wing halves were now glued to the
upper wing/fuselage section, the wing tips can
be modelled folded if required.
The upper and lower fuselage halves were
now glued together and the wing leading edge
slats assembled and itted. The laps can either
be positioned dropped or up. I chose dropped
as photos show them in this position on the
ground.
The tail ins were now itted and the air brake
added in the closed position. The wing tip
missile rails were also itted at this stage after
which the windscreen was masked and itted
and the canopy masked and dry itted ready for
spraying.
The model was now given a coat of Ultimate
Grey Primer and any gaps or unsightly
alignments in the joints were addressed before
another coat of primer was applied. The model
was then sprayed with Mr Hobby H328 Blue
Angels Blue paint.
The decals are quite big in places and take a
bit of careful handling to get them to settle. Any
one of the seven aircraft of the Blue Angels 2017
display team can be modelled.
These were then followed by a coat of gloss
varnish and the undercarriage and exhaust
nozzles were itted.
Conclusion
As previously mentioned I was fortunate
enough to see the Blue Angels perform their
practice display at Pensacola NAS whilst
on holiday one year and they are
 HORNET

mightily impressive. Off the back of this I

purchased the Hasegawa kit which I never got
around to making, and then the Kinetic kit
landed on my doorstep for Blue Angels at work. In
review which pleased me light, the wingtips are only
no end. I saw the kit on show eighteen inches apart
at Scale ModelWorld
2017 in Telford
and was impressed
by it so I was very happy
when it arrived.
The kit is up to Kinetic’s usual high standards
and differs from the Hasegawa one by having
decals for the yellow markings included as
opposed to masking being required as on the
Hasegawa kit. The Aires cockpit its nicely
despite it being for the Hasegawa kit although
there appears to be a difference in the length of
the Kinetic and Hasegawa cockpits and as the
cockpit glazing cannot be altered it was easier to
insert a small illet to the cockpit opening.
Overall this is a very nice model of the F/A-18
from Kinetic. The Blue Angels colour scheme is
very colourful and eye catching and this must be
my favourite 1/48 Hornet model to date.

Wheel wells straight from the box. There

is an impressive amount of detail in them,
which relects the astonishing clutter in
the real aircraft

Blue 5 at NAS Pensacola

MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01 19

BLENHEIM
A New Blenheim in 1/48
By Rick Greenwood
Kit No: 09186
Scale: 1/48
Type: Injection Moulded Plastic
Manufacturer: Airix
www.airix.com
T
he Blenheim, originally the Bristol type 142,
was designed in 1935 as a civil airliner to
meet a challenge laid down by Lord
Rothermere to produce the fastest civil airliner in
Europe. The Royal Air Force took note of its
speed and a modiied version, the type 142 M,
was produced as a light bomber, entering
service in 1935.
By 1940 the type was showing signs of being
overtaken by advances in aircraft development,
but after sustaining heavy losses to enemy
ighters it was put to good use as a night ighter,
in which role it was deemed reasonably
successful.
The Blenheim in Scale
Considering the type’s history the aircraft has
been sadly overlooked in modelling terms
A nice large glossy paint and Sprue layout for the main
decal guide is included airframe items
20 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
especially in the larger scales. There have been
several attempts at bringing the Blenheim Mk I
to the modelling work benches in various media
kits such as the Jaguar resin kit or the Contrail
vacform.
The irst injection moulded kit of the type was
released in 2000 by Classic Airframes and was
challenging to build in terms of it due mainly to
its limited run production. It took a dedicated
modeller with passion for the airframe to add
one of those to their collection and I remember
the satisfaction of completing the kit all those
years back. The kit inally succumbed to the
scrap drawer, after nearly ten years of gathering
dust on the display shelf.
Enter Airix. Their intention to release a kit in
1/48 was announced and the release date of late
2018 eventually arrived. There are not many kits
that land instantly on the work bench but as
soon as the in box review of the kit was
completed the build started immediately.
Construction Begins
Having a good read through the instruction
booklet over a cup or two of coffee shows that
the build, while very detailed, should provide no
real surprises as the suggested build sequences
look to be reasonable in their approach.
To start things rolling all the items identiied
on page three of the instruction booklet were
sought out on their relevant sprues and
removed with a sharp paint of modelling side
cutters. If any part looked to be easily mistaken
with that of its fellows then the part number was
written on its surface with a pencil to save any
mismatch later.
Sprue layout for the smaller
detail parts
The parts were then checked for any mould
parting lines, visible ejector pin marks and the
remains of their attachment points before being
sanded and cleaned up with a Flory Models ine
skinny sanding stick. Larger mating surfaces
were also treated to a quick rub over with the
coarse side of the same brand blue dual sander.
The front and rear wing spars were then
cemented in place to the central fuselage bath
tub, to which the cockpit loor or bomb bay
ceiling was added.
The centre cross member of the bomb bay
had its lower portions removed as directed in
stages 3A and B. This is a good sign that a
bomber variant of the Blenheim is also being
considered.
The front and rear bulkhead were cemented
in place next along with a bar supporting a
representation of wiring or piping to the forward
bulkhead.
Work continued on the forward cockpit area
with the construction of the pilot’s seat.
Excellent detail was found on the side frames,
which are secured to each side of the seat
shaped cushion and bucket. This in turn has the
dinghy pack affixed to the top of the framework
before the addition of the two side walls.
A good level of detail can be found here too
and some control levers and the like are
depicted along with trim wheels on the
starboard part that is added slightly later in the
sequence.
The cockpit loor at the pilot’s feet is then
slipped in place and secured before the addition
of the two part control yoke.
The irst stage of the build see
the parts in green removed
indicating a bomber versions
also planned for release

The fuselage tub and front cockpit areas were
worked on irst
A good it can be easily
achieved with dry itting
Two Become One
At this point the parts are still unpainted and
it was elected to paint the two separate
assemblies before they are joined together. The
inside of both fuselage sections along with the
built up subassemblies were sprayed with an
overall coat of Tamiya XF71 Interior Green and
left to dry. Detail painting was then carried out
by hand.
The dinghy pack was painted irst and then
dry brushed with lighter shade of the same
colour to highlight the raised details. A wash of
thinned down Flory Model’s Dark Dirt was then
applied and allowed to dry.
While the paint was drying the inside of the
fuselage was dry brushed with Tamiya XF57 Buff
to highlight the rivet, stringer and former detail
found throughout the length of the fuselage.
The same wash was then liberally applied to add
shadow and depth.
Returning to the cockpit the pilot’s seat had
the arm rest and back section painted in a
leather colour before being given the same wash
treatment as mentioned before. The buttons and
switches were highlighted in red or yellow to
add visual interest while the control yoke had
the grip areas painted black.
With all the parts allowed
suitable drying time
metallic chips were
added by
using a
General view of the
internal ixtures and
ittings
Some help was needed from clamps and cloths pegs to hold
the area around the bomb bay in alignment while the glue sets
small piece of sponge dipped in Vallejo Dark
Aluminium paint and dabbed around raised
structures or places that would wear due to
repeated use, to convey a dog eared and scuffed
look. The cockpit tub was then glued in place on
the front bulkhead of the bomb bay and left to
dry.
Once satisied the glue had cured for long
enough the whole assembly was then cemented
to the port fuselage section. Care was needed
here as some of the detail on the fuselage sides
hindered the it of the bomb bay that needed to
be inserted under it to sit lush with the fuselage
sides. Clamps were then used to hold everything
together and to resist the fuselage side’s urge to
splay out a little between the wing spars. Once
content with the coniguration a generous
helping of Tamiya Extra Thin cement was applied
along the inside seam and left overnight to dry.
With the internal structure now secured in
place other ancillary items in the cockpit could
be added without fear of the alignment being
compromised. The rudder pedals were slotted
into their guide holes and a little liquid cement
applied to hold them in place. Another couple of
parts were then added to the bulkhead for the
seat on the starboard side of the cockpit and the
fold away type in the nose.
The instrument panel was painted satin black
and dry brushed with neutral grey to
bring out the raised instrument detail. A
few switches were painted red or yellow
to add a little splash of
colour. The rear of
MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01
BLENHEIM
Close up view of the cockpit
and wing spar arrangement
the panel had the back of the instruments drilled
out with a micro drill bit in order to insert short
lengths of lead wire as it looks as though it will
be visible in the completed cockpit.
Still working on the internal structure the tail
wheel bulkhead, loor boards for the turret, and
the radio equipment still needed to be painted
and secured in place. With these tasks
completed thoughts turned towards sealing the
fuselage up.
Repeated dry itting showed that critical
alignment of the fuselage around the wing spars
was required as this would have a detrimental
effect on the it of not only the bomb bay door
but the forward part of the front fuselage and
that massive greenhouse canopy. A little
tweaking of the fuselage seams were required
and clamps and clothes pegs were used to
secure the majority of the parts. It was found
that the front fuselage has a tendency to want to
splay outwards a little and also to creep forward.
The very front of the cockpit was not glued at
this time as work would be needed to ensure
this area underneath the cockpit sat well along
the front bomb bay bulkhead and thus pull
everything into shape.
A little help was on hand from the internal
starboard front side wall, with the bracket for the
fold up seat being glued into position
and a clamp affixed will hold the
nose closed together a little
more.
Dry itting the forward
fuselage insert showed
21
BLENHEIM
The front end of the lower fuselage wanted to
splay outwards a little
that just above the front wing spar would also
need to be held together while the glue dries
but otherwise the it is very good. It was also
decided to test it the cockpit glass at this
juncture and initial dry its show that the glazing
should it quite well. How to go about this will
need careful consideration as to which type of
glue to use to avoid any internal fogging.
Checking the fuselage still caused some
concern around the forward end of the bomb
bay.
With the fuselage seams well and truly cured
attention turned to the inserts for the access
hatch and upper fuselage spine, but both itted
really well with an almost drop in it achieved.
Likewise the clear part located aft of the bomb
bay and it was secured in place and the circular
window and lamp were masked with Tamiya
Tape cut to size with a corresponding punch.
The underside was now worked on to achieve
the best it possible without pulling the front of
the fuselage out of alignment and thus affecting
the it of the clear parts later.
I worked on the principle of having a perfect
seam line around the
canopies and any
corrective work
being carried out
underneath
22 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
Workbench shot showing the upper single
part spine insert being sanded to obtain a
perfect it
The hard work aligning the lower fuselage
paid off as both the bomb bay doors and clear
panel itted well. Note the holes for the gun
pack opened up on the bomb bay part
where the eye won’t be drawn to it.
The front part of the bomb bays doors had a
slim bead of thin super glue applied and guided
by inger pressure and a keen eye the seam was
closed and held in place while a little super glue
accelerator was added. This set the glue almost
immediately holding the parts in alignment.
Tamiya quick drying cement was then added to
weld the seam shut before a bead of Mr Surfacer
500 was then applied both on top and to the
other seams and the fuselage was left to dry.
Wheelie Well Detailed!
Adhering to the suggested build sequence
sees work now commence on the wings, engine
nacelles and undercarriage.
With the landing lights secured in place in the
aperture provided the lower half of the engine
nacelle was added to the cut out on the under
wing part. It was found easier to align correctly if
the wing sections were taped together and the
locating pins used on the upper section of the
nacelle to obtain the correct alignment. Some
internal detail is provided by way of internal side
walls and structures that
it in keyed grooves inside
the nacelle sections. Dry
itting as
each part
Spine and upper
access/escape hatch in
place with no iller required
The wing, engine and landing gear bays were
worked on as separate items to avoid
mistakes
was added ensured that the wing sections
would still sit together without being forced.
Progressing onto the under carriage legs,
close inspection of the assembly sequence looks
intimidating. The detail reproduced on these
items was simply astonishing and the addition
of some hydraulic lines will complement the
detail further, should the modeller wish to add
them. Each component is made up of a number
of individual parts that were all painted as
suggested by Airix prior to assembly.
Tamiya XF1 Black was used for the gear legs
and Vallejo Semi Matt Aluminium was used for
the remaining items described as being painted
Humbrol 56 Aluminium. Assembly was
straightforward after close scrutiny of each
stage.
I decided it was going to be less perplexing to
work on each leg independently than to build
up two together, thus ensuring the correct unit
was itted to each wing.
All Revved Up
Carrying on in the same vein as the main gear
legs, the engines each were going to be worked
on individually as well.
Detail again is more
than adequate

The internal portions of the undercarriage
bay painted aluminium while the landing
gear legs are black
The wing tip navigation lamps glued in place
and polished smooth to blend in with the
shape of the wing
for the scale and for the amount that will be on
view through the cowl opening and behind the
prop. Assembly was practised a couple of times
to ensure everything went as prescribed in the
instruction booklet.
The front and rear cylinder banks are a little
over simpliied but once built up and painted
there are okay. The manifold sections are again
moulded as one part that is in turn added to the
rear of the now completed cylinder section.
Separate exhaust stacks protrude from the lower
cowl and have recessed openings to depict a
hollow look.
Painting was the conducted with the main
engine assembly painted Tamiya XF1 Black.
Once dry it was dry brushed with Vallejo
magnesium to give it a weighted metallic look.
The collector ring was painted with Gunze
Metallic Black as it’s close to the Humbrol 53 Gun
Metal suggested by Airix. Once assembled the
parts do portray a sense of depth behind the
open nacelle.
The inal section of the sequence sees the
three part cowling added in stages to encase the
engine. This is where the irst and hopefully last
issues in terms of it were encountered. Why
Airix have elected to break the parts down into
three is beyond me, perhaps to allow for future
variants, but surely if they have to do this they
could have at least divided the panels in
between the blisters that also surround the
cowling? Unfortunately they have to go straight
thorough making it very difficult to clean the not
so good seam line up afterwards.
Not content with making life a little harder
with the blisters they also run another joint right
through the raised fastener details too, however
as these look over done, they beneited in the
end from being sanded a little in the clean-up
process. The overall it is a little disappointing as
up to this point in the build it has been quite
The
assembled
unit looks
well detailed
Engine parts are a little clumsy in their
moulding
impressive.
With the irst coat of primer applied further
work was required to clean the joints up even
more and some imaginative itting of the cowls
to hide the worst of effected areas required. By
selecting which cowl to it on each wing it was
possible to have the best side of each completed
engine nacelle pointing outwards thus hiding
the offending seam on the inside next to the
fuselage where it is least visible. With a little
more iller and a sanding session the next
application of primer revealed acceptable
results.
The front part of the cowling required
painting and MRP 148 Exhaust Metal was used
to depict the blackened colour of the original
items in lieu of the suggested Humbrol 53. Once
dry it was coated with a defensive layer of
Johnsons Klear loor polish as it would need
masking when the main camoulage is painted
later in the build. The completed nacelles were
then placed to one side and not added to the
wing as yet to facilitate the painting of the main
colours.
To inish the port wing the two wing tip
position lamps were added with Tamiya Extra
Thin cement before being sanding to the shape
of the wing with a Flory Models Dual
sander/sponge. A quick dry it showed that a
near perfect wing root joint was in the offing
when the time arises. A dry it of the landing
lamp lens also showed that there was nothing of
concern so this was left off at this stage, as no
other internal items needed painting Interior
Green at this point.
One thing of note had occurred when test
itting the wing in that the wing comes very
close to the cockpit and would quite possibly
hinder the it of the cockpit glazing as it would
be quite awkward to handle the model and work
in the area at the same time. So with some
MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01
BLENHEIM
Some adjustment of the parts while the glue
sets ensured correct alignment
The engines look better when painted and sat
behind the cowling ring
trepidation I elected to it the canopy glass at
this point in the build.
Every time the model had been worked on up
to this point I had rehearsed the it of the canopy
sections, so I knew it could be itted perfectly at
any point in the build. Working on the starboard
side irst the under nose section was eased into
place and the glass work eased round the corner
of the nose. This would sit it place on its own
without any support so was glued in place irst
with very careful application of Tamiya Quick
Drying liquid glue. The trick here is to have just
enough on the tip of the brush to run along the
joint but not enough to travel up the clear
section and mark the pane of glass adjacent to
the frame.
Once the front had time to dry the rear
section was held in place with light inger
pressure while the same technique of glue
application was followed. A very good it was
obtained irst time with only a slight sanding
session with a ine grit sanding sponge needed
to blend the glasswork into the fuselage. The
same process was then repeated on the port
side and the vertical joint running up the
forward end of the nose was also glued using
Tamiya Extra Thin.
Conidence and care are key to using such
‘hot’ products with clear parts as it would be
disastrous if any of the cement ran up the inside
of the canopy or tracked along a misplaced
inger.
Left to dry completely a satisfactory result
with the glazed parts looked to have been
obtained with only some slight remedial work
carried out with a sanding stick. Tamiya masking
tape was employed to protect the glazing from
accidental scratching during the sanding
process.
The seam running up the nose was sanded
23
BLENHEIM
The front of the
engine nacelle
needs to be
painted in a
burnt metallic
colour. MRP has
a good match
straight from
the bottle
The port
side glazing
itted just
as well
smooth as it was a little rough and a thin gap
illed with another application of Tamiya
Cement. There were a couple of joints that will
need a little more attention and these would be
illed with Gator Grip acrylic model glue once
the glazing was completed.
With both sides now irmly attached the roof
section need to be added. It was carefully
removed from the clear runner and the
attachment points cleaned up. Any alignment
issues that had perhaps crept in would now be
in evidence when the roof section was added
but it simply dropped into place with near
perfect alignment thanks to two small notches
moulded into the rear framework. The it was
that good it was decided to leave the part
off until the end of the build to help the
removal of any build debris or dust
from the inside of the cockpit later.
This could now easily be
accomplished using
compressed air blown through the
airbrush to expel any foreign bodies
through the larger open
aperture.
All that was now
left to do was
the
24 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
The trick of a speedy build is to make up other
subassemblies while the paint dries on others.
The rudder and elevators were built up in this
case
Laborious as it is, we
all hate masking right?
laborious task of masking the canopy frame
work as no commercially available items had hit
the market at the time of the build. Eduard has a
set EX626 that should be available by the time
this goes to print, however for those modellers
conident with their masking skills the frames
are really well rendered and responded well to
the tried and tested method of laying a piece of
Tamiya tape down and
burnishing the framework
with a wooden cocktail stick
to reveal its outline through
the tape. A
light
This was the most sensitive part of the build,
the clear nose sections in place on the
starboard side
touch with a new scalpel blade was enough to
cut through the tape leaving a perfectly masked
glazed panel underneath. Time consuming
maybe but just as effective.
With the canopy masked the pre-assembled
port wing was offered up and slid along the mini
wing spars. The wing root it
was perfect so the wing
was removed
and small
amounts
of superglue
were dotted
along the spars
and the wing slid
back into place, the
superglue locking it in
perfect alignment. Tamiya
extra thin cement was then run
around the joint lines and it was put
to one side to dry. While waiting the tail
planes were built up from their two parts
and the seams tidied up.
The elevator hinge was cut to
leave an open face so that the
elevators can be slotted in
later making the task of
painting around the
rear end of
BLENHEIM

the fuselage a little easier. The rudder is

a single piece but due to the location of
the actuator arms on both sides mounting
it delected would require some reworking
of the hinge and linkage.
Returning to the port wing and a small illet of
plastic completed the rear trailing edge but left a
seam line that will need to be taken care of and a
strange small gap was noted; either the tip of
the trailing edge of the wing had broken off
or been short shot.
With one wing now secured in place work
could continue to build up the starboard wing in
the same manner before it too was slotted into
place.

Moving on to Paint
With the major construction all but completed
the pre-assembled group of parts had inally
come together and the project started to look
suspiciously Blenheim like.
With the wings and other light control
surfaces temporally tacked in place along with
the completed nacelles and props the shape and
inal appearance of the model could be seen for
the irst time.
The model is quite large too in this scale and
this came as a bit of a surprise as I hadn’t really
appreciated the size of the aircraft until it was sat
on the cutting mat in front of me.
After a few minutes of admiration of the work
carried out so far it was time to crack on with
adding the paint but before any other work
could be carried out the cockpit glazing and
framework needed to be considered. Just
applying a primer coat on top would result in
this colour being visible through the completed
cockpit glass.
Tamiya
XF71 was
the irst
colour to go down as
this would be the
colour visible inside
the cockpit, this was
then followed by a number of layers of Tamiya
XF1. This ensured that the translucency of the
clear plastic would be overcome and no light
would penetrate through the framework of the
canopies. Once this was completed the whole
model was then give an application of AK
Interactive grey iller primer in preparation for
the main camoulage colours.
The model was then left overnight in a warm
room for the underlying coats of Tamiya paint to
harden fully before any further work was
commenced.
Next templates were made for the
camoulage pattern from the painting guide
provided
with the kit.
Measuring a wing
panel on the model and
then the same on the guide
revealed the diagram would need
to be enlarged by 152 percent. Making
sure a couple of copies of each were reproduced
for the upper surface and both sides the
painting guide was moved around the scanner
glass on the home printer to compensate for the
extra size.
Back at the workbench the RAF Dark Earth
selected was Mr Hobby Gunze Aqueous Colour

The wings were found to be a perfect it but

left a little hole at the illet The tail planes were a push it and the location With all the subassemblies completed here’s a
slot is deep making for perfect alignment look at the model with everything added for
the irst time

With the nose sections being clear it was

important to make the frames as solid looking
as possible. A coat of interior green was This was followed by lat black to stop any Finally a coat of primer for a consistent base
applied irst light showing through the framework coat for the inal colours

26 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K

Gunze RAF Dark Earth base colour on irst
thinned with self levelling thinners
All the ancillary parts that needed to be
painted black were done in a job lot
H72. This was diluted with the same brand’s self
levelling thinners to a ratio of about sixty
percent thinner to 40%forty percent paint. Light
even coats were applied by airbrush at a lower
air pressure to allow for the low viscosity mix.
Working around the airframe a smooth satin
inish was achieved and the paint was left a little
longer than normal to dry due to the retarder in
the thinners.
Once the paint had fully dried, the templates
were cut out of the enlarged paint diagrams and
placed onto the model. The outlines were then
traced using a soft pencil.
Working in sections the RAF Dark Green
segments were built up by following the pencil
lines free hand with the airbrush.
By using a slightly thinner paint mix than
described for the Dark Earth, the airbrush’s
ability to produce ine lines will be increased
resulting in a tight demarcation line with little
overspray.
After a couple of hours of painstaking work
the upper surface camoulage colours were
completed.
Forty eight hours drying time allowed the
paints to harden, then work recommenced on
The upper surface camoulage completed and
weathered with the elevators being itted to
make sure the patterns line up okay
The undersides were painted
with Gunze Tire Black
The propellers
were painted
black and
masked while
the yellow tips
were applied
the weathering of the top colours. Humbrol 29
and Xtracrylix versions of RAF Dark Earth were
used to good effect to break up the solid colour
of the Gunze base coat.
Working around airframe details such as
access hatches and panels the marbled effect of
the top coat was laid down. Gunze RAF Dark
Green is slightly lighter than the Xtracolor used
for the green base coat so this was used to
replicate the same effect, this time to the green
segments of the camoulage colours. Again the
paint was allowed sufficient drying time, don’t
rush or the paint could end up crazing and
cracking as the weathering colours will dry faster
than the base colours and crack as the under
laying paint shrinks as it dries. The panel lines
were then accented with Flory Models Dark Dirt
Wash applied by airbrush along structural details
and panel lines.
With this dry a sealing coat of Johnsons Klear
gloss loor polish was applied before
commencing work on the black undersides. The
black demarcation lines were then masked off
with appropriate lengths of Tamiya masking
tape. This was stuck to the back of the hand prior
to placing on the model to detack the adhesive a
little to avoid any possibility of it lifting the
MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01
BLENHEIM
Tail feathers
completed
with a good
match
A handy jig ensures the internal parts of the
turret are held in the correct position while
the glue sets
The landing laps
were next added to
the underside
completed top colours. Once satisied that the
boundaries were correct symmetrical painting of
the underside was undertaken using Gunze Mr
Hobby Tire black. This was thinned ifty ifty with
the same brand’s self-levelling thinners that
resulted in a smooth satin inish. Weathering was
completed using Tamiya XF1 Matt Black as the
lighter shade of tyre black is evident once placed
next to a true black. This was used in the same
manner as described for the top side colours.
A lighter mix of the Tamiya paint was then
used to highlight the panel centres making the
black areas seem a little darker. A pleasing
patchy effect resulted and this was sealed in
again with a coat of Johnsons Klear gloss loor
polish.
The Build Continues
As with many kits there seems a never ending
list of smaller more delicate parts to be added
and this model is no exception. The wheels,
laps, propellers, undercarriage doors and the
turret all still needed to be completed. For ease
of painting anything that was black was worked
on irst. The propeller hub assemblies were built
up as described in the instructions and added to
27
BLENHEIM
the three bladed propellers. Both halves of the
wheels were built up and the seams cleaned up,
while the undercarriage doors were cut from the
runners and the sprue attachment scars
eliminated. They were then painted as a job lot
with Tamiya XF1 and while they were drying
work focused on the very well detailed dorsal
turret.
Stages eighty seven to ninety four focus on
the completion of the item. A handy jig provided
by Airix makes the assembly straightforward,
with the parts featuring some nice detail. With
the internal parts assembled everything was
then given an overall coat of Tamiya RAF Cockpit
Green XFXX. Once dry the detail was brought to
life by carefully dry brushing with a light grey
colour selected from the paint rack. Once
inished Flory Models Dark Dirt was then applied
to create a little more depth to the structure. The
clear parts for the turret were then masked off
and painted using the same techniques as
described earlier for the cockpit.
While the clear parts themselves are well
moulded the attachment points had left some
slight scars that were difficult to remove due to
the areas they were in and one in the centre of
the back of the turret had left an internal tear in
the centre that cannot be removed.
The top of the turret was then glued in place
with a little Tamiya Extra Thin cement and held
in place while it dried. The Vickers rear iring gun
had the clumsily moulded barrel removed and
this was replaced with an appropriate sized
length of Albion Alloys brass tubing. This was
then painted gun metal and left to dry. Test
itting the turret showed no areas for concern
and its it is tight and secure thanks to a little tab
that locks it in place.
The wheels are provided in two sections that
need joining together and the joint line
removing. The maker’s logo is present
too and needs certain
letters altering
with the
28 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
tip of a scalpel blade to read the correct name.
These were then painted Gunze Mr Hobby Tire
Black with the hubs being painted in Tamiya XF1
Flat Black. They were then slotted into place
along with the tail wheel.
The model was then carefully rolled along the
work bench so that the lat spots for the
weighted look of the main gear were at the
correct angle before cementing in place with
Tamiya Extra Thin.
In A Flap
The under wing landing laps can be posed
deployed with sixty degrees of delection noted
in the instruction booklet. If the modeller wishes
to depict the laps retracted then they are going
to have to remove the internal detail moulded to
the parts as pointed out in green during stage
eighty four.
Once painted up and weathered they were
added to the model and the it was found to be
lawless. Everything was now ready for
installation on the model once the decals had
been added to avoid risk of damage due to
handling.
Making a Mark
Taking a closer look at the information on the
side of the box the Cartograf logo is proudly
displayed, ensuring top quality items. The
primary scheme (A) is a Dark Earth and Dark
Green over Night undersides camoulage
scheme belonging to 23 Squadron at RAF
Wittering in 1940. The remaining scheme is all
over Night portraying a night ighter version
from 54 Operational Training Unit, RAF Church
Fenton, December 1940.
As usual no problems were encountered
during the decalling process
and the markings snuggled
down into the engraved detail
well, helped with an application
of Daco Red
setting
solution.
There
are
surprisingly few markings to add to the model
so once completed the decals were sealed in
with a coat of Johnsons Klear gloss loor polish
and once this had completely dried the model
was given its inal coat of matt varnish from MRP.
The aerial under the nose was then itted
along with the venturi on the port side nose and
the access hatch on top of of the canopy. The
antenna mast was glued in place on the upper
surface and ishing line super glued to the top of
the vertical tail to represent the aerial wire.
Insulators were made from tiny drops of PVA
glue allowed to form little balls when added to
the ishing line. A little Johnsons Klear was then
used to restore the shine to the navigation
lamps to draw a very pleasing build to its
conclusion.
Summing Up
The most important aspect of the build for me
was the front glazed nose sections. Any
problems here would obviously effect the
overall impression of the inished model. I’m
pleased to conirm that no it issues were raised
at all with regards this area, much to my relief.
Cockpit detail is fantastic and looks busy
when viewed through either the vast expanse of
glazing or the open top hatch. This is again
repeated with the turret, the engines and the
undercarriage bays.
The only negative aspect of the kit is the
surface detail or lack of in terms of riveting etc.
as it’s noticeable by its absence when compared
to photos of Blenheim Mk I G-BIV during a recent
trip to Duxford.
The it of the cowlings was a little iddly to
align without gaps and some iller was needed
to help things along. In fact that was the only
instance of the iller being broken out during the
entire build, so that has to be a good thing
right?
Airix clearly intend bringing us a bomber
version at some point as evidenced by the
unused items on the sprues.
The kit has to be worthy of the title Best in
Scale for an early Blenheim and Airix have to
be applauded for their choice of a subject
that has long been overlooked.
Wholeheartedly
recommended to all but a
complete beginner!
Until next time…
WA L K A R O U N D
Walkaround P-59 Airacomet
T
he P-59B-1-BE depicted here is in the
National Museum of the US Air Force
outside of Dayton, Ohio. It is S/N 44-22650
and is fully restored. The P-59 was America’s irst
jet aircraft and made its irst light on October 1,
1942. Although of modest performance, it made
an excellent trainer for the new generation of jet
pilots and allowed the Air Force and Navy to
The P-59 at the NMUSAF has been completely
cosmetically restored. This top view of the
cockpit shows the details. Note the Overall
color is Interior Green while the seat, headrest,
and instrument panel are dull black. The seat
frame, though, is chromed and the control
column grip is cream colored
Lower down are the throttles and mixture
control. Under the throttle quadrant are the
two engine fuel selector switches, one under
the other. The knobs themselves are missing.
The sub panel on the left of the main panel,
beneath the landing gear control, contains the
port generator ammeter (the starboard
engine ammeter is missing). Note the various
colors of the placards and switch covers
30 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
gain valuable experience in the operation of jets.
A total of sixty six P-59s were ordered of two
variants, the P-59A and P-59B. The difference
between the P-59A and B are the 66-gallon wing
fuel tanks in the P-59B. These were incorporated
to increase the range of the aircraft. Externally
the only way to tell them apart are the fuel iller
This starboard forward view shows the
variously colored controls and such. Note the
control column boot and windscreen interior
are painted Interior Green too
The starboard engine inlet detail. Notice the
boundary layer splitter against the fuselage
and the sharply tapered wedge inlet bullet.
The engine installation is decidedly different
than its twin jet contemporaries, the Me 262
and Meteor
By Steve Muth
Port front view (Photo
courtesy of David Menard)
caps on the wings.
Part of the last batch of P-59s, 44-22650 was
assigned to NACA in Cleveland, Ohio on April 19,
1945. Little is known of its history at NACA but in
1947 it was sent to Kirtland AFB in New Mexico
for use as a target to test proximity fuses at a
range at the foot of the Manzano Mountains, just
The cockpit of the Air Force Museum's P-59 is
fully restored with a black instrument panel,
sub panels and electrical boxes. All sheet
metal and rudder pedals are Interior Green.
The white crank with the black handle is an
emergency landing gear retraction or
lowering mechanism. Some items are missing
- the gun charging handles, gun sight, and
lower sub panel that was below the
instrument panel, although the aircraft does
have the armor glass behind the windscreen.
Also, although roughly the same shape, the
panel and instrument layout are considerably
different and simpler than the standard
instrument panel
This rear view into
the canopy reveals
the canopy interior
to be Interior Green
like the windscreen
 WA L K A R O U N D

The nose landing gear well
looking forward shows that it
was originally Zinc Chromate
Green, hastily sprayed silver
overall
Starboard front view of the nose Port main landing gear inboard
landing gear. A survey of front view. Everything is painted
published P-59 photographs gloss silver. Note the torque link
reveals that camoulaged aircraft points outboard
had dark landing gear struts and
hubs like the P-39 and P-63,
which were a dark semi-gloss
The nose wheel well looking aft.
olive brown. Silver P-59s appear
Slight patches of Zinc Chromate
to have silver struts and wheels
Green are also visible here
adjacent to the wheel recess

east of Kirtland. As it turns out it Fortunately, Mr. R.F. Arnold, the

was never used as a target and base Supply Officer with the New
from 1947 to 1951 it was at a small Mexico Air National Guard, believed
dirt strip in Coyote Canyon in the they were of historical signiicance
Manzano Mountains. In 1951 it was and had them transferred to the Air
then put on display as a war Port
National Guard account. main
memorial in front of the Kirtland
AFB headquarters building along In 1955 the then Air Force landing
with a Ki-43 Hayabusa (Oscar). Museum became aware of the P-59 gear
Maintenance proved costly and in and acted to have the Air National and
1953 a new base CO had it moved Guard donate it to the Museum and Port main landing well
along with the Oscar to the Base on December 23, 1955 it was gear well inboard roof inboard
Reclamation Area to be destroyed. presented to the Air Force Special

Jan & Tony's retail counter is open at 4 Horton Parade, Horton

Road, West Drayton, Middlesex, UB7 8EP. We are open for
business Monday thru Saturday, 10.00 to16.00,
We carry a varied range of aviation related books from major
publishers, and a large range of plastic model kits &
accessories. We offer a 10% discount to ATC Squadrons, IPMS
members and genuine model clubs/societies on over the
counter sales on production of a current membership card.
We attend numerous aviation related events, lyins,
conventions and a number of model shows. We look forward
to seeing you soon. We accept major credit cards, cheques
and postal orders for mail order, which should be made
SAM3 payable to AJ Aviatioon. Mail order is post free in the UK,
and at cost for our overseas customers.

