Search the Community

Hi fellow modellers, this is result my of latest "weekend" build (took me actually 6 days to complete). I must have a soft spot for "outsider" kits which I usually prefer in favour of much better kits... You may know the Airfix effort, not completely bad, but also with odd areas a details. I simply built it as it came with only most striking details replaced as were the propeller, wheels and some cockpit details. The "109" boffins will hopefully forgive the E-4 windshield, but I did not intend to ruin a vacform canopy I save for my next AMG builds. The decals are from recent Hannant's "Spanish Civil War" sheet. Cheers Libor

Hi, I will try to do three interwar biplanes, two of them having roots in WWI, but still active in WWII or Spanish Civil War. First is Avro 504 N in Belgian colours, which I will try to convert from A-model MU-1,a Russian build Avro 504 K. I will use 7 cylinder engine from Cierva C30 I would like to do her in Belgian colours from 1940, like here: Besides u/c and engine the difference in aeilerons, fuel tank and? = that is all what I recognized so far. Ailerons and rounded The second is Airco DH 9 in Spanish Civil War colours (likely Nationalists) This will be conversion from Polikarpov R-1, Russian version of DH 9 A, so wings have to be smaller by chord and by wingspan and front of fuselage will be different as well. The kit is that : I have already made smaller wings Today I made some paintings and start to cut fuselge and then I realized, that first I should meke foke of initial state, sorry for that: I hope this is still below 25% of advance in build. There is instruction which is very cool: Likely 34-18 on spoky wheels published recently by @Artie in one of last posts here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235039778-airco-dh9-aviación-militar/ The third one will be Vickers Vildebeest on floats OOB like here: I am doing now 3 other model (2 in WIP) so I will start slowly... Regards J-W

Hi, Aero A 101 was a light bomber-recce airplane. It was a kind of developmnet from Aero A-100. However only few parts remained unchanged. In general it was about 10% larger by wingspan, also chord of wings and by lenght of fuselage. Instead of V-engine, 12 cylinders Hispano-Suiza (case of A-100) the A 101 was powered by 1000 HP 18 cylinders licence build of Isotta Frascsini engine. There is a model of A-101 by Planete in 1/72 but I was thinking about doing this rather massive conversion since already 15 years and currently I have just did it! The whole build of two Aeros was subject of WIP Almost all produced (~50) Aero A-101 were sold by Czechoslovaks to Spanish Republican Government but about half of them (22 transported on Panama ship from Polish port Gdynia) were captured by I think German navy making blockade in Golf of Biskay and those went to Nationalists. Majority of them served in northern front in 5G17 groupe, but some were present in Andalus, in group 4 G 10 which has base in Grenada. My model of 17.12 represents machine from Grenada, 1937 The prop is rotating And just for comparison with A 100 (#20 this year, # 390 on shelvs)..... Comments welcome Regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Hi, Aero A 100 is a light recco-bomber produced between wars in Czechoslovakia. There is a injected kit of this machine in 1/72 by Kovozavody from some eighties I think. A 101 is its developed variant. A 101 kit is produced as resin kit by CMR. A 101 is very sttractive due to use of this machine in Spanish Civil War, on both sides of conflict. I will try to do scratch conversion of A 100 into A 101 with parallel build of regular A 100 in Slovak colours. Many people think that diffrence is only in engine, undercarridge and fuselage lenght. This is unfortunatelly not true. The main problem is that A 101 has much larger wings... Not only bigger wingspan, but also chord. So the conversion is a bit more challanging. Besides Spanish drawing by Molina & Mercado (Aviones em Guerra Civil...) I have nice drawings from Letectvi + Kosmonautika from 1988. And two kits by Kovozavody, which are with me for some 20 years... More in next post J-W

