3a Escuadrilla A de Caza y Ataque, Escuadra Aeronaval, 25 de Mayo, South Atlantic April-May 1982
This is my second venture into the Skyhawk 1:72 realm from Airfix and again it is an Argentinian version from the Falklands conflict but this time in the more standard grey camouflage. I chose deck tan shade from the Vallejo paint range to depict the colour as opposed to satin light gull grey as it appeared to be closer to some of the photo references I have seen but who really knows!? Truth, as they say, is all shades of grey! Anyway, I particularly liked the markings on this aircraft which is why I chose the subject.
All of the information about this aircraft is identical to the previous version so I will just take you through the build instead.
I had a job keeping the canopy hood raised so I attached a small support in the cockpit made from thin scrap plastic. Again I made hoops for the tail fin from copper wire, these were possibly radio antennae or weights, not sure which!A very attractive scheme with minimal weatheringQuite a lot of masking involved. 1:72 scale can be just as challenging if not more so than the larger 1:48. I left the air intakes off at this stage so I could airbrush the insides white.My modelling desk may appear a bit chaotic but I do know where most things are-at least most of the time!Slightly damaged the anchor decal on the left. Oh well, battle damage! They were a real pig to apply, very thin and kept curling up!My squadron! ¡Recuperaremos las islas Malvinas!Painting instructions. Box art. The typically gaudy American version is depicted which I also hope to make. I will use the decals from this version and apply them to another 1:72 I have in my stash which is identical to the previous Skyhawk I made. I am sure all that makes perfect sense!
This is an old model from my ‘archive’ that I recently restored. I had made it many years ago when I resumed modelling in my middle-age (was it really all those years ago!?). At the time I wasn’t so adept with the airbrush but somehow I did manage to airbrush all those yellow and blue stripes towards the tail and the red tail fin itself. No mean feat with a single-action airbrush and Humbrol enamels, which was like spraying treacle! This time round I accented the panel lines and gave it a bit more of a weather beaten appearance, but not too beaten up as the aircraft depicted by this model probably wouldn’t have seen much action. I am presuming this particular aircraft took part in the Pearl Harbour attack where it distinguished itself along with the Mitsubishi Zeros and Nakajima Kates.
The long tube in front of the cockpit was an aiming device for the pilot. I had to scratch build it from scrap plastic rod as I had lost the original. Probably show up on the carpet one day!
I have always regarded the Aichi D3A, known as ‘Val’ by the Allies as one of the most beautiful looking aircraft of all time, along with the Spitfire and P-51 Mustang.
I still smile when I look at those stripes!Showing the dive brakes deployed under the wings. The Val was the primary dive bomber of the Imperial Japanese Navy and it was the equivalent of the German ‘Stuka’ at Pearl Harbour
Influenced by German designs on dive-bombers, the Aichi D3A1 was a low-wing monoplane which could carry a single 550-lb bomb. The fixed spatted undercarriage betrayed the influence of the Heinkel organisation, which was secretly advising the Imperial Navy in aviation design in 1936. It was slower than many of the other aircraft at Pearl Harbour, but it was manoeuvrable, powered by a single 1,0875 h.p. Mitsubishi Kinsei 44 radial engine.
Aftermarket Hinomarus
The Val first flew in August 1936 but by August 1942 only 478 had been built, proving the lack of Japanese resources. Still the Val is credited with sinking more Allied ships than any other Axis aircraft of the Second World War.
Douglas A-4P Skyhawk as flown by the Grupo 5 de Caza, Argentinian Air Force in the Falklands Campaign 1982
It has been quite a while since I had made a modern jet, so I thought to start again with something small. And they don’t come much smaller than the diminutive A-4 Skyhawk, especially in 1:72 scale!
I rarely make models in 1/72 scale these days, mainly because of my worsening eye sight, but they do have the benefit of not taking up so much storage space!
This is a recent release by Airfix and the quality is very good with fine recessed panel lines and details. I chose the Argentinian option just to be different though I hope eventually to make an American version. Another Argentinian version should also eventually appear on my site but in gull grey camouflage.
The yellow band on the tail fin is an ID marking used in the Falklands campaign. The hoops on the tail fin were not included in the kit but are apparently a feature of Argentinian Skyhawks. I made them from fine copper wire. Not sure what they are for, perhaps something to do with radio?A lot of detail for this scale! Note the tail hook
Here is the Airfix information about the Skyhawk:
The A4 Skyhawk was a carrier-capable light attack aircraft, developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company for a US Navy specification that called for a replacement to its versatile, but vulnerable piston-engined AD Skyraider.