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MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01 31

WA L K A R O U N D

Weapons Center at Kirtland, who P-59B -1-BE 44-22650

then had the plane forwarded to National Museum of the USAF
the Museum. P-59A-1-BE 44-22614
A total of 5 P-59 are known to exist. March Field Museum, Riverside, CA
They are: P-59B-1-BE 44-22656
Pioneer Village, Minden, NB
XP-59A-BE 42108784
The YP-59A at The Planes of
NASM, Washington, DC
Fame Museum at Chino is being
YP-59A-BE 42-108777 restored to lying condition using
Planes of Fame, Chino, CA the original I-16 engines.

Bell XP-59 – note the major differences between the prototype and the
later P-59A and B including round wing tips and rudder, lack of guns,
and the illet that was added under the rear fuselage

Front view of the

Bell P-59A and
its four nose
machine guns

Bell XP-59 over Muroc

Field on Oct 1, 1942

Bell XP-59 again showing the miscellaneous stenciling and the rough
treatment on the walk strip over the engines take. (US Air Force)

The P-59B in light wearing a natural metal inish. The serial number
is incomplete, either due to censors or a replacement rudder

32 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
YOX F O R D B OYS PA R T 2
Leiston’s Mustangs
Neil Robinson builds a selection of 1/48 scale P-51 Mustangs to a common theme
Part 2 – Colour schemes and Markings
8th AF
Fighter Group
H
aving selected and built the models,
(see Part 1), I wanted to inish them in
colour schemes and markings that
relected the chronological changes of
camoulage and markings during the period
from when the 357th Fighter Group started
operations in early 1944 from Leiston to the
end of the war in May 1945.
The 357th operated two variants of Mustang –
the P-51B/C and the P-51D – and I tried to inish
the models, (which featured examples of the ‘B/C’
and ‘D’ with, and without, the extended in illet),
in approriate schemes and markings, relecting
equally amongst the three Squadrons, 362nd,
363rd and 364th – and could have probably done
with building a few more to be sure I covered all
the variations.
During the period the 357th operated in the
UK, the USAAF changed from Olive Drab uppers
and Neutral Gray undersides (in early 1944) to
overall natural metal*, and in the process featured
several variations in between.
(*It might be appropriate here to remind modellers
that the P-51B/C and D, had natural metal fuselage,
in and tailplanes, but silver painted mainplanes)
Two-character, letter-number, squadron
identiication codes were introduced on USAAF
aircraft operating from the UK in February 1944,
and VIII Fighter Command assigned the 357th
the codes G4 (for the 362nd FS), B6 (363rd FS) and
P-51B-5, 43-24823, B6•S ‘Old Crow’ of
the 363rd FS, 357th FG, Leiston, Sufolk,
February 1944, lown by Captain
Clarence ‘Bud’ Anderson
(Made from the Accurate Miniatures P-51B/C kit)
I painted this model as it looked before the
introduction of the 357th FG’s red and yellow
spinners and checkerboard nose bands. Finished
in the original Bulletin 41 Olive Drab 41 shade
(which had the more brownish hue than the
later ANA 613 Olive Drab which had a greener
hue) over Bulletin 41 Neutral Gray 43. The
fuselage upper/under demarcation was soft-
edged and generally followed the lower
fuselage proile.
The propeller spinner and nose band were
34 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
(All model photos by Bill Newton)
C5 (364th FS), to be painted on the fuselages of
its ighters, each squadron then assigning
individual aircraft identiication letters. Then, in
late March, the 8th AF also gave units permission
to use coloured spinners and identiication bands
around the engine cowlings, to replace the white
spinners and cowling bands previously applied as
part of the Quick Identiication Markings. The
66th Fighter Wing (under which the 357th FG
operated) adopted two-colour spinners and
checkerboard bands around the noses of its
aircraft, with each of its ive Fighter Groups
assigned diferent colours. These bands were
twelve inches wide with six inch checkerboard
squares. The 357th FG’s nose colours were red
and yellow. Then in late 1944, the 357th also
adopted coloured rudders to identify the
squadrons within the Group – 362nd white (but
not applied), 363rd red and 364th yellow.
As well as the conundrum about which Olive
Drab shade was used – the original Bulletin 41
Olive Drab 41, which had a slightly brownish hue
or the later ANA 613 Olive Drab, which had a
greener hue – there was the question of whether
Olive Drab (sic!) or RAF Dark Green, or
combinations of all of them, were used when the
Fighter Group started re-camoulaging its aircraft
around the D-Day period. Unfortunately, unless
the aircraft were photographed side-by-side, it’s
diicult to tell Olive Drab (either shade) from RAF
Dark Green in 75-year old b&w photographs, so a
white, as were the QIM bands, which
were twelve inches wide around the
nose, ifteen inches wide around the
wings and tailplanes/elevators, and
twelve inches wide across the in and
rudder. The name ‘Old Crow’ was white, as
were the codes (B6•S) and the ten Bomber
Escort markers. The serial number ‘324823’ was
yellow. The aircraft was still itted with the
original framed hood and carried 75 gallon
drop tanks, in Neutral Gray 43, and had a
relatively well worn appearance. This aircraft was
itted with ‘plain’ (unshrouded) exhaust
manifolds, and featured ‘whitewall’ mainwheel
tyres.
Decals came from Eagle Strike sheet IP4802,
‘357th Fighter Group in Proile’ Part 1.
The 357th
Fighter Group
degree of ‘artistic guesswork’ was employed on
the models.
There were also diferences between the
Quick Identiication Markings (QIM) bands.
Basically, the original Olive Drab/Neutral Gray
camoulaged aircraft had white QIM bands
above and below the wings and tailplanes, and
the overall natural metal/painted silver aircraft
had black QIM bands, but, when the 357th
started re-camoulaging its Mustangs, it would
appear that either white or black QIM bands
were applied.
Then, there are at least four stages of D-Day
stripe presentation, from the full D-Day stripes
applied on the wings and fuselage from 5th/6th
June 1944 to painted-out or removed stripes on
the wing and fuselage upper surfaces from mid-
late June 1944; then painted-out/removed stripes
from under the wings too from around the late
July/early August period; and inally, any
remaining D-Day stripes under the fuselage were
removed (or not applied to new aircraft) from
September/October 1944.
The USAAF was well known for allowing
personal markings to be applied to its aircraft,
which not only encouraged an esprit de corps,
but provided some very interesting designs.
Luckily I had quite a few decal sheets that had
357th FG aircraft featured on them, (mainly on
the sadly-missed AeroMaster and Eagle Strike
sheets), and from them I chose the following...
Captain Clarence ‘Bud’ Anderson’s
first ‘Old Crow’, 43-24823, B6•S as it
would have looked in February 1944.

P-51B-5, 42-106826, C5•R ‘The
Shillelagh’ of the 364th FS, 357th FG,
Leiston, Sufolk, May 1944, lown by
Major John Storch
(Made from the Monogram/ProModeler
P-51B kit)
This model was inished in an overall natural
metal/painted silver scheme with an ANA 613
Olive Drab anti-glare panel, fuselage spine, wing
and tailplane upper surfaces. Fifteen inch wide
black QIM bands were carried above/below the
wings and tailplane. The aircraft had the Group’s
red/yellow/red spinner and nose checks, with
black codes (C5•R) and yellow serial. The aircraft
was itted with a Malcolm hood. There is some
question as to whether the name ‘The Shillelagh’,
P-51C-3, 42-103309, B6•O ‘Berlin
Express’ of the 363rd FS, 357th FG,
Leiston, Sufolk, June 1944, lown by
Captain William ‘Bill’ Overstreet
(Made from the Pegasus E-Z Snaptite P-51B kit)
I inished this model as it would have looked on,
or just after, 6th June 1944, with full D-Day
stripes applied. The basic scheme was overall
natural metal/painted silver with an ANA 613
Olive Drab anti-glare panel, fuselage spine, wing
and tailplane upper surfaces, but in this
instance, the anti-glare panel demarcation line
was tapered and ran from the base of the
windscreen forward to a higher point on the
nose. The aircraft had the Group’s red/yellow/red
spinner and nose checks, with black codes
(B6•O) and yellow serial across the in and
rudder. The ifteen inch wide QIM bands on the
wings were obscured by the D-Day stripes but
are thought to have been white on the upper
surfaces of the tailplane and black underneath.
The name ‘Berlin Express’ was red with a yellow
YOX F O R D B OYS
which was in red, was outlined in black
or yellow. From the reference photo I
used, in ’357th Fighter Group’ by James
Roeder, (Squadron/Signal Publications,
2000), it looks like black to me, so I used
the black option on the decal sheet
(see below).
I itted the aircraft with 75 gallon
drop tanks, but this time in bright
natural metal, and it is worthy of note that
the anti-glare panel demarcation line runs
straight along the cowling top from
windscreen to nose. This aircraft was itted with
plain (unshrouded) exhaust manifolds and had
a rearview mirror itted. P-51B-5, 42-106826, C5•R
Decals came from Eagle Strike sheet IP4802, ‘357th ‘The Shillelagh’ of the 364th FS, 357th FG,
Fighter Group in Proile’ Part I. flown by Major John Storch, May 1944.
outline, and a black proile
locomotive with yellow
headlight beam was painted
above the exhaust manifolds on
the port side. Two swastika in a
circle kill marks were carried on
the nose above the information
stencil data panel.
It is worth noting that the
three identiication lights under
the starboard wing were located
further inboard on the P-51B/C than
on the P-51D, causing the star & bar
national marking to be positioned further
inboard, and subsequently part of the ‘bar’ was mirror
obscured by the D-Day stripes. Despite the date, itted, and again featured
the aircraft was still itted with an original ‘whitewall’ main and tailwheel tyres.
framed canopy hood and I itted it with a pair of Decals came from AeroMaster Decals sheet 48-288,
250lb GP bombs to represent the ground attack ‘Mustangs Forever’ Part II.
operations against road, rail and airield targets, P-51C-3, 42-103309, B6•O
carried out by the 357th, from the 6th to 15th ‘Berlin Express’ of the 363rd FS, 357th FG,
June. This aircraft was itted with plain flown by Captain William ‘Bill’ Overstreet,
(unshrouded) exhaust manifolds, had a rearview June 1944.
MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01 35
YOX F O R D B OYS PA R T 2
P-51C-5, 43-6637, G4•K ‘Rubber Check’
of the 362nd FS, 357th FG, Leiston,
Sufolk, July/August 1944, lown by
2/Lt Walter Perry
(Made from the Tamiya P-51B kit with a P-51D
illeted in tail)
Although the P-51B and P-51C were essentially
the same airframe, (the diference being that the
P-51B was manufactured at North American’s
main factory at Inglewood, California, while the P-
51C was built at NA’s then new facility in Dallas,
Texas), ALL P-51B/Cs were produced without in
illets, but some had them added/retroitted when
they reached the ETO and MTO, 43-6637, being
one of the few ‘in-illeted’ B/Cs to serve in the
357th FG.
As I was building two Tamiya kits, (a P-51B and
a P-51D), as an experiment, I decided to cut of
and swap their rear fuselages, so that my P-51B
would represent a modiied airframe retroitted
with a in illet, (and my P-51D, could be inished
as an early P-51D-5, without the in illet – see
later). It was a simple job to razor saw the rear
fuselages carefully of both kits along the
transportation joint, and it them to the respective
rear ends of the other kit. Credit to Tamiya, as the
fuselage halves matched up perfectly, but note
P-51D-5, 44-13517, G4•O ‘Sebastian Jr’
of the 362nd FS, 357th FG, Leiston,
Sufolk, July/August 1944, lown by
Captain Robert Becker
(Made from the Tamiya P-51D kit with a P-51B
illet-less tail)
As mentioned previously, I had decided to cut of
and swap the two Tamiya kits’ rear fuselages, so
that my P-51D, would represent an early -5 variant
without the in illet. Initially, P-51Ds were
produced without a in illet, including all -5s and
36 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
that the leading edge of the illet actually
overran the rear fuselage transportation joint,
so if you’re swapping tails with various kits you
need to be aware.
For those that don’t want to go through
this exercise, several of the Accurate Miniatures’
P-51B/C boxings ofer a choice of rear-end
halves, one with, and one without, the
extended in illet! (see reviews in Part 1)
Having done the deed, it was time to paint
and decal the model. As I hadn’t got any
aftermarket decals for a ‘illeted’ P-51B/C, I had to
create my own, and chose to model P-51C-5, 43-
6637, G4•K ‘Rubber Check’, and took the details
from a couple of photos in ’357th Fighter Group’
by James Roeder, (Squadron/Signal Publications,
2000), which appears to show the airframe
inished in ‘dark’ upper surfaces with overpainted
D-Day stripes. To achieve a representative look, I
painted the model in ANA 613 Olive Drab upper
surfaces, but overpainted the D-Day stripes on the
upper surfaces with a thin coat of RAF Dark Green,
just allowing a hint of the stripes underneath to
show through faintly. Although the under surfaces
may have been overpainted too, I decided to leave
them in natural metal/painted silver inish.
The white codes, (G4•K), yellow serial and
mission markings, and the three kill swastikas,
early -10s, but then mid-way through the P-51D-
10 production run, the in illet was introduced
and was subsequently itted to all P-51Ds (and
Ks). The 357th Fighter Group operated quite a few
early ‘illet-less’ Ds, so the sub-type had to be
represented.
The aircraft I chose to inish the model as, was
almost certainly delivered in overall natural
metal/painted silver with an Olive Drab anti-glare
panel. At some point, probably in mid-late May
1944, the fuselage spine, wing and tailplane
upper surfaces were overpainted – possibly in
P-51C-5, 43-6637, G4•K
‘Rubber Check’ of the 362nd
FS, 357th FG, flown by
2/Lt Walter Perry, July/August 1944.
came from various AeroMaster/Eagle Strike decal
sheets, as did the Group’s red/yellow nose checks,
but the name ‘Rubber Check’ had to be hand-
painted. White ifteen inch wide QIM bands were
painted around both surfaces of the wings and
tailplanes/elevators. The aircraft was itted with a
Malcolm hood, and by this time would have
probably carried 108 gallon paper tanks. This
aircraft was itted with shrouded exhaust
manifolds and had a rearview mirror itted.
Decals came from Repli-Scale sheet 48-5056 ‘The
Yoxford Boys’ Part 6
ANA 613 Olive Drab, or maybe RAF Dark Green.
Invasion stripes were applied in early June for D-
Day, but by July/August 1944, they were either
removed or overpainted on the upper surfaces,
although they were still faintly visible. The QIM
bands on both surfaces of the mainplanes had
been obscured and don’t seem to have been
reinstated on the upper surfaces when the
invasion stripes were overpainted or removed.
P-51D-5, 44-13517, G4•O ‘Sebastian Jr’ of the
362nd FS, 357th FG, flown by Captain Robert
Becker, July/August 1944.
 YOX F O R D B OYS

However, the QIM bands on the tailplanes would
have remained, maybe with the ones on the
upper surfaces being repainted in white – which
is how I portrayed them on my model. The decal
instructions don’t make this clear, so maybe they
didn’t know for sure either.
The name ‘Sebastian Jr’ in black was probably
applied on both sides of the nose (for which two
sets of names are supplied and the inference on
the decal sheet instructions seems to indicate it
was, although I haven’t seen any photo reference
of the starboard side of the real aircraft that might
conirm this), and there are seven kill marking
swastika lags under the cockpit.
There is a photograph of the port
side of ‘Sebastian Jr’ in
Squadron/Signal’s ’357th Fighter
Group’, showing the invasion
stripes on the fuselage sides to be
very weathered and the aircraft
carrying 108 gallon drop tanks, which
I itted to my model. This aircraft was
itted with ‘shrouded’ exhaust manifolds
and had a rearview mirror itted.
Decals: Eagle Strike sheet IP4805, ‘357th
Fighter Group in Proile’ Part IV

P-51D-5, 44-13586, C5•T ‘Hurry Home
Honey’ of the 364th FS, 357th FG,
Leiston, Sufolk, August/September
1944, lown by Capt Richard Peterson
(Made from the Hasegawa P-51D kit
with the in illet removed)
As mentioned in the review section (in Part 1),
the in illet extension on the Hasegawa kit is
moulded thick enough to allow it to be
cut of and trimmed to produce an
earlier ‘illet-less’ P-51D-5... which is
what I did.
Like ‘Sebastian Jr’ above, ‘Hurry
Home Honey’ was almost
certainly delivered in overall
natural meta/painted silver with
an Olive Drab anti-glare panel, and
similarly, at some point, probably in mid-late
May 1944, the fuselage spine, wing and
tailplane upper surfaces were overpainted –
again either in ANA 613 Olive Drab or
RAF Dark Green. Invasion stripes
would have been applied in
early June for D-Day, but by
August/September 1944,
had been removed or
overpainted on the upper
surfaces of the wings and fuselage
spine, although again they were still faintly
visible. In this instance, the QIM bands on the
upper surfaces of the wings had been reinstated,
in white, and presumably had been retained on
the tailplanes – the ones on the upper surfaces
in white (overpainted from the original black
when the aircraft had been camoulaged), with
those on the under surfaces remaining in black –
which is how I portrayed them on my model.
The black codes (C5•T), yellow serial and
name ‘Hurry Home Honey’, plus the
red/yellow/red nose checks all came from the
Eagle Strike decal sheet. The 108 gallon drop
tanks supplied in the kit were itted, as by that
time, the long range escort missions required a
longer endurance. This aircraft was itted with
shrouded exhaust manifolds.
Decals: Eagle Strike sheet IP4804, ‘357th Fighter
Group in Proile’ Part III.
P-51D-5, 44-13586, C5•T ‘Hurry Home Honey’
of the 364th FS, 357th FG, flown by Capt
Richard Peterson, August/September 1944.

P-51D-15, 44-114896, G4•C ‘Nooky diicult to obtain in the UK by mid-

Booky III’ of the 362nd FS, 357th FG,
Leiston, Sufolk, October/November
1944, lown by Capt Leonard ‘Kit’ Carson
(Made from the Meng P-51D kit)
As with ‘Bud’ Anderson’s ‘Old Crow’ Mustang,
(see example above), I felt almost obliged to
inish at least one of my Mustangs in Leonard
‘Kit’ Carson’s markings, as he was the highest
scoring pilot in the 357th FG with eighteen
conirmed and one shared kill. All Carson’s
Mustangs had the intruiging name ‘Nooky
Booky’, applied, in this instance ‘Nooky Booky III’
which he lew in the autumn of 1944.
P-51D-15, 44-114896, was almost certainly
one of several 357th FG machines to be painted
in RAF Dark Green upper surfaces and RAF
Medium Sea Grey under surfaces. Supplies of
Olive Drab and Neutral Gray would have been
late 1944, with most USAAF
combat aircraft being delivered in
the overall natural metal/painted
silver scheme, so the 357th FG in
particular appear to have acquired
British paint, possibly through
association with at least two RAF
pilots, Flt Lt Jack Cleland (a new
Zealander) and Flt Lt Eric Woolley,
who were temporarily transferred to
the 357th during the summer and early
autumn of 1944.
White QIM bands were applied on both
surfaces of the main and tailplanes and the
aircraft featured the Group’s red/yellow/red carried seven kills under
spinner and nose checks. The serial across the in the cockpit on the port side.
and rudder was yellow, and the codes (G4•C) Most of ‘Kit’ Carson’s victories were
were white as was the name ‘Nooky Booky III’. At scored in the last few months he lew with the
the time, early November 1944, the aircraft Continued on next page

MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01 37

YOX F O R D B OYS PA R T 2

357th, claiming ive aircraft on one mission on with ‘shrouded’ exhaust manifolds. P-51D-15, 44-114896, G4•C ‘Nooky Booky III’ of
27 November 1944. The model was itted with Decals: Eagle Strike sheet IP4804, ‘357th Fighter the 362nd FS, 357th FG, flown by Capt Leonard
108 gallon drop tanks. This aircraft was itted Group in Proile’ Part III. ‘Kit’ Carson.

P-51D-15, 44-63775, B6•W ‘The Tender 362nd FS weren’t allocated a squadron

Terror’ of the 363rd FS, 357th FG,
Leiston, Sufolk, late 1944/early 1945,
lown by Lt Ralph Mann
(Made from the Airix P-51D kit)
By the end of 1944, the need for camoulage was
becoming less important with the Allies’
increasing air supremacy over Europe and by the
beginning of 1945, many of the 357th FG’s
Mustangs were lying in overall Natural
Metal/Painted Silver, with ANA 613 Olive Drab (or
sometimes black) anti-glare panels. Even the QIM
bands had been dispensed with although
coloured rudders had started to appear in the
autumn and by the end of the year were starting
to become the norm, with the 363rd FS sporting
red rudders and the 364th FS yellow rudders. The
colour as such and simply had ‘silver’
rudders.
The markings I chose to put on the
new Airix P-51D illustrate perfectly
how the 357th FG’s Mustangs looked at
the end of World War Two and feature Lt
Ralph Mann’s ‘The Tender Terror’ in
overall natural metal/painted silver inish.
The aircraft retained the red/yellow/red
spinner and nose checks and featured the
squadron’s red colour rudder. This aircraft was
itted with plain (unshrouded) exhaust manifolds
and had a rearview mirror itted.
All the markings came from the Eagle Strike sheet P-51D-15,
48173 ‘Mustangs for Ever Part I: Late WWII and 44-63775, B6•W ‘The Tender
Occupation Forces’, and itted the Airix kit Terror’ of the 363rd FS, 357th FG,
perfectly. flown by Lt Ralph Mann, late 1944/early 1945.

Colonel C. E. ‘Bud’
Main References used: Anderson with his
daughter laying a wreath
To War with the Yoxford Boys: The Complete Story of the 357th Fighter Group for the Friends of Leiston
by Merle C Olmsted, Eagle Editions Ltd, 2004 Airfield (FoLA) at the
357th Fighter Group by James Roeder, Squadron/Signal Publications, 2000 Leiston Memorial on 19th
October 2018.
Fighters of the 8th Air Force by Gérard Paloque, Histoire & Collections, 2013
Mustang Aces of the 357th Fighter Group by Chris Bucholtz, Osprey Aircraft of For more information on FoLA
please visit:
the Aces - 96, 2010
www.friendsofleistonairfield.co.uk
From D-Day to Victory! by Malcolm Laird, Ventura Publications, 2007 Donations are always welcome,
contact Peter Saunders at:
P-51 Mustang in Color by Larry Davis, Squadron/Signal Publications, 1982 The Friends of Leiston Airfield
Camouflage & Markings No 16: North American P-51 & F-6 Mustang by Roger A Cakes and Ale Park, Abbey Lane,
Theberton, Suffolk IP16 4TE
Freeman, Ducimus Books Ltd, 1971 Email: foleistonairfield@gmail.com

38 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
G U I D E TO S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G

CROSSING THE LINE By Gary Hatcher

Where Are We Now?

P
hew! I thought we would never inish the
canopy. That’s the way it goes though, and
don’t be surprised if you come up against
issues we haven’t dealt with here. It’s a mineield.
But with the canopy itted then hopefully we
are in a position to move forward and push the
build over the line from construction to painting.
It’s a grey area, quite literally in many cases as we
are going to be squirting primer about, but let’s
pause and recap where we are at this moment in
the process…
We should be looking at a completed
airframe. Wings, fuselage, tailplane,
A before and after look at the underside of a
engines/nacelles and any other signiicant parts
model approaching the painting stage. Here
have been added, faired in and blended This is roughly where we are at this point. The
seamlessly. Transparencies have been itted the modeller has been obliged to tweak
airframe is largely complete and ready to
where appropriate and are masked and things a little after the primer revealed areas
paint. Areas of iller and patches of primer
protected and you may ind you have a growing that still needed work (Ken Duffey))
need to be evened out though, and a uniform
collection of minor subassemblies such as surface restored before we can think about
turrets, undercarriage, propellers etc. that you applying the inal inish (Huw Morgan)
have been working on while waiting for other
parts to dry. These have, of course, been left off
until after painting the main colour scheme and
will be dealt with individually in later sections.
What you now have in front of you, though,
should at least look like an aeroplane…

Checking Accuracy
Before progressing further it is worth pausing
a moment to consider the basic accuracy of the
kit you are building. This may well be something
you will have looked at right back at the start of
the build but with the airframe now complete
you will have a better idea of what you are Be sure to ill any apertures before applying
actually dealing with, and the extent to which primer or you may well end up getting
you may or may not ind yourself prepared to Work completed, the area has now been overspray on the interior of a transparency
compromise. reprimed (Ken Duffey) somewhere along the line…
Now this is a can of worms. One might feel
entitled to assume that the kit you have bought
is an accurate representation of the prototype it
depicts but this is a highly subjective matter.
Manufacturers are often obliged to depend
upon drawings of an aircraft that no longer
actually exists or to which they have no access,
in which case their kit can only be as accurate as
the drawings it is based upon, and there are
many, many different drawings of the same
aircraft that differ dimensionally from each
other. These discrepancies can vary from a
matter of a couple of inches added to the wing
span to a substantial misalignment of a major
part of the airframe and they can and do have an
effect upon the inished kit.
Of course it is equally likely that the kit you
have in hand is dimensionally accurate. The
extent to which this whole issue affects your
enjoyment of and intention to build a model is
obviously down to you. It is beyond the
competence of this guide to assess the accuracy
of every set of scale plans out there, but one
thing we do ind ironic is that we frequently see
kits lambasted for dimensional inaccuracies by
modellers who are then prepared to paint them
in speculative best guess colour schemes based
on one photograph taken from one angle that
cannot possibly hope to come close to offering
an accurate picture of the overall machine…
Sectional views often accompany scale plans. These indicate the shape of the fuselage section at
Assuming however that you want to check
given areas along its length and are of particular use to scratch builders wanting to fabricate an
the dimensions of the kit and are reasonably
certain that you have accurate information, what aircraft entirely from spare parts and plastic card

40 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K

A selection of metal rules of varying size and
lexibility are useful around the workbench
There are many brands of primer and it is best
to try a few to see which suits you best.
Halfords auto sprays are popular acrylics,
coming in red, grey or white, while Tamiya’s
own brand aerosols come highly
recommended by many
A selection of Eduard’s excellent rescribing
templates. These offer most shapes and almost
every radius of curve you are likely to come across
G U I D E TO S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G
Although the modelling industry has a
plethora of proprietary products your local
hardware shop can come to your aid again
and again, as white spirit, ammonia, oven
cleaner and methylated spirits are cheap and
readily available
Oh dear! The savage attention paid to the
wing root with iller and sanders has removed
considerable surface detail. This will need to
be restored unless the model is to look very
odd indeed. Trying to match your newly
rescribed detail with the kit’s surface
engraving is not always straightforward and
as much will depend on the quality of the
plastic and the style and depth of the existing
panel lines as on your own skill
MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01
better way is there to check measurements than
by using a ruler? In late 1995, Guideline
Publications issued two new scale rules for the
modeller. Initially offered as a promotional item
with Scale Aircraft Modelling, and the set proved
so popular it was made available to all and has
remained in production ever since.
The smaller rule is a basic scale rule, which is
just under six inches in length and has 1/72 scale
measurements along one edge and 1/48
measurements along the other. Both are divided
into segments. There is also a ine toothed saw
blade built into the end of the 1/72 scale edge.
This rule is made from 0.1mm thick stainless
steel and is therefore very lexible.
The larger more complex rule is made from
0.2mm stainless steel, and again carries both
1/72 and 1/48 scales together with a coarser
pitched saw blade edge for heavier work. It also
has a number of cut-out templates.
When measuring plans the use of the rule to
check dimensions is straightforward, just lay the
ruler on the plan to measure the overall
dimension being checked and read the
measurement straight from the scale. To check
that a kit is accurate, do not just measure the size
of the parts in the box however, measurements
should be made with the kit built up, as the sum
of the kit parts will be larger than the whole in
some instances, for instance wingspan, due to
the dihedral.
You can of course dry it the relevant
components with tape to get an idea at the start
of the build, but now we are here with an
almost-ready-to-paint model matters such as
dihedral/anhedral, wingspan and length can be
ascertained deinitively. You may or may not
chose to act upon any minor inaccuracies you
now discover.
Moving Forward
Our aim now is to cross over the line between
building and inishing. The part built model on
your workbench will probably look a mess at this
stage with areas of iller visible, all kinds of
scratches and scuffs, and probably areas of
primer, where you have checked the inish of a
seam locally. Ideally it is best to avoid getting
any paint on the model until you are at this
stage but it is difficult to resist checking the
extent to which a seam or a wing root is inished,
and of course we do ideally want to avoid any
further sanding and illing once the canopy is in
place to lessen the risk of debris getting inside
the cockpit. I often ind brush painting along a
seam during construction will give a good idea
of how inished it is, and this paint can then be
removed easily with a quick pass of wet and dry
before it has cured.
The model now needs to be primed and
readied for painting. The irst thing to do then is
to make sure it is clean.
Can You Handle It?
Before priming you will need to ensure all
traces of dust, debris and grease are removed
from the model. To assist in this end it may be
expedient to improvise some kind of a handle to
hold it by, which will not only allow you to avoid
handling it with your sticky ingers, but will also
prove invaluable when you come to painting. A
bent wire coat hanger is one of the best tools to
assist with this. They can be adapted and
adjusted to it to most airframes, needing only a
couple of apertures such as wheel wells or
engine nacelles to it into, or it may be possible
to squeeze the ends together and it them into a
jet pipe, depending on size and scale.
Alternatively, and especially in the case of jets, a
single dowel or even the handle of a paintbrush
41
G U I D E TO S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G
can be inserted into the jet pipe, with a length of
tape suitably wrapped around it to ensure a
tight and safe it.
Once you have improvised your handle the
entire model needs to be wiped down, irstly
with warm water with a little washing up liquid
added. You don’t want to go overboard with this
and slosh gallons of the stuff about, bearing in
mind the paper masking tape on your
transparencies that need to be kept dry, but you
do want to remove grease from the airframe,
which will have accumulated from even the
most well scrubbed ingers, and can cause an
issue with the paint adhering when we come to
apply it.
Try to avoid anything too ibrous to wipe the
model. You do not want to leave tiny hairs or
ibres behind on the cleaned surface. Once dry I
would personally recommend giving the entire
surface another wipe over with white spirit to
ensure a spotless and grease free surface upon
which to apply the irst coat of primer.
There are a number of solvents and products
designed for this stage of the game. My own
choices tend to be based on the local hardware
shop but no doubt proprietary modelling aids
will offer an excellent result. The modeller is of
course at liberty to experiment with the various
items available.
Prime Time
Now at last we come to the big moment, that
irst coat of primer that will transform the streaky
blotched mess on your workbench into a
potentially inished model. Primer is essential
and serves two main functions. Firstly it will
show up any laws and imperfections on your
model that will need to be tidied up prior to the
addition of the inal paint scheme. Secondly it
provides an interface between the surface of the
plastic and the paint you will be applying as a
topcoat. Primer is deliberately formulated to
provide a safe surface for your inishing paints to
adhere to. It will also leave you with a uniform
coloured canvas upon which to apply your inal
inish, as many colours are translucent unless
These etched templates are quite lexible, as
indeed they need to be as sometimes they
need to be used in hard to access areas or on
curved surfaces
A simple dressmaker’s
pin with the head
clipped off its neatly
into the twist drill
42 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
applied in multiple layers, and will show up the
patches of iller and blemishes that currently mar
the surface of your model. A completely uniform
primed surface, scrupulously clean and devoid
of ingerprints, is essential for a good result.
Just as there are many different agents for
cleaning and inishing the surface of the kit, so
there are any amount of primer paints available.
Most manufacturers will include a primer in their
range but for many modellers the simplest
solution is the Halfords range of car paints,
which can be used on plastic and styrene and
provide a fast easy solution at this stage in the
game.
Halfords offer grey, white and red primers. The
grey is the most common recourse on this
workbench, although the white is often used as
a topcoat for simple convenience. Bear in mind
that if you are building an aircraft that has a
white scheme it’s no use expecting the white
primer to cover all those marks on your part-
inished airframe. Prime with grey irst and only
use the white once the surface is uniform,
otherwise you will ind darker patches showing
through, and you will probably end up spraying
far too many coats over them in an effort to get a
solid inish. This will result in a mess. Bear in
mind also that the fewer coats of paint of any
sort that you add to your model, the sharper the
surface detail will remain. This includes primer
coats of course.
Checking the Finish
Primer can of course be applied by brush like
any other paint, but given the ready availability
of aerosol primers many brush painters choose
to use these. The paint should be applied with
care, and it is far better to add several thin coats
than simply depressing the nozzle and squirting
paint until the entire thing is covered. Short
aimed bursts will achieve a ine overall inish,
while if you spray too much at a time you can
end up with the paint caking in certain areas.
Remember that while you are aiming the aerosol
at that difficult to hit area on the inside of the
nacelle that faces the fuselage, you are also
This twist drill has seen years of service as a
rescribing tool on this modeller’s workbench
For replicating lines of rivets these
useful tools can be sourced. Sized
to different scales they can be run
alongside a straight edge to leave
lines of tiny holes that replicate the
riveted surface of many aircraft
convincingly. These tools can also Another very useful item. This larger punch can
be fabricated from spare watch reproduce larger rivets or screw heads, anything that
parts by the enterprising modeller needs to be a little deeper or more prominent than the
with just a little time and effort riveting tools or the pin vice
spraying yet another coat of paint onto
everything else. This is the one disadvantage of
using aerosols. They are harder to control and
less easy to direct into speciic areas than an
airbrush. Consider the beneits of expediency
over accuracy on the model you are building
before you decide which option to use.
Once the initial primer coat has been applied
be prepared for a shock.
Further Finishing
Unless you are a modeller of considerable skill
and attention to detail you will now ind that a
number of unsightly cracks, seams and
unacceptable joins have been highlighted by the
primer. Depending on the kit you will now enter
into a series of ill/sand/prime sessions, where
you do your best to eradicate them. Fuselage
seams have a habit of coming back to haunt you,
likewise wing leading edges. This is all par for the
course though, and you should ind everything
cleans up fairly quickly. You will have to wipe
down and reprime the model after each session
of clean-up but the end result before too long
should be a pristine airframe that no longer
resembles a collection of bits stuck together, but
a complete and integral whole. Congratulations.
Only one more hurdle before it starts to get
interesting.
Rescribing
Surface detail is an issue upon which
modellers tend to disagree. Panel lines scribed
upon the surface seek to add detail and realism
to a model by replicating those visible on the
real aircraft, or so we like to believe. In actual fact
they are just as often obtrusive and
inappropriate, especially in the smaller scales,
and for a scale appearance some might prefer to
remove them altogether.
Love them or loathe them, they need to be
there in their entirety or not at all. Assuming you
have decided you want them, you will now need
to make sure that any you have erased during
the construction process are replaced, especially
G U I D E TO S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G
if you are planning on adding colour washes
later on to highlight them.
Panel lines get lost in areas of high
maintenance. The fuselage seam is a particular
offender, as again are the leading edges. Lines
that suddenly vanish into thin air will not
enhance your inished model, likewise a sudden
expanse of smooth featureless wing around the
root area that you were obliged to spend so
much effort blending in. Missing detail will need
to be restored.
Fortunately there are ways of doing this. We
can use templates or simple geometrical tools to
replace scribed detail. There are plenty of
rescribing tools available on the market but this
modeller has for many years relied upon a
dressmaker’s pin in a twist drill. Eduard’s etched
template sets offer a wide variety of shapes to
rescribe hatches and covers in various sizes
while Guideline’s own scale rulers include a
selection of templates that have a wide variety
of applications.
A good steel ruler is also recommended. Don’t
rely on plastic or wood as the edges can lose
their shape and the end result will be a line that
is not true. A thinner ruler can be useful to
access some shallow curves, such as the wing
root, but in many cases using the cast-off edge
of an etched fret will be a better option. These
can be folded round most curves, will provide a
hard edge to work to, and are disposable so can
be bent out of shape as much as you like.
The real test comes on tight curves or
Dymo Tape is essentially
a self-adhesive ruler
that goes round corners
Cleaning up the fuselage join has removed part of the engraved
detail that spanned the joint. Here the tape has been applied to
a concave fuselage surface ready to guide the scribiing tool
between the two surviving ends of the panel lines
44 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
rounded surfaces where a straight rule is
impracticable, and where trying to hold a loose
piece of brass still is going to be difficult. Here
Dymo tape comes into its own. Dymo tape is a
thick plastic self-adhesive tape that is used for
embossing and labelling, frequently seen on the
drawers of iling cabinets and the like, it is a
widely available office supply rather than a
purpose designed modeller’s tool. Being self-
adhesive it can be stuck around the
fuselage/cowling/nacelle etc. and will provide a
hard edge for your scriber to work to.
Scribing does take a little skill, and if you can
carry out this task earlier in the build then so
much the better, as it is better done on a bare
surface. The problem here is that much of the
work necessary won’t be apparent until after
priming. Matching your new lines to those on
the kit may prove challenging, especially if those
on the kit are over , but with practice and
experience you will ind it not such a daunting
task as you might suppose.
Raised Panel Lines
Replacing raised detail is a much more
difficult task, and in many cases simply can’t be
done. There are modellers who try though, just
as there are aircraft types that only exist in
model form with this type of surface detail.
Fortunately raised panel lines are a thing of the
past and more and more modern kits are
arriving to replace those kits so embellished.
There are four options open to the modeller in
To conserve tape it is advisable to cut it into thinner
strips irst. If you have a classic kit that needs
completely rescribing you could end up using a fair bit
The detail has now
been restored to the
modeller’s satisfaction
this case:
• Glue inely stretched sprue to the surface to
replace the missing detail. This may
necessitate removing partially damaged lines
in their entirety so as to allow the
replacement to blend in fully
• Mask along either side of the missing panel
line and brush paint a thin bead of paint.
Repeat several times to build up a thin ridge
that will replicate the missing detail
• Sand the whole model smooth and rescribe
the entire airframe. Not nearly so uncommon
as you might suppose
• Put the kit in the attic and build another one
instead that doesn’t have raised panel lines
And Finally…
With all blemishes corrected and panel lines
rescribed, primer inished and a last wipe down
complete there only remains a inal check to
make sure nothing has been omitted.
Remember, you don’t want to be hacking and
illing once you have added the paint scheme.
Make sure no parts that need to be integrated
into the airframe have been omitted, tail
bumpers, NACA Scoops, strakes or illets etc. and
have a good look at areas that are difficult to
access to ensure no mould seams have been
overlooked.
With this done you have no completed phase
one. The line has been crossed and we are ready
now for painting.
 ISSUE 36