Hi, My next Spanish Civil War subject - obsolate Airco DH 9 serving as dual control trainer. They were used on both sides of conflict, mine is from Franco (Nationalists) side. The starting point was model of Polikarpov R-1 by Maquette. R-1 was DH-9A produced in Russia. As you know DH9A had larger wing span and longer chord of wing while compare it to DH 9. So in my conversion I started with cuting wings... The build was conducted within GB (Brits Abroad). There is thread showig conversion. It is here: At the outbreak of SCW in July 1936 still 30 DH 9 was serving as trainers at Alcala-Madrid. In first months of war four machines run to Nationalists and they formed Grupo 34 in El-Copero- Sevilla. Here is the real thing And model: Prop is rotating if you blow: And here is Airco on shell with other Britts from SCW. Above is shelf with US, Dutch and Soviet machines from SCW, below is with French ones (all separately were already on RFI): Comments welcome Regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Hi, My latest finished - back to Spanish Civil War subjects. This is Martinsyde F4 Buzzard from San Javier - Murcia naval base in July-August 1936. The kit is a AZ one scratch converted to late variant with radiator moved from front of engine to bottom of fuselage. Decals from drawer and some hand painted. Buzzard was very obsolate ,achine in 1936 since it comes from end of WWI. This type was soon phased out from first line to training. Here she is: Comments welcome Regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Hi all, a friend is making researches about the colors of paints utilized by Republican planes, SB in particular, during the Civil War, and on colors utilized by Nationalists to repaint the captured planes after the war. He is starting to work on profiles of SB. There was some interesting discussion there, some years ago: http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/board/index.php?topic=1019.0 I have some photos of the museum of Madrid too, but they were repainted after the war and the authenticity is not guaranteed. In general, we have seen samples two shades of green (dark and light olive) utilized on SB over a light grey background. Besides it is generally accepted that sand and brown were utilized as camo colors, and that often undersurfaces were light blue (something as Humbrol 65). I would like to know if there is any further information available before starting the work on profiles. Regards Massimo

Here is my recently completed AMG Bf 109 B. The complete build thread can be found here: After fighting the AMG Bf 109 A to a draw, I thought I wouldn't want to touch another one for quite some time. But the more I looked at the finished model the more I liked it. This time I didn't adhere to "out of the box" rules and added a few bits. However the AMG kit is so complete, not much was necessary. The cockpit only needed a little sprucing up with some stretched sprue, plastic card and some Eduard preprinted steel seat belts. I also added a Squadron Vac canopy, Barracudacast wheels and wire brake lines. Decals came from A Kagero monograph (Cartograph) and Print Scale. Paints, as always, are Gunze Sangyo aqueous. All in all, this is a very good kit, but not without fit problems. And here it is side by side with its older brother.

This is my recently finished AMG Bf 109 Anton in 1/72. The full build thread can be seen here: Construction of this one was a challenge, but in the end I was very pleased with the appearance of the finished kit. AMG has captured the shape and "sit" of the early 109s better than any attempt so far.The parts are well defined and the subtleties of the Anton are represented very well, even including the spade grip on the control stick. This build was out of the box, since I wanted to see how kit assembled. In a word - lousy. The fit and engineering of some major assemblies terrible. But nothing some putty, superglue and Mr. Surfacer 500 couldn't overcome. All of the gory details are outlined in the build thread. The entire airframe was riveted with various sizes of Rosie the Riveters and the model was painted with home-brew mixes of Gunze Sangyo paints to represent the German "Silberweiss".

Hi DH 89 is a very beautiful, classic airplane of Golden Wing era. Surprisingly to me this passanger airplane had quite wide military use. I have made model of DH 89 M - bomber version armed with 3 machine guns and some bomb load. The particular markings are for airplane no. 6311 of Republican Airforces, squadron "Alas Rojas" based in August 1938 in Sarinena . The conversion is "free hand" (scratch). Model was a Heller 1/72 kit, now it is also available from Airfix. Here it is: This book, which served as main source for works (inc. profile, drawind, photos): https://www.amazon.com/Aviones-guerra-civil-espanola-1936-1939/dp/8486629403 I hope you like it. I made it about 10 yeras ago. Cheers Jerzy-Wojtek