‘The new Douglas aircraft was a diminutive design, with a wing so compact it did not need to be folded for stowage, thus simplifying the aircraft. The wing itself was a conventional low wing delta design, which, with its small area, gave excellent manoeuvrability. The Skyhawk also introduced the concept of buddy refuelling, able to refuel other aircraft of the type from a centrally mounted ‘Buddy Store’.
The A4B was the second variant of the Skyhawk and one of the first to see combat in the skies over Vietnam where it was involved in the early stages of the conflict, with later versions serving throughout the campaign. Due to its small size the A4 was able to operate off the smaller World War Two Essex carriers, but could still carry a useful payload to its target.
Used by other nations in conflicts across the world, such as Argentina and Israel, the A4 has proven itself to be a tough, nimble and useful attack aircraft, with later versions continuing to see service many years after the prototype flew.
Airfix would like to extend its thank to the USS Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York for their assistance with this project: www.intrepidmuseum.org’.
Speed: 673mph
Range 2,000 miles, Wingspan: 8.4m Length: 13m
Armament 2x30mm cannon. Various stores up to 9,000lb
THE FALKLANDS CAMPAIGN 1982
Some of you might remember the Argentinian Skyhawks attacking Royal Navy ships in ‘bomb alley’ in the Falklands. Although the Argentinian Army and Navy were reckoned to be pretty poor in this conflict, the Air Force, or Fuerza Aerea Argentina, was a different story.
On paper at least, the Argentinians appeared to have two crucial advantages-vast superiority in numbers and land bases. However, these advantages were almost wholly negated by the fact that the nearest base, Rio Gallegos, was almost 400 miles away from the mid point of the islands, Falkland Sound. That meant that the Argentinian pilots were always operating to the extreme limits of their range and therefore had precious little ‘loiter time’ i.e. time to find a target or engage in a dogfight-rather like the Luftwaffe pilots in the Battle of Britain!
The Argentinian pilots were well trained, some of it done with France some with Israel, but the training had almost exclusively been done over land and, as the pilots were to quickly find out, over sea they were much more vulnerable to radar.
Just visible below the air intakes are the 30mm cannons. The large pods are for fuelThe Airfix scheme is very confusing as the earth colour is shown in green as well!The box art showing the American version that can also be built
The Argentinian Skyhawks were well over 20 years old, refurbished models of one of the earliest versions of the plane; formidable in their day but now obsolete. They were sold to Argentina by the US Navy in 1966. They had since been fitted with a more modern weapon aiming sight, but that was distinctly inferior to the Head Up Display (HUD) that the Harrier pilots had to aim them in a dog fight. And, in low level flight, the Skyhawks were 100 mph slower.
The Argentinian Skyhawks also had the further disadvantage of using the old style Sidewinder air-to-air missiles which, because it seeks the heat from a jet exhaust of the target, needs to be fired from behind. The RAF, in contrast, had in great secrecy equipped their Harriers with the new generation AIM9L, which has a guidance system sensitive enough to be fired from any aspect.
Finally, the Harriers had the ability to jump, not merely off the ground but also in mid-air. The technique known as ‘viffing’ (vectoring in forward flight) is possible because the Harrier’s jet nozzles rotate downwards to give vertical thrust for take-off. Early on in the plane’s career pilots discovered that rotating the nozzles downwards in flight caused rapid deceleration but also a gain in altitude. The advantage this gives in a dog fight is not hard to imagine: a Harrier pilot who finds the enemy on his tail, simply viffs, is very rapidly overtaken-and the hunter becomes the hunted.
The Tamiya kit was a stress free build and very enjoyable. Especially the weathering! I imagine the scene to be somewhere in the Baltic region, in Lithuania, to commemorate the famous action at Raseinia (see bottom of page).
This is the famous Soviet heavy tank, which first went into battle during the last weeks of the Soviet-Finish war in 1940. Along with the legendary T-34, these Soviet tanks came as an enormous surprise to the Germans at the start of their campaign against the Soviet Union and it was one of the factors that contributed to the failure of their Blitzkrieg.
Mass production of the tank was started at the Kirov works in Leningrad but from July 1941, it was also produced at Chelyabinsk beyond the Urals.