Fiat’s CR.32
By Richard Mason

Fiat CR.32 of the

Regia Aeronautica
seen in 1939. Note
the prominent
torpedo shaped
auxiliary fuel tank
on the upper wing

A
nother of those Italian biplanes with the
difficult camoulage’ is how one modeller
described the Fiat CR.32, and for the
casual enthusiast that is probably about as far as
one gets. The Regia Aeronautica is widely
regarded as a sort of understudy to the
Luftwaffe and as a result has been poorly
represented in the modelling press, despite a
number of very charismatic aircraft, some
marvellous kits, and some very noteworthy
camoulage and markings. As a subject for a
model collection it is both compact enough and
diverse enough to furnish the modeller with a
good array of interesting types that is
representative of the air arm as a whole without
committing the builder to a lifetime’s work, but
any such collection would be incomplete
without the Fiat CR. Freccia (Arrow).
Dating from the early 1930s the CR.32 was
designed by the aeronautical engineer Celestino
Rosatelli, and was typical of its era, surviving like
so many others to be combat tested in Spain
and to carry on into the general conlict of World
War II until overtaken by progress and more
modern designs. It was a compact, robust and
highly manoeuvrable aircraft for its era, leading
to it being a relatively popular ighter during the
1930s.
The CR.32 fought in North and East Africa,
Albania and the Mediterranean theatre. It was
extensively used in the Spanish Civil War, where
it gained a reputation as one of the most
outstanding ighter biplanes of all time, and also

Captain Mario D'Agostini, winner of the Gold Medal of Valour, poses A pair of Fiat CR.32s of the X Gruppo Baleari in Spain in 1937. Thanks to
behind his Fiat CR.32 of 163 Autonomous Land Fighters Squadron, the agility of the CR.32 the Italians managed to achieve air superiority
Gadurrà, Rhodos Greece, 1940 over their Republican opponents
 The last front line
CR.32s survived
until mid April 1941
after which were
sent to training
units. By 1942 the
type was relegated
to night missions as
newer ighters were
put into service
saw service in the air forces of China, Austria,
Hungary, Paraguay and Venezuela. In its day it
was a familiar sight performing aerobatic
displays all over Europe in the hands of the
Italian Pattuglie Acrobatiche. Although it was
obsolete by the start of World War II, having
been replaced by its own derivative the CR.42,
the aircraft remained in service throughout the
conlict.
On 28th April 1933, the prototype CR.32,
designated the MM.201, performed its maiden
light from the Fiat company airstrip at Turin. The
aircraft was derived from the earlier Fiat CR.30, a
relatively fast and manoeuvrable aircraft that
had received limited production orders from the
Regia Aeronautica but was to be superseded by
the new machine. In comparison to the CR.30,
the CR.32 featured a more streamlined and
smaller fuselage, resulting in a more compact
aircraft overall. By the end of 1933 the irst
production examples were already arriving with
front line units and mass production of the type
would continue until 1938 with four distinct
variants of the aircraft being developed; the
initial or standard variant, the bis, the ter and the
quater. The CR.32 bis was provided with a more
powerful Fiat A.30R V12 engine as well as two
additional machine guns, while the ter and the
quater retained the original armament
arrangement, differing by the adoption of
improved sights and instrumentation.
Hispano Aviación manufactured 100 aircraft as the HA-132L Chirri. A
total of forty were rebuilt as two seaters and remained in service as
aerobatic trainers until 1953
Agility was a major quality of the aircraft’s
design. Its fuselage utilised aluminium and steel
tubes covered by duraluminium on the nose and
the upper and lower fuselage sections, while
fabric covering was used on the sides and belly,
making the fuselage very robust for its time. The
CR.32 was itted with a ixed undercarriage
arrangement, comprised of two main legs with
wheels housed within fairings and hydraulic
shock absorbers, while braking was achieved via
a pneumatic system.
The wings and tail used a similar mixed
composition based around a pair of aluminium
alloy tubular spars and square tubes, which were
covered by fabric. Another notable feature was
that the lower wing was shorter than the upper
wing, making the ighter a sesquiplane. Ailerons
were only present upon the upper wings, which
were balanced via out rigged tabs mounted
upon steel struts. The tail, which was largely
made from aluminium tubes, featured a variable
incidence tailplane and a dynamically balanced
elevator.
The single seat cockpit was itted with an
adjustable seat and was considered to be fully
instrumented for its time, although the RA.80-1
radio set was an optional it. The pilot’s controls
included a gun camera and an oxygen system
while both an optical gunsight and survey
camera could also be installed, again as optional
items. Armament initially included a pair of
A CR.32 in prewar markings. By the end of 1933 the irst production
examples were already arriving with front line units and mass
production of the type would continue until 1938
7.7mm (.030in) Breda-SAFAT machine guns, later
substituted for a pair of 12.7mm (.5in) Breda-
SAFAT guns, itted on top of the engine cowling
with a capacity of 350 rounds each. Later
examples were also furnished with a pair of hard
points, which could accommodate up to twelve
5lb bombs, a pair of 100lb bombs or a single
200lb bomb.
The CR.32 was powered by a single water
cooled Fiat A.30 R.A. V12 engine, allegedly based
on the American Curtiss D-12. The engine did
not use the usual aviation gasoline, but instead
ran on a mixture of ifty ive percent petrol,
twenty three percent alcohol and twenty two
percent benzol. The main fuel tank, which was
located between the engine and cockpit, carried
325 litres and there was another twenty ive litre
auxiliary tank positioned in a streamlined
torpedo fairing in the centre of the upper wing.
The new aircraft proved to be an instant
success and after a brief period of testing the
irst production orders were received during
March 1934. Within a short amount of time the
type soon equipped three squadrons of the
Regia Aeronautica, where it was to prove popular
with its crews on account of its manoeuvrability
and robust construction.
One duty that soon became regular for the
new machine was as an aerobatic platform and
visiting dignitaries to Rome were frequently

entertained by 4° Stormo, the locally based elite
unit, which would put on impressive displays
with formations of ive or ten aircraft. During
1936 air shows were organized above various
other European capitals and major cities, and
during the following year in South America.
When the team returned, a striking display was
put on over the skies of Berlin. Further overseas
tours by Italian display teams were performed
making best use of the aircraft’s favourable
control arrangement, tight turning circle and
excellent handling. It was this outstanding
manoeuvrability that was to convince officials of
the Regia Aeronautica that the biplane platform
remained a viable concept for further
development and deployment even in the face
of a new generation of monoplane ighters.
The Fiat CR.32 was used extensively by the
Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War with at least
380 examples taking part and proving
formidable adversaries to the Soviet Polikarpov
I-15s and I-16s that formed the backbone of the
Republican Air Force. On 18th August 1936 the
irst twelve CR.32s arrived in Spain and three
days later Tenente Vittorino Ceccherelli, a Gold
Medal of Military Valor winner, shot down the
irst enemy aircraft, a Nieuport 52, over Cordoba.
In total the Italian government dispatched
between 365 and 405 CR.32s to Spain while
between 127 and 131 were delivered directly to
Nationalist aviation units. During the conlict six
aircraft were captured by Republican forces, one
of which was shipped to the Soviet Union where
it underwent a detailed evaluation.
Thanks to the agile CR.32 the Italians
managed to achieve air superiority over their
Republican opponents, who lew a motley
collection of very different and often obsolete
aircraft. The Fiat biplane proved to be effective in
the theatre, the Aviazione Legionaria claiming
sixty modern Russian Tupolev SB bombers,
which were once believed to be impossible to
intercept, as well as 242 Polikarpov I-15 and 240
Polikarpov I-16 ighters among others. CR.32
losses were reportedly only seventy three. These
igures may be questionable, although sources
suggest at least forty eight of the SB bombers
CR.32s wearing Austrian markings. In 1919 the
Republic of Austria was forbidden to operate
military aircraft but in 1927 the paramilitary
Heimwehr organisation set up an air corps using
Austrian, British and Italian aircraft. In 1928 the
Bundesheer (federal army) began secretly training
pilots and a technical infrastructure was created and
aircraft ordered from Italy. The Bundesheer began
secretly equipping lying clubs in Vienna-Aspern
and Graz-Thalerhof with Italian built aircraft. In 1936
light engineer Rosner from the Graz-Thalerhof base
won the competition for designing a new national
emblem, which was introduced in the same year.
The white, equilateral triangle with the point facing
downwards in a red disc was a completely new
design and had no prior basis
were conirmed, while others state that a total of
175 CR.32s were lost and that by January 1939
the number of I-15s shot down was in fact only
eighty eight.
The top scoring CR.32 ace was Spaniard
Joaquín García Morato y Castaño, the leading
Nationalist ighter pilot of the Spanish Civil War,
who achieved thirty six of his forty victories
while lying the Fiat biplane. Morato used the
same aircraft, coded 3-51, until his death in April
1939, shortly after the war had inished when he
crashed fatally the machine while performing
low level aerobatics.
During 1938 Spain acquired a license to build
the CR.32. Spanish manufacturer Hispano
Aviación established a production line and Hungarian machines pictured here in 1943, by
constructed at least 100 examples, which were which time the type was relegated to training
locally known under the designation HA-132-L duties
Chirri. Some of these aircraft remained in
military service as C.1 aerobatic trainers up until
as late as 1953.
The aerobatic characteristics of the CR.32 and
its success in Spain misled the Italian air ministry,
which was convinced that a biplane ighter still
had potential as a weapon of war. Consequently
during May 1939, prior to Italy entering World
War II, large numbers of CR.32 ighters in bis, ter
and quater versions, represented two thirds of
all ighters in the Regia Aeronautica. When Italy
declared war on Britain and France on 10th June Two Fiat CR.32s of the Nationalist XVI Fighter
1940 thirty six CR.32s, together with ifty one Group Cucaracha
Fiat CR.42s, formed the operational ighter force
of the Regia Aeronautica in Libya. The irst
combat between CR.32s and British aircraft
came the following day. Six CR.32s intercepted a
formation of Blenheims attacking the airield at
El Adem, claiming two Blenheims shot down
and two damaged for no losses.
It has been claimed that the greatest wartime
successes to be achieved by CR.32s were
accomplished in Italian East Africa where 410a
and 411a Squadriglia CR.32s destroyed a
number of British and South African aircraft,
410a Squadriglia managing to shoot down
Spanish built Fiat CR.32 at Velo, restored into
fourteen enemy aircraft, including both
original Spanish Civil War markings as 328
Blenheims and Hawker Hurricanes, before being
(Alan Wilson)
disbanded.
AIRCRAFT IN PRoFILE

FIAT CR-32quater, MM 4227, 16010, 50th Stormo, Italian Air Force,

Northern Africa, 1940
Aircraft painted in Sand with Dark Green mottles

FIAT CR-32bis, MM 3992, 79-6, 79th Squadriglia, Italian Air Force, Rome 1939
Aircraft showing another Italian camoulage scheme

FIAT CR-32bis, MM 2991, 73-1, Italian Air Force, Ferrara 1935

This CR-32 painted in Silver overall was lown by Col. Pezze

FIAT CR-32bis, 3-61, Escuadrilla 2-E-3, Spanish Nationalist Air Force, lown
by Cpt. Larrazabal, Zaragozza 1937
Aircraft wears the inscription ‘Bermudez Presente’ in memory of Cpt.
Bermudez de Castro, the irst Spanish pilot killed in action
 AIRCRAFT In PROFILe

FIAT CR-32, 3-1, 117, XVI Gruppo Caccia, Aviazione Legionaria, Saragossa, March 1938
Aircraft lown by Mag. Armando Francois, CO of the unit

FIAT CR-32, 4, unit unknown, San Juan

airield, Palma, Mallorca, 1938

FIAT CR-32, 3, X Grupo Autonomo de Caza,

San Juan airield, Palma, Mallorca, 1938

FIAT CR-32, V. 157, Hungarian Air Force, 1938

Aircraft painted in typical Hungarian camoulage scheme of the period
 FIAT CR-32bis, 147, Jagdgeschwader II, Austrian Air Force, Wiener Neustadt, 1938
Aircraft painted in Silver overall

FIAT CR-32bis, 147, I/JG 138, Luftwaffe, Aspern, 1938

The same aircraft as above as it was used by the Luftwaffe
after the occupation of Austria

FIAT CR-32bis, in then standard Luftwaffe

camoulage scheme, Aspern, end of 1938

FIAT CR-32, 801, No. 8 Squadron, 3rd Group,

Chinese Air Force, Shangai, May 1938
FIAT CR-32quater, MM 4227, 16010,
50th Stormo, Italian Air Force,
Northern Africa, 1940
Aircraft painted in Sand with Dark
Green mottles

FIAT CR-32bis, MM 3992, 79-6, 79th

Squadriglia, Italian Air Force, Rome 1939
Aircraft showing another Italian
camoulage scheme

FIAT CR-32bis, MM 2991, 73-1, Italian

Air Force, Ferrara 1935
This CR-32 painted in Silver overall
was lown by Col. Pezze

FIAT CR-32bis, 3-61,

Escuadrilla 2-E-3, Spanish
Nationalist Air Force, lown by
Cpt. Larrazabal, Zaragozza 1937
Aircraft wears the inscription
‘Bermudez Presente’ in memory of
Cpt. Bermudez de Castro , the irst
Spanish pilot killed in action
AIRCRAFT in Profile
royal Hungarian Air force machines were
quickly engaged with Soviet forces following
their declaration of war in June 1941
on 17th June 1940 Cr.32s of 411a Squadriglia
lown by Tenente Aldo Meoli and Maresciallo
Bossi attacked three South African Air force
Junkers Ju 86 bombers bound for Wavello,
escorted by two Hurricanes of 1 SAAf Squadron.
The fiats shot down one of the Ju 86s and then
pounced on the Hurricanes, shooting down the
one lown by 2/lt B.l. Griffiths, who was killed in
the crash, proving that in the hands of a skilful
pilot, the Cr.32 was capable of defeating the
faster, more powerful and better armed
monoplanes.
Cr.32s saw action against Greece in the irst
weeks after the attack of 28th october 1940,
while further aircraft based at Gadurrà airport on
rhodes took part in the invasion of Crete. Cr.32s
of 3° Gruppo operated in Sardinia, but over the
period of July-December 1940 their numbers fell
from twenty eight to seven serviceable aircraft.
Ground crews lacked the fuel, ammunition and
spare parts to maintain their aircraft, often
resulting to improvisation due to the poor
supply situation, which severely curtailed the
ighter's operational effectiveness. The last front
line Cr.32s survived until mid April 1941 after
which the Freccias were sent to the Scuola Caccia
(training schools). By 1942 the type was
relegated to night missions as newer ighters
were put into service.
The irst international operator of the Cr.32
was China, which ordered sixteen Cr.32s of the
irst series in 1933. The aircraft mounted Vickers
7.7mm machine guns instead of the Breda-
SAfAT, electric headlights and the cooling ins
on the oil tank in the nose were removed. These
machines were based at nangahang airport,
near Shanghai. Some officers of the Chinese
high command disliked the fiat, but the italian
biplanes proved superior in comparative tests to
the American Curtiss Hawk and Boeing P-26. The
Chinese Government did not order further
Cr.32s as it was difficult to import alcohol and
benzole to mix with petrol for the engines. By
August 1937 few remained serviceable, and
these were used with some initial success in
Shanghai against the invading Japanese. By the
time the Chinese capital at nanjing fell, all had
been lost.
forty ive Cr.32s were ordered by Austria in
the spring of 1936 to equip Jagdgeschwader II at
Wiener neustadt. in March 1938, following the
Anschluss with neighbouring nazi Germany, the
Austrian units were absorbed into the luftwaffe,
Captured Cr.32 in
Soviet markings
and after a brief period the remaining aircraft Variants
were handed over to Hungary, which eventually CR.32
acquired a total of seventy six Cr.32s during Armed with twin 7.7mm (.303in) or 12.7mm
1935 and 1936. Hungarian fiats were engaged in (.5in) machine guns and powered by 447kW
1939, during the short conlict with the newly (600hp) fiat A.30 r.A.bis engine. Delivered to the
formed state of Slovakia. The Cr.32s gained air Regia Aeronautica between March 1934 and
superiority over the ledgling Slovak Air force, february 1936
which lost a few Avia B.534s and letov S-328s
during this action. CR.32bis
Close support ighter version armed with twin
During the short conlict against Yugoslavia Breda-SAfAT Mod.1928Av. 7.7mm (.303in) and
fought in April 1941, Hungary lost three twin 12.7mm (.5in) machine guns. Bomb racks
machines but by May 1941 the Hungarian Air with ability to carry 100kg (220lb)
force still had sixty nine fiat Cr.32s on strength.
in June 1941, when the kingdom of Hungary CR.32ter
declared war on the Soviet Union, the Cr.32 revised Cr.32bis with many improved features
ighter equipped two of the units that supported CR.32quater
the Hungarian Army on the eastern front. on revised Cr.32ter with reduced weight, added
29th June the irst aerial combat over Hungary radio and increased maximum speed. 337 built
took place when seven Tupolev SB-2 bombers for the Regia Aeronautica
attacked the railway station at Csap. Cr.32s shot CR.33
down three of the raiders while incurring no Three prototypes built with 520kW (700hp) fiat
losses to themselves. AC.33rC engine
following the acquisition of newer ighters, CR.40
including the fiat Cr.42 and reggiane re.2000, one prototype powered by a Bristol Mercury iV
the remaining Hungarian Cr.32s were set aside radial engine
for training duties.
CR.40bis
in 1938 Venezuela acquired nine Cr.32 one prototype only
quaters. Modiications included a larger radiator
CR.41
to assist engine cooling in tropical climate
one prototype only
conditions and the aircraft were delivered to
Maracay in the second half of 1938. With ive HA-132L Chirri
Cr.32s still serviceable the aircraft were struck Spanish version. A total of forty were rebuilt as
off charge in 1943. two-seaters and kept in service as an aerobatic
trainer until 1953
A small number also went to Paraguay in
1938. five Cr.32 quater ighters were assigned to
1.a Escuadrilla de Caza of the fuerzas Aéreas del GENERAL
Ejército Nacional del Paraguay. They did not
arrive in time for military operations against
CHARACTERISTICS
Bolivia, but were in service for several years. Crew: one
Length: 7.47m (24ft 6in)
Thus the Cr.32 held its own into the early war
years, chiely on account of its agility and the Wingspan: 9.5m (31ft 2.25in)
failure of the italian Air Ministry to appreciate
Powerplant: one fiat A30 rA-bis V12, 447kW
fully that brute force and speed were ultimately
(600hp)
to prove the greater advantages in air combat.
The Regia Aeronautica ordered some 1080 Cr.32s Maximum speed: 360km/h (224mph)
and with 100 more Cr.32 quaters licence built in
Range: 781km (485mi)
Spain the aircraft is considerably more than a
Service ceiling: 8,800m (28,870ft)
footnote in the aviation history of the interwar
years. Any representative collection of ighters ARMAMENT
from the period should include at least one Guns: Two 7.7mm (0.303in) or 12.7mm (0.5in)
example of the Arrow, and if you have the Breda-SAfAT machine guns
stomach to paint those astonishing italian
Bombs: Up to 100kg (220lb)
camoulage schemes then by all means more.
FIAT CR-32bis, in then standard
Luftwaffe camoulage scheme,
Aspern, end of 1938

FIAT CR-32, 801,No. 8 Squadron,

3rd Group, Chinese Air Force,
Shangai, May 1938
AIRCRAFT IN PROFILE
Shining a Light on the CR.32
M
odellers to date have not
been spoiled for choice
when it comes to the
CR.32. There are kits in both 1/100
and 1/144 from Minairons
Miniatures, which are mixed media
affairs of resin and white metal.
Minairons seem to specialise in the
Spanish Civil War, with a range of
vehicles and aircraft available. The
1/144 CR.32 kit contains three resin
main parts, complemented by
twelve white metal smaller pieces;
struts, landing gear and propeller,
besides a scale pilot and a decal
sheet with Italian, Hungarian and
Spanish Nationalist markings. The
1/100 kit is similar.
Scaling up to 1/72 the
Supermodel/Italeri tooling has long
been the most readily available, but
AZ Models have a new kit due
shortly in the scale, which promises
to bring the type into the modern
age as far as detail and tooling is
concerned. Two boxings are
announced so far. There was a
Gunze Sangyo kit released in 1979,
but little trace remains of its
passing. By all accounts it was
made of duralumin. AZ’s new tools
will probably be the way forward
for most in this scale.
In 1/48 the Classic Airframes
range covered most variants, and
this tooling has been reissued by
Special Hobby. Other kits in 1/48
include a Smer tooling, based on a
vintage Artiplast kit, and a
Formaplane vacform, again
probably best set aside in favour of
the Czech tooling.
In 1/32 the laurels go to Silver
Wings, whose range of resin
biplanes is entirely suited to the
type. This is a high end resin kit
with metal detail parts and a
corresponding price tag, though if
you want the type in 1/32 it will not
disappoint.
Accessories are thin on the
ground, although Eduard did
produce a set in 1/72 for the Italeri
kit, which includes colour parts and
is pretty much all you need. In 1/48
a couple of sets spring to mind;
Plastic Passion’s interior/correction
set for the Smer tooling, and CMK’s
quater exterior set for the Classic
Airframes kit.
As for decals there are a few
sheets around including items from
Print Scale, Taurus and Hungaero
Decals, but if you can get the set
released in 2006 by Chris Busbridge
in 1/48 then you will be guaranteed
something authoritative and well-
researched. Mr Busbridge used to
build everything Italian for the
Editor in a certain ‘other’ magazine.
If he is still out there modelling
we’d be delighted to hear from
him…
So no reason not to get building.
Some decent kits are available in all
scales, and the new AZ releases will
top up the 1/72 modellers nicely.
Don’t be put off by the spotty
camoulage, there are some nice
prewar options to build and if you
can master the airbrush sufficiently
those Italian schemes can look the
business.
B - 25 C / D M I TC H E L L
Airix B-25C/D Mitchell By Brian Derbyshire
Kit No: 06015
Scale: 1/72
Type: Injection Moulded Plastic
Manufacturer: Airix
www.airix.com
I
've been waiting for this for years! It is possible
to build an accurate irst generation Mitchell
from the previous kits by cross kitting and
heavy hacking, but it's jolly hard work. I know,
I've done it. Now at last we have a C/D that
actually surpasses Hasegawa's redoubtable J.
You can build a winner out of the box... but I
can't. I seem to be constitutionally unable to
refrain from tinkering, as will become clear.
Alternative parts are supplied that give a
limited choice of which versions can be built. A
few more could have given even wider scope,
but this is a mere quibble. It all looks superb,
except for the wingtips. TABS!* The proile of the
wing upper surface should continue out past the
last rib until intercepted by the sharply
dihedralled under surface of the tip as on for
example P-38s. How could Airix incorporate this
on their 1965 H/J kit, but omit it now?
There is very little lash on this kit, but it still
pays to check each and every part for it, and for
ejection pin marks, and fettle accordingly. That
done the it is mostly excellent and the joints are
ingeniously contrived to prevent misassembly.
What a good way to encourage beginners to
persevere with something bigger than they're
used to!
The build starts with officer's country and the
sheer wealth of texture is mind boggling. I have
before me the much admired Hasegawa J kit,
and it's a mere shadow of the Airix offering.
Even the pitch and throttle levers are moulded
58 w w w. s C a l e a i r C r a f t m o D e l l i n g . Co. u k
on the pedestal between the control columns,
needing only a touch of dry brushing to bring
them out. Most satisfactory, apart from the
pilot's seat. Airix, like Hasegawa, have given the
co-pilot the short jump seat, which was
applicable only to the single pilot H model. See
Detail & Scale 60 page forty two, and also page
forty three, which shows that the bombardier's
riding seat D4 had a strut under its left side, not
a panel. The front bulkhead C45 is particularly
delightful, but it includes the ladder like rack for
0.300" ammunition along its starboard edge.
This has to go if you're building an aircraft with
0.50"s in the nose. Elsewhere I found that the
navigator's jump seat (the frying pan in the
bottom of the upper loor B3) folded downwards
when not in use, so if you're going to have the
forward hatch open, that's another little job to
do because it's the only thing in the navigator’s
compartment that is clearly visible.
Interior painting instructions are limited,
mostly to Humbrol 226 Interior Green and black.
Now IPMS Stockholm do a superb run down on
US interior colours online, and according to this
226 will do for loors. Otherwise the basic colour
forward of the bomb bay was Bronze Green,
which is darker and bluer. While we're here, why
take the chance that a coat of paint will prevent
the fuselage halves closing? Strips of masking
tape on the fuselage sides, where the loors and
bulkheads go, will save you lots of scraping.
Bomb bay and doors were aluminium lacquer,
the aft compartment plus nacelles and wheel
wells being Zinc Chromate Yellow. Seat padding
and the lak curtains each side of the hole in
bulkhead C26 would be various shades of khaki
brown. So much is visible through the extensive
and excellent nose and cabin transparencies that
it's more than usually worthwhile to use subtly
different shades of green on seats and such, as
well as black boxes. You'll need aluminium too,
for the top quarters of the control column
handgrips and the semicircular air vent on the
port side of the bombardier's compartment. By
the end of Step 7 all I'd needed to add were my
own seat straps, though I also glued a few scraps
of card to the lower loor assembly to give the
nose gear a more positive location.
Here I started to diverge from the instruction
sequence by installing the nose
weight early. Twenty ive grams are
recommended but never mind the numbers, I
thought, just pack the nose gear bay full of lead,
after coating said lead in oil-based varnish so it
won't corrode, expand, and ruin your invisible
joint lines. Having done that I weighed the
whole Step 7 assembly and got nineteen grams.
Not hopeful… I rubber banded all the tail parts
to the stern and balanced the fuselage on a
cocktail stick at mid bomb bay level, where the
wheels go. Tail sitter! So I packed more lead
between the instrument panel and the forward
bulkhead, to a total Step 7 weight of twenty four
grams, and that sorted it. Why doesn't some
Middle Eastern entrepreneur sell used Warthog
ammunition for this very purpose?
The open bomb bay option is another joy,
though considerable care is needed to get the
bomb ins safely off the sprue. Sleeve over the
ins with bits of drinking straw for British bombs.
I bundled together Steps 8 (but not 9),15,16, 18
(not 19), 20 and 21. Then I inserted the waist
window pieces G1 and G2 from Steps 29 and 30.
Here I found a tiny amount of scraping and
packing was needed to get them properly lush
all round, and it was much easier in a plain and
unencumbered fuselage half. Then came Steps 9
and 19, 10-14, 17 and (sigh of relief ) Step 22, the
joining of the fuselage halves. Though I
chamfered all the locating pip holes and pressed
differentially when applying the MEK, I still got a
tiny step in the fuselage joint, starboard
high/port low, mostly. The B-25 is boxier than
most so it was quite hard to lose, but I took the
opportunity to reduce the raised panels on the
roof which were obvious on Bs and very early Cs,
but not thereafter.
Now we come to the wings, and the tips really
do need ixing. In head on view the Mitchell had
an unmistakeable dihedral/anhedral/dihedral
look. In fact the outer wing datum was dead lat,
but the upper surface had perceptible anhedral
because of its taper. The tip dihedral was
underside only, but no less obvious.
Oh well, here goes. The trailing edges are too
thick anyway, so start by sanding the inside of
the ailerons and the upper surfaces of the laps.
Deepen the panel lines irst, so you don't lose
them.
That done, razor saw along the tip joint line,