After much anticipation the AMG 1/72 scale Jumo engined Bf 109s are finally available. Over the years I have considered and even tried many alternatives for an acceptable 109 A through D, including modifying the Heller kit, grafting the Heller nose on a Tamiya E, Grafting the DB Products nose on a Tamiya E, learning to live with the Heller kit and finally, waiting for a good kit to come along. I've read a number of reviews of the AMG model online, none of them glowing. One of the best assessments comes from our own Woody, which I will reprint here: "I've had one of these for some time now. While the initial viewing makes it look very good, it has issues. As far as the shape goes it is very good. Nice scribing and most of the small parts are done well. Photo etch and masks included and all of the parts for all of the variants are apparently included in all of the kits. However... there's no canopy framing and the engineering of the wing is preposterous. The wing does not for the most part break on panel lines. The wing root is split up the middle, cleaning up this seam will most likely take out the fairings that cover the spar bolts requiring their replacement. At the trailing edge of the wing root are rather wonky keys on the lower surface of the fuselage that are supposed to slot into openings on the lower wing panel. They don't fit. Then there's the join at the trailing edge. Most 109 kits I have seen the lower wing panels aft edge is at the flap/aileron juncture on the underside. Not here, no that would be much too simple. Instead there is a sweeping joint that runs through two panel lines on it's way to the wingtip. In addition the lower wing is too thick to sit flush in it's provided recess adding insult to injury. Then we get to the cowling. I believe there are ten pieces involved in the cowling assembly. It appears that the lower radiator area will fit fairly well, the rest of it looks like it will be a challenge. Another issue with the cowling is that the rather prominent angled vents fore and aft of the exhausts are merely represented with a scribed outline rather than an indentation. This will also be a challenge to rectify. So what do we have at the end of the day? It's got a better shape than the Heller kit. It's got better detail, better fabric surfaces and it's scribed. It also looks to be a bitch to build. The Heller kit, which has just been rereleased, will be an easier build but not as accurate. Which you choose will depend on your priorities and skill level. I was really hoping for a reasonable kit here, but the engineering of the wing has really put me off. Which is a shame as I would have bought about two dozen of these things. I guess I'll have to wait and see what the competition brings out. Now for a little editorial content. I have it on good authority that the 1/48 scale early 109's by AMG do not have the ludicrous engineering around the wing. So why did they do this on the 1/72 scale kit? The only thing I can think of is to leave fingerprints. So that if one of the less principled manufactures tries to copy the AMG kit it will be glaringly obvious that they did so or they have a lot of extra work to do to cover their tracks. I can see their point but the disservice they did to the consumer is appalling." Not to be dissuaded, I decided to make this kit my next project. So here goes. The most daunting part of the build will be the (too) multi-part nose; but how should it be approached? Glue the cowl panels to the fuselage, then add the exhausts or stick the upper cowl together first, attach the exhausts to the cowl, then proceed? This thing is like an erector set. A bunch of loosely fitting parts interlock to make a rigid structure. The key seems to be, oddly enough, the wing. The lower cowl is integral with the lower wing part, so let's start there. As Woody mentioned, the wing parts breakdown is utterly ridiculous. See here: What the hell were they thinking?? Their 1/48 kit has the upper/lower wing attachment at the aileron and flap line. Easy! Not here. And if it fit you could accept it. It doesn't. In the photo you can make out the very coarse sanding I did on the outer lower wing panels. It wasn't enough, so I took a #10 scalpel blade and scraped off some of the mating area on the upper wings. This just about did it, but it still wasn't perfect. More of that below. I will give AMG credit for the wheel well breakdown. The wells are inserts, a little too thick (who's surprised at that), but this enables them to be painted in a simple way. First I painted the upper wing structure, the wheel well insert and the rim of the well on the lower wing in Pollyscale RLM 02. Then I brush painted the leather area of the insert with an acrylic brown. When sandwiched together, this is much easier and effective than a single part. While I was at it, I painted the cockpit RLM 02 as well, gave it an oil wash, and picked out some details with Vallejo acrylics. This kit has perhaps the best cockpit of any 1/72 scale 109 model on the market today. The details are very crisp and an included photo-etched fret contains quite a few minute items. One thing became apparent to me when some references. The map case is molded on the left side of the cockpit, which is actually correct, but only for the Bf 109 A. From the B - E versions, it is on the right side. AMG provides a photo-etched case, but there are two issues. First, it lacks one indentation where it should be folded. I tried brute force but that didn't work. This is also the case (no pun intended) with the 1/48th kit, on which I also experimented. There I tried scribing the missing groove, again to no avail, even though it is significantly bigger. My advice to you; make one from .005" plastic card. Again, I was elated to discover that the kit is correct for the A variant. Incidentally, this is pointed out in the two essential references for the early 109s. The first is a superb Kagero monograph: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234990602-messerschmitt-bf109-early-versions-a-d/ The second is vol. 1 of Lynn Ritger's excellent two part series on the Bf 109: https://www.amazon.com/MESSERSCHMITT-BF-109-PART-Prototype/dp/0955185807/ref=pd_cp_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0955185807&pd_rd_r=NZA1Q7MJVHM5SKF9Q21G&pd_rd_w=e82hI&pd_rd_wg=8RKBp&psc=1&refRID=NZA1Q7MJVHM5SKF9Q21G So here is the wing after quite a bit of effort. The wing joint has been slathered with a mixture of talcum power and super glue (thank you Mr. Dedig) and sanded. I then brushed some Gunze Mr. Surfacer on some suspicious areas and re-sanded. I then masked the wheel wells and shot a rather heavy coat of Mr. Surfacer 1000 on the rest of the lower wing. So far, it looks OK. I will sand and polish this area, then it's on to rescribing the lost panel lines. The would have been a much more difficult job without these very simple tools from John Vojtech at UMM Models: They are simple, shaped aluminum bars to which you attach sandpaper to using double sided tape. But the advantage is that they don't "give". They stay perfectly flat, just what is needed for sanding the uneven lower wing surfaces. Finally (you thought you'd never get there), here's what I meant about the lower wing being crucial to the nose alignment. Again, I'm not sure how to proceed. The cowl panels are stuck on with blobs of Blu-Tack. I have thought about leaving them there and glueing everything together with 5-minute epoxy. Of course I would align the parts better than this, but that just might work. Or, use epoxy putty t for the same purpose. Epoxy putty would also act as the adhesive, but once pushed beyond where you want it to go, you can't really pull the part out again. Blu-Tack is "gummier" and will allow that. So that's part one of the saga. If you've gotten this far, you deserve a medal for endurance. I also have a cobbled together Heller 109 B/D from the shelf of doom. When the AMG kit catches up, I will proceed with both models. Thanks for looking.