The tank was the brainchild of chief engineer Josef Kotin and his team at the Kirov factory and took the designation KV from the initials of Soviet defence commissar Kliment Voroshilov:
‘The credentials of the hoary old Bolshevik general Kliment Voroshilov, charged with the defence of Leningrad, rested solely upon his loyalty to Stalin; he despised professional soldiers and understood nothing of military science. Moscow despatched a large food convoy to the city, but Voroshilov decided that to acknowledge a need for it would represent defeatism. He diverted the food elsewhere, and launched impromptu assaults on the Germans which yielded only slaughter’.
‘Voroshilov, flown back to Moscow, dared to denounce Stalin to his face, shouting: ‘You have yourself to blame for all this! You’re the one who annihilated the Old Guard of the army; you had our best generals killed!’ When Stalin demurred, the old revolutionary seized a salver bearing a roast suckling pig and smashed it down on the table. Voroshilov was fortunate to escape a firing squad’.
From Max Hastings, All Hell Let Loose. The World at War 1939-45. pp168-169. (2011).
Kliment Voroshilov after he became a Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1935. Voroshilov took part in the purge of the Red Army, personally signing 185 death warrant lists. Stalin needed mediocre but loyal henchmen like Voroshilov. Incidentally, Voroshilov suffered until the end of his life from an incurable headache after being severely beaten in his youth and suffering brain trauma. He would hear various sounds, such as the roar of trains, barking of dogs and the screams of people and his only partial escape from the nightmare was doing various sports.
The KV-2 cousin of the KV-1 mounted a monster 152mm howitzer gun although it was not widely used. When Hitler first heard of the existence of the KV-2, he did not believe it possible that a gun of that calibre could be installed on a tank at all!
The repair of KV-1 tanks during the siege of Leningrad was a great feat of the workers of factory 371. Emaciated workers could hardly stand on their feet or lift their tools but the enterprise did not stop work. They could have done with that suckling pig!
At the start of the Great Patriotic War in 1941, the KV-1 was the most powerful and heavily armoured tank in the Red Army, and it could be considered one of the most powerful heavy tanks in the world at that time. It had a weight of 47 tons and a crew of 5. The engine was a V-2k liquid cooled diesel. Maximum speed 35km/h. The armament was a ZIS-5 76.2mm main gun and 3 DT 7.62mm machine guns.
Later models had glacis plates attached to the turret for extra protection
Welded armour plate was used to create the KV-1 hull and turret. At 75mm thick on the initial design and with 90mm sections around the gun, it offered unrivalled protection. The only weapon that could effectively penetrate its armour from direct fire was the famous German 88- mm anti-aircraft gun. There were several incidents of one KV-1 stopping the offensive of dozens of German tanks.
The main purpose of heavy tanks is to destroy enemy fortified points, vehicles and manpower and until 1943, the KV-1 was successful in this task. But with the appearance on the battlefield of the heavy German Tigers and Panthers, it became clear that the combat properties of the KV-1 were not enough to cope with them. Consequently, the heavy IS-2 tank was created to replace it.
Note shell holes at rear of turret which I added. Always nice to give a model bit of an individual stamp! The slogan says, ‘For Stalin!’Formidable looking and definitely not to be trifled with unless you have an 88-mm gun to hand…The fenders on both sides both front and rear have been slightly damaged as they would always have been bumping into things. I used a mass of weathering techniques on this model, including pre-shading, filter washes, pin washes, dry brushing, silver chipping, weathering powders and a few shell holes to boot! The stowage boxes on the fenders I left slightly ajar to expose some rags or tarpaulin which I made from putty. Rear-firing 7.62mm machine gun. Sneaky! The sign in Russian says ‘Bridge’ 2km.More battle damage on starboard side. The road wheels didn’t have rubber rims, as apparently the Russians were short of rubber at the time. So I have slightly burnished them with silver to show wear. Would have made hell of a racket against the tracks!Although the turret already came a bit pitted, I wanted to add extra rough cast texture so applied modelling putty.I added rough black and white pre-shading before applying the green. It is a technique commonly used by armour modellers to vary the tones of the finished model.The telegraph pole is home made from plastic rod. The white insulators are made from rocket heads I found in the spares box! All I need now are a few miniature plastic crows…The embankment is made from a block of wood covered in papier mache and tiling grout then covered in grass and various scatters. Haven’t had so much fun since I was about 8 years old! Unfortunately, I got a bit carried away with the flour and water mix and since I didn’t feel like waiting till Xmas for it to dry out, I stuck it in the oven for 20 minutes to bake!The engine deck at rear has a generous smear of oil! The great thing about modelling Soviet armour is you can be as crude and dirty as you like and still get away with it!Sadly, this is how it all ends…The painting instructions came with a design of a cut out for making the model in paper (bottom left)! Apparently, this is to the correct scale of the plastic model and was supposed to replicate the wooden ones the Germans made for identifying the tank. A nice touch! The KV-1 came as a hell of a shock to the Germans.The usual lovely Tamiya box art. I could practically adorn my whole house with these box tops if I had kept them all!The restored KV-1 at Bovington tank museum. The Russian writing is supposed to mean ‘From the women of Leningrad to the front’ but is rather ungrammatical!
4,800 KVs were made in all modifications. Along with the T-34, the KV-1 became a symbol of the Soviet victory in WW2.
Trials of restored M5-200 in field conditions in Russia. Hope you are all suitably stirred by the music at least!
After the action at Raseiniai in Lithuania
A single KV-1 held back the attack of the German Seckendorf battle group for two days. On 20th June 1941, a unique case occurred when one Russian KV-1 tank, supposedly part of the 2nd Panzer Division, managed to block the supply route of the Seckendorf combat group, created on the basis of the 6th German Panzer Division, in the area the Lithuanian city of Raseinia and blockaded it for two days. First, the tank defeated a convoy of 12 trucks with ammunition and food. It was impossible to get to the Soviet tank – the roads passed through swamps. The advanced German units lost their supplies. The seriously wounded could not be evacuate to the rear and died. An attempt to destroy the tank with a 50mm anti-tank battery from a 500-meter distance ended in heavy losses; two 50-mm guns were blown to pieces, the other two were seriously damaged. The gunners lost several men killed and wounded. The Russian tank remained unscathed despite 14 direct hits. The Germans were able to pull out the damaged guns only at nightfall. The next day, an 88-mm anti-aircraft gun, removed from the front, was moved to the position of the tank. The tank allowed it to get closer than 700 meters. While the gunners, terribly nervous, were aiming and loading the gun, the tank turned the turret around and fired first. The heavily damaged antiaircraft gun fell into a ditch. Several perished from the action, while the rest were forced to flee. Machine-gun fire from the tank prevented the removal of the gun and pick up of the dead. Sappers were dispatched at night. They planted explosives under the KV tracks. The charges exploded as expected, but were only able to snatch a few pieces from the tracks. The tank remained mobile and continued to block the supply route. On the first day, the crew, oddly enough, was supplied with food by local Lithuanian peasants, whom the Soviet government managed to endow with land. A blockade was soon established around the tank. However, even this isolation did not force the tankers to leave the position. As a result, the Germans used a trick. 50 German tanks began shelling the KV from three directions to divert its attention. At this time, the 88-mm anti-aircraft gun was covertly installed in the rear of the KV. It hit the tank 12 times, and three shells pierced the armour. When the Germans approached the damaged tank, its turret began to move again, the soldiers rushed away in horror. Only one of the sappers kept his composure and quickly thrust a hand grenade into the hole made by a shell in the lower part of the turret. A dull explosion thundered, and the hatch cover flew to the side. Inside the tank lay the bodies of the brave crew, who had only been wounded before. Deeply shocked by this heroism, the Germans buried our tankers with all military honours. In 1965, the grave was opened. On the basis of the receipt for the delivery of a Soviet internal passport, it was possible to retrieve the name of one of the crew members – Ershov Pavel Yegorovich. The surname and initials of another tanker are also known – Smirnov V.A.
Yak-3 flown by Semyon Ivanovich Rogovoi, 64 Guards Fighter Regiment, 2nd Baltic Front, Autumn, 1944. His name is on the side of the fuselage, and it says that the aircraft was funded by the sailors of the Amur Red Fleet.
The Yakovlev Yak-3 (Russian: Я́ковлев Як-3) designed by the engineers of the Yakovlev design bureau was a World War II Soviet fighter aircraft that became operational in 1944. Robust and easy to maintain, it was much liked by pilots and ground crew alike. It was one of the smallest and lightest major combat fighters fielded by any combatant during the war and its high power-to-weight ratio gave it excellent performance making it a formidable dogfighter. It was more than a match for the Messerschmitt 109 F/G variants, and the Focke-Wulf 190, in fact it is said the German pilots tried to avoid it in combat.
In combat, the Yak-3 proved its worth almost immediately as it arrived. It maintained a stellar kill-to-loss ratio over Luftwaffe fighters and held the upper hand in most engagements thanks to its inherent capabilities and powerful armament. The addition of the Klimov VK-107 1,700 horsepower engines upped the ante even further as now the Yak-3 was capable of improved top speeds reaching 450 miles per hour. Marcel Albert, World War II French ace, who flew the Yak-3 in the USSR with the Normandie-Niémen Group, considered it a superior aircraft when compared to the P-51D Mustang and the Supermarine Spitfire. By war’s end, nearly 5,000 Yak-3s in 12 variants would roll off of Soviet assembly lines and into battle against the Luftwaffe. Production continued into 1946 when the era of jet fighters began.
She looks the business! I highlighted the rivet detail and added a bit of exhaust staining as usual. She was armed with two 12,7mm machine guns and had a 20mm cannon in the nose.A lovely, sleek design. I put her up there with the Spitfire and P-51 Mustang! The instrument panel just visible is a decal.
This was a fairly easy build from the Eduard ‘Weekend’ edition of kits, which are supposed to be cheap and cheerful. I did have a few fit issues with it but nothing too bothersome. I brush painted this one again using my specialist Hataka line of camouflage paints for Russian WW2 aircraft.
I partially damaged the decal with the writing on the starboard side, so out came the trusty 000 fine brush and re-wrote it again with white paint!The cockpit was fairly basic. The seat belts came as decals. The canopy didn’t quite fit when closed which is why I chose the open option. There is no antennae as it was supposed to fix to the back of the canopy and I didn’t want to risk it!Alongside the La-5, showing the similarity in size. My Red Air Force is growing!Box top. The other colourful version was for the famous Normandie-Niemen squadron, flown by French volunteers, in this case Captain Marcel Albert.Next to a destroyed Me-109The pilot officers appear to be having a discussion while the ground crew effect repairs. The man himself Semyon Rogovoi and his aircraft
An interesting incident apparently took place at the end of the war over Yugoslavia in November 1944 between Soviet Yak-3s and American P-38 Lightning fighters, which mistook the Soviet fighters for Germans. As a result of the action, the Americans lost four aircraft, after which the Allies managed to effect a degree of co-operation. American recollections about the outcome of the combat differ somewhat from the Soviet with the American pilots claiming they shot down eight Soviet fighters!
I-153. Think she looks rather cute even if a little on the tubby side!
This is the ICM kit of the legendary I-153 Soviet fighter, the last and most perfect of the N.N. Polikarpov design bureau biplane fighter family. It had a gull or v-shaped upper wing, hence the nickname ‘Chaika’ or ‘Seagull’, which became its official second name, also retractable chassis and four ShKAS machine guns. It had an M-62 radial engine while later versions had a more powerful M-63.
Actually today most researchers and aircraft connoisseurs do not rate the Chaika very highly, as they consider producing biplanes during 1938-40 a mistake.
After the Spanish Civil war, monoplanes showed their superiority to bi-planes, but they continued to be produced.
To achieve an increase in speed while retaining manoeuvrability was only possible by reducing aerodynamic drag. Therefore, the aircraft was equipped with an upper wing of the ‘seagull’ type.
The maiden flight of the Chaika was in August 1938. During 1939-41, 3,437 I-153s were produced. In the summer of 1941, the Chaika was the basis of Soviet Fighter Aviation together with the I-16. They were used in combat until 1943.
Has a nice radial engine, pity it is hidden by the cowling!This particular version was part of the Northern Fleet Air Force, Vaenga, 1941Some of the camouflage options. Was quite attracted to the top one which flew in the battle of Khalkhin-Gol in August, 1939, one of my favourite battles! The new background-my attempt at being Van Gogh!Could carry bombs or rocketsActually a very attractive looking aircraft. Tupolev, the Soviet aircraft designer, said an aircraft should look beautiful and I heartily agree!The detailed engine-just in case you don’t believe there is one inside!The set of rigging wires I used for the kit. There are enough braces for another model!Box artThere is my model! The guy running alongside is saying see if you can catch me!And this is how a lot ended up! Used en masse at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the I-153 suffered heavy losses and later types were rarely used in combat.
Piloted by Hero of the Soviet Union senior lieutenant George Baevsky of 1st Guard Fighter Regiment. I think I should be awarded Hero of the Soviet Union medal for finishing this one!
This is the Zvezda kit of the legendary La-5FN , the most mass produced of all Soviet fighters. A total of 10,000 La-5s were produced in all modifications!
As it is such an iconic aircraft, I felt I simply had to have one in my collection. However, building this kit turned out to be something of a nightmare! It has a full interior with engine detail but unfortunately, I was not able in the end to display it as I had trouble mating the fuselage halves. I then had problems with the paint job and in the end, I stripped it all off and started all over again!! That’s a first for me! Yes, even I make cock ups from time to time!
Actually even in real life they had problems with the aircraft in development so maybe it carried onto me! During some test flights the wings fell off! At first, sabotage was suspected but later they found out the problem was worn drill bits. The holes for the wing attachments were too small for the bolts and the workers used hefty hammer blows to get them in!
Evolved from the Lagg-3 and was made mainly from wood and with no scarce raw materials
According to a modern Russian source: the front-line pilots liked the plane for its simplicity and reliability. They unanimously noted the high flight performance of the aircraft. The La-5 was one of the most easily controllable fighters, possessed exceptionally high manoeuvrability and had good speed. This aircraft, armed with two synchronous 20-mm ShVAK cannons, allowed Soviet pilots, for the first time since the beginning of the war, to fight on equal terms with any German fighter, changing the tactics of air combat from defensive to active offensive.Источник и подробности: http://www.airaces.ru/plane/voennye-samoljoty-sssr/la-5.html
The ‘FN’ meant it was fuel injected, the ‘F’ standing for ‘forced’.
The air-cooled engine possessed high reliability and survivability – it remained operational in the event of a shot or shrapnel damage even to several of the 14 cylinders. The instrumentation made it possible to pilot the fighter at night and in adverse weather conditions.Источник и подробности: http://www.airaces.ru/plane/voennye-samoljoty-sssr/la-5.html
The canopy was a vac form kit as I lost the original. I had thrown it out by mistake after I had temporarily given up on the model aggghh! These things happen in one’s modelling career, fortunately not too often!Nevertheless, despite all the trials and tribulations of the build, it’s still a beautiful looking kite and one that fairly represents the original. I shall definitely keep it in my collection if only as a reminder to persevere!The paint scheme for these Soviet era fighters is really beautiful in my opinion, lovely subtle colours which are hard to match, especially the grey blue tone on top. One can never be too sure about colour shades, as few, if any colour photos of the originals exist, and even then photos are not always the most reliable guides.A special paint set I acquired for this build. It is designed specially for brush painting but the paints can be airbrushed as well. I was very impressed with the quality. I believe they are made in Poland although the name sounds Japanese! Such is our global economy!I shall use these paints for all my future Soviet world war two projects!Alongside the Academy 1:48 La-7, a much simpler build I hasten to add!
The La-7 was produced in 1943 and was a redesigned and improved version of the La-5. It had a radial engine which gave it a power of 1800 h.p. and a speed of 420 m.p.h. It was the most advanced of all the Soviet fighters and Stalin was so impressed with it he awarded Lavochkin a special prize of 100,000 roubles! Buy a few tractors with that!!
Box art. Sometimes boxes can be deceiving! That was the version I wanted to make on my first attempt! Oh well, got there in the end!Started in mass production in April 1942When something looks right, it usually is!
An unusual beast, the Defiant is usually seen as a failure.
This is my version of the Airfix 1:48 Defiant, a fairly recent release. I was having lots of trouble with my airbrush (it happens often!) so decided to brush paint instead for a change. Quite pleased with the result. You just need to thin the paint properly, take your time, and apply several thin coats The camo may not be quite accurate but it is near enough!
Added a fair amount of chipping
The Boulton Paul Defiant was the only ‘turret fighter’ to enter service with the RAF. A contemporary of the only other turret fighter, the Royal Navy’s Blackburn Roc, the Defiant was conceived as a fighter that would be able to enter a bomber stream and cause havoc with the four machine guns bristling from its turret and the turret would also enable it to defend itself from enemy fighters.
However, despite its sleek lines and powerful Merlin engine, the Defiant proved a failure as a daytime interceptor. During the Battle of Britain, the Defiant proved fairly successful at first as enemy pilots were taken by surprise. But the Luftwaffe pilots worked out its weaknesses, especially the lack of forward firing guns which meant head on attacks from enemy fighters were often fatal.
The Defiant was soon relegated to a night fighting role were it fared better, before being eventually re-assigned to Air Sea Rescue and training duties.
Building the kit was not as challenging as I was expecting. However, the instructions are a little confusing with so many options for the turret, open, closed, sideways facing or rear facing, with the back upper panel either raised or lowered! Took some figuring out believe me!
No 264 Squadron, Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, England, July 1940A surprisingly large aircraftBehind the turret sits the green canopy cover which can be raised or lowered in real life depending on which way the turret is facingBox ArtWas left scratching my head at first when I saw all the turret options!In the end I plumped for the rear firing turret option with closed canopy just to keep things simple!
‘The Boulton Paul Defiant is an aircraft which has suffered from a great deal of misinformation and scorn over the years, though it remains a quirky favourite of many people. It is said to have been a hopeless failure in air combat, yet only thirty-seven Defiants were ever shot down by the Luftwaffe, while recording 152 victories of their own: a healthy ratio. In fact, the Defiant had only had two really bad days in aerial combat: 13 May 1940 when B Flight of No 264 Squadron lost five of its six aircraft over Holland, while claiming five German aircraft shot down, and 19 July 1940 when seven out of nine Defiants of No. 141 Squadron were shot down by superior numbers of Bf.109s, four of which were claimed in return. It was this action more than any other which has dogged the reputation of the aircraft.
I have spoken to many ex-Defiant aircrew over the years, and not one of them had a bad word to say against it. Those who flew with No. 264 Squadron, which undertook all but one of its combats in daylight, saw no reason for the type to be taken off day fighting; they totally believed they could hold their own against the Bf.109s, and the records show that they were right.’
From ‘Boulton Paul Defiant: An Illustrated History’ Amberley Publishing 2019
Famous Mustang, the ‘Cadillac of the Sky’. This is the ‘Millie G, as flown by Major Edward Giller.
The beautiful P-51D Mustang, which appeared in May, 1944. Unlike the previous P-51B/C, the D version is fitted with a Plexiglas “bubble” canopy for all-around vision and was armed with six wing-mounted 0.50-inch (12.7-mm) machine guns.
Hard points below each wing allowed the P-51D to be fitted with 500-pound (230-kg) bombs or three-shot 4.5-inch (114-mm) rocket launchers, bolstering its capabilities as a close air support fighter.
Jettisonable auxiliary drop tanks enabled the Mustang to achieve a continuous flight range up to 3,700 km, which allowed it to provide U.S. bombers effective protection against the German Me 109 and Fw 190 interceptors all the way to Germany.
This is a typical Tamiya kit, a blend of detail and simplicity, very easy to put together.
The pilot is Major Edward E.B. Giller of 343rd Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, part of Eighth Air Force stationed in England during WW2.
The P-38 and all four of his Mustangs were named “The Millie G”, for his wife, airline stewardess Mildred, and coded ‘CY-G’. He had three confirmed kills, including a Messerschmitt Me 262 jet over Munich on 9 April, 1945.
He was wounded when his cockpit was hit by flak over Munich on 16 April 1945 – he flew two hours to the UK with one arm. (Wikipedia).
The Ford Sedan (1942) car comes with the kit and it is a solid, heavy die-cast metal model.
P-51D Mustang became the principal fighter of the USAAF. Such lovely lines!According to references, there is a glitch with the wheel wells but who cares!?Box
The chaps on the wing are armourers loading the classic Colt-Browning machine guns, four to each wing.
This is the Airfix set starring a Mk. I Battle of Britain Hawker Hurricane in 1:48 scale. The aircraft is so well-known, I wont say anything about it save it was a very rugged aircraft and easy to repair and maintain in the field. The only extras I added myself were the hoses made from plastic tubing.
It was a very enjoyable project brim full of details and well worth the money! The dog’s name is Scamper, by the way!
A very busy scene! A problem fitting it all in!I like the pilot running figure though not quite sure why he is running to the ‘Hurrie’ when a pilot is already clambering in! Perhaps he just wants to wish him good luck!Refuelling hose and electric starter generator
Battle of Britain (1969) “France, May, 1940” Love this scene, especially when the Me109s swoop in!