Airix have provided a well detailed interior that
needs little embellishment for the casual builder
The inished wings tips now corrected. In head-
on view, the Mitchell had an unmistakeable
dihedral/anhedral/dihedral look. In fact the
outer wing datum was dead lat, but the upper
surface had perceptible anhedral because of its
taper. The tip dihedral was under side only, but
no less obvious
inside the lower surface, not quite through.
Scrape or sand away most of the tip thickness
and bend the tip up. Observe how much better
it looks already.
The upper surface run is ine out to about the
nav. lamp. Mark out (inside) a curve parallel to
the outline and inset by the same distance as the
lamp. Chisel and scrape away outside this curve
to about half the existing thickness, then razor
saw radially in at about 3mm intervals, avoiding
the lamp. Each of the segments can then be
bent straight in turn, rather like decrimping a
crown cork. More internal iling and sanding is
needed to match each tip to its lower
counterpart.
When you're happy with this, go to Steps 24
and 25 when true rivet counters will also hollow
out the oil cooler intakes and outlets. The wings
can now be assembled, the multiple slots in the
tips illed and the leading edges cleaned up. It's
much easier without the fuselage in the way,
and it's not difficult to thread
the complete wing
over the spars when
the time comes,
they're quite lexible
enough. You can
add the laps at this
time, but attach the
inboard sections to the
upper surfaces only, to
ensure the rear spar has the
vertical play it needs.
We get the option of
laps up or fully
down, but I
cannot ind a
single
Slots cut in the wingtip allow it to be
reproiled and can be illed later once the
correct shape has been achieved
instance of a parked and undamaged B-25 with
laps anywhere but up or nearly up. Taxying out
for take-off with partial lap, yes; landing with
full lap, yes; in a crumpled heap with full lap,
yes. But intact and at rest, not a one. Nice
thought, though.
The ins need some scraping of the concentric
ring locating mouldings, which give a step in the
leading edge if not ixed, and the tailplane ends
need a fraction off here and there, where they
plug into the ins. Otherwise, provided you
check and get the trim tab actuators the right
way round, the empennage is lovely and its
trailing edges make me wish Airix had given us
separate ailerons too. The rudders tend to lap
about, though, and need cementing in position.
It's easy and convenient to assemble the
whole tail and add it to the fuselage later.
The main
undercarriage legs,
alas,
MARCH 2019 • VoluMe 41 • Issue 01
B - 25 C / D M I TC H E L L
The wing tips need some serious work to rectify
them. Here the upper wing parts are being
prepared to straighten them to the correct
proile
The author’s astonishing ammunition belt mill…
can't be fed through the slot in the nacelles at
the last minute, as safety dictates, without
sacriicing a lot of the struts inside. This remains
just visible, so I added bits of sprue to the wing
so that the legs could be splinted with balsa and
lolly stick to protect them until the
aforementioned last minute. I absent mindedly
added the torque links here, having broken both
getting them off the runner, so had to put slots
in my splints to accommodate them. It's worth
inserting a bit of card to attach the outboard
corner of the upper struts to the edge of the
nacelle as this makes the inished undercarriage
noticeably more rigid. The nacelle assemblies
themselves were a little disappointing, in that
there was quite a lot of precision fettling and
some minor illing needed. Clean this up before
adding the engine assemblies.
Another departure from the instructions
resulted from the transfer options supplied
as I didn't like Lady Jane, and the mid ships
windows are wrong for Desert Warrior.
I wanted to show off the kit's nose
guns and bombs, so that ruled out
Tondelayo, for which I have decals,
with her strafer nose and parafrag
dispenser. I chose an RAF Mk II
of 320 Squadron for which
I had photos
59
B - 25 c / d M I TC H E L L
of both sides. I thought she had the early
cowlings and exhausts, for which the
appropriate parts are all on Sprue C. They went
together just ine but keep checking the it, as
the rear row of cylinders are particular as to
which irewall they plug into. The engines are
excellent and the propellers have nice hub
detail, but their holes need opening up to accept
the very short shafts, and in fact I drilled out all
the engine parts to suit the much longer prop
shafts I prefer. There was very little illing and
fettling required, and it's much easier to do one
wing at a time with no fuselage to worry about.
Later, after inishing the nose, and thus being
locked into the RAF, I found another starboard
photo, with a better view of the exhausts. Would
you believe inger lame dampers, the only
wartime variety not covered? Curses, pull the
engines off and regroup! I should have used the
Sprue E nacelle and gill parts with the Sprue C
cowls. The exhausts themselves hardly show
behind the closed gills, but for purists, they take
the form of blocks of four square pipes
separated by gaps at mid gill to clear the gill
actuators. I made mine from 0.75mm rod. Gently
smooth a foot long length, divide into four, lay
the sections alongside on a piece of glass, and
brush with MEK. When dry, sand a bit latter.
Square off one end of the pan pipe, with a new
blade and minimum cut, then cut a square, a
width's length, off this end. Cement this inside
the gills, good end outwards and only just
proud, centred on the lowest, but not central, gill
split. Repeat, upwards, three times, then repeat
other side and other engine. The front face of the
nacelle will need notching to match. I can't
honestly swear that this is a hundred percent
accurate for the C-20s built in 1943 for the Dutch
government-in-exile, but it's pretty close for 345
BG's Red Wrath (Squadron/Signal No.1034, page
18)
The belly turret is straightforward, but the
ends of the case chutes are much improved by
opening them up as they show. The
transparency is painted all over, except for the
square scanning window between the gun
barrels and the tiny sighting window
between that and the central axis.
You'll ind very few parked Mitchells
with it lowered. Too late I
noticed that you can see the lack
of turret operating gear through the
side windows.
The top turret is
complicated for a kit,
but still not
60 w w w. s c a l e a i r c r a f t m o d e l l i n g . co. u k
enough so. We get ammo boxes and initial feeds
(D3) but the ammo just reaches the top of its
absent rollers... and stops. In fact it came up this
far points inward then went over a pair of very
tapered conical rollers to head downwards,
points forward, then immediately under parallel
rollers to head sideways into the gun. Shell cases
came out the other side through delector
chutes, which are present, into the dangling
empties bags, absent, but they don't show.
Some etch sets, such as Eduard's for the Italeri
B-25, supply short lengths of both ammo and
ducting. This is too thin and will only bend one
way. Photocopies of it don't work either! My
least worst solution so far is the embossed strip,
produced from soldering wire by a combination
of a toolmaker's vice, a pair of mint
commemorative lorins and some stout pins. The
result doesn't really look right, but at least you
can tie the required knots in it. Don't use coins
that are still legal tender as I believe that still
counts as forgery...
The top turret guns could be parked
anywhere, but aft and a few degrees up was
pretty typical. The turret seat hung down when
not in use, so replace the kit's tab with
something more appropriate. Note that the
turret transparency had joints, but no frames.
Scribe them if you must, but don't add paint.
Then we come to the nose compartment. We
get a nice pair of guns, and the ixed one has the
shell chute and collector bag, but no
ammunition supply for either - solution as
above. I removed both barrels at this stage,
drilling and pinning so that they could be
replaced after painting. The ammo box and
supply for the ixed gun is quite easy, but the
lexible gun ended up supported mostly by its
ammo supply, superglued at both gun and box
ends and tweaked into position very carefully in
conjunction with the nose cap. The bungee
cords holding the breech up are just bits of
stretched sprue and were fed through holes
drilled through the nose cap framing, but next
time I'll groove the aft face of the cap. Said nose
cap was attached with
PVA to the
fuselage
using the top transparency as a guide, so that
everything could be installed and tweaked. Part
F1 was inally dropped in between the cabin roof
and nose cap with very little trouble.
Somewhere during the above I added the
lexible gun's shell collector bag from a card
proile slightly thickened with putty, though not
too fat or it fouls the bombsight.
Ah, the bombsight. 2 Group used the Mk XIV,
not the kit's Norden. Fortunately there's a good
selection of pictures online to enable a scratch
build, though no information on size. I aimed at
much the same size as the Norden. Do study it
well before you start, as it's much easier if you
know roughly how it works; imagine a well
shuffled relector gun sight. I could ind only
prone users for the XIV, so I reassigned the bike
seat to the top turret.
So with the major assemblies complete, this
seems like a good point to do the painting and
decalling. The wing spars are something of a
nuisance, but compared to the wings, engines
and tail they're minor. I've never had such easy
access for inishing. Just ensure you have some
camoulage paint left for touching-up. In my
case it was Mk I Olive Drab (a bit faded) and
Neutral Gray, with a darker patch behind the
serial number, somewhat of a mystery this. Why?
Over to Paul Lucas!
Airix have announced two RAF machines as
their next release. FL218/EV-W Nulli Secundus of
180 Squadron was previously a Frog option,
though with unuseable codes, too large and fat,
alas, and had no nose guns, common in 2 Group,
with single pipe exhausts. Both port and
starboard photos are available. I have no photo
for FV923/SM-E, 305 Squadron, but I would
expect no nose guns and Clayton multi
exhausts. My choice of FR165/NO-S thus lies
between them, both chronologically and
exhaust wise, which is rather a relief. I used the
revised Frog kit's wing and tail markings,
Modeldecal codes and fuselage roundels, and
scrap box serial and triangle. Bomb symbols are
from the Frog/Novo P-47 and there were lots
more of these later on, but I wanted a Spring
1944 setting for my model.
Apart from the wingtips and the trivial
seats, all the problems I had with
this lovely kit were of my own
making. There is nothing that
cannot be embellished, but in this
case, all you can do is to gild the lily
a bit. Magniicently done, Airix.
Keep up the good work!
* "There's Always Bloody
Something..."
PREVIEW
Quick Look
Latest Hunter
By Rick Greenwood
Kit No: 09185
Scale: 1/48
Type: Injection Moulded
Plastic
Manufacturer: Airix
www.airix.com
T
he Hawker Hunter has been
produced in this scale by a
number of kit manufactures
over the years dating back to the
1950s with Merit and more recently
the Academy offering in the late
nineties. What modellers have
wanted though is a current
standard new tool of this
quintessentially British
thoroughbred.
The adage if it looks right then it
lies right certainly applies here as
the Hawker Hunter has to be one of
the most aesthetically pleasing
aircraft ever to grace the skies.
Airix have again kept their
proverbial ingers on the modelling
pulse and released their offering in
January 2019.
As always there is a stunning
digital box top image to get the
modelling juices lowing and entice
the modeller into the build. The
three grey/blue plastic sprues are
contained in a large polythene bag
with the smaller single clear
runners packaged further in their
own protective bag within. Closer
inspection of the plastic reveals
some delightfully restrained
engraved panel line detail that
looks better than I have witnessed
in their latest releases to date.
A quick look over the parts
reveal the ejector pins are in the
most part on the blind side of the
parts and as a result shouldn’t be
too obvious when the kit is
completed. The total parts count
looks to be quite modest too so the
build shouldn’t be over
complicated.
A Cartograf decal sheet for three
aircraft is provided and Airix have
been a bit reserved in the choice of
markings and not that original with
the main scheme which is the same
as the older Academy kit. There are
countless aftermarket sheets
available for the type though, so
the modeller wanting something a
little different from the standard
Dark Sea Grey/ Dark Green
camoulage should be well catered
for.
62 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
The schemes provided in the kit
are as follows:
• 63 Squadron RAF, September
1958, with or without the yellow
and black checks on the tail
• 4 Flying School, 1968
• 324 Squadron, Royal
Netherlands Air Force, 1964
Colour call outs and decal
placement guides are provided on
three full colour glossy diagrams.
The instruction booklet is to the
usual current Airix standard with
exploded CAD style diagrams
easing the modeller through the
build in sixty three stages over
thirteen pages. The inal three
pages consist of a very
comprehensive stencil placement
guide to keep you busy for a few
hours.
Taking a tour through the
instruction booklet reveals a
sensible build approach and
breakdown of parts. Construction
commences with the cockpit and a
nice rendition of the Martin Baker
ejection seat is apparent. The
ejection handles are the thinnest I
have witnessed in plastic and are in
keeping with the scale of the
subject. Decals are supplied for the
instruments to be laid over the
raised detail on the panel but this
should respond well to careful
painting too.
Airix have approached the
bifurcated intakes a little differently
from Academy, having them placed
through an aperture on each side
of the fuselage with a large single
centre part with the upper surface
of the wings then sitting over the
fuselage centre. The intakes and
wheel wells are then sandwiched
between the two lower wing
sections.
Hopefully the it will be good
here as this area is going to be
really noticeable on the inished kit.
Both the F.6 and FGR.9 tail cones
are provided in the kit and taking a
quick look over the parts a FR.9
could possibly be built with the
parts supplied in the box. Flight
control surfaces, with the exception
of the elevators, are single parts
and can be posed in a deployed or
delected position as you choose. It
was noted that there is no detail in
the lap bays, or on the inner faces
of the laps themselves.
It all looks very promising in the
box, and a ine looking Hunter
should result straight out of the
box judging by the built up
examples seen on the Airix stand
at last year’s Scale ModelWorld.
A feature build will follow in due
course.
Until next time…
CO LO U R C O N U N D R U M
Colloquial Colour Conundrums of the Luftwaffe
Port side elevation of BF 110 C W/Nr 3 or 80711 coded 3M+HL of 3/ZG 2 September 1940. Uppersurfaces painted in RLM 70/71 with an area of RLM 02
surrounding the code letters. Under surfaces in 'German Sky'. Spinners painted in RLM70 with RLM 04 tips
O
ne of the subjects addressed in the
article dealing with late war Luftwaffe
colours published in the December 2017
issue of SAM was German Sky, with the
suggestion being made once again that this was
not a late war colour, but had been in use since
1940. Since then, more information has come to
light, which might add some weight to this
assertion.
By the summer of 1940, Bletchley Park was
beginning to have some success in reading
German signals traffic, which had been
encrypted by the Enigma machine, material that
in later years would become known as 'Ultra'.
Some of the summarised intelligence gained
from these Ultra intercepts that throws some
light on Luftwaffe camoulage is available at the
National Archives. For example, intercept
CX/JQ/179 paragraph 14 dated 17 July 1940
stated that:
'On 17 July 1940 Luftlotte 3 was asked to provide
a front line long range reconnaissance Staffel to
try out new camoulage paint for reconnaissance
aircraft'.
It would seem that the only possible
candidate for this trial would have been 3 Staffel
Aufklamingsgruppe 31, which was equipped with
a number of Bf 110s, Do 17s and a HS 126 coded
'5D'.
There is no indication of precisely what colour
this 'new camoulage paint for reconnaissance
aircraft' was. It is suggested that following the
end of the French campaign, the Luftwaffe had
come across a quantity of the British colour 'Sky',
which was used as an overall inish on the
reconnaissance aircraft of the Photographic
Reconnaissance Unit (PRU) and 212 Squadron.
212 Squadron had operated from a succession
of French bases during the French campaign and
as an outgrowth of the PRU at Heston, would
presumably have been supplied
with stocks of the original
'Camotint', obtained by
direct purchase
from Titanine,
that had
been
Port side elevation of Me 410 F6+WK of 3.(F)/122 Trapani airield Sicily August 1943. Upper surfaces RLM 74 and RLM 75. Sides of in and fuselage RLM
74/75/76.Under surfaces 'German Sky'. Bottom of engine cowling RLM 04. Spinners RLM 70 with a Red RLM 23 ring
64 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
Part 2 - Upper Surface Colours 1940 – 1945
named ‘Sky’ by the Royal Aircraft Establishment
(RAE) at Farnborough in January 1940. Might it
therefore have been the case that the Luftwaffe
having found a quantity of the colour used to
some effect on British reconnaissance aircraft,
decided to try it for themselves?
If this was the case, then it would explain why
RAE report EA 14/7 on Ju 88 7A+FM, which was
partially quoted with regard to the upper
surface colours in the irst part of this article,
went on to state that with regard to the under
surfaces:
'All the under surfaces of the wings, nacelles, tail-
plane, fuselage, including the bomb aimers
compartment under the cabin, are painted a
uniform duck-egg bluish-green colour identical
with the Sky colour of British aircraft. This colour
has been painted over the original light blue colour
until now found usual on German aircraft. The
original blue colour is still visible on the less
accessible parts of the under surfaces'.
That this Ju 88 was on the strength of a
reconnaissance unit, Aul. Gr 122, which came
under the control of Luftlotte 2, might indicate
that the trials of the new colour for
reconnaissance aircraft were more widespread
than the single Staffel of Luftlotte 3 mentioned
in the Ultra intercept. Not only that, but from
July 1940 onwards, there are several references
to the use of such a colour on a variety of
German aircraft in an assortment of British
Intelligence reports.
For example, Ultra intercept CX/JQ/299
paragraph 2 of 9 September 1940 stated that:
'On 9 September 1940 OC Fighters issued orders to
I./ZG2 concerning the marking of ‘K a/c’ as follows.
1) For Fighters. Yellow motor nose, yellow rudder. 2)
For Heavy Fighters White ‘Rumphkanzel’.
By Paul Lucas
The instructions stated further that it must be
possible to paint these markings on aircraft
within half an hour, and that units were
themselves to be responsible for obtaining
golden-yellow, white, light green and black
paint. The alleged source of this information
understood that ‘K a/c’ in this context meant
ighter aircraft temporarily in use for bombing
purposes'.
That the term 'Rumphkanzel' is given still in
the German might indicate that Bletchley were
unsure of its precise meaning in this context. The
best that this author can do by way of
translation is to suggest that it means 'fuselage
promontory', i.e. nose, as a number of Bf 110s are
known to have had such a marking during
September 1940 before it became more closely
associated with ZG 26.
The colour referred to colloquially as 'golden-
yellow' was almost certainly Farbton 04; 'white'
Farbton 21 and 'black' Farbton 22, whose uses are
easily explained in the markings of the Jabos,
but what of the 'light green'? Whilst there was a
light green, Farbton 25, which was intended for
use as a marking colour, like the black, it is not
otherwise mentioned in the Ultra intercept in
any context so the question arises whether the
reference to 'light green' was intended to mean
Farbton 25 in a marking context or whether it
was a reference to something else entirely, such
as a light green colour for use on the under
surfaces. Presumably, the context of the use of
the 'light green' had been given in an earlier
communication of some kind.
Evidence that the 'light green' might have
been intended for use on the under surface is
provided by A.I.2(g) Crashed
Enemy Aircraft Report No.
21 dated 3 September

1940
concerning a Bf 110 coded
3M+HL of I/ZG2. The camoulage of this aircraft
was described as follows:
'Camoulage dark green upper surfaces, light green
on sides of fuselage, lower surfaces light blue-
green. 7 vertical yellow stripes on rudders, 4 on
black background'.
That this loss pre-dates the Ultra intercept
might explain why no mention is made of the
purpose for which the 'light green' mentioned
therein was intended if a previous
communication had already dealt with the
subject.
In addition to this report, which clearly links
'light green' with ZG 2, A.I.2(g) Crashed Enemy
Aircraft Report No.18 concerning a Bf 109E on 31
August describes its camoulage as 'grey and
green, upper surfaces, duck egg blue
underneath' whilst A.I.2(g) Crashed Enemy
Aircraft Report No.26 concerning a Bf 109E-4
W/Nr. 5567 of 6./II Schalct LG2 dated 6
September, which was itted with an external
bomb rack, refers to 'Camoulage two shades of
grey on upper surfaces, standard duck egg blue
lower surfaces'. The problem with both these
reports on the two 109s, one of which was a
Fighter Bomber, is of course is what is meant by
the terms 'duck egg blue' and 'standard duck
egg blue’?
The term 'duck egg blue' began to gain
currency in Britain from 7 June 1940 when Signal
X.39 from the Air Ministry to all Commands at
Home and Overseas, AA Command, the
Admiralty and War Office stated:
'Re my X.915 June 7th the colour of camoulage sky
type S repeat S may be described as Duck Egg
Bluish Green'.
Signal X.915 referred to the introduction of
Sky on the under surfaces of Fighter aircraft,
which was actually sent on 6 June. The phrase
'Duck Egg Bluish Green' quickly became
contracted to 'duck egg blue' and became a
commonly used colloquialism for the colour
officially named Sky.
Having examined a large number of RAF
Intelligence reports that describe the colour
schemes of German aircraft brought down over
the UK during 1940, it is apparent that even after
the colloquialism 'duck egg blue' came into
common usage, where reference is made to the
under surface colour of German aircraft, the
most frequently used descriptions are of some
variation of 'light blue'.
For example, Crashed Enemy Aircraft Report
No 18 as referred to above also details the
camoulage
of another Bf
109 lost on 13
August as
having
‘Camoulage
green upper
surfaces, light
blue underneath'.
While it is not
known if both of
these reports
were written by
the same Officer
who used the
colloquialism 'light
blue' to describe
Farbton 65, which
might be expected on
a Messerschmitt with
the original Farbton 70/71 scheme, which he
simply described as 'green' on the upper
surfaces whilst using the colloquialism 'standard
duck egg blue' to describe a 'light green' colour
of some description on the under surfaces of a
Messerschmitt, which appears to have been at
least partly repainted if the reference to the
upper surface camoulage as being two shades
of grey is to be believed, it is at least possible.
That the phrase 'duck egg blue' was only
found in the three instances quoted above
might suggest that the phrase was being used in
the RAF context to describe a colour similar or
identical to the British colour Sky.
Having made as much of a case for the
introduction of 'German Sky' from July 1940 as is
currently possible, there are several instances of
some sort of 'light green' colour being reported
as being used as a camoulage colour on the
under surfaces of Luftwaffe aircraft in RAF
Intelligence reports throughout the rest of the
war. Here are some examples arranged in
chronological order:
Fighter Command Intelligence Summary No.
365 for the period 1 to 7 November 1942 stated
that an Fw 190 had been recently seen to have
the following camoulage:
'Leading edge of mainplane yellow, engine
cowling light brown tail ins light brown or dark
MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01
CO LO U R C O N U N D R U M
Under surface plan view to show extent of
Yellow 04 wing leading edge stripes in
conjunction withGerman Sky under
surfaces on a Fw 190A circa November 1942
as described in FCIS No.365. Under surfaces
'German Sky'. with Yellow RLM 04.Spinner in
RLM 70
yellow. Whole of underside very light green'.
In the Mediterranean Theatre, Aircraft
Inspected by Eastern Air Command Crashed
Enemy Aircraft Report Serial No.169 dated
December 1942 concerned a Ju 88 coded 4U+FK
of Aufkl Gr. (F) 123, which crashed on 16
November 1942. Its camoulage and markings
were described as follows:
'4U+FK 'F' black with white outline. White band all
the way around the fuselage just behind the cross.
Camoulage is dark green upper surfaces with light
green lower surfaces and the under sides of the
engine cowlings yellow. Propeller boss is red and a
crest is carried – a shield quartered red and yellow
with a white eagle outlined in black carrying a
machine gun in its claws'.
Also in the Mediterranean, Aircraft Crashed in
the Middle East Crashed Enemy Aircraft Report
Serial No.184 dated 25 February 1943 for a Fw
200 stated:
'Identiication marking F8+AT (?) The last two
letters were badly burnt. A plate on the in gave
the following Fw 200-33 No. 0164 Weser
Flugzeugbau 7.42. The upper surfaces were dark
green with greenish blue lower surfaces. The
spinners had yellow tips'.
In North Africa an extract from what was
probably a similar document, which is only
identiied as 'Crash Report No.200', concerned
what the Intelligence Officer thought was a Bf
110G. The relevant part of this report stated:
'This aircraft was found at a dispersal point on El
Aouina airield. It had been blown up and burned.
Identiication markings.
3U+KS (K in red, the other letters in black).
Works Number believed to be 5179.
camoulage dark green upper surfaces, light green
lower surfaces'.
The camoulage of the irst Me 410 to be shot
down over the UK on the night of 23/24 August
1943 was described in A.I.2(g) Crashed Enemy
Aircraft Report No. 206 dated 30 August 1943.
W/Nr. 10120 was described as being 'green and
grey on the upper surfaces and light green on the
lower surfaces'. Here the term 'green and grey'
could easily be a description of the usual factory
applied Farbton 74 and 75 disruptive scheme
applied to the upper surfaces on the production
line whilst the term 'light green' on the lower
surfaces speaks for itself.
Aircraft Crashed in the Middle East Report
Serial No. 233 dated 1 April 1944 concerned a Ju
88 T-1 W/Nr. 430925 shot down by two Spitires
on 29 February 1944. Its identiication markings
65
CO LO U R C O N U N D R U M
Port side elevation of a Bf 109 F between June and July 1941 as described by FCIS No.262. Upper surfaces RLM 74 and RLM 75. Sides of in and fuselage
74/ 75 /02 mottle. Spinner one third white, two thirds black. Under surfaces RLM 05
were +W on the port side of the rear portion of
the rear fuselage and its camoulage was
described as being:
'Dark green on the upper surfaces, light greenish
blue on the lower surfaces. The rudder was a
tropical sand colour'.
A.I.2(g) Crashed Enemy Aircraft Report Serial
No. 247 dated 14 June 1944 describes a Ju 88
that crashed near Andover on 10 August, which
upon examination was found to be the lower
component of a Mistel combination. Its
identiication markings were described as 'C in
black on yellow. No other markings could be
obtained'. Its camoulage was described as 'Dark
green on upper surfaces, light green on some lower
surfaces. The whole of the undersurface of the
mainplane appeared to be yellow'.
An illustration of the problems caused by
colloquial descriptions of colours is provided by
the contents of Aircraft Crashed in the Middle
East Crashed Enemy Aircraft Report Serial No.
204 dated 18 August 1943 entitled 'Aircraft
Captured in Sicily'. This noted that eight Me 410s
had been captured in Sicily, three of which were
found on Trapani airield. One of these was
found in very good condition inside a blast pen
and was the subject of a detailed report. The
aircraft was identiied as a Me 410 A-2/U-1
despite the main plate being missing and it was
thought that the Works Number was
2100110018. All the remaining identiication
plates showed Messerschmitt Augsburg and
whilst no acceptance dates were noted, all the
radio and compass deviation cards were dated
8/4/43.
The camoulage and markings were given as
follows:
'Identiication Markings.
F6+WK, the original four letter factory markings
were DI+NN. The camoulage is light mottled blue
on the upper surfaces, with duck-egg blue on the
lower surfaces, with the under sides of the engine
cowlings yellow. The spinner is green with a red
ring. The crest consisted of a comic igure riding a
bomb carrying a camera under its arm, with a
motto – 'Holzauge sei wach'.
In an earlier draft of this article the suggestion
was made that this aircraft, which belonged to
Aufkl.Gr (F) 122, might possibly have had
German Sky on its under surfaces based on the
written description of 'duck egg blue' under
surfaces. The discovery of a colour photograph
of this aircraft however clearly shows that in this
instance 'duck egg blue' was a reference to the
standard Farbton 76 inish. This aircraft is still of
interest however as the description of 'light
mottled blue' on the upper surfaces appears to
be a reference to what appears to be Farbton 77
66 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
to the sides of the fuselage, in and rudder. The
description of the under surfaces of the engine
cowlings as yellow and the spinner as green with
a red ring, would appear to be applicable to the
starboard engine only as on the port side, the
spinner appears to be Farbton 77 whilst the
under surface of the engine cowling is either
Farbton 76 or 77.
Finally in this section, anyone living in the UK
who wishes to see an artefact with what appears
to be German Sky still upon it will ind the colour
displayed to some advantage on the under
surfaces of the late war (circa 1945) long range
V-1, which is hanging from the ceiling of the
atrium of the Imperial War Museum at Lambeth
in London.
Yellow Under Surfaces on Fighters
The author irst came across mention of
Luftwaffe Fighters with yellow under surfaces in
the pages of Pierre Clostermann's book 'The Big
Show'. The irst time Clostermann mentions
German Fighters with yellow under surfaces is to
be found on page 39 where he describes his irst
encounter with the enemy, a Fw 190, during
what he describes as Circus No. 87, an attack by
seventy two B-17s on Amiens Glissy airield in
the spring of 1943. After describing how he
identiied the FW 190 by virtue of having studied
photographs and recognition charts, he then
writes:
'But what had been missing from the photos was
the lively colouring – the pale yellow belly, the
greyish green back, the big black crosses outlined
with white'.
The 'greyish green back' might conceivably be
a colloquial description of a standard Farbton 74
and 75 inish on the upper surfaces and the big
black crosses need no further explanation, but
why describe the under surface colour as pale
yellow? Perhaps the most plausible explanation
might be that it was the impression given by a
leeting glimpse of the yellow tactical marking
on the under surface of the engine cowling. If
this was indeed the case, then the idea that any
Luftwaffe ighter on the Channel Front had a
pale yellow under surface could be dismissed.
The problem is that Clostermann was not the
only Allied pilot to report such a thing. The
earliest reported sighting of a German aircraft
with yellow under surfaces found at the time of
writing is contained in FCIS No. 192 covering the
period 15 to 18 October 1940. This states that:
'Me 109 are reported with black and orange stripes
and yellow under surfaces'.
Quite what the stripes were is open to
question, but the reference to 'yellow under
surfaces' is clear.
The next reference is FCIS No.262 covering the
period 30 June to 5 July 1941. The relevant part
states:
'On the 2nd Me 109s were seen with …
Others have been seen with yellow under surfaces
and black crosses on a blue background'.
The reference to the crosses appearing on a
blue background suggests that when the yellow
was applied to the under surfaces, it was kept
away from the crosses to the extent that they
were left with sufficient of the original Farbton
65 or 76 inish showing so as to allow a blue
background to be perceived at a distance
This was followed by an Intelligence Report by
452 Squadron dated 18 August 1941,which
noted after an engagement that:
'Enemy aircraft had grey fuselages with
brown/yellow under surfaces'.
Sightings of yellow under surfaces continued
to be reported into 1942. FCIS No.326 covering
the period 13 to 17 April 1942 stated that:
'8. Camoulage of Me 109F. It is reported that two
Me 109Fs which recently came in at sea level to
make an attack with bombs and machine guns on
various objectives were tinted yellow on the
underside of the fuselage'.
FCIS No.342 covering the period 22 to 29 June
1942 referred to various examples of Fw 190s as
being seen to be:
'(b) yellow underneath and blackish grey on top
with black crosses picked out sharply in white'.
Today, the more cynical reader might
conclude that a signiicant number of Fighter
Command's pilots were colour blind, but at the
time these reports of German Fighters with
yellow under surfaces were taken very seriously
as a clear and present danger to Britain's air
defences. On 26 August 1942, the Air Ministry in
London sent a Postagram to all Home
Commands and a host of other interested
parties to try to counter the possible use of
Luftwaffe aircraft over the UK bearing yellow
under surfaces.
Entitled 'Markings on Friendly Aircraft' the
Postagram opened by stating:
'It is considered possible that the enemy may make
use of aircraft bearing yellow under-surfaces,
similar to those borne by friendly training,
communications and experimental aircraft, for the
purpose of making low-level attacks on
aerodromes in the United Kingdom'.
The Postagram then went on to describe the
application of black markings on the Yellow
under surfaces of British aircraft upon receipt of
the code word 'Pressure'. The measure was never

implemented
and instructions for the
possible use of such markings were
withdrawn by a Postagram dated 19 February
1944.
The idea that the Germans were seeking to
gain some tactical advantage from the use of
yellow under surfaces was also stated in FCIS No.
358 covering the period 19 to 20 September
1942:
'Deceptive camoulage
6. An Fw. 190 which delivered a low level attack on
a south coast town on September 19th is reported
to have had the whole of the under surface of the
wings and fuselage coloured a broken yellow. This
departure from normal German colouring may
represent an attempt to deceive ground defences
into thinking that the attacking aircraft is a friendly
aircraft of one of the kinds usually so coloured'.
The yellow inish was still being reported in
1943. FCIS No. 383 covering the period 28
February to 7 March 1943 stated:
'5. The following variations of camoulage on Fw.
190s have been reported recently.
(v) Reddish brown or brownish green on top with
yellow bellies'.
Whilst the origin of these sightings is
unknown, Pierre Clostermann wrote about
sighting Fw 190s in a very similar scheme in two
accounts. Firstly, on page 48 of 'The Big Show' he
describes shooting down a Fw190 thus:
'One of the wings, torn off in the lames, dropped
more slowly, like a dead leaf, showing its pale
yellow under-surface and its olive green upper-
surface alternately'.
Then on page 72 he describes a sighting of 27
August 1943 in the following terms:
'...two magniicent, brand-new glistening '190s',
their cowlings painted red and their big fascinating
black crosses standing out on the ochre and olive
green of the fuselage. Whang! Three others passed
like lightning a few yards below me, waggling their
stubby yellow wings'.
In addition to these accounts, on page 47 he
makes reference to 'a magniicent Fw 190A6
CO LO U R C O N U N D R U M
Under surface view of a Bf 109 F between
June and July 1941 as described by FCIS
No.262. Spinner one third white, two thirds
black. Under surfaces painted in RLM 05
the
south coast of
England, but it does not accord
painted with either the Intelligence Summaries' or
yellow all over Clostermann's description of the colour. Neither
and polished like a would the use of the alternative marking colour
jewel'. Farbton 27, which was a more acidic lemon
yellow hue.
Whilst the
references to The colour swatches that are included in a
yellow under number of reference works by both Merrick and
surfaces made in Ullmann do however suggest one possibility,
'The Big Show' which might be described colloquially as being a
remained 'pale yellow' or alternatively 'brown/yellow'. This
anecdotal, they is Farbton 05 Elfenbein, which was principally
were always open used on gliders but also apparently also found
to some doubt. That its way onto the experimental DFS 228 V1 rocket
there is some powered high altitude reconnaissance aircraft.
documentary Whilst at irst glance it might seem counter
evidence that they intuitive to use such a colour as a camoulage
did actually exist in inish on the under surfaces of a Fighter aircraft,
setting its pale brownish yellow hue aside, the
tone of the colour appears to be not dissimilar to
the British colour Sky. Thus the use of Farbton 05
as an under surface camoulage colour would be
no more counterintuitive than the use of Sky
and possibly just as effective at medium
altitudes.
the form of the The extent to which the yellow inish might
Intelligence reports and have been applied on a unit basis along the
RAF Postagrams quoted here puts the use of Channel Front as a whole or to an individual
some kind of yellow colour on the under aircraft on any speciic unit is not known.
surfaces of some Luftwaffe day ighters on the
Given that sightings of German ighters with
Channel Front on a somewhat irmer footing
some kind of yellow colour on their under
though exactly what hue might have been
surfaces appear to have spanned the period
carried by such aircraft is open to question.
October 1940 to at least August 1943 and refer
Farbton 04 was widely used as a tactical marking to both Bf 109s and Fw 190s, might it therefore
on the under surfaces of the cowls and was a be the case that the 'yellow' (Farbton 05?) under
strong chrome yellow hue almost identical to surface was an officially sanctioned scheme that
the RAF shade Yellow, which was used on the saw widespread use on the Channel Front and
under surfaces of the aircraft used in the roles was not the result of a local initiative, which was
itemised in the Postagram. As a ruse-de-guerre, only applied to a few aircraft for a relatively short
as suggested by the Postagram, the use of space of time?
Farbton 04 on the under surfaces of Luftwaffe
From a modelling perspective there is
Day Fighters might make some sort of sense,
unfortunately no really close match to Farbton
especially during the period during the late
05 in FS 595 terms, the closest colour possibly
summer of 1942 when Fw 190s were engaged in
being FS 33798. In model paint terms, Humbrol
carrying out hit and run raids in daylight along
78 Matt Linen is a reasonable match.
MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01 67
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Blackburn NA39 Sixtieth Anniversary
A 1/72 Kitbash
By Brian Derbyshire
NA39 Prototype XK486 at the Blackburn
factory at Brough during ground run trials
early in 1958. Interesting to see the Blackburn
Beverley Transport aircraft in the background
(Photo property of BAE SYSTEMS)
In 1960 Airix produced an updated version of
their earlier kit of the Blackburn NA39
originally released before the aircraft was
named Buccaneer. At that time the Airix
factory was at Marleet a few miles away from
Blackburn’s plant
Kit No: 384
Scale: 1/72
Type: Injection Moulded Plastic
Manufacturer: Airix
www.airix.com
The Czech Master Scale Resin kit of the
Blackburn NA39 preproduction aircraft. Nice
crisp mouldings, providing the detailed parts I
needed
Kit No: 7202
Scale: 1/72
Type: Resin
Manufacturer: Scale Resin
68 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
T
he Sixtieth Anniversary of the irst light of
Blackburn NA39, XK486, the Buccaneer
prototype, was commemorated by The
Buccaneer Aviation Group (TBAG) in spectacular
style at Bruntingthorpe, with four Buccaneers on
show, three of them performing fast taxi runs
along the Bruntingthorpe runway.
On 30th April 1958 NA39 XK486, with chief
test pilot Lt-Cdr Derek Whitehead at the controls
and Bernard Watson as observer in the rear
cockpit, took off from RAE Thurleigh near
Bedford on its maiden light. After a short series
of handling tests and systems checks, during
which the aircraft reached 17,000 feet, XK486
returned to Thurleigh touching down thirty nine
minutes later. It was a successful light and the
crew were in no doubt that Blackburn had
produced a winner.
As part of the commemoration I wanted to
make a model of the Blackburn NA39 prototype
for display during the celebrations. In my model
stash I knew I had an early Airix kit of the NA39,
but I also knew it was an early moulding, lacking
in detail and accuracy. However I had also
acquired one of the new Czech Master Scale
Resin kits of the Blackburn NA39 Preproduction
Version, so felt conident of being able to
complete the task.
Researching the subject took quite a bit of
time as I wanted the model to be what it looked
like at the time of the irst light. There are many
pictures of XK486, but its appearance changed
as alterations were made during the
development lights. The nose was a different
size and shape to that provided in the kits and
several tail air brake designs were tried,
including adding a hump for an anti-spin
parachute for subsequent light trials. The best
drawings to assist me in the task were those by
Mark Rolfe, from On Target Spotlight 2 Blackburn
Buccaneer.
Blackburn Buccaneer S1 630 in the Fleet Air
Arm Museum at RNAS Yeovilton. A good
source of information for detailing the model
The Scale Resin kit looked good, with nice
crisp moulding and lots of detail. In the early
stages of the NA39 design, it had already been
decided to follow the aerodynamic indings from
other high speed jets, such as the Javelin and
add small triangular vortex generators near the
leading edge of the upper wing surfaces to
improve airlow. These were nicely replicated on
the Scale Resin wings, but looked like a row of
bricks on the Airix wings. However I was to
discover that the Airix kit had one major
advantage over the Scale Resin kit. Its parts
actually itted together.
Having such detailed parts to work with, I
wanted to get things right. The NA39 had the
smaller air intakes of the Gyron Junior powered
aircraft, which became the Buccaneer S1. So I set
off to RNAS Station Yeovilton, home of the Fleet
Air Arm Museum, to take detailed photographs
of their Buccaneer S1. From these I could start
working on the kit parts.
On trying some dry itting of the resin parts I
soon realised I was going to have problems. I
knew from the instructions I would need to do
some careful cutting and sanding down and
followed these in relation to the upper and lower
fuselage parts, but it soon became obvious that
there was no way these were ever going to it
together.
The same parts in the Airix kit itted perfectly
despite its age, which prompted me to consider
doing a cross kit model using parts from both.
Looking at alternatives, I did have a later Airix
Buccaneer S2 Kit with conversion parts from
Freightdog Models and detail sets from
Neomega, but this had the larger air intakes and
other differences. Comparing the older and
newer Airix kits, the fuselage mouldings were
almost identical in size and shape and the
Neomega detailed parts for the cockpit and
The
Buccaneer
undercarriage
and cockpit
sets from
Neomega
Resins are
very good
and itted the
Airix NA39
kit with a little
sanding
down

With the additional weight of the resin parts I
decided to play safe and went for the
excellent Scale Aircraft Conversions white
metal landing gear set for the Buccaneer
Upper fuselage with intake areas cut away to
it more accurate Scale Resin parts. Also the
rear cockpit area was cut back as the kit
cockpit was too short with an inaccurate lush
it canopy
wheel wells would it just the same in the old kit
parts, with a little illing and fettling.
The Lower Fuselage
Both kits have the fuselage split horizontally
and I decided to work on the lower fuselage irst.
The Airix NA39 had a number of features, which
included a rotating bomb bay door to which a
bomb could be attached to the interior. I did not
want this feature so using strips of plastic card I
made battens to hold the door in the closed
position. This was then cemented in place and a
small amount of iller added to close any gaps.
The tail area also had an opening for the tail
hook well, which included doors that could be
positioned open or closed, depending on
whether you wanted the tail hook up or down. I
wanted it up, so itted the doors to the closed
position and added iller to cover any joint gaps.
The lower fuselage part had wheel well
shaped openings for the nose and main
undercarriage, but there was no well detail with
the undercarriage legs itting through the
openings into slots moulded on to the
underside of the upper fuselage. To remedy this I
added the Neomega resin nose wheel well and
main wheel wells, which only needed a bit of
trimming to match the wing root contours to it
These are nicely detailed and look good when
itted.
Engine Intakes and Jet Pipes
The Airix NA39 was a typical moulding of the
period, with little internal detail. The air intake
and jet outlet were left as open holes that you
could see right through. The Scale Resin kit
included some nicely detailed air intake sets and
jet pipe sets and itting these to the Airix kit
would certainly improve the model. I began by
measuring up the resin intake parts and then the
intake areas of the top and bottom Airix
The lower fuselage showing bomb bay and
tail hook doors in place in the closed position
and Neomega Resin wheel bays itted. The
front part of the air intakes have been cut
away to allow itting of more accurate parts
Front cockpit details. There is a lot in there and
the primary colour of both cockpits is grey for
which I used Humbrol 126. I used the
Neomega Resin cockpit set to add detail to
this area
fuselage parts, to determine how much to cut
away to ensure an accurate positioning of the
resin parts. As the intake areas of the Airix kit
actually included the fuselage sides of the rear
cockpit area, this would not be an easy task
because I would have to reform the fuselage
sides so that the resin intakes had something to
it against. One inaccuracy of the Airix kit is
having the air intake ring moulded directly as
part of the fuselage side, whereas the real
aircraft has a small fairing between the fuselage
and the intake. This fairing is on the Scale Resin
parts.
Having marked out the areas to be cut away, I
used a scriber tool and then a razor saw to cut
into the plastic. I removed the intake areas from
both the upper and lower fuselage parts. The cut
away cockpit side areas were repaired using
plastic card and Milliput iller, sanded to shape
when dry.
Before I could cement the upper and lower
fuselage parts together and it the intake parts
though I needed to complete the internal work
on the upper fuselage and cockpit area.
The Cockpit
For the cockpit area, Airix only provide a loor
part on which two seats have to be cemented
and no other detail. Whilst the Scale Resin kit has
a better representation of the cockpit, the
Neomega resin cockpit set is much superior in
detail.
Using photographs of the front and rear
cockpit interiors as a guide, I started work on the
Neomega interior cockpit set. Having washed
the part in soapy water to remove any release
agent, I sprayed both this and the fuselage sides
with Halfords grey primer. The instrument panels
and side walls are painted grey, but the primer is
too dark. Humbrol 126 (Medium Grey) looked
about right, so this was painted on top of the
MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01
B U CC A N E E R
Air intake detail including the fairing in
between the fuselage sides and the intake
and the smaller intakes at the wing root
Adding some cockpit detail and the seats.
Early Buccaneers had Martin Baker Mk 4s
itted. Note that in Buccaneers the Pilot’s seat
is offset to port and the Observer’s to
starboard
primer. I then did some dry brushing with black
and white paints to draw out the detail. The rear
cockpit radar screen has a noticeable orange tint
to it and this was also detailed to look the part. I
wasn’t happy with the front cockpit instrument
panel and resorted to using an instrument decal
from a Modeldecal Buccaneer set, which
improved the appearance.
Martin Baker Mk 4 ejection seats were itted to
early Buccaneers and I ordered a set a set of two
from Neomega. These have to be ordered
separately, as the Buccaneer Cockpit Set is
geared for the Airix S2 which has the later MB
Mk 6 seat. The early seat also has a single loop
iring handle above the headrest. Photos of the
seat show it to have black metal work, with
sandy brown seat cushion and back pack. The
straps are a slightly darker brown colour.
The cockpit seating is not in straight tandem
arrangement. The pilot’s seat is off-set to port
and the navigator’s seat to starboard. Looking
straight ahead, the navigator can just see
forward over the pilot’s right shoulder.
Photographs of the NA39 prototypes show at
this stage the internal windscreen on top of the
navigator’s instrument panel was not itted. This
would be a future modiication.
Looking at the real aircraft and comparing the
parts and cockpit canopy sizes, the Airix cockpit
and canopy are too short. The Scale Resin
canopy is correct in size so I cut away about
4mm from the rear of the cockpit area to give it a
correct it. The Airix canopy is made to it lush
over the cockpit area, whereas on the real
aircraft the rear of the canopy overlaps the
fuselage top behind the cockpit. It opens by
sliding back along the fuselage spine.
With the cockpit area complete, I cemented
the resin kit canopy in place and masked this to
give it some protection as I completed further
work and prepared the model for painting.
69
B U CC A N E E R
Canopy detail. The canopy opens by sliding back over the spine of the
aircraft and when closed overhangs the spine at the rear. Buccaneer S1 Coming together with intakes and outer wings itted. The shape of the
XN964/630 at Newark Air Museum. Always worth a visit to see nose cone and tail air brakes were unique to this prototype
Main undercarriage bay detail with the
Gyron Junior jet pipe running through
Intake Fitting drawings and photographs were checked for
Having completed the internal work I needed accurate positioning, before the intakes were
to do at this stage, I could now assemble the superglued in place. As the Scale Resin intakes
upper and lower fuselage parts together. There were slightly wider some rubbing down was
was some lash on the rear fuselage that needed needed, with a little iller to blend in the parts.
removing and some of the locating pins and With some slight modiications the Scale Resin
holes were slightly out of alignment. Overall jet pipes were also positioned in the wing roots
though, the it was good with little gap iller on each side of the fuselage, improving the
needed. appearance of the engine exhaust areas.
The Scale Resin intakes come with a rear part The upper and lower fuselage parts are
replicating the intake bullet and compressor fan moulded to include the engine bays and the
blades of the Gyron Junior engine. The intake inner wing areas, out to the wing fold join line.
interior was painted white whilst the bullet was The inner wings also have a smaller air intake in
painted silver with a tint of bronze. The blades the leading edge wing root. This is also just left
were painted silver-grey. This as a hole in the Airix wing. To remedy this I
gives a realistic look in rolled some thin brass foil into a tube, inserted
the intake and also them into the intakes and using a small lat
avoids the see screwdriver pressed the front of the foil tube
through intakes of the into the shape of the intake. Milliput was used
Airix kit. Dry itting the the ill the end of the tube and the foil was
intakes showed some superglued into place.
further trimming After some
work was needed trimming and a
bit of iller
and scale
around the
intake lips
these also
looked the
Completed model
part.
starboard view. The
prototype had few
stencils and looked
pristine in its
Oxford Blue and
white paint scheme
70 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
Working on the undersides of
the completed model including
adding wheel bay details
The Nose
Prototype XK486 was developed without nose
radar, with the nose housing test and measuring
equipment and consequently did not have the
Blue Parrot radar nose cone typical of later
aircraft. Using the scale drawings, from a
position just in front of the cockpit the nose
cone curved forward to a point six feet six inches
at the front of the aircraft. At the point of the
nose an eight feet long air data probe was itted.
The Airix kit nose has the two steps down
proile of the radar nose cone, but this was not
as pronounced as the Scale Resin kit, so I worked
on the Airix nose to get it to the right shape and
size for my model. The kit nose parts include a
hinge giving the novelty of being able to pivot
the cone over to its port side parking position.
However XK486 did not have this provision. I
assembled the nose cone parts and itted them
in place as per the kit instructions. Using a razor
saw, I then cut away the nose just in front of the
cockpit on a join line shown on the drawings.
I fashioned a nose probe using thin brass
tubing with a plastic rod insert and thin wire for
the ] shaped sensors itted on the probe. A hole
was drilled in the nose cone to it the probe and
the nose was then illed with lead shot and
Milliput iller, which added weight to the nose
for the model to stand on its undercarriage. I
also used it to ill the gaps around the kit hinge
parts. It was then a matter of using more Milliput
and Plasticard, with much iling and rubbing
down, to reproile the nose to the desired shape
and size, matching the drawings and then
itting the inal outcome to the fuselage.
Wings
For the outer wings, I
used those from the
Scale Resin kit. To
ensure correct

alignment and a strong it I drilled holes in both
the inner and outer wing joint faces and
superglued two brass rod pins in the outer
wings to it into the holes of the inner wing. With
the outer wings attached with superglue, some
sanding down of the inner wing was needed to
ensure a lush it. The Airix inner wings have two
slots in them to enable modellers to fold the
wings, however as I did not want this I illed the
slots with Plasticard and Milliput and sanded
them smooth to match the rest of the wing. At
this time the wing fold hinge areas had a
covering panel over them. In later years, these
panels were removed and the fold brackets left
exposed.
Tail and Air Brakes
I used the Airix in
and tail plane, or
stabilator as it was
termed, as this was correct for the early NA39s.
The characteristic bullet fairings at the front and
rear of the tailplane were a later it. A little iller
was necessary where the in joined the fuselage
spine, but otherwise, the it was ine and I just
needed to check the alignment of the T tail.
The rear clamshell folding air brakes on the
prototype were designed with four lateral
strakes, positioned in an X arrangement so I
altered the Airix parts and added the strakes
using Plasticard. The strakes went the full length
of the air brakes. I talked with Max Roden, the
Blackburn Aerodynamicist at Brough responsible
for the air brake design, and he told me that they
held trials with several designs of strake shapes
and positions on the prototype aircraft. The
problem was that when the air brakes were
open, they delected air up to the all moving tail
plane, pushing it up causing the aircraft to pitch
up. It was cured by having shorter strakes
positioned vertically on the top and bottom of
the air brake fairings.
At some stage provision was made for the
itting of a spin recovery parachute in a fairing
on the tail of the trials aircraft, although I found
conlicting information as to whether it was
actually itted for the irst light. As I was also
uncertain as to its true size, shape and position, I
decided to leave it off.
With the main body of the aircraft complete I
could move on to the main painting stage,
leaving the undercarriage and smaller parts until
later.
Painting and Decalling
The NA39 prototype was painted gloss Royal
Blue on the upper surfaces with the undersides
being gloss white. To prepare the model I gave it
a good cleaning using decorator’s wipes and
when dry sprayed it with Halfords White Primer.
In addition to providing a good surface for the
inal paint, the primer also
revealed any cracks or
surface laws that needed
attention. The external
surfaces of the
undercarriage doors
were also treated the
same way, ready for the
gloss white inish. For
the undersides I
used
Halfords Appliance White, which dries to a nice
smooth inish. I gave the underside a coating of
Johnsons Klear to protect it and masked the
model ready for air brushing the upper surfaces.
To assist with test light data monitoring, ive
white squares were positioned in a horizontal
line on each side of the in. I did not have the
decals for this, but as the in was painted white I
decided to cut the squares using masking tape,
place them in a line on the white in and spray
over them, so that when the tape was removed I
would have the ive white squares. From
photographs I roughly determined the position
of the squares and measured the model,
marking out on a strip of tape equal spacing for
aligning the squares. Next time I’d do this before
the stabilizer was itted!
The canopy framing was also painted black,
the interior colour, before the blue top coat was
applied.
I used Tamiya X3 Royal Blue for the upper
surfaces, air brushing several light coats until I
had a smooth even inish. This was allowed to
dry and also given a protective coat of Klear.
Fortunately, the masking tape did its job and
when removed, I had a nice demarcation line
between the blue and white, including the data
squares on each side of the in.
The decals needed were pretty
straightforward as there was little stencilling on
the prototype. National insignia roundels were in
six positions, with those on the blue upper
surfaces having a white outline. These were
obtained from Xtradecal sheet XO41-72, which
also includes white backing decals to give the
outline. There was no in lash on the nose,
warning triangles were positioned below the
pilot’s and observer’s positions and the serial
number XK486 appeared in white on both sides
of the rear fuselage. The serial number in black
lettering was also present under the wings.
MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01
B U CC A N E E R
Port side view. The front
of the instrument nose
probe and the brass
master pitot have yet to
be painted chrome.
Undercarriage and Finishing Touches
Where I can I like to leave undercarriage legs
and aerials etc. until last as they are easy to
knock off or damage when holding the model
for painting and decalling. The Neomega
undercarriage bays are suitable for some
detailing and the interior colour was
predominantly natural metal or painted
aluminium. The rear engine/jet pipe area of the
bays had a light bronze inish with related pipe
work and hydraulic lines being silver.
The Airix undercarriage legs are very basic
and the Scale Resin parts look much better,
although the legs in my box were broken so I
acquired a set of Scale Aircraft Conversions
metal legs, 72053. These would also cope better
with the additional weight of the resin parts. The
legs were painted light grey.
With the undercarriage and doors itted, the
inishing work included adding the fuselage
aerials and the wing pitot tube. I used the
excellent Brass pitot tube from Master for this. A
little touch up painting around the engine intake
and jet pipe outlet was needed and then the
whole aircraft was given a inal protective coat of
Johnsons Klear.
The model went on display at the
Commemoration Event at Bruntingthorpe and
was presented to Mr David Webber, Chairman of
The Buccaneer Aviation Group.
Acknowledgements
For this article, I would like to thank The Buccaneer
Aviation Group for giving me access to their
aircraft and BEA SYSTEMS for use of the NA39
photograph
Four Buccaneers at the anniversary
celebrations. Sadly the weather
did dampen the proceedings
71
G OT H A G O 150
Gotha’s 150
By Huw Morgan
M
aster-X are a Czech manufacturer who
have established a rather niche position
in producing all resin kits of obscure
civilian and between-the-wars trainer aircraft,
producing models from manufacturers like
Siebel, Arsenal, Skoda, Payen, Gotha and Berlin,
names that don't trip off the tongue and aren't
usually top of the Google search lists.
Origins
Despite the inancial and social constraints of
Gotha Go 150 the 1930s, the decade proved to be a signiicant
Kit No: MX 7213.03 period in aircraft development, with many of the
innovations tried on small civilian aircraft inding
Scale: 1/72
their way into the war planes of the following,
Type: Resin more warlike decade.
Manufacturer: Master-X Early in 1937, during the major build-up of the
www.master-x.wz.cz German aircraft industry, the technical wing of
the Reichsluftfahrministerium (RLM) responsible
for the development of new
aircraft decided to
concentrate on
72 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
a small number of manufacturers, and relegated
builders such as Gothaer Waggonfabrik, Bücker,
Fieseler, Halle and Klemm to secondary roles,
telling these manufacturers that they would not
be considered for major contracts for key
military aircraft, but advising them to
concentrate on smaller projects, among them a
Volkslugzeug or small twin engined
civilian/trainer aircraft. In response to this
direction, Gothaer Waggonfabrik developed the
Go 150, while other companies produced the
contemporary Klemm Kl 105, Siebel Si 202, the
Bucker Bu-180 and the Fieseler Fi 253.
The Gotha 150, which emerged from this hot
bed of competition, was a twin engined
monoplane with an enclosed cabin designed by
Albert Kalkert which irst lew in 1937. The
airframe had space for four seats, although
commonly only two were itted, and it was
powered by two 50hp Zundapp Z 9-092 air
cooled, four cylinder engines, giving a top speed
of 124mph (200kph) and a ceiling of 13,200ft,
(4,200m). Flight testing of the prototype was
uneventful and the aircraft was used to
train both Luftwaffe and civilian pilots.
Master-X's kit reviewed here is one of
several marking options
offered by the company.
Cast entirely in resin with two
vacformed canopies, the twenty
one parts are cleanly produced,
albeit with the inevitable
pour blocks and
relatively

This is what comes in the box; twenty one resin
parts, a double vacformed canopy, a small decal
sheet with rather dark reds, and a small colour
marking illustration
The double vacformed
canopy is very clear
The wing and engine joints need a bit of iller,
and a brass rod was inserted into the tailplane
joint to add some strength
The canopy was masked before gluing onto the
fuselage
simpliied surface detail. Trial itting suggests
that assembly will be typical of the style, and
some illing is invariably likely. There are no build
instructions supplied, and a check with Lumir
Vesely of Master models conirmed that it wasn't
an omission, and the painting guide is a simple
colour four view with generic paint references.
A single colour scheme is offered in the box
that I had, that of an overall tan airframe
captured by the Americans and carrying rather
inconspicuous white stars overlaid on the
original German civilian codes. The decals look
to be a bit thick, and the colour of the red in
band is distinctly suspect, deinitely a candidate
for spraying.
The kit contents are relatively straightforward,
typical for smaller resin kits
Glued up, the fuselage looks a bit scary. Plenty of
superglue was applied along the main seams
A rather spurious cockpit was constructed,
based on the kit parts and the relatively few
online photographs of the interior
The kit now ready for painting and the pleasing
lines of the diminutive machine are apparent
Starting Off
First up with any resin kit is to give the parts a
gentle wash in warm water with a touch of
detergent, warm being the operative word, since
too much heat can easily produce distortion in
the resin parts. As with all resin kits, the use of
superglue or epoxy adhesive will be necessary.
The fuselage is cast as two hollow shells and
the irst job is to join these along the vertical
seam. I rubbed the mating faces on some wet
and dry paper taped to a glass sheet to latted
them, and used Loctite brush on superglue for
its thicker consistency. Knowing I was going to
have to do some sanding and illing, I painted on
more superglue on the outside of the joint.
MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01
G OT H A G O 150
The fuselage halves are cast
hollow, and is distortion free
It all cleans up nicely
with a little work
A patient approach can result in a reasonable it
for the canopy
Some preshading was done using adhesive
notes to get a sharp demarcation
Whilst it all looks a bit messy at this stage, some
careful sanding, helped by light over sprays of
grey primer to show up the faults, soon had the
fuselage looking reasonable. It's worth pointing
out at this stage that sanding of resin
components should be done while wearing a
mask, and preferably in the presence of
ventilation, since the dust can be harmful.
There are not many clues supplied about the
fuselage interior; there are a pair of bench seats,
an instrument panel and front bulkhead, and
what looks like it might be a loor. References for
the Go-150, or any other minor aircraft of the era
for that matter, rarely focus on the details of the
cabin, so some imagination and extrapolation
73
G OT H A G O 150

will be needed. As a
basis for the interior, I
glued the fuselage to the
one piece wing, the it being
pretty good, only needing minor
trimming to get the best it. Before
embarking on any detail, I decided to
complete the bulk of the heavy work in illing
the wing/fuselage and tail/fuselage joints, this
being accomplished using plastic strip, some
iller and superglue. This work isn't difficult, but
rather time consuming, needing several
repetitions of the ill/sand/paint/ill cycle. Even
with superglue's fast setting time, this is no
weekend project.
With the fuselage, main wing and stabilisers
done the interior beckons. Most of the
photographs I could ind show the interior as
rather Spartan with plain cockpit Halfords
sides, though there are hints grey primer and
of some internal framing, smoothed it with 3,000
with simple instruments grit abrasive. The few panel
on the left side of the some
lines were preshaded with
front panel, a glove Tamiya XF-64 Brown and several
compartment on the right Microscale 30”
layers of Tamiya XF-57 Buff applied,
and compass and engine RAF letters,
some with faint tints of Dark Earth
controls mounted on a binnacle Microscale sheet 105, the
and green to add colour depth.
protruding from the instrument wrong font I know but all I
The single scheme has the
panel. Front seats are lat car type had, and cut the kit's remaining
classic prewar red tail band
benches with individual control sticks codes into individual letters and
which I produced by
and lap belts, and it appears that the managed to apply them to the under surfaces
masking and spraying with
rear seats were not always (rarely?) itted, the with relatively minor damage. The decals were
Tamiya XF-7, intending to use
space otherwise being occupied by a storage inally sealed in with some dilute ifty ifty mix of
swastikas already on a white
compartment or possibly additional fuel. The Mr Hobby GX100 and GX113 (lat).
circle from a Mark 1 set. The aircraft
two main cabin doors open forwards and there also had dark blue engine cowling fronts when Master-X produce some interesting models
are prominent grab handles at the canopy captured so I made a template to allow some outside the main sphere of the hobby, and in
corners. masks to be cut, and used Tamiya X-4 for the that they are to be welcomed. Short run resin
So to try and replicate some of this my irst blue. kits like these are not to be taken lightly or
move was to cut a full length loor from plastic with an expectation of a weekend build,
The airframe was glossed in preparation for
card, setting its height in the cockpit by nevertheless with some patience
decals with Mr Hobby GX100, the decals
reference to the height of the seats and the and determination they offer the
themselves proving a mixed bag and
headroom required for a typical pilot. I lined the opportunity to extend one's
bit tricky to use. The smaller ones
rear bulkhead with plastic card, leaving a small modelling in both scope
were okay but the large codes for
step all the way round to give the canopy and skill. Give it a try.
the wings proved very delicate
something to rest on and made up a storage bin Thanks to Master-X
and brittle, so much so
to go behind the seats, I found two ighter type for the review
that I abandoned the
control sticks in my spares and made a rather sample.
pair for the upper wing
speculative instrument panel from bits of left surface and made up
over decal and painted a scrap of plastic with the D-ESSD code from
brown oil paint to replicate a wooden glove
compartment door.
The kit provides two vacformed canopies as
insurance, so theoretically it should be possible
to be brave and cut one open, but I decided it
wasn't my day for bravery. The clear plastic itself
is excellently produced, the moulding being
sharp and very clear, so a closed canopy should
still offer a good view of the interior. Cutting and
trimming to it the fuselage requires a
painstaking approach and once the canopy was
the right size I masked the
windows using Tamiya tape
tiles cut with the help of a
vernier calliper. The masked
canopy was glued on using
Pacer 560 acrylic canopy glue,
ixing the rear upper surface irst to
act as a datum then working around
the periphery.

Painting
With the main airframe complete it's time for
paint, a relatively simple matter given the
rather bland single colour scheme and
lack of panel lines to work with. Typically
I gave the entire model a light coat of

74 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K

EDUARD
www.eduard.com
So what’s on Eduard’s agenda this month? Plenty of new items in 1/48 for
the new ICM He 111-16, while it comes as no surprise to see Tamiya’s
Spitire Mk I also get the treatment.
New items span Eduard’s full range, including TFace masks, which include
both inner and outer canopy pieces, STEEL seatbelts, which are designed
to fold easier and pose more naturally, and the recently introduced LööK
instrument panels, which offer prepainted resin parts to an amazing
standard. Let’s hope this range spreads beyond single seat ighters soon, as
there are a lot of large scale Revell bombers out there whose cockpits
would look good with the LööK treatment!
In the Brassin department there are more useful weapons sets as well as
some extra treats for that Eduard Tempest you may well have waiting on
the workbench!
1/32
32935 Polikarpov I-16 Type 29 for ICM kits
32936 Supermarine Spitire Mk IIa interior for Revell kits
33206 Supermarine Spitire Mk IIa interior for Revell kits
33207 Supermarine Spitire Mk IIa seatbelts STEEL for Revell kits
33208 Polikarpov I-16 Type 29 for ICM kits
33209 Polikarpov I-16 Type 29 seatbelts STEEL for ICM kits
JX224 Polikarpov I-16 Type 29 for ICM kits
1/48
48985 Heinkel He-111H-16 exterior for ICM kits
48986 Dassault Rafale C exterior for Revell kits
48987 Supermarine Spitire Mk I landing laps for Tamiya kits
49957 Bell AH-1Z Viper interior for Kitty Hawk Model kits
49958 Dassault Rafale C interior for Revell kits
49960 Supermarine Spitire Mk I for Tamiya kits
49962 Heinkel He-111H-16 nose interior for ICM kits
M A R K E T P L AC E
49963 Heinkel He-111H-16 radio compartment for ICM kits
EX640 Heinkel He-111H-16 for ICM
EX641 Dassault Rafale C for Revell kits
EX642 Dassault Rafale C TFace for Revell kits
EX643 Supermarine Spitire Mk I for Tamiya kits
EX644 Supermarine Spitire Mk I TFace for Tamiya kits
FE958 Dassault Rafale C for Revell kits
FE959 Dassault Rafale C seatbelts STEEL for Revell kits
FE960 Supermarine Spitire Mk I for Tamiya kits
FE961 Supermarine Spitire Mk I seatbelts STEEL for Tamiya kits
FE962 Heinkel He-111H-16 for ICM
FE963 Heinkel He-111H-16 seatbelts STEEL for ICM kits
1/72
73650 F-14A for Fine Molds kits
SS650 F-14A 1for Fine Molds kits
SS651 Supermarine Spitire Mk IX radiator grilles for Eduard kits
BRASSIN
1/32
634011 Curtiss P-40N Warhawk LööK for Eduard and Hasegawa kits
1/48
644012 Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat LööK for Eduard kits
648446 Hawker Tempest Mk V undercarriage legs BRONZE for Eduard kits
648447 B43-0 Nuclear Weapon w/SC43-4/-7 tail assembly
648448 B43-1 Nuclear Weapon w/SC43-4/-7 tail assembly
648449 AN/AVQ-26 PAVE Tack pod for F-4
648450 RP-3 60lb rockets for Hawker Tempest Mk V for Eduard kits
648455 Supermarine Spitire Mk I wheels for Tamiya kits
648456 Supermarine Spitire Mk I exhaust stacks for Tamiya kits
Creative Models/Hannants/Squadron/Sprue Brothers
MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01 75
M a r k e t P l ac e

PereGrine PubliShinG
P-59B Airacomet Walk Around
A Detailed Photo Essay
By Steve Muth
P-59B Airacomet is the
fourth in an all colour
booklet series featuring
detail photographs aimed
at the scale modeller and
aero enthusiast. Printed
on good quality paper,
the author presents thirty
one large, clear detail
photographs of the cockpit, landing gear and
other details of interest. The aircraft featured is
the P-59B at the Air Force Museum at Wright
Patterson Air Force Base outside of Dayton,
Ohio. The photos were taken with the
cooperation of the museum thus assuring
adequate access to the cockpit and other
details.
This is the irst colour publication focusing
exclusively on the P-59B Airacomet, America’s
irst jet aircraft, and is an ideal reference for the
Hobbycraft 1/48 scale P-59 kit and others. The
P-59 irst lew on 1st October 1942. In all sixty
six were produced. They were mainly used as
trainers to allow the current and next
generation of pilots to gain experience in the
operation of jets.
This twelve page booklet measures 8.5" by 11"
and may be ordered from Steve Muth at
Peregrine Publishing, 70 The Promenade, Glen
Head, NY 11545, USA, by telephone on
(516)759-1089, by FAX on (516)759-1034 or
email sgmuth@optonline.net. Price is $12.00
including postage in the US, add $12.00
postage for export orders. Payment in US
dollars on a US bank or PayPal.

air-GraPhic MOdelS
AIR.AC-150 1/72 Martin Baker Mk
7 A Ejection Seats
A great release form Air-Graphic,
this pair of seats are suitable to
replace the kit seat in any UK FG.1
or FGA.2 McDonnell Douglas
Phantom, though not the F-4J as
they kept the US seat. These are
inely detailed items with moulded in
belts that just need painting as per the
enclosed guide and to have the ejector
handles added to adorn your latest
Phabulous 1/72 Phantom.
AC-004 1/72 Westland/August Merlin
Folding Rotor Blades
A well considered addition to any Merlin
kit, these rotors make this model it on
the shelf much easier. The set consists of
a whole rotor hub and ive blades with
appropriately set mounts so that the
rotors are correctly positioned in the
stowed location. If it all sounds
complicated but be assured it’s not,
especially as there are clear instructions
in the pack too. A worthwhile addition to
anyone building a Fleet Air Arm Merlin.

Old 66 decalS
AD7203 Sea Kings of Project Apollo
New from Old 66 Decals, whose entire range
coincidentally consists of Sea Kings of the Apollo
Missions, is a set of decals comprising Project
Apollo recovery Sikorsky SH-3 Sea Kings. The
eight options on offer cover Apollo Missions 7, 9,
14, 15, 16 and 17, conveniently providing
enough markings to inish two complete aircraft
from this single set.
For fans of the Apollo project or anyone with an
interest in the historical signiicance of the Sea
King, this sheet will have immense appeal. Silk
screen printed on high quality decal ilm this
colourful sheet will deinitely not disappoint.
Available in both 1/48 and 1/72 scales. Includes
detailed conversion/adaptation instructions for
each option.
Recommended kits are the 1/48 Hasegawa and
1/72 Airix, Dragon, Cyber Hobby and Revell.
www.starighter-decals.com Jay Laverty

Print Scale
New sheets in 1/72 from this source:
72347 A-10 Thunderbolt II Desert Storm
A rather useful decal sheet concentrating on the European camoulage
scheme Thunderbolts operated during Operation Desert Storm:
• A-10A 80-0208 Annabelle II
• A-10A 81-0947 Thunderbolt II Desert Belle
• A-10A 80-0157 Thunderbolt II Fightin’ Irish Pilot Col. Mike O’Connor
• A-10A 79-0220 Thunderbolt II Yankee Express
• A-10A 77-0205 Thunderbolt II Chopper Popper
• A-10A 76-0544 Thunderbolt II Desert Storm Heroes Robert, Francine, David
• A-10A 76-0540 Thunderbolt II Fist, Carmelitte
• A-10A 77-0240 Thunderbolt II Randi, Lauren, Brenda, Beth, Anna
• A-10A 78-0677 Thunderbolt II Kiss of Death
• A-10A 78-0681 Thunderbolt II
72345 Supermarine Attacker Part One
First part of a pair of decal sheets based around the Fleet Air Arm’s irst jet
ighter aircraft:
• Supermarine Attacker FB. 2, WP 283/841, 1833 Naval Air Squadron,
Honiley

76 w w w. S c a l e a i r c r a f t M O d e l l i n G . cO. u k

• Supermarine Attacker F.1, WA484/107, 800
Naval Air Squadron FAA, performed catapult
trails aboard HMS Perseus with 703 NAS in July
1951
• Supermarine Attacker FB.1, WA529, RCAF’s
Central Experimental & Proving
Establishment, Namao, 1952. Standard colour
scheme and markings. Bear marking on nose.
Used for cold weather trials and returned to
UK on HMCS Magniicent in 1953
• Supermarine Attacker FB. 2, WZ 283/ST-810,
1831 Naval Air Squadron, RNVR, Stretton,
1956
• Supermarine Attacker FB. 2, R4003, one of
thirty six denavalised examples delivered to
the Pakistani Air Force between June 1951
and May 1953. High Speed Silver (Aluminium)
overall with roundels in six positions, serial in
black
• Supermarine Attacker FB.2, R4001, Playbills
Aerobatic Team, 11 Squadron, Pakistani Air
Force, 1952. High Speed Silver (Aluminium)
overall with roundels in six positions, serial in
black. Red lash on nose
• Supermarine Attacker FB.2, WZ300/161, 718
Naval Air Squadron FAA. Standard colour
scheme and markings. Unit badge on nose
• Supermarine Attacker FB.2, WZ302/ST-163,
718 Naval Air. Squadron FAA, May/June 1955.
Standard colour scheme and markings. Unit
badge on nose
72346 Supermarine Attacker Part Two
• Supermarine Attacker FB.2 WP275/D-197, 890
Naval Air Squadron RNVR, Lossiemouth, 1956.
Standard colour scheme and marking
• Supermarine Attacker F.1 WA 473/102, 800
Naval Air Squadron FAA, August 1951.
Standard colour scheme and markings
• Supermarine Attacker F.1 WA 498/103, 800
Naval Air Squadron FAA, Ford, September
SCALE AIRCRAFT CONVERSIONS
Always on the ball with timely releasing of white
metal landing gear sets for the latest kit releases,
Scale Aircraft Conversions present another
collection of new items. Designed as direct
replacement parts for the kit’s plastic offerings,
these aftermarket parts require no additional
modelling skills in order to incorporate them
into your builds. All Scale Aircraft Conversions
sets are available in the UK from Hannants.
www.hannants.co.uk
32138 1/32 Sopwith Triplane Landing Gear
M A R K E T P L AC E
1951. Standard colour scheme and markings
• Supermarine Attacker FB.2 WZ 294/ST-176,
1831 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Navy
Volunteer Reserve (RNVR). Stretton. 1955.
Standard colour scheme and markings. Unit
crest on in, unit badge on nose
• Supermarine Attacker F.1 WA 516/J- 112, 803
Naval Air Squadron FAA, HMS Eagle, 1952.
Standard colour scheme and marking
• Supermarine Attacker F.1, WA 513/BY- 016,
Fleet Requirments Unit, Brawdy. Standard
colour scheme and marking
• Supermarine Attacker FB.2. WP 292/J- 143,
803 Naval Air Squadron FAA, HMS Eagle,
January 1953. Standard colour scheme and
marking
72348 Royal Navy Hawker Hunter (72-348)
This sheet concentrates on the two seat versions
of the Hunter operated by the Fleet Air Arm:
• Hawker Hunter T. Mk 8 XL580 719 VL of the Air
Direction Training Unit, FAA, Yeovilton,
September 1970
• Hawker Hunter T. Mk 8 XF289 738 VL of Heron
Station Flight, Yeovilton, September 1972
• Hawker Hunter T. Mk 8 CX985 811 BY, of 759
Squadron FAA, Brawdy, in the late 1960s
• Hawker Hunter T. Mk 8 XF357 634 LM, of 738
Squadron FAA, Lossiemouth, September 1962
• Hawker Hunter T. Mk 8 XL584 Flag Office
Flying Training, 1967. Also known as the
Admiral’s Barge, XL 584 was painted in a
Roundel Blue over White scheme. Note Rear
Admiral’s pennant on nose in red and white
• Hawker hunter T. Mk 8 WT 772, FRADU 1975.
Light Aircraft Grey overall with areas of
Fluorescent Orange-Red (Day-Glo). Note this
aircraft has a Harley light installed in the nose.
www.printscale.org
Colin ‘Flying’ Pickett
(Wingnut Wings)
32139 1/32 AMC DH.2 Landing Gear (Wingnut
Wings)
48362 1/48 ROCAF F-CK-1C/D Landing Gear
(Freedom Model Kits)
72164 1/72 B-52D/G/H Stratofortress Landing
Gear (Modelcollect)
72165 1/72 F/A-18A/B/C/D Landing gear
(Hasegawa)
72166 1/72 Vickers Wellington Mk.1A/D (Airix)
www.scaleaircraftconversions.com
Karl Robinson
MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01 77
M A R K E T P L AC E

FINESCALE MODEL Ten medium - Yellow of Stainless Steel. Non magnetic.

WORLD
Some new products kindly
supplied by Finescale Model World
limited.
Mixing Pots
The ideal product for mixing or
thinning your paints. The pots are
30ml volume to the brim and have
a 20ml mark on the side to aid
accurate mixing of your liquids.
They are suitable for water based or
solvent based products and come
with ten in a packet. Priced at £1.49
they are a very affordable product
to have around the workbench.
30 Piece Micro Brush Set
Consists of:
Ten small - White
Ten large - Blue
Ideal for painting, weathering,
touch-ups, glazing etc. and priced
at £3.50.
Modellers Prep Set
FMW has developed a modellers
prep set speciically to help the
from preparation of a primed
surface through to the inest end
inish you may want. The prep set
consists of four sheets of 1,000,
1,500, 2,000 and 2,500 grit wet and
dry paper (140mm by 58mm), two
sheets of red scotch pads (ine)
76mm by 45mm, and two sheets of
grey scotch pads (extra ine) 76mm
by 45mm. Priced at £5.25.
Six Piece Tweezer Set
Black Epoxy Coated Tweezers made
Includes 7A, 5, 2A, 00 and 3C, and
priced at £4.00
Set of Three Metal Ferrule Scratch
Brushes
Fiberglass (soft)
Brass (medium)
Steel (hard)
Colours: Red, Yellow, Black
Scratch brushes are ideal for
removing rust and corrosion,
cleaning out burrs and twist drills
and cleaning and polishing other
items. Bristles are advanced and
retracted by turning the end of the
brush. Priced at £4.50.
Products can be obtained from
www.inescalemodeworld.co.uk
Andy McCabe
RESIKIT
www.reskit.com.ua
B-57 Canberra Type 1 Wheels
Set
Ideal for those wishing to
improve the wheels on their
Airix 1/48 B-57 American
Canberra (RS48-0117) these
feature separate resin tyres and
wheel hubs, which makes for far
simpler painting of the inely
detailed parts and certainly a
worthy upgrade for this often
overlooked Canberra variant.

SPECIAL HOBBY in several attacks on Tirpitz. Although based

Barracuda Mk II
Scale: 1/72
Kit No: SH72343
Type: Injection Moulded plastic
Manufacturer: Special Hobby
www.specialhobby.eu
After an extended period of deliberation, the
Fairey Type 100 was chosen as the winner of a
competition based on Speciication S27/37 for a
monoplane torpedo bomber/reconnaissance
aircraft, with two prototypes being ordered in
1939, and a further 250 ordered off plan in
August of that year. Originally designed around
the Rolls-Royce Exe sleeve valved engine, the
cancellation of that engine programme meant
that the Type 100 had to rely on Merlin 30/32
power. The aircraft had an ungainly design with
a high shoulder wing to make space for the
bomb bay, stalky undercarriage and powerful
but ugly Youngman laps all conspiring to make
it look thrown together. Despite initial problems
with the Mk I the design was gradually reined,
and a total of 1,700 of the evolved Mk II
Barracudas were built, with further reinements
in moving to a four bladed propeller and in the
build quality. Later marks would convert to Rolls-
Royce Griffon power.
Despite its original torpedo bomber mission,
much of the Barracuda's operational life was
served as a dive bomber, including participating
primarily in home waters, the expanding war
front saw the Barracuda used in the Paciic arena
from 1944 onwards although they suffered
badly in the hot, humid climate.
Special Hobby's latest release of the Barracuda
Paciic Fleet is based on the new tool 2016 issue
(SH72306) of the aircraft used in Home Fleet
waters, with markings for four airframes, all in
variants of Extra Dark Sea Grey/ Dark Slate Grey
over Sky:
• PM821/374-D, NAS, HMS Colossus, 1946
• PM834/RIC, 814 NAS, RNAS Katukurunda,
Ceylon, 1945
• P9981/2X, 810 NAS, HMS Illustrious, 1944
• LS503/3D, 815 NAS, HMS Indomitable, 1944
The plastic is nicely done at around 200
individual parts and the moulding is clean
enough that there shouldn't be any serious
issues during the build. There's a one piece
glasshouse canopy and no enhancements like
photo etch or resin. Like all Special Hobby kits
location pins are absent, so some care will be
needed in alignment. The instructions are to the
usual clear standard, with painting guides
throughout the build quoting Mr Hobby colours,
and there are full colour four views of all the
marking schemes. Thanks to Special Hobby for
the review kit.
Huw Morgan

FOXBOT • P-39N, 55 Guards Fighter Regiment, 1 Guards Fighter Division, First

48021 Red Snake: Soviet P-39
Aircobras, Part One
A bumper crop of decals for
builders of 1/48 World War II
era Soviet aircraft as this decal
set holds markings for eleven
P-39 ighters as well as a full
set of stencils for one aircraft.
•P-39Q-20, s/n 43-332, 66
Fighter Regiment, 329 Fighter Division, Germany 1945
• P-39Q-15, s/n 44-2898 after repairs, 129 Guards Fighter Regiment, 22
Guards Fighter Division, Germany 1945
• Airacobra, most likely P-39Q, 211 Guards Fighter Regiment, 23 Guards
Fighter Division, Germany 1945
Byelorussian Front summer 1944, piloted by I.M. Zelenin
• Airacobra, most likely P-39Q, 72 Guards Fighter Division, 5 Guards
Fighter Division, Baltic Region autumn 1944
• P-39N, 69 Guards Fighter Regiment, 23 Guards Fighter Division, First
Ukrainian Front autumn 1944, piloted by N.I. Proshenkov
• P-39Q-30, 213 Guards Fighter Unit, First Ukrainian Front, spring 1945
• Airacobra, probably P-39Q, 211 Guards Fighter Regiment, 23 Guards
Fighter Division, Germany 1945
• P-39Q, 129 Guards Fighter Regiment, 205 Fighter Division, Second
Ukrainian Front winter 1943-44, piloted by N.D. Gulayev
• P-39Q, 17 Fighter Regiment, 190 Fighter Division, autumn 1944, piloted
by V.F. Sirotin
• P-39Q, 212 Guards Fighter Regiment, 22 Guards Fighter Division,
Germany 1945, piloted by AI Kozhevnikov
www.foxbot.com.ua

78 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K

BRENGUN 1/144 Construction Kits
BRS144040 T-72M
A great start to the year from Brengun,
BRS144041 Renault FT-17
continuing with an eclectic and fascinating
BRS144042 Ruso Balt Type C
programme of releases.
1/72 Resin Construction Kits
BRS72010 Japanese airield ire extinguisher
1/72 Plastic Kits BRS72011 RQ-7B Shadow UAV
BRP72034 Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka model 22 BRS72012 Japanese refuelling cart
BRP72035 Chelomey 16KhA 1/72 Accessories
1/48 Plastic Kits BRL72160 L-749 Constellation (Heller kit)
BRP48004 Me P1103 rocket ighter
BRL72161 US 300gal Fuel tank
1/144 Accessories BRL72162 WWII US Navy Wheel chocks
BRL144145 AV-8B Wheels BRL72163 British relector gunsight WWII
BRL144146 P-38 Wheels and propellers (Fujimi BRL72164 Depth Charge Mk54
kit) BRL72165 MXY-7 Ohka model 22 Canopy mask
BRL144147 WWII USN Wheel chocks (Brengun kit)
BRL144148 F-18C/D Wheels BRL72166 MXY-7 Ohka model 22 (Brengun kit)
MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01
M A R K E T P L AC E
BRL72167 MXY-7 Ohka model 22 vacu canopy
(Brengun kit)
1/48 Accessories
BRL48105 US 300gal Fuel tank
BRL48106 C-130 Wheels
BRL48107 Mk24 Mine Fido torpedo
BRL48108 WWII U.S. Navy Wheel chocks
BRL48109 F-16 C/D Wheels
BRL48110 British relector gunsight WWII
1/48 Resin Kits
BRS48008 Messerschmitt B.f.W. M-23 b
1/32 Accessories
BRL32032 Fw190D exterior (Hasegawa kit)
BRL32033 British relector gunsight WWII
BRL32034 WWII US Navy Wheel chocks
www.brengun.cz
79
M A R K E T P L AC E
SPECIAL HOBBY
February releases from Special Hobby see three
plastic kits and as many as eight new resin detail
sets. Whilst all the kits are in 1/72 scale, the sets
include items catering for the larger scale, and
we note with interest the Palouste Mk 101/102
starter trolley, previously available in 1/72 and
now released in 1/48.
72372 Blohm Voss BV 155B-1 Luftwaffe 46 High
Altitude Fighter
This release of the German high altitude ighter
offers three what if? colour schemes.
The kit consists of four grey styrene sprues and
one clear sprue with canopy parts, decal sheet,
resin cast detail parts and a full colour
instruction booklet.
72375 Fouga CM.170 Magister/IAI Tzukit
This latest incarnation of the Magister presents it
as a jet trainer and light attack aircraft in the
colours of the IAF. The kit contains four grey
styrene sprues, one clear plastic sprue, resin cast
details and full colour instructions. The decal
sheet caters for every major colour scheme worn
by Israeli Fougas/Tzukits (see Yoav Efrati’s recent
articles in our July and September 2018 issues).
72397 Breda Ba.88B Lince
This Italian World War II bomber comes on three
grey styrene sprues, one clear plastic sprue, and
includes a decal sheet and full colour instruction
booklet. Includes markings for three Italian
machines.
80 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
1/48 Detail and Accessories Sets
SS015 Simple Set SAAB 37 Viggen Upgrade
Parts
This new sprue contains all the parts you need to
improve Special Hobby's 1/48 Viggen kits
SH48148 (irst release) and SH48188 as well as
the irst releases from Tarangus.
4367 Beauighter Mk IF Dinghy Box and Access
Panel for Revell Kit
This CMK set contains an open box for the
inlatable safety raft and its access panel. The
dinghy itself comes as a separate resin part,
portrayed delated.
4368 Palouste Mk.101/102 Jet Air Starter Trolleys
and Airborne Pod
The Palouste starter was used for starting up
aircraft jet engines by means of high pressure
and high velocity air generated by a small
turbine located inside the trolley pod. The
turbine was housed inside a unique shaped pod
resembling a drop fuel tank so the Palouste
could be carried on underwing pylons, thus
enabling the servicing of RAF, FAA or even US
Navy warplanes at ill equipped auxiliary airields.
A set of detachable wheels was used to facilitate
moving the starter across the ield. The set also
contains a photo etched fret and a sheet of
decals. A large access panel in the rear section of
the pod can be posed open.
4369 J2M3 Raiden Control surface set for
Hasegawa Kit
Contains new control surfaces (ailerons, rudder,
tailplanes and elevators) with an excellent
rendition of their fabric skinning. The control
surfaces can be ixed in the deployed position.
1/72 Detail and Accessories Sets
Avia B-534 Engine set for Eduard Kit
This set offers the modeller an option to open
the port side engine cowling panel and show to
good advantage the visible section of the
engine. The set consists of a partial engine
replica, engine bulkhead and the respective
cowling panels and so installation into the
model is quite straightforward and the sleek
proile of the machine is not compromised.
7419 Avia B-534 Cockpit Sfor Eduard kit
This set contains a new pilot’s seat with moulded
in seat belts and a new instrument panel, all of
which are made of cast resin. The instrument
faces come on preprinted clear ilm.
7420 Westland Sea King Engine Set for Airix Kit
This set depicts the open engine section on the
top of the helicopter. Included in this kit is an
engine replica, new exhausts and cowling
panels.
Further kit releases to come include:
72264 1/72 SB2U-3 Vindicator Marines Go To
War
72399 1/72 Breguet Br. 695AB.2
48198 1/48 EoN Eton TX.1/ SG-38 Over Western
Europe
www.specialhobby.eu
S u b - C U TA N E O U S
RAF Tactical Transport Camoulage 1965 – 1975
H
aving recently discussed the possible
confusion that might arise with regard to
the Hunter F.6, High Speed Silver and
Light Aircraft Grey, (SAM November 2018) it has
been suggested that another colour scheme
from the same period that might be equally
confusing is that applied to the RAF's ixed wing
Tactical Transport aircraft from 1965 to 1975.
In March 1963 HQ Transport Command irst
suggested that some consideration should be
given to the application of a camoulage inish
to its medium range Tactical Transport aircraft in
place of the white and silver inish in which they
were then inished. This idea was not supported
by the Air Staff at that time, but Transport
Command persisted with the idea and raised the
subject again at a Transport Command Progress
Meeting held in May 1964.
The main arguments put forward in favour of
the proposal were:
a) The need to reduce vulnerability to visual
interception by day ighters
b) The need to eliminate relection from lares
when lying over a dropping zone
c) The need to reduce vulnerability to ground
attack aircraft when on the ground
Choice of colours was dictated by the natural
colours to be found in the most likely areas of
operation. In the case of the Medium Range
Tactical Transport aircraft this was considered to
be in the Near and Middle East, Libya and Kuwait
where the terrain has a predominantly sandy
background and also in north-east Thailand
when during the dry season, similar terrain
colouring applied. As usual no scheme could be
considered to be universally applicable but a
predominantly 'light buff' surface with a
disruptive pattern applied in a darker shade
would be ideal for Libya and Kuwait whilst also
being suitable for north-east Thailand in the dry
season.
After an initial application to a Beverly, which
was repainted in the scheme as part of a major
service, the new camoulage scheme was
approved for use and promulgated to the
Service by Defence Council Instruction (DCI) RAF
T.346/65 dated 4 August 1965. Paragraph 11 was
headed 'Tactical Transport Aircraft' and stated
that:
'Tactical transport aircraft, excluding helicopters,
are to be painted as follows:
a. All upper surfaces, fuselage sides, in and rudder
are to bear a disruptive pattern as illustrated in
AP 2656A, Vol1, section 4. (Areas shaded in the
illustration are to be painted dark earth (BSC
82 w w w. S c a l e a i r c r a f t m o d e l l i n g . co. u k
450). Unshaded areas are to be painted light
stone (BSC361).)
b. Under surface of fuselage, mainplane and
tailplane-black.
c. Roundels and in lashes are to be in red, white
and blue on a. above, and red and blue only on
b. above.
d. Numbers and identiication letters are to be
white on a. above, and grey on b. above.’
The choice of Light Stone, BS 381C No.631 in
preference to Middle Stone No. 632 is most likely
explained by Transport Command's having
apparently consulted an Army camoulage unit
with regard to the most suitable colouring, and
the fact that the Army had been using BS 381
Light Stone as a basic camoulage colour on its
armour and MT vehicles throughout the Middle
East since before the Second World War and was
still doing so in 1964. For some reason, none of
the documentation seen by the author
surrounding the introduction and use of this
scheme mentions the asymmetric application of
the wing roundels, to the upper port and lower
starboard wings only.
DCI S. 126/66 amended these instructions
slightly by stating that the light deck top as far
back as the internal bulkhead between the light
deck and main cabin was to be painted white
with a curved border and that this was not to
apply to Single and Twin Pioneer aircraft. The
precise hue of all the colours except for White
was deined in AvP 970 Vol.1 AL 97 dated 1
March 1966 using BS 381C references as follows:
Light Stone No. 361
Dark Earth No. 450
Red No. 538 (Post Office Red – author)
Blue No. 110 (Roundel Blue – author)
Light Grey No. 627 Light Aircraft Grey - author)
White has never been included in any issue of
BS 381 since its introduction in 1930.
Besides being applied to the Tactical
Transport aircraft that were already in service
such as the Argosy C.1 and Beverly C.1, this
camoulage scheme was also applied to the new
HS Andover C.1 when it entered service in July
1966, with the legend 'Royal Air Force Transport
Command' applied in White on the side of the
fuselage above the windows.
When the Lockheed Hercules began to arrive
in Britain during December 1966 the aircraft had
a natural metal inish and the Dark Earth, Light
Stone and Black inish was applied in the UK by
Marshall (Engineering) Ltd at Cambridge.
Initially, these aircraft also carried the legend
By Paul Lucas
'Royal Air Force Transport Command' on the side
of the fuselage but following the reorganisation
that saw Transport Command disbanded, and its
assets being incorporated into the new Air
Support Command from August 1967, a new
legend 'Royal Air Force Air Support Command'
took its place on Hercules assigned to UK based
units. Those destined for service with 48
Squadron in FEAF were inished with the legend
'Royal Air Force Far East'. This practice of
applying Command identiication to the sides of
the aircraft was eventually incorporated into DCI
S.136/69 dated 13 August 1969, which stated
that Command identiication was to be painted
in White on the fuselage.
Initially, all these colours were applied in a
gloss polyurethane inish to DTD 5580 but DCI
S.70/72 dated 26 April 1972 called for them to be
applied in a matt inish. By 1972 the main
camoulage colours were available from stores
to DTD 5580A in both gloss and matt inishes.
For example, Dark Earth was available as
33B/2204849 and 2242608 for 15 litre sets of
gloss and matt inish respectively whilst Light
Stone was similarly available as 33B/2204857
and 2242617. Black was available as
33B/2204846 and 33B/2242606.
DCI S.70/72 also speciied that roundels on
aircraft bearing disruptive camoulage were to
be Post Office Red and Roundel Blue. This
appears to be the point at which the asymmetric
roundel application ceased with roundels now
being applied to the upper surface of both
wings with none at all being carried under the
wings. Service identiication (i.e. the legend
'Royal Air Force') was to be painted on the sides
of the fuselage in White. This latter instruction
seems to have been given in anticipation of the
forthcoming reorganisation which saw Air
Support Command disbanded and its assets
incorporated into Strike Command in September
1972 when the Tactical Transport aircraft
became part of 46 Group.
The Light Stone and Dark Earth scheme was
inally abolished by DCI S. 68/75 dated 23 April
1975 with Tactical Transport aircraft now having
to be Dark Green and Dark Sea Grey on the
upper surfaces with Light Aircraft Grey on the
under surfaces to Pattern No.1. The aircraft of 46
Group were to continue to carry the 'Royal Air
Force' legend on the sides of the fuselage.
S TA S H I N T H E AT T I C
Supermarine Spitfire
Mk Vc/Seafire IIIc
Kit No: 05110
Scale: 1/48
Type: Injection Moulded Plastic
Manufacturer: Airfix
S
ince their acquisition by Hornby, Airix have
been gradually issuing a range of newly
tooled Spitire kits in 1/48 scale. The project
seems to involve producing a kit of every variant
and possibly predates Hornby’s involvement as
the irst two newly tooled kits appeared before
Airix received a makeover and injection of
capital. A new Mk I appeared in 2007 just a few
years after a Mk 24/Seaire Mk 47. These two
releases bracketed the aircraft’s history, and one
by one the intervening versions have continued
to appear. The Mk I was reissued in 2014 in the
new style packing, but confusingly a virtually
new Mk I kit was issued in 2015 as Airix were
not satisied with the early pre Hornby tooling.
Both kits are now on the shelves in similar boxes,
but I decided to build the original Mk I kit, which
had been on the to do pile for too long.
I have heard that the 2007 Mk I is based upon
the 1970s vintage Mk V kit, which itself got a
makeover with new parts in 2008. Things
however are not that simple. While the moulding
is not to the post Hornby standards,
the kit is not a simple
rehash
of the 1970s
production or even from
modiied moulds. My suspicion was that it
drew upon some of the drawings and design
work for the earlier kits and so has a slight
vintage feel to it although it was newly tooled.
The cockpit detail is not as crisp as one would
expect in a modern kit, but with aftermarket
photo etched seatbelts and some careful
painting it can be brought to life.
One general criticism of Airix is that that they
tend to be moulded in a softer plastic than is the
84 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
norm for other mainstream manufactures. This
kit suffers slightly from that trait and as a result
feels a little less sharp than it is. The recessed
panel lines are a little indistinct in places, more
like a limited run kit than a mainstream. A little
cleaning up and rescribing solves that problem,
and the panel detail can quickly be made to look
very neat.
Construction presents no problems at all. The
cockpit detail its as it should between the
fuselage halves, but while the it of
the two halves and the wing are
good, some clamps and heavy duty
elastic bands were needed to hold
everything together. Only minimal
amounts of iller were required.
The upper wing root to fuselage
joint was particularly good. The
only area where a little bit of
work was required was around
the illet where the lower wing
joins the rear fuselage, but this
was a minor issue. In very little
time the model was ready for
painting.
All of the model was
painted with Humbrol
acrylics. Aerosols were used
for the main
camoulage and brush painting
for the more detailed features.
Dark Earth was irst hand painted
along the major joint lines to
indicate where some extra
preparation may have been
required. Matt White was then
applied as an undercoat over
the entire airframe. The classic
early World War II scheme of
Sky, Darth Earth and Dark
Green was then applied in that
order with each colour being masked out before
the next. Tamiya masking tape and Humbrol
Maskol were used with the aim of achieving a
fairly hard demarcation between the colours. A
current modelling style is to create very soft
edges between colours. This can be effective,
but in 1/48 the demarcations on a Spitire should
be more sharp than fuzzy.
Following a little touching up, the model was
coated with Johnsons Klear and the decals
applied. The kit provides two options and the
sheet was of good quality and no problems
whatsoever were encountered. Another coat of
By Trevor Pask
Johnsons Klear was applied to seal the decals in
and the model was then weathered a little. A
brown/black wash was applied over the entire
model both to emphasis some of the deeper
panel detail and the ribbing in the wheel wells
and lap recesses. A charcoal pencil smeared
with a wet ingertip created the exhaust staining
as well as the residue from the wing guns.
The red cloth patches, which were doped over
the gun ports of early World War II RAF types
were replicated by cutting some squares from an
old scrap decal sheet, although
1/48 scale is
large
enough for something
like Tamiya masking tape to be
used instead. The purpose of
these patches was to try and
protect the guns from moisture
and cold as the aircraft gained
height, as well as serving as a
warning that the aircraft was
armed if the patches were not
damaged. Airix provide these
patches on the kit’s decal sheet
but the images were slightly
too small and regular as I
wanted to make the model
look a little bit rough and
ready. It is important not to overdo things, but
the gun port patches were often hurriedly cut
from old pieces of fabric and just a little detail
can make a difference even with a build that is
mostly straight out of the box.
A thin coat of Humbrol Matt Varnish was
dusted over the model when everything was dry
to seal the decals and the charcoal pencil lead in
the model. The canopy was inally added. The kit
component was polished with a nail buffer and
dipped in Johnsons Klear before it was attached
to remove a few blemishes. The movable hood is
a little thick, but a spare vacform I had for a Mk V,
which should have been a it, simply didn’t and
so I stuck with the Airix component. One day I
may replace it, but for the moment it is
acceptable.
The purist would probably opt for the new
Tamiya kit, but this Airix hybrid can be picked
up for a fraction of the price and builds into a
good replica. The discipline of building a less
than perfect kit is also good and for a little more
effort the sense of achievement at inishing is
reward enough. The important thing is to enjoy,
and realise that good results can be got from
many inexpensive and slightly more basic kits.
B R I S TO L S C O U T

The Forgotten Scout

By Dave Hooper

The side walls are sprayed and painted in

various wood colours and wood sections are
then masked

poor lying conditions. The prototype was then

Bleach linen is then sprayed to create the
fabric areas
purchased by Lord Barberry who lew it in the
Hendon to Manchester race on 20th June, and
Hendon to Buc to Hendon race in early July. By
the outbreak of the war the Bristol Company had
built two more Bristol Scouts, which were
promptly purchased for the RFC. In total around
380 Bristol Scouts were built between 1914 and
1916 and the type was used by both the RFC
and RNAS in a variety of roles. Initially unarmed,
the scout was used as a test bed for official and
unofficial gun mounting experiments.
The Gavia 1/48 Bristol Scout kit is probably
Kit No: 1202 the best of a relatively small choice of models
depicting this aircraft that have been produced.
Scale: 1/48
The kit, which was irst released in 2001 and
Type: Injection Moulded Plastic then reboxed with photo etch and extra resin in
Manufacturer: Gavia 2002, has long been out of production which is
surprising given Gavia’s association with Eduard

T
he Bristol Scout was an early tractor style
high performance aircraft that in many
ways was the forefather of the British single
seat ighter. The Scout was designed before the
outbreak of World War I and the prototype
shown at the ifth aero show at Olympia in
March 1914. In June the Bristol Company
entered the aircraft into the 1914 Aerial Derby
but withdrew the aircraft on race day due to
The main cockpit subassemblies are the seat
loor and instrument panel
and the quality of the kit itself. My example,
which was the 2002 reboxing, contained two
relatively small well moulded plastic sprues,
resin cowlings, in and rudder, a small sheet of
photo etch parts and a generous decal sheet
containing options for four aircraft, all depicting
C type Bristol Scouts. The plastic parts, which are
perhaps on par with Eduard injection moulded
kits from the same period, look impressive and

The interior detail is glued into one of the

sidewalls

The fuselage
halves are
closed Beginning
without any paintwork of
issues the fuselage The Gnome rotary engine and cowling

86 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K

require very little clean-up although there is a bit
of a limited run feel to the design in that location
holes and lugs are generally fairly shallow or
nonexistent. The resin is nice, but is included to
allow certain aircraft variations to be built rather
than as direct replacements to plastic and as
such I would not be using any of these parts. The
photo etch is designed by Eduard and full of
useful goodies including an impressive looking
wicker seat. The instructions provide clear line
drawings however many of the photo etch parts
are referred to in a separate area of the
instructions meaning that you have to keep
checking this area to make sure you haven’t
missed anything.
Interior
The interior is fairly faithful to the few
reference photos that exist, consisting mainly of
a seat, loor, control stick, rudder bar and
instrument panel. The detail in the fuselage
sidewalls is nicely emphasised and it was this
area that I concentrated on irst. In a reverse of
how I would normally work, the interior was
sprayed in an overall wood colour, the wood
areas were then washed and highlighted to
simulate the grain and the framework was
picked out by hand using a different shade of
brown. The wood areas were then carefully
masked and the exposed areas sprayed in a
bleached linen colour.
The pilot's seat is provided as either a basic
plastic part or a photo etch part. I chose to use
the detailed photo etch wicker seat, which I
rolled around a suitable sized tubular object to
obtain the shape. The kit provides seatbelts
which, unlike most kits from its era, are a faithful
representation of period British seatbelts. The
instrument panel is also provided as a photo
etch part that its to the original plastic panel. A
small photo etch map holder is provided which
once folded takes up the whole of one side of
the panel. The looring subassembly includes the
On the upper side of the wings the rib tapes
are masked
B R I S TO L S C O U T
control stick and rudder bar. Once assembled all
of these parts were painted and itted into one
of the fuselage halves, which were then closed
with no it problems.
Engine and Cowling
The Gnome engine is supplied as a single
piece of plastic. The engine is reasonably
detailed considering that very little will be seen,
however I felt that it would beneit from the
inclusion of push rods made from top E guitar
string. The kit provides three different cowling
options, one in plastic and the other two in resin. On the underside of the wing the areas of
I had already chosen to build an RNAS machine, fabric between the rib tape are masked
no.1260 of 5 Wing, lown by Sub Lt R.F.S. Leslie,
which made use of the original plastic cowling.
As a result of adding pushrods to the engine, the
reasonably thick cowling needed to be thinned
from the inside to accept the modiied engine
which I did with the aid of a Dremel. A small
access panel is visible in many photos of this
cowling and I used a spare round piece of photo
etch to simulate this.
Scrap Aviattic decal
Colours and Markings sheet is used as a mask
At this stage I decided to paint all of the main
assembly parts. I used a bleached linen acrylic
that I had obtained from a craft shop for the
base fabric coat and Vallejo Aluminium Metal
Color for the polished metal areas. The kit
suggested that the cockpit coaming panel
should also be aluminium but careful study of
the only period photograph I have of 1260 from
the Bristol Scout Windsock Dataile shows that
the coaming was a similar shade to the fabric
and I therefore rightly or wrongly decided to
paint this area a linen colour too. The Bristol
Scout suffered particularly badly from castor oil
spue from the rotary engine and tended to
weather quite quickly as can be seen on the
recently completed lying replica of 1264. I used The completed undersides of the wings
various brown inks to try to simulate the effect
The engine, cowling and rear stabiliser have
been itted to the fuselage
The upper side wing effect after adding I found some old Blue Rider and Pegasus
shading and a inal light coat of linen sheets to replace the kit decals
MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01 87
B R I S TO L S C O U T
of castor oil, which was then lightly over sprayed
with AK Interactive bleached linen paint.
On the upper halves of the wings I wanted to
highlight the rib tapes so that once the basecoat
was sprayed the rib tapes were masked off and a
darker colour was lightly sprayed in area around
each rib tape. The tapes were then removed and
the wings were lightly over sprayed in bleached
linen. The underside of the wings were treated in
Cabane struts an opposite way because I wanted to simulate
are itted into the effect of light shining through the wings and
position picking out the wing ribs, so this time the spaces
between ribs were masked and a darker colour
sprayed. On the underside of the upper wing I
also wanted to simulate the upper wing cockade
showing through and used some scrap Aviattic
decal as a mask for this purpose. Again the
underside was lightly over sprayed with
bleached linen to give a translucent feel to the
wings.
Unfortunately I didn’t agree with Gavia’s
interpretation of 1260’s markings. Firstly the
period photograph in Windsock Dataile
suggests that the cockades were a reversal of
what later became the standard blue outer,
white middle and red inner design. It is not
A replacement Lewis from my spares box. The unusual to see RNAS machines from this early
kit Lewis is accurate for a side mounted Lewis period with this style of cockade. Luckily I had a
on the Scout but not the Lewis on 1260 1/72 Blue Rider RNAS set where the decals for
Warneford’s Morane Saulnier L were roughly the
correct size for both wing and fuselage cockades
on the Scout. When I went to apply the kits serial
numbers I also realised that these were
oversized and as such I used some more suitably
sized serial numbers from a Pegasus sheet. The
instructions also suggest that the positions of
the 1260 and C on the port side should be in
reverse to the starboard side. I felt that it would
be more likely to be in the same position on
both sides as the C would have most likely been
added at a later date in the ield and the
standard position of the serial number would be
towards the rear on both sides. In the event, the
only decal I used from the kit was the rudder
strip.
My forward iring Lewis mount based on what
I could see in the photo of 1260
Looped pins made
from wire twisted
around a small drill
are itted in to the
rigging points on
the upper wing
The upper wing is itted
Some of the harder to reach areas of rigging onto the cabanes
are itted prior to upper wing assembly
88 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
Tail, Lower Wing and Machine Gun
At this stage the engine and cowling were
carefully glued to the fuselage. I also itted the
tail in position at this point in proceedings. The
attachment points on the lower wing are pretty
non-existent and so I drilled out holes in the
fuselage and protruding wing frames to accept
brass rod pins. The lower wings were then itted
into position using Windsock plans to help set
the dihedral. Next the four plastic cabane struts
were painted and itted in position forward of
the fuselage opening. The kit suggests that the
machine gun was side mounted as was typical
on some Bristol Scouts from the early war
period, however careful study of the photograph
in Windsock Dataile suggests that the Lewis gun
was actually mounted on the fuselage coaming
with a forward iring arc through the propeller
(with no synchronisation), a coniguration that
both 3 and 5 Wing are known to have
experimented with. The Lewis gun also appears
to be a standard style Lewis rather than the side
mounted bracketed version nicely depicted
within the kit. I therefore sourced a replacement
Lewis from my spares box and created a mount
based on what I could see from the photograph.
Upper Wing
At this stage of the proceedings I drilled holes
as deep as I dared, without breaking through,
into the upper and lower wings and also drilled
some holes completely through the fuselage to
accept the rigging. Strut location points were
also drilled deeper. For most of the lower
surfaces the rigging material, which in my case
was smoke coloured mending thread, would be
cemented directly into the model while the
opposite surface would require a small loop to
be itted. I made these loops by simply twisting
thin wire around a 0.3mm drill and cutting some
of the twisted end away to leave a pin at one
end that would it in the predrilled holes.
Mending thread was glued in to some of the
harder to reach holes on the lower wing and
fuselage and the upper wing was then carefully
glued to the cabane struts, ensuring that the
wings were aligned correctly. The interplane
struts were then spring itted into position and
the whole of the wing section was rigged by
threading the rigging material that had been
glued into the lower rigging points through the
corresponding loop in the upper surface and
locking the thread off with a knot and cement.
Interplane struts are added and the entire
wing section is rigged
 B R I S TO L S C O U T

Aviattic light CDL decal strip (on white) is

wrapped around the undercarriage to
simulate fabric wrapping

Undercarriage of Flight, which stated that the propellers of 3

Wing aircraft that experimented with this
The undercarriage section is provided in three
coniguration were not wrapped until they
parts, which are easier to assemble on the
became damaged. There was no mention of 5
fuselage itself rather than as a separate entity.
Wing aircraft, but as I could not see any evidence
The undercarriage on most early Scouts appear
of propeller wrapping in the photograph of 1260
to have been wrapped in fabric and so I used
in a line up of three scouts that all appear to The
strips of Aviattic light CDL textile decals on a
have sported a fuselage mounted Lewis I chose undercarriage
white backer to create a wrapping effect. Using
not to simulate wrapping on my model. I itted in
plans from the Windsock Dataile the
suspect however that wrapping would have position
undercarriage was then assembled by irst
quickly been added once the guns were actually
itting the V shaped struts to the underside of
used in anger.
the fuselage at roughly the correct angle and
then slotting the axle into position between the
intersections of the Vs. Bracing wires were then Conclusion
itted, which can be used to correct the angle of
the undercarriage if required. The wheels were The Gavia Bristol Scout is a beautiful little
then painted using the masks provided within representation of one of the Great War’s early
the kit and itted in place. single seat scout aircraft. The basic model itself is
reasonably accurate to Ian Stairs drawings in
Windsock Dataile no. 44, however in the case of
Finishing Touches the option that I had decided to build Gavia had
not really done their homework particularly well
The model was now virtually complete. On
when it came to markings and Lewis gun
the underside a pair of loop skids were itted to
coniguration. I found the kit a joy to build with
the lower wing and a control horn directing the
no real vices other than its limited run style
elevator control wires was added underneath
attitude to location points. I think that Gavia, like
the cockpit. Rear stabilizer support struts were
Flashback, was a subsidiary of Eduard and as
itted and the rudder was also glued in position The elevator controller and wires protruding
such it would be nice to see some of these kits
at this late stage in the build. Photo etch control from the underside of the fuselage
rereleased and reboxed by Eduard assuming
horns were also glued to the ailerons, elevator
that the moulds are still available and
and rudder, using the protruding fret joint as a
serviceable.
ixing pin. Control wires made from mending
thread were then added. Finally the propeller
was painted and itted. I agonised for a while as References
to whether the propeller should be wrapped in
fabric to prevent it shattering when inevitably Windsock dataile no.44: Bristol Scout by J.M.Bruce
hit by a bullet from the forward iring Lewis. I
threw this question out to a few friends in the
know, one of
whom found an
article in an old The wheels painted
online archive and ready to it
copy

The underside of the lower wing tip showing

the loop skids and aileron control horn

MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01 89

IPMS UK
IPMS (UK) Column
Presented by Chris Ayre
Wandering
B
olton, eh? What an absolutely wonderful
show and, as the opener to the 2019
calendar, one that would be hard to
better… Actually, I hope nobody does try to
better it because the IPMS Bolton-run event has
long been one of my favourite model shows and
I’d really like to keep it that way. I always really
look forward to the show despite my well known
inability actually to build any models. I mean,
apart from anything else there’s still that
‘Christmas money’ to spend! A few things have
changed over the last few years that have made
a bit of a difference to my Bolton ‘experience’
without altering my enthusiasm, the most
obvious being the change of venue in 2018. This
was a bold move by the club, and show manager
Rob Monfea, which resulted in a much bigger
event, in a capacious, naturally lit auditorium,
which was widely praised. For 2019, they added
even more space, which meant more exhibitors
and traders - and nobody was complaining!
The other thing that has changed for me is
that my Branch now has a stand at the show,
which adds another dimension to the
proceedings. I’ve actually enjoyed attending
simply as a ‘punter’ over the years - no
responsibilities, just the opportunity to wander
around the venue, browse the trade stalls, catch
up and have a natter with friends old and new,
listen to the latest gossip, grab a bargain (just
before closing time) and maybe even have a pint
on the way home. The fact that my club now
puts on a display at Bolton brings with it
(theoretically at least) the need to think about
things in advance, to plan for the Branch stand,
work out how many members will be going
along, ensure that we can ill the stand with a
good variety of models, etc. The truth, at least as
far as I am concerned, is that most of that can be
left to others… More members of my Branch
attend the show these days and I enjoy the fact
that their keenness means that they take care of
the detail and I can treat my Bolton trip in pretty
much the way I always have. On this occasion,
that was perhaps just as well because, as I wasn’t
heading there directly from home, I forgot to
take any models with me! So, in reality, it was
business as usual for me - with the added bonus
that I could sit down behind the club display for
‘rest and recuperation’ (chat and coffee)…
Incidentally, I must thank my fellow Stafford
Branch members for the excellent display they
put on. It turns out that I can safely let them get
on with it. Seriously, it’s interesting to be able to
approach model shows in different ways.
Despite what I have said about my Bolton
preferences, I do also like to attend shows as
part of a club. There is much satisfaction to be
90 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
An overview
had from displaying the fruits of one’s
labours alongside those of friends and of the main
hall at Bolton
fellow modellers (even if my own
labours were some time ago) and the (Rob Monfea)
interaction with visitors to the stand,
talking about the items on display,
techniques, the IPMS, etc. is all positive.
That’s what I’ll be doing at the next one -
see ‘Showtime” below. In the meantime, I
asked Rob to let me have a brief report
on the event:
Bolton IPMS held our 2019 model show on
January 22nd. The weather was kind to us
again this year and despite a couple of snow
lurries on the preceding Friday, the show
went ahead unaffected by weather.
An overview of the main
There were a couple of changes for 2019. The hall at Bolton (Chris Ayre)
irst being the new sponsor of the venue, The
University of Bolton Stadium (no longer the
Macron nor indeed the Reebok as some locals
still call it). The second, and more signiicant,
change for us was the use of the mezzanine
loor at the venue, providing a model show on
two levels. This gave us lots more space than
we had in 2018 and we used only a portion of
the new space available this year to test the
water and see if it would work. A mix of
Traders and Exhibitors set up on the
Mezzanine, along with the return of the
Make and Take, this year run for us by the
local ATC.
Lots of visitors made their way to the mezzanine
upstairs or via the two lifts and it seemed to be a
hit. We'll certainly be considering expanding this
further next year!
It also meant that we were able to host more Clubs,
SIGs and Traders than ever before (forty two
Traders and ifty ive Exhibitors). This year we had
IPMS clubs visiting from as far North as Partick in
Scotland and as far South as Avon. We even had
the Army Aviation SIG visiting from Fleet in
Hampshire!
As you can see from the photos, somehow we
managed to it it all in, whilst retaining the extra
space we like to offer as a show. Extra visitor
seating was one of the other changes this year that
we'll deinitely repeat in the future.
The 2019 theme 'Made in Britain' was well
supported and was won by an enormous model of
Thunderbirds 2 and 6. Best Club display went to the
Luftwaffe SIG with a nice display of models ranging
from a Fokker Eindekker through to an A400M
Transport and Best in Show was won by Neil
Woodhall with his marvellous 1/48 Short Stirling
made from the Sanger kit.
As ever, the day lew by and almost 900 visitors A couple of punters discussing the superbly
(excluding exhibitors) attended the show in total. presented Airix Nimrod built by Al Harris
It's safe to say that the show was a great success (Chris Ayre)
A wide-angle view of the
main hall ( Chris Ayre)

for Bolton IPMS. We hope to do it all again next
year and hopefully, we'll be able to give a warm
Lancashire welcome to even more of you.
Rob Monfea - Show Manager, Bolton IPMS
My thanks to Rob for this and his selection of
photographs from the day. See you all there
next year?
Before I move on I’d just like to mention that,
for UK admirers of the Panavia Tornado, the end
of this month will be a sad time. The aircraft,
which has served for some thirty seven years, is
being withdrawn from Royal Air Force use. After
this time, there will be no more British Tornados
lying. The remarkable ‘Fin’, on continuous
operations since 1991, will bow out reasonably
quietly and the Typhoon and F-35B Lightning II
will take over the strike/attack/recce roles. As I
write, the service has already revealed three
specially-painted Tornados to mark the occasion
- one for each of the inal two squadrons, IX(B)
and 31, plus a ‘retro’ green/grey camoulaged jet
representing the GR force as a whole - and I’m
sure these will be of interest to aircraft
modellers. Coinciding with this signiicant
moment is a little something from IPMS (UK),
which may be considered as a tribute to the
aircraft. The forthcoming issue of the IPMS
Magazine (sent to all current Society members)
will include a separate forty four page booklet
on Tornado special schemes. Compiled by
IPMS(UK) Competition Secretary Tony Horton
this is the latest ‘bonus’ publication provided
free of charge to members. If you’d like to join
the Society, see details below.
On a positive note, the Tornado still has many
years of service ahead and I look forward to
being able to photograph German, Italian and
Saudi examples for at least another decade!
Showtime
March, like February, isn’t especially heavy
with model shows and I’m aware of just four in
the UK this month. The irst is on the third -
Sunday the 3rd that is. The East of England
Model Show will be held at the Voyager/Queen
Katharine Academy in Peterborough (PE4 6HX)
and is open to the public from 10.00am to
4.00pm. This is one event I haven’t managed to
get along to but I’m told it is bigger than ever
before. With free parking, refreshments and
proceeds going to the Anna’s Hope charity, why
wouldn’t you pop in? Admission is £3.00 for
adults and you can ind out more from Ken
Almen on 01733 321617 or take a look at the
Peterborough Scale Model Club website -
www.peterboroughscalemodels.co.uk - for
further details.
Nothing appears to be happening on the
following weekend but, over the two days of
16th/17th March, Southern Expo 2019 more
than promises to make up for that. Taking place
at the Hornchurch Sports Centre in Essex (RM11
IPMS UK
This ‘retro’ scheme has been applied to
GR.4 ZG752 to mark the retirement of
the RAF Tornado force (Ashley Keates)
1JU), this long-established event has a multi-
class competition (on Sunday only) and plenty
of exhibitor and trade stands. As with many
other model shows, the organisers raise money
for a local charity and in 2018 presented the
local St. Francis Hospice with £3,000 - which I
guess gives some idea of the popularity of the
event. Take a look at the show website -
www.southernexpo.co.uk - or contact Peter
Bagshaw (01708 726102
/southernexpo@tiscali.co.uk) for more
information. Moving on to Saturday the 23rd,
and further west, we ind the Yeovil Model
Show. Ken Bugler can tell you more about this
one on 07759 137000 or you can email him at
yeovilmodelshow@gmail.com. The venue is
Bucklers Mead Academy & LED Leisure Centre in
Yeovil and, because there are apparently two
entrances, there are two postcodes… BA21 4NH
and BA21 4FE. I’d just plump for one of them if I
were you! This looks like a good show so why
not get along if it’s within reach? The following
day - Sunday 24th - sees Stoke on Trent Model
Show and FigureWorld West 2019. Not only is
this quite a long show title, slightly confusingly
it isn’t taking place in Stoke on Trent this year.
I’m not sure of the reason but the S-o-T Model
Club has been forced to ind an alternative
venue, at least in the short term and has settled
on ‘Entrust’ in Stafford (ST16 3TH). Please bear in
mind that this location has less available space
than previous shows but it is hoped that this will
be a temporary arrangement. There will still be a
range of exhibitor displays, traders and the full
enthusiasm of the host club! Email
stokeontrentmodelclub@gmail.com, phone
07581 005658 or take a look at the club website
- www.stokemodelclub.co.uk - if you’d like to
know more.
That’s it for the UK in March this year but, if
you are visiting Argentina at the end of the
month, try and ind yourself in Neuquén. I
haven’t been able to ind out a great deal about
this two day event but the XIX Concurso
Regional de Plastimodelismo takes place on the
30th/31st at the Salon Alicia Fernandez Rego,
which is in the centre of the city. It is organised
by IPMS Alto Valle so an email to
ipmsaltovalle@yahoo.com should provide you
with more information.
Until next time, enjoy your modelling.
Chris
ipmsuk.org
Membership enquiries: Cliff Bassett, West Barn,
Duken Lane, Wootton, Bridgnorth, Shropshire,
WV15 6EA
Email: memberAdmin@ipmsuk.co.uk or visit
ipmsuk.org/membership/ to join online.
MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01 91
BOOKREVIEWS

A look at some of the latest publications

received for review Edited by Ernie Lee
Building the Wingnut Wings Dolphin content is slanted in that direction. the development programme and include all
and Pfalz D.IIIA There are nine variants of the PZL 23 and PZL 42. It goes
sections that without saying that Mushroom provide some
Author: Ray Rimell excellent 1/72 scale drawings of the various
Publisher: Windsock Productions Ltd describe either a
variant or machines. These chapters are followed by
ISBN: ISBN: 978 39356 872 32 details of the units involved in defending
Format: A4, Paperback, 60 pages subversions. Each
one is illustrated against the German invasion in 1939.
This is the photographically We are now getting to the modelling section.
latest in the and also with This starts with the detail photographs. This
ongoing series 1/48 scale book relies heavily on manual shots, which
by master drawings. Just could not be a better decision because they
modellers to make sure take you inside the machine. As you know this
covering kits that nothing is aircraft has a large visible crew area and
of World War I missed, there is Mushroom take full advantage of this with
aircraft. As a section shots of all areas. Not only this but many of
most covering them are included in a section of artists
enthusiasts factory and drawings, a goldmine for super detailers.
will know ield modiications plus
this series Last and not least are thirty four large size
sections on reconnaissance versions, and a colour proiles. As well as standard Polish
can help all technical description of the G etc. Moving on
modellers, machines, the author has found some odd
we get seventy pages of detail photographs, ones. Two of note are the example displayed
whatever which incidentally includes some detail
scale they at the Paris International Air Show in
drawings. Many of these illustrations are November 1936 and a machine gifted by Real
work in. Starting with the photographs of preserved machines and
Dolphin you will ind a mixture of model Estate Owners Association in the Municipal
include just about everything you might need Credit Society to the Polish Air Collage,
building and close up shots of a museum to build your model.
example. Everything depends on the Deblin. Now that is some mouthful!
individual skill of the modeller when it comes The last few pages contain twenty eight As far as I am aware this is the only
to adding extra detail to examples in smaller colour proiles, mostly of Luftwaffe aircraft monograph in English on this aircraft. Added
scales. The bonus of photographs of a real but with a number from other air forces, to the fact that the type is well represented in
aeroplane offer the subtle colour variations including Italy, Finland, Romania, Hungary, plastic, this surely must be an automatic
within the cockpit area where apart from the Slovakia and Switzerland. choice for builders of Polish aircraft.
ash wood frame you will be met with a This monograph is yet another well produced www.mmpbooks.biz
multitude of shades. There is a certain book from this proliic publisher and one I am
Ernie Lee
amount of copper piping and although the sure will ind a place on the book shelves of
instrument panel is black, believe it or not it most aviation enthusiasts.
was constructed from American pear wood www.mmpbooks.biz Top Drawings
painted black, giving a touch of the exotic!
Ernie Lee Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A
Part three covers the building of the Pfalz
Author: Maciej Noszczak
D.IIIA and is somewhat smaller than the
section dealing with the Dolphin so for the PZL.23 Karas Publisher: Kagero
Author: Tomasz I Kapanski ISBN: 978 83661 480
most part you will have to rely on Ray’s
Publisher: Mushroom Model Publications Format: 297mm by 210mm,
building skills. However with the help of the
ISBN: 978 83652 816 30 Paperback, 20 pages
superb photographs it will be easy to pick out
the details that you might not ind on your Format: 295mm by 210mm, This latest
preferred kit. The author has supplied seven Paperback, 144 pages addition to the
schemes by way of proiles and a couple for Any student of Top Drawings
the Pfalz. the early portfolio takes
stages of a detailed look
Wingnuts are the ultimate kit and not cheap,
World War II at one of the
so I imagine that any help you might get with
will be familiar most popular
building them would be welcome. You will
with this ighters of
not ind help better than this.
aircraft. World War II.
www.windsockdatailespecials.co.uk Given the
Thrown in at
Ernie Lee the start of complexity
the invasion of the
of Poland subject, and
Messerschmitt Bf 109G with DB the amount
against a
605A engines vastly of variants
Author: Robert Peczkowski superior and ield
Publisher: Mushroom Model Publications German Air modiications the type underwent, there
ISSN: 978 83652 816 85 Force, it was cannot be enough authoritative information
Format: 295mm by 210mm, soon overwhelmed despite the bravery available and these drawings are second to
Paperback, 160 pages shown by the aircrews. However its history is none. A set of 1/48 painting masks is
important to aviation historians because it included.
This is yet another addition to the Yellow
series and there must be more examples of was one of the irst aircraft to oppose the The book follows the usual format in this
this variant in model builders’ collections than Luftwaffe in 1939. series, combining pages of smaller scale plans
real aircraft actually built! As is obvious from This is the second, revised and updated with fold out sheets in the larger scale. Add to
the publisher’s name, these books are aimed edition. It is part of the Orange series, so you this a selection of colour proiles and you
at modellers, consequently most of the know what to expect. The irst chapters cover have a handy volume encapsulating the A

92 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
 BOOKREVIEWS

series concisely and with great precision. same, considering the number of kits that Salamaua, which caused the Japanese to
Eduard’s new kits of the early series make the have been produced. pause their advance until their own carriers
type once more newsworthy as far as This monograph follows a similar pattern to were available, and attempt to wipe out the
modellers are concerned so this book is a very previous volumes, with a highly informative Allied forces at Port Moresby with an
welcome new arrival from Kagero. text covering their development and intensive air assault.
www.casematepublishing.co.uk operational service. This is complimented Allied land based ighters inally arrived in the
with a generous selection of excellent form of Royal Australian Air Force 75
Jack Trent
photographs and numerous tables, with such Squadron Kittyhawks backed up by a growing
information as Hawker Fury Aerobatic Teams collection of US A-24 Banshees, B-17 Flying
Top Drawings 63 1931-38, Fury Squadrons and Units, Hawker Fortresses, B-25 Mitchells and B-26
Fury production list, Hawker Nimrod Marauders, the latter two types making their
Messerschmitt Bf 109G
Production List, Fury I and II Speciications, worldwide combat debut over the skies of
Author: Maciej Noszczak plus similar information regarding the New Guinea. Together, this force opposed the
Publisher: Kagero Nimrod. One other table that I must not Japanese in a complex aerial campaign that
ISBN: 978 83661 480 86 forget is the list of kits, decals and accessories saw units from both sides reach exhaustion.
Format: 297mm by 210mm, supplied by Hannants. Looking at it I can see This is the most exhaustive account of this
Paperback, 20 pages a very healthy coverage of these types. unsung battle published to date, and
Released at The scale drawings supplied are in 1/48 and deserves to be widely read and its subjects
the same time cover the full range of variants, Fury I and II, are eminently suited for a modelling project.
as a similar Spanish Fury and Yugoslav Fury, plus the Highly recommended.
volume on Nimrod I and II.
the Fw 190, www.casematepublishing.co.uk
When it comes to colour schemes you will be
Kagero have Richard Mason
spoilt for choice with the selection of colour
focussed this proiles. There are sixteen RAF Furys, some in
time the silver scheme and others camoulaged Showdown in Western Sahara
speciically ready for war, one in the yellow training Volume One
on the scheme plus one using all three colours prior
widely Air Warfare over the Last African Colony,
to World War II. When it comes to the Nimrod
produced G 1945-75
you get seventeen in British colours and a
variants of selection of schemes used on export aircraft. Author: Tom Cooper, Albert Grandolini
the famous Publisher: Helion and Company
Bf 109. This is as good as it gets from Warpaint, the
only drawback being that I will have to dig ISBN: 978 19123 903 59
Plans in this Format: 297mm by 210mm,
book cover the G-5, G-6, G-8, G-10, G-12 and out my Fury and Nimrod kits because these
books always get my modelling juices going. Paperback, 72 pages
G-14 and leave nothing to the imagination. As
with other books in this series the bulk of the This means that I now have at least three Another
pages comprise meticulous scale drawings, more kits to move up to the must build pile… unique
with a smattering of colour proiles and www.guidelinepublications.co.uk volume in
informative captions included. As usual with the excellent
Ernie Lee
this series a set of self-adhesive vinyl 1/48 Africa@War
canopy masks is provided. series, this
South Paciic Air War Volume Two time
There are so many kits of the Bf 109, but more focussing
keep coming and once again Eduard’s recent The Struggle for Moresby March-April on the little
releases have raised the bar, so it is good to 1942 known
have reference material of this quality to conlicts in
Author: Michael Claringbould and Peter
accompany any build project. the former
Ingman
www.casematepublishing.co.uk Publisher: Avonmore Books colony of
Jack Trent ISBN: 978 09945 889 75 Spanish
Format: 250mm by 176mm, Sahara,
Paperback, 232 pages which saw frequent
Hawker Fury and Nimrod Warpaint outbursts of tribal and ethnic rebellion in the
As always the
Number116 best sources late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Author: William Harrison of reference Its vastness and distances made it an ideal
Publisher: Guideline Publications also provide theatre for the application of air power in
Format: A4, Paperback, 56 pages inspiration response. Little of these episodes have been
for covered in print, although the large scale
The Hawker operations of the Spanish colonial authorities
Biplane ighters, modelling
projects and of the late 1950s became notable for the inal
bombers and combat deployment of the Messerschmitt
reconnaissance this book is
no Bf.109.
aircraft, itted
with inline exception. Spain withdrew from Spanish Sahara in 1975,
engines, which The second indirectly opening a new chapter of this part
were in service of a trilogy, of the world, which is going to be covered in
with the RAF in this volume Volume Two.
the 1930s, covers the Illustrated by over 100 photographs, dozens
were arguably two crucial of maps and ifteen colour proiles, Volume
the most months of March and April 1942 when One offers a fascinating study of the military
attractive a deadly struggle for Port Moresby played aspects of this conlict, warfare strategies,
looking of the out, and can be read alone or as part of a tactics and experiences with different
period. Kit trilogy that culminates in the Battle of the weapons systems.
Coral Sea in May 1942. The period begins with
www.casematepublishing.co.uk
manufacturers must have thought the the US carrier strike against Lae and
Richard Mason

MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01 93

A M E R I C A N PAT R O L
BALBO
I
f you were to walk on the main loor of
Aeronautica Militare headquarters in Rome,
you might notice a peculiar looking piece of
sculpture outside the main office. At its base is
the globe riding on the crest of an ocean wave.
Two winged igures—one above the other and
representing Icarus and Daedalus—are seen in
light above the globe. This is the Harmon
Trophy won by Air Minister Italo Balbo in 1931
for his irst Transatlantic Cruise. This is the same
trophy that was awarded to Charles Lindbergh,
Jimmy Doolittle, Amelia Earhart, and Wiley Post,
among others.
In the large, simply furnished office adjacent
to the trophy, one can view huge murals on the
high walls that are a feature of the space. These
murals are stylized maps that depict Europe,
South America, and North America, with
prominent aerial routes shown along with
peculiar looking loatplanes lying in formation.
This was Italo Balbo’s office while he was
Minister of the Regia Aeronautica and witness to
his accomplishments as an organizer of mass
lights across the oceans.
94 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
This is the man that is described as Benito
Mussolini’s ‘No. 2 man’ and a dedicated Fascist.
All of the busts that once could be found of him
throughout Italy have disappeared, but the air
force that he nurtured and transformed on a
shoestring budget from a second-rate armed
service to a proud and dedicated air arm with
high morale now quietly accepts his role as the
man that put the air force on the same footing as
the army and the navy.
Meanwhile, in the United States, there are
periodic efforts to tear down a monument and
rename a street that commemorate Italo Balbo.
So, how did a monument to Italo Balbo and a
street named for him come about? That’s what
this month’s column is about.
There are several aspects of Italo Balbo’s
personality that should be mentioned for
starters. The irst was his love of adventure
(including lying); the second his love of
spectacular projects carried out on an epic scale
with élan; the third was his patriotism; and the
last was his fascination with America.
A contemporary cutaway of a
S.55X. Note Balbo’s autograph
in lower right corner
Italo Balbo poses in Chicago
on the wing of his S.55X
By Steve Palmer
As a child, Balbo play-acted and imagined
adventure and travel to distant lands. His
educated family exposed him to classic poetry
and literature at a young age. We know this
because he was a fairly talented and expressive
writer.
He became interested in lying and aviation at
an early age. When he was 15, he helped tend a
navigation bonire for a lying rally and when he
was 17, he wrote a pamphlet about a friend who
had been killed lying. He was unable to ly for
Italy during WWI, and instead served as an Alpini.
And he sought to form a Blackshirt aviation
corps in 1922. While he was in charge of the
Fascist Militia, he lew all over Italy and obtained
a pilot’s license. Once he became undersecretary
of the Air Ministry, he improved his lying skills. It
is said that he was a competent, if not
outstanding, aviator.
He showed an early talent for organization,
which allowed him to undertake spectacular
aerial ‘cruises’ that employed mass lights to
distant destinations, beginning in the
This drawing from a 1932 Italian publication
shows the lying formation followed by Balbo’s
aircrews

Mediterranean and culminating in a light to the
United States. He believed that these cruises
improved overall aircrew efficiency while it
allowed him to lex his project management
muscles, and signiicantly boosted the prestige
of the Regia Aeronautica while improving the
force’s morale.
These cruises made the patriotic Balbo
especially proud to be an Italian, who could
demonstrate to the world, and especially to
Italians who were émigrés in the New World that
they should be proud of Italy and proud of
themselves.
Finally, the cruise to the United States allowed
him to fulill a dream of returning there with a
real lourish after his visit here in 1928. Balbo
wrote of his amazement with the sheer size of
the nation, the unassuming manner of many of
the aviation pioneers and political leaders, and
the success of Italian-Americans who welcomed
him to America. As his ship left New York, he
observed the city skyline. He wrote of ‘the
bizarre, colossal outlines of the chaotic
metropolis, wrapped in epic curtains of smoke
and fog, barely gilded by the sunset.’
It was then that Balbo had ‘the vision of an
Italian aerial squadron, which after having
A ine aerial view
of the Orbatello
seaplane base with
S.55Xs neatly
parked on the
concrete apron
crossed the ocean triumphantly arrived in the
sky over New York.’
By 1929, Balbo had worked a minor miracle
with the Regia Aeronautica. It ranked fourth in
the world, only behind France, Great Britain, and
the United States. A New York Times reporter
wrote that same year that ‘the Italian Air Force of
well over 100 squadrons, smart and well trained,
appears to show more results for money spent
than any other nation.’ Italy built her air force up
in what could be called the Golden Age of the
seaplane and her equipment relected this. The
standard bomber and reconnaissance seaplane
during Balbo’s tenure was the odd-looking
Savoia Marchetti S.55. The aircraft was an old
design, having gone into service in 1925. But it
was rugged and reliable, so it was the natural
choice of aircraft for the major ‘cruises’
undertaken by Balbo and the Regia Aeronautica.
A larger version hauled fourteen passengers on
commercial lights between Rome and Tripoli.
And the SM.55 was so durable that it remained
in active service until 1939.
Balbo was aware of the shortcomings of the
indigenous aircraft industry, but he also knew
that unless the budget for the Regia Aeronautica
increased dramatically and unless the Italian
Inlight three-quarter
view of an S.55X
MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01
A M E R I C A N PAT R O L
manufacturers were able to export scores of
aircraft, it would be impossible for Italy to keep
up with more industrialized nations like
Germany and especially the United States, which
he had visited in 1928. He did what he could on
a puny budget and felt that the cruises would be
a boost for the Italian aircraft industry and
perhaps boost sales. Sales to overseas customers
would provide capital for the purchase of raw
materials required by the aircraft industry that
were not available in any quantity in Italy.
For the irst of the cruises in the spring of
1928, the Western Mediterranean cruise, Balbo
relied heavily up the pioneer Italian aviator
Francesco De Pinedo. De Pinedo was
acknowledged to be one of the world’s experts
on long-distance light at the time—a time
when Balbo’s piloting and organizational skills
were still nascent.The irst cruises provided the
pilots with valuable experience, especially with
long-distance formation lying. The mental
discipline required to make these lights was a
test for the pilots as well. Balbo had been
impressed with the formation lying skills of US
Navy pilots in 1928 and wanted his pilots to
perform at the same level.
Both Mediterranean cruises boosted the
This is the so-called ‘Balbo Column’ in Chicago,
presented by Mussolini to the City of Chicago
to commemorate the transatlantic light. It has
been a source of controversy but remains in
place for the time being. It is still a source of
pride to Italian-Americans living in Chicago
95
A M E R I C A N PAT R O L
prestige of Di Pinedo and Balbo.
Balbo was eventually made a
General in the Regia Aeronautica
and Di Pinedo was made a Maquise.
Balbo generously and wisely gave
much credit to Di Pinedo for
planning and executing these
cruises. Fifty-one SM.59s and ten
SM.55s comprised the Western
cruise, which covered 1.750 miles
with six stops. The Eastern
Mediterranean cruise used two
SM.59s, 32 SM.55s, and one CANT
22 to ly 3,300 miles.
For the South Atlantic light,
Balbo directed Umberto
Maddalena to plan the light.
Maddalena was famous for co-
piloting an S.55 in the rescue of
airship explorer Umberto Nobile
and his crew after a 1928
expedition to the North Pole went
terribly wrong.
Balbo rigorously trained aircrews
at Orbatello and nearly drowned
when his aircraft had a loat
collapse during takeoff. The aircraft
quickly sank in forty feet of water,
but Balbo fought clear of the
aircraft and swam to the surface
after being given up for dead. This
accident haunted him for the rest
of his life.
This light covered 6,500 miles in
seven stages. The cruise left
Orbetello on December 17, 1930
with twelve S.55As and two spare
aircraft. During the voyage, the
aircraft followed the African
coastline, suffering from storms
that damaged some of them. After
almost two weeks, the aircraft lew
1,865 miles across the ocean,
landing in Port Natal after eighteen
hours of lying. By this time two
aircraft had crashed, with the loss
of ive airmen; the spares took their
place. Two more aircraft had to land
on the ocean during the light but
were towed to Brazil by Italian
warships.
On January 11, Balbo led 11
S.55s on the seven-hour light to
Bahia. Four days after this, the S.55s
lew across the jungle to Rio de
Janiero. The aircraft arrived at the
same time as eight Italian Navy
warships. The Brazilians ‘wined and
dined’ the airmen, who were
instant celebrities in Rio. Those who
had emigrated from Italy to the city
were especially proud. With the
exception of the two fatal crashes,
the light was a success. Balbo and
the light crews returned to Italy
aboard ships, and left the S.55s in
Brazil for the Brazilians. Before even
arriving home, Balbo was already
planning the Atlantic crossing,
which would be a round trip.
Balbo conducted training for two
years to prepare for this light.
Aircrews were selected on the basis
of a competition, and lew
progressively longer training lights
until they were lying for twenty
hours at a time. There were many
night lights and practice takeoffs
with the aircraft fully loaded.
Naturally, there were crashes, and a
fair number of pilots were ‘washed
out.’
Prior to the light, Regia
Aeronautica mechanics and a
meteorologist were stationed at
the light’s transatlantic jump-off
point of Londonderry, Northern
96 W W W. S C A L E A I R C R A F T M O D E L L I N G . CO. U K
Ireland, while six wireless-equipped took the liers from Lisbon to to close concentration camps that
meteorological trawlers were Rome’s seaside Lido di Ostia, ‘where had been built for the ‘paciication’
positioned along the ocean route. Mussolini and thousands of of indigenous Libyans. He did this
Twenty-four S.55Xs plus one spare euphoric Italians waited to under protest from Mussolini. He
aircraft would make the light, The celebrate this new Roman triumph.’ constructed roads, hotels,
‘X’ version replaced the A version’s The following day Mussolini made mosques, and a racetrack where a
500hp FIAT engines with Isotta- Italo Balbo marshal of the Regia Grand Prix race was held during his
Fraschini Asso 750 hp engines. Aeronautica. time in Libya.
Balbo’s aircraft took off irst from Amid all the festivities, however, It seems that Balbo was an
Orbetello early on July 1, 1933, with the writing was already on the wall Italian irst and a Fascist second. He
the rest of the aircraft following. An for Balbo, the people’s hero. In spoke out against anti-Semitism,
observer wrote, ‘With the precision Mussolini’s eyes, it seemed the warned Mussolini to not ally
of a battalion on parade, light aviator was in danger of becoming himself with Nazi Germany, and
followed light until the whole more popular than the dictator believed that Italy should side with
twenty-ive, eight hurtling himself. Soon Balbo found himself the British in WW II. In America, he
arrowheads one behind the other, effectively banished from Italy, would not be remembered in the
droned into the distance in the ‘promoted’ to the governor- New World as a Fascist, but as an
direction of the Apennines.’ The generalship of the Italian colony of extraordinary adventurer, a fearless
aircraft lew over the Alps and Libya. aviator, and an American-style
crossed Germany to land in One of his irst acts in Libya was politician and showman.
Amsterdam. One aircraft capsized
on landing and was replaced with
the spare. This postcard commemorated the voyages
The light next crossed the North of Columbus and Balbo to the New World
Sea and Scotland to Londonderry’s
Lough Foyle, and departed for
Reykjavik on July 5. Balbo’s men
waited for six days before the
weather was decent enough to
make the trickiest part of the cruise,
to Labrador. Balbo wrote: ‘We
passed through such thick fog that
we could hardly see the ends of the
wings. To avoid the danger of ice
accumulating on the wings, we
kept as low as 300 feet.’
Even after lying 1,500 miles
there were no stragglers and no
serious mechanical problems.
Balbo had kept the vast armada
together by regular wireless ‘roll-
calls.’ This was truly a brilliant
demonstration of airmanship. The
formation lew to Shediac, New
Brunswick, on July 13, then to
Montreal the following day. On July
15, the seaplanes lew 875 miles to
Chicago and the Century of
Progress Exhibition, arriving to ind
ecstatic crowds lining Lake
Michigan with the many Italians on
hand chanting ‘Viva Balbo!’ Total
lying time was 48 hours and 47
minutes, covering 6,065 miles at an
average speed of 124.6 mph.
Chicago Mayor Edward Kelly
proclaimed ‘Balbo Day,’ and the
Sioux honored Balbo as ‘Chief
Flying Eagle,’ awarding him a
feathered headdress. In tribute to
the aviators’ achievement,
Mussolini later sent Chicago an
ancient column from Ostia Antica.
It can still be seen today on the
city’s Lakefront Trail.
Four days later the S.55s lew to Italo Balbo meets
New York, where a ticker-tape Wiley Post in New York
parade and numerous receptions
awaited them. Balbo lew aboard
FDR’s Coast Guard amphibian to
Washington and had lunch with
President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
who later authorized the award of
the Distinguished Flying Cross to
Balbo. Before returning to New
York, Balbo visited Arlington
Cemetery and laid a wreath at the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The irst leg of the return light
from Shoal Harbour,
Newfoundland, to the Azores was
trouble-free. However an S.55X The Chicago
capsized during takeoff for Lisbon Daily Tribune
the next day, with the loss of the
announces
pilot. The other aircraft reached
Lisbon that evening. The inal stage Balbo’s arrival
of their epic 12045-mile journey
 CO M I N G N E X T M O N T H

PREVIEW
PLANNED FOR SCALE AIRCRAFT MODELLING
NEXT ISSUE: Volume 41 · Issue 02 ·June 2019
transparencies and these are a
major disappointment. The plus
1 side is that there is a fair bit of
internal turret detail included but
Beauty and the Vildebeest both front and rear turret clear
Special Hobbys Reboxing of the halves are joined along a vertical,
central seam through the
Azur/Fromm Vickers Vildebeest
supposedly clear part. I say
Mark III supposedly because the rear turret
By Dave Hooper Kit No: 83211 has been moulded in opaque clear
plastic. This joint will be impossible
Scale: 1/32 to remove, hide, polish out or dress
2 Type: Injection Moulded up without making it even more
glaringly obvious. The upper turret
Petrol Pump Plastic
shape and moulded framing is also
Roden’s VC10 K2 in 1/144 Manufacturer: HobbyBoss questionable for this mark but at
Creative Models/Squadron least its moulded beautifully clear.
By Huw Morgan There were a number of turret

A
fter getting over the combinations on real aircraft
physical size of the box, and largely dependant on where they
think bigger than were constructed or refurbished,
3 Trumpeter's 1/32nd A-6 or F-14 so and there's even photos of one
Aircraft in Proile you won't get this into the house with a complete B-17G nose
un-noticed, there are twenty light grafted on!
Bristol Blenheim gray sprues, a basic etched brass The net result is that although
by Richard Mason. With Scale Plans sheet without seat belts, three the retail price for this kit is quite
and Colour Proiles by Jan Polc vinyl tyres and ammunition belts reasonable given the size and
and what appear to be a pair of general quality (£149.99) it's
ABS moulded main undercarriage seriously let down by possibly the
legs. Surface detail is depicted with most noticeable feature of the
some ine engraved panel lines aircraft, as a result this kits going to
4 and rivet detail, which are all very
well done as I've not found any
stay in the loft until such time as I
Hawker Tempest in 1/48 slips or incomplete lines, lash is
plug mould some turret glazing or
someone cleverer than me moulds
By Rick Greenwood non-existent and there are four some clear resin ones. Hopefully
decal options given in a glossy the aftermarket will get busy on
colour A4 sheet, one olive drab and this kit and it’s mentioned on the
three in natural metal. HobbyBoss site that they will be
Fuselage internal detail looks introducing detail sets for this kit.
5 reasonable and there is a massive
wing spar, which I hope allows the
Exchanging customers' opaque kit
turrets for something usable would
Revell Fairey Gannet completed wings to be removed be a good start...
in 1/72 for storage. A full bomb
By Mike Fleckenstein load is included
although I'm not sure if
the size of the spar
hasn't stolen some
height from within the
6 bomb bay.
Little Green Skyhawk So far not too bad for
the price but now we
The Hobby Boss Douglas A-4E get to the
By Colin ‘Flying’ Pickett

7
Malta Needs Spitires
Or From Revellution to Scratch…
(a scale model project with ups and
downs)
By Michael Hase

All this and more plus the latest from the Newsdesk, the
continuing efforts of the Harrogate Model Club, and the usual
Marketplace round up and showcases.
Please note we receive a constant stream of interesting and informative articles, and in the
interest of balanced and up to the minute coverage content may change at short notice.
The above listing is provisional and may be subject to change.

MARCH 2019 • VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 01 97

NEW DECALS CD48073 1:48 USAF McDonnell RF-101C Voodoo.. £13.99
CD48136 1:48 Luftwaffe McDonnell F-4F Phantom II "Norm 81" £13.99
AIM - Transport Wings CD48137 1:48 Douglas EKA-3B Skywarrior £13.99
TWF72021 1:72 Rhodesian Air Services de Havilland DH-104 Dove Dove (circa 1965) £10.35 CD72076 1:72 North-American FJ-3 Fury US Navy - Part 1 £13.99
TWF72022 1:72 Rhodesia United Air Carriers (RUAC) de Havilland DH-104 CD72083 1:72 US Navy North-American FJ-3 Fury - Part 2 £13.99
Dove Dove (circa 1973) £10.35 CDB48002 1:48 USAF North-American F-86 Buzz Numbers. £6.99
TWL72045 1:72 British Eagle de Havilland DH-104 Dove 5, circa 1966 £10.80 CDB48003 1:48 USAF Lockheed F-80/T-33/F-94 Buzz Numbers. £6.99
TWL72046 1:72 BOAC - early livery de Havilland DH-104 Dove 1, circa 1959 £10.80
TWL72047 1:72 BOAC - later livery de Havilland DH-104 Dove 6, circa 1960 £10.80 Dutch Decal
TWL72048 1:72 Dan Air - London de Havilland DH-104 Dove 1B, circa 1963 £10.80 DD48070 1:48 North-American P-51D/K Mustang, Hawker Sea Fury, £14.99
TWL72049 1:72 Gulf Aviation de Havilland DH-104 Dove 1B, circa 1956 £10.80
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TWL72052 1:72 Royal Jordanian Air Force de Havilland DH-104 Dove 7, circa 1975 £10.80 1953; No 23 Russia; No 16 7 FS 'Typhoon McGoon New Guinea; 100 20P 55 PS
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BC48011 1:48 P-51D Mustangs of the 8th Air Force (5) 44-63684 SX-B 352FS 353FG Lt.Col. the 350th FG. OD/grey camouflage schemes and natural metal finishes. £12.20
William B.Bailey "Double Trouble Two" Black/Yellow check nose RAF Raydon;
44-14985 CY-G 343FS 55FG Maj. Edward Giller "The Millie G" Yellow/Green Flying Colors
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"Amourous Len III" 1944 Red/Yellow check nose band RAF Yoxford; 44-13410 logos £9.99
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63684 SX-B 352FS 353FG Lt.Col.William B.Bailey "Double Trouble Two" Black/ 1944 "Lovely Lila/American Beauty" Capt John Voll red nose and striped tail;
Yellow check nose RAF Raydon; 44-14985 CY-G 343FS 55FG Maj. Edward Giller 414733 CS-L 370FS/ 359FG RAF East Wretham 1945 "Daddy"s Girl" Capt
"The Millie G" Yellow/Green check nose band RAF Wormingford; 44-14888 B6-Y Raymond Wetmore green nose, blue rudder; 414570 WD-D 335FS/ 4FG RAF
363FS 357FG Chuck Jaeger "Amourous Len III" 1944 Red/Yellow check nose Debden 1944 "Thunderbird" Capt Lines red nose; 44-12017 348FG Shima 1945
band RAF Yoxford; 44-13410 E2-C 375FS Lt.Col Thomas Christian KIA 12-8-44 "Miss Bonnie" . 3.5 decal sheets. £12.60
"Lou IV/Athelene" Yellow Nose RAF Bottisham; 44-15092 SX-B "Alabama
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LN44604 1:144 Air Greenland de-Havilland-Canada DHC-8-200 £9.99
Berna Decals LN72544 1:72 Air Greenland de-Havilland-Canada DHC-8-200 £11.99
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N∞259. £12.60 (HMS Tiger). Curtiss SB2C-5 HELLDIVER - Flottilles 3F, 4F & 9F, S.E.S. 'Tunisie',
BER48054R 1:48 Back in stock! Dassault Alpha Jet Patrouille de France 2003 - 50TH Escadrilles de Servitude 3S & 10S with squadron badges for 3F (with &
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Caracal Models
CD144006 1:144 Back in stock! Lockheed C-5B/M Galaxy £13.99 Warbird Decals
CD48013 1:48 Re-released! Air National Guard F-102A Delta Dagger. Texas ANG, Hawaii WB14404 1:144 Re-printed! Space Shuttle Tiles £23.99
ANG, Pennsylvania ANG, Idaho ANG £13.99 WB32005 1:32 What If the Thunderbirds Flew P-51D Mustangs in 1948. £19.99

NEW KITS BIG1440023 1:144 Boeing 737-300 Easyjet.com £18.99 Modelsvit Aircraft kits (injection)
BIG1440024 1:144 Boeing 737-300 Airpolonia.com £18.99 MSVIT480081:48 Back in stock! Curtiss-Wright XP-55
Airfix Aircraft kits (injection) BIG1440041 1:144 Boeing 737-300 SKY Europe £18.99 Ascender£30.99 £25.82
AX05137 1:48 North-American Mustang Mk.IV £20.99
AX06018 1:72 North-American Mitchell Mk.II £24.99 Eduard Aircraft kits (injection) Revell Aircraft kits (injection)
AX06106 1:48 Hawker Sea Fury FB.11 ‘Export Edition’ £24.99 EDK7450 1:72 Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat Weekend edition £9.70 RV3885 1:48 Nieuport 17 £17.99
Catalogues and lists EDK8103 1:48 Dassault Mirage IIIC ProfiPACK edition £38.80 RV3886 1:48 Bucker Bu-131D Jungmann (Ex ICM) £29.99
CATAX19 Airfix Catalogue 2019 £8.99 EDK82122 1:48 Hawker Tempest Mk.V series RV3887 1:144 BAe Harrier GR.7 £4.99
2 ProfiPACK £38.80 RV3889 1:72 Kamov KA-58 Stealth (ex Zvesda) £16.99
AMP Aircraft kits (injection) RV3890 1:72 IAI Kfir C-1c (ex Italeri) £9.99
AMP48004 1:48 Westland WS-51 Dragonfly Hr.3 £32.20 Hasegawa Aircraft kits (injection) RV4962 1:48 McDonnell-Douglas FGR.2 Phantom II
HA08254 1:32 Polikarpov I-16 "Finnish Air Force" £79.99 (Ex Hasegawa) £29.99
Anigrand Craftswork Aircraft kits (resin) RV4994 1:32 Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet New Tool £69.99
ANIG2134 1:72 Back in stock! Columbia XJL-1 flying boat. £61.80 ICM Aircraft kits (injection) Catalogues and lists
ICM48186 1:48 Beech C18S "Magic by Moonlight" £22.40 CATRV19 Revell 2019 Catalogue £2.99
Arma Hobby Aircraft kits (injection)
AH70020 1:72 Hawker Hurricane Mk.I Junior Set. LF Models Aircraft kits (injection) RS Models Aircraft kits (injection)
Features "metal wing", extensive cockpit and LFPE7219 1:72 Weiss Manfred C.VE RHAF (3x camo) £23.99 RSMI48001 1:48 Back in stock! Fokker D-XXIII £36.40
wheel bay interior as well as tropical filter. £11.70
Mach 2 Aircraft kits (injection) Smer Aircraft kits (injection)
Big Planes Kits Aircraft kits (injection) MACHGP095 1:72 Bristol Britannia Monarch £59.99 SM72929 1:72 Back in stock! Siebel Si-204A £11.99
BIG1440006 1:144 Boeing 737-300 Airpolonia Profi-Pack £18.99 MACHGP096 1:72 Bristol Britannia Caledonian £59.99 SM72935 1:72 Back in stock! Siebel Si-204D/E £11.99
BIG1440008 1:144 Boeing 737-300 Iberia Profi-Pack £18.99 MACHGP097 1:72 Bristol Britannia British Eagle £59.99 SM72949 1:72 Back in stock! Piper L-4H "on floats"
BIG1440009 1:144 Boeing 737-300 Bulgaria Profi-Pack £18.99 MACHGP098 1:72 Bristol Britannia BUA/British United £59.99 (ex KP) £7.50
BIG1440011 1:144 Boeing 737-300 SKY Profi-Pack £18.99 MACHGP099 1:72 de Havilland Comet 4C Dan-Air London £59.99 SM72956 1:72 Back in stock! Arado Ar-96B (ex KP) £7.50
BIG1440012 1:144 Boeing 737-300 Easyjet Profi-Pack £18.99 MACHGP100 1:72 de Havilland Comet 4C RAF £59.99
BIG1440015 1:144 Boeing 737-300 bmibaby.com £18.99 MACHL030 1:48 Mercury Redstone £39.99 Sova-M Aircraft kits (injection)
BIG1440017 1:144 Yakovlev Yak-40 LOT £18.99 SVM-72009 1:72 Da-42 “Dominator" UAV £24.50
Special Hobby Aircraft kits (injection) (Academy) Includes BDOA48068, BDOA48069 (ICM) £25.80
SH32074 1:32 Fieseler Fi-103R / V-1 Reichenberg £19.99 & BDOA48070 £37.60 ED73650 1:72 Grumman F-14A Tomcat (Fine Molds) £25.80
SH48129 1:48 Back in stock! North-American BMA72017 1:72 Republic P-47D Thunderbolt 150gal Tanks EDFE958 1:48 Dassault Rafale C (Revell) £9.70
T-2 Buckeye 'Camouflaged Trainer' £29.99 (Tamiya) £2.99 EDFE959 1:48 Dassault Rafale C seatbelts STEEL
SH72042 1:72 Back in stock! Vultee Vengeance TT RAF BDOA72029 1:72 Lockheed AC-130H Hercules Radar (Revell) £6.60
and Australian £16.20 (Italeri) £14.20 EDFE960 1:48 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.1 (Tamiya) £9.70
SH72230 1:72 Douglas B-18B Bolo 'ASW Version' £33.80 BDOA48063 1:48 Grumman OV-1D Mohawk engine x 1 EDFE961 1:48 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.1 seatbelts STEEL
SH72246 1:72 Re-released! Saab A-21R (Roden) £15.99 (Tamiya) £4.99
'Attack Version' £17.99 BDOA48064 1:48 Grumman OV-1D Mohawk engines x 2 EDFE962 1:48 Heinkel He-111H-16 (ICM) £15.99
SH72311 1:72 Back in stock! Hispano HA-1112 M-1L (Roden) £26.40 EDFE963 1:48 Heinkel He-111H-16 seatbelts STEEL
Buchon 'Movie Star' £14.60 BDOA48068 1:48 Sikorsky MH-53E Sea Dragon Outer (ICM) £7.20
engine (Academy) £17.99 EDSS650 1:72 Grumman F-14A Tomcat (Fine Molds) £15.99
Wingnut Wings Aircraft kits (injection) BDOA48069 1:48 Sikorsky MH-53E Sea Dragon Inner EDSS651 1:72 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IX radiator
WNW32049 1:32 Halberstadt Cl.II (Early version) £128.99 engine (Academy) £14.20 grilles (Eduard) £4.40
WNW32062 1:32 Halberstadt Cl.II (Late version) £128.99 BDOA72025 1:72 Lockheed UP-3D Orion Engine Aircraft paint masks (self adhesive)
WNW32804 1:32 Halberstadt Cl.II (late) & RE.8 (Hasegawa) £15.99 EDEX640 1:48 Heinkel He-111H-16 (ICM) £9.70
“Harry Tate" The Duellists. £228.99 BDOA72026 1:72 Lockheed UP-3D Orion 2 Engines EDEX641 1:48 Dassault Rafale C (Revell) £7.20
(Hasegawa) £26.40 EDEX642 1:48 Dassault Rafale C TFace (Revell) £9.70
NEW ACCESSORIES BDOA72027 1:72 Lockheed AC-130H Hercules Engine EDEX643 1:48 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.1 (Tamiya) £7.20
(Italeri) £15.99 EDEX644 1:48 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.1 TFace (Tamiya) £9.70
AIM - Transport Wings Aircraft conversions (resin) BDOA72028 1:72 Lockheed AC-130H Hercules 2 Engines EDJX224 1:32 Polikarpov I-16 type 29 (ICM) £7.20
TWC72036 1:72 Douglas Douglas DC-6/DC-7 non-radar (Italeri) £26.40
nose - (Heller) £4.50 BDOA72030 1:72 Fairchild A-10A Thunderbolt 2 Engines Eduard Big-Ed Aircraft detailing sets (etched)
Aircraft detailing sets (resin) (Academy) £15.99 EBIG2403 1:24 de Havilland Mosquito FB Mk.VI (Airfix) £81.20
TWC48028 1:48 4 x Meteor BVRAAM (Beyond Visual BDOA72031 1:72 Lockheed US-3A/S-3B Viking 2 Engines EBIG49212 1:48 Hawker Tempest Mk.V (Eduard) £34.99
Range Air-to-Air Missile) £18.00 (Hasegawa) £15.99 EBIG49213 1:48 McDonnell F-101B Voodoo
TWC72028 1:72 4 x Meteor BVRAAM (Beyond Visual (Kitty Hawk Model) £43.70
Range Air-to-Air Missile) £10.80 CMK/Czech Master Kits Aircraft engines and EBIG49214 1:48 McDonnell RF-101C Voodoo
TWC72033 1:72 Bristol Britannia wing tips (more propellers (resin) (Kitty Hawk Model) £38.80
accurate profile) (Mach 2 kit £7.20 CMQ72335 1:72 Curtiss P-40E Warhawk Exhausts EBIG72143 1:72 Handley-Page Victor K.2 (Airfix) £40.60
(Special Hobby) £2.50 EBIG72144 1:72 Boeing B-52G Stratofortress PART I.
Aires Aircraft detailing sets (resin) Aircraft seats (resin) (Modelcollect) £35.60
AIRE4757 1:48 Sukhoi Su-17/22M3/M4 Fitter K covered CMF48350 1:48 Saab SK-37/SK-37E Viggen Instructor /
chaff/flare dispensers (Hobby Boss) £12.60 Operator (seated in rear cockpit) Eduard Brassin Aircraft detailing sets (etched and resin)
AIRE4762 1:48 McDonnell F-4J Phantom II (late version) (Special Hobby) £9.40 ED634011 1:32 Curtiss P-40N Warhawk LööK (Eduard
cockpit set (Zoukei-Mura) £19.99 CMQ48336 1:48 Boulton-Paul Defiant Mk.I Pilot's Seat and Hasegawa) £8.40
AIRE4763 1:48 McDonnell F-4S Phantom II electronic with seat belt (Airfix) £4.30 ED644012 1:48 Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat LööK (Eduard) £8.40
bay (Zoukei-Mura) £8.40 CMQ48337 1:48 Boulton-Paul Defiant Mk.I Pilot's Seat ED648446 1:48 Hawker Tempest Mk.V undercarriage
AIRE4764 1:48 Messerschmitt Bf-109F/G wheel bay (Airfix) £3.60 legs BRONZE (Eduard) £15.99
(Eduard) £8.40 CMQ72332 1:72 Nakajima Ki-43-II/Ki-43-III Hayabusa ED648447 1:48 B43-0 Nuclear Weapon w/ SC43-4/-7 tail
AIRE7364 1:72 Vickers Wellington Mk.Ic wheels & paint Pilot's Seat with Harness (Special Hobby) £2.50 assembly £9.70
masks (early) (Airfix) £3.60 CMQ72333 1:72 Kawasaki KI-61-I Tei Hien-Pilot's Seat ED648448 1:48 B43-1 Nuclear Weapon w/ SC43-4/-7 tail
AIRE2225 1:32 Polikarpov I-153 wheels & paint masks with Harness (Hasegawa) £2.50 assembly £9.70
(ICM) £8.40 CMQ72334 1:72 Nakajima B5N2 'Kate' Crew Seats with ED648449 1:48 AN/AVQ-26 PAVE Tack pod for F-4 £8.40
Harness for Airfix) £3.40 ED648450 1:48 RP-3 60lb rockets for Hawker Tempest
Barracuda Studios Aircraft wheels (resin) Mk.V (Eduard) £8.40
BCR48391 1:48 Messerschmitt Bf-109G-10 and Bf-109K-4 Eduard Aircraft detailing sets (etched) SIN64855 1:48 Hawker Tempest Mk.V w/ early wheels
Main wheels (Eduard, Fujimi, Hasegawa, ED32935 1:32 Polikarpov I-16 type 29 (ICM) £22.60 ESSENTIAL (Eduard) £41.99
Hobbycraft, KA-Models and Revell) £7.99 ED32936 1:32 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IIa interior SIN64856 1:48 Hawker Tempest Mk.V w/ late wheels
(Revell) £25.80 ESSENTIAL (Eduard) £41.99
Black Dog Figures (resin) ED33206 1:32 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IIa interior ED648456 1:48 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.1 exhaust
BDF32055 1:32 USAAF Bomber Aircraft Commander (Revell) £15.99 stacks (Tamiya) £4.99
1940-1945 £14.99 ED33207 1:32 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IIa seatbelts ED648455 1:48 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.1 wheels
BDF32056 1:32 USAAF Bomber Aircraft Navigator STEEL (Revell) £7.20 (Tamiya) £6.60
1940-1945 £14.99 ED33208 1:32 Polikarpov I-16 type 29 (ICM) £12.99
ED33209 1:32 Polikarpov I-16 type 29 seatbelts STEEL Freightdog Aircraft conversions (resin)
Blackbird Models Aircraft detailing sets (resin) (ICM) £4.99 FDR72120 1:72 Phantom F-4K XT597 A&AEE Doppler
BDOA48065 1:48 Boeing CH-46A/CH-46D/CH-46E Bull Frog ED48985 1:48 Heinkel He-111H-16 exterior (ICM) £25.80 nose resin conversion. This is needed to
set 1 (Academy) £17.99 ED48986 1:48 Dassault Rafale C exterior (Revell) £15.99 model the airframe when flown in the
BDOA48066 1:48 Boeing CH-46A/CH-46D/CH-46E Bull ED48987 1:48 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.1 landing flaps Raspberry Ripple scheme depicted on
Frog set 2 (Academy) £17.99 (Tamiya) £15.99 Xtradecal sheets X72282 and X72296. (Airfix) £4.00
BDOA48067 1:48 Boeing CH-46A/CH-46D/CH-46E Bull Frog ED49957 1:48 Bell AH-1Z 'Viper' interior
Big set Includes BDOA48065 & BDOA48066 (Kitty Hawk Model) £9.70 Freightdog Aircraft detailing sets (resin)
(Academy) £29.99 ED49958 1:48 Dassault Rafale C interior (Revell) £15.99 FDR72122 1:72 Back in stock! EE/BAC Canberra
BDOA48070 1:48 Sikorsky MH-53E Sea Dragon Electronics ED49960 1:48 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.1 (Tamiya) £15.99 corrected tip tanks set. (Airfix, AMP and
(Academy) £18.80 ED49962 1:48 Heinkel He-111H-16 nose interior (ICM) £21.30 S & M) £6.50
BDOA48071 1:48 Sikorsky MH-53E Sea Dragon Big set for ED49963 1:48 Heinkel He-111H-16 radio compartment

Arma Hobby AMP Eduard Mach 2 Sova-M Special Hobby Wingnut Models
AH70020 1:72 Hawker Hur- AMP48004 1:48 Westland EDK8103 1:48 Dassault Mi- MACHGP100 1:72 de SVM-72009 1:72 Da-42 SH48129 1:48 North-Ameri- WNW32804 1:32 Halber-
ricane Mk.I Junior Set WS-51 Dragonfly Hr.3' rage IIIC ProfiPACK edition Havilland Comet 4C RAF “Dominator" UAV can T-2 Buckeye stadt Cl.II (late) & RE.8
£11.70 £33.20 £38.80 £59.99 £24.50 £29.99 “Harry Tate" £228.99

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