PWS-10 fighter was already second line (advanced trainer) airplane in Polish Army when a 20 of them were sold to airforces of general Franco. In Spain they served in flying schools of Leon and Jerez de la Frontiera starting from Autumn 1936. Model (1/72) is made from a vacu kit of Polish company Broplan - with some parts added. Some decals by myself. Best regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Hello people , This is my first WIP. I have really enjoyed reading and watching the WIP's of others and feel it is time to try to give something back. I have a variety of interests in terms of modelling, but I always seem to come back to aircraft and AFV's of the Spanish Civil War. The variety of aircraft used is quite incredible and moreover, many were simply 1930's 'Golden Age' civil aircraft impressed into often quite bizarre roles; for example passenger Vultee aircraft and Fokker FVII/3M's becoming bombers. Nevertheless this was a proving ground or test run for many new technologies. In terms of aircraft the I-16 'Mosca', (the subject of this build) and the very first Bf-109 'V' prototypes then A (or is it B1?) through to E series, saw their baptism of fire here. The history of the conflict is well documented on the internet and in good old traditional books, and there are some simply splendid (albeit sometimes a little rare and expensive) books available on the aircraft involved in the conflict. Controversy about colours and actual aircraft involved is absolutely rampant and in a way, quite liberating. Within the community of Spanish Civil War modelling enthusiasts I know (not many!) a great deal of encouragement and artistic licence is granted. There is so little that can be certain, from actual numbers/codes of aircraft involved (BF-109C for example) to types (was there really an RWD-8 and a Bloch MB-200?) to, well, just about everything down to the colour of a particular Republican pilot's socks, or the strength and lens thickness of a particular Legion Condor pilot's monocle . OK. About me. I'm currently not very good at making models. In fact I'm certain that I'm not as good as I was when I was 9 years old and high as a kite on polystyrene cement most of the week, making at least 2 models a week, with very high standards for a little boy. But it was fun wasn't it? My grandfather had been a career RN man (Russian Convoys and MTO in WWII) and encouraged me into modelling. My introduction to modelling is described on the intro post I made some months ago to BM and a little more in my 'about me' so I won't ramble on about my early abject failures. Needless to say I returned to models after a bereavement in 2003 and it really helped me, like a breath of fresh air. Then work and an illness prevented me from starting again until last year. I thoroughly enjoy it, but I keep on trashing my efforts. Perhaps time to lower my standards? I think it would be far better to use this opportunity to probably demonstrate to the world at large that I am still highly capable of an abject failure.... Thus, onto this model. Amodel. What a fascinating company. That's one adjective. Others can be used. Nearly all of their kits pose a challenge in one way or another, they are short run, yet often they are short run for so long that the very sprue runs, and we end up with nothing but flash from which to try to identify and carve our own components . Nevertheless, they kit some wonderfully obscure subjects, and I love the wonderfully obscure! Thus - I feel I help keep someone, possibly in a cold dark cellar in Murmansk, with a scriber, some faded plans, some resin and a bottle of vodka, in a job. Some of their kits go together beautifully straight from the sprue, but there are some, like this little, tubby, I-16 that can be exceedingly variable in terms of moulding quality. In this case, from production batch to production batch. Ask me how I know. I decided to post this as my first WIP because, frankly, this model can be a real pain in the derriere. I know it isn't just me; it is known for possibly needing a bucket of filler. Moreover it has some issues, probably the main one is the wings. They aren't really of the right kind for an I-16 type 5 of the SCW (as I will refer to that very 'uncivil' war from now on). Other issues I will discuss as we progress together into the build. I have not completed a model since I started again around a year ago. To be honest they have all been rubbish and have flown directly into the dustbin. Often. Around 10 now. I have tried to build this one 4 times now. Dustbin; 3 times out of 4. The 4th attempt is in the drawer of doom. This will be attempt number 5. I am posting this, perhaps foolishly, because I had a Really Big Think™. I may, just may, have figured out a way to make this without the usually required bucket of filler. I'm sure I'm not the first, but I may perhaps be the most incompetent, so it should surely provide a little entertainment. I hope so anyway. I'm not awfully sure I have this Photobucket thing worked out yet, so I will only try to post a picture of the box here. I hope it works. I hope this WIP at least helps fellow modellers to see the fun a cheap little East European kit can give, even when it is utterly frustrating and maybe, together, we can find a way to tame this little beastie ?. Best regards, thanks for reading and happy modelling Tony Edited for terrible spelling.

A nicely detailed kit, with good fit overall. The main problem is in attaching the top wing which has very vague locating points. I managed to weld mine together with lots of super glue. The decals from Cartograph are very nice and behave well but the white and yellow are allowing the paint from the camo to show through quite a lot so that is a shame. Kit manufacture: Italeri Scale: 1/72 Type: CR.32 Chirri Extras used: Uschi super fine rigging thread, metal wire foot hold Paints and colours used: Tamiya custom mixes for yellow, grey and brown. Green dashes xf71 cockpit green. Flory dark dirt wash and Tamiya flat clear Military Aviazione Legionaria (Italian Legionary Air Force 1936-1939) Sqn. a. Aut. Mitragliamento Frecce 3-6 (Capitano Ferruccio Vosilla) Spanish Civil War, Munesia Spain, April 1938 Thanks Jason

Another civilian Brit used during Spanish Civil War - GAL ST 25 Monospar. Kit was from Azur, 1.72 This was a reletively small conversion to an ambulance which was home made work by me Monospars in different variants were used by both sides of the war. The choice was really difficult. Finally I did this model which present airplane with factory serial number 80. Originaly she was registered as G-AEGX, having individual name "Florence Nightingale" and was donated to Republicans by Dennis Corrigan in Feb. 1937 after conversion to ambulance. During service it was captured by Nationalists. The model presents markings while she was belonging to Nationalists airforces in the end of Spanish Civil War -in the begining of 1939. As source I have used the same book, which I quoted in post about DH 89 M - "Aviones en la Guerra Civil Espanola 1938/1939 Ingleses/Checos/Polacos (English, Czech and Polish)" by J.Miranda and P.Mercado. Best regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Hi, In the begining of 2000s. I made this scratch conversion of Frog/Novo kit of Fokker F VII "Southern Cross" into a improvised bomber made of civilian F VII b/3m during Spanish Civil War. The main work was around engines, but also different windcreen, side windows (as well as their partial lack due to bombs) and larger horizontal and vertical stabilizers were done. Unfortunately I did not corrected to curvature of upper fuselage what is a big mistake of Frog kit. This was my mistake also, sorry...Markings are from 1936, when machine was impossed to army by Republicans. She wear passanger colours and registration with red Republican's belts around wings and fuselage added. At present the same markings are available from one of version of Valom kit...The machine was shortly in this markings..Soon she was captured by Nationalists and served as 45.2 back as transport machine. BTW - Almost exactly a year ago I was posting in my very first post another imossed three-motor passenger machine - Ford Three Motor in RAAF markings. Between them I posted almost all my collection... Comments welcome Regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Hello, I am back... Today I would like to show photos of two mine 1/72 models by Azur: Loire 46 and Dewoitine 371. Both are almost OOB, with some minor corrections and added details. The markings are not from box, in case of Dewoitine it is only change for another number (in box there is 12, my is 13) from the same squadron, based Tel Como, Madrid 1936, pilot J. Corral . Loire 46 C1 is from Getafe (pilot V.Veniel) and Cuadro Vientos, Madrid (pilot A.Guidez) from 1936, a/c prod. no 93. Here they are, regards Jerzy -Wojtek 1. Dewoitne 371 2. Loire 46

Hi I have just finished it. This is CASA-Breguet 19 A2 with W-type Elizalde engine. I had a single kit of an elusive Polish company producing some years ago very interesting short-run kits. It was hard to me do a choice of version, so I decided to breed it a bit. I did the CASA-Breguet 19 A2 (presentsd now) and I am still constructing version 19.8 of Royal Yugoslavian Airforces. I have feeling that HIt Kit made very short series of this 19.8 as well, but there are no traces of this in net. the WIP thread is here: Shortly - the model is made of some plastic original parts but whole fuselage and tail are my resin copies of orginals. The CASA licenced build Breguet had more fabric covered fuselage, so this convesion was done out of scratch . Here is result: I hope to present Breguet 19.8 in not far future... The painting scheme is for fall of 1936 or early 1937. Comments welcome Best regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Hi, I started now work on models of Breguet XIX. 20 ex-Polish (French build) Breguets XIX were sold to gen. Franco forces in 1936. This implies, that in Spain there were not only CASA Breguets but also some original French build machines. Since there are differences in fuselage between them it would be nice to know the numbers which were given to ex-Polish machines. In particular there are some profiles reproducted, all showing CASA style fuselages like here: Any info on this will be interesting and apprecieted Cheers Jerzy-Wojtek

Hi, Next small bird of Spanish Civil War - the Bleriot-Spad 51. It was French fighter from 1923/4. So defintly obsolate at outbreak of SCW. The painting intendet to follows photo and profile published on Czech web page Valka https://www.valka.cz/14695-Na-spanelskem-nebi-Bleriot-SPAD-S-51-a-S-91 Basicly model is OOB, however there are differents between this scheme and scheme from AZ box - the struts are comouflaged, the red belt on fuselage is semi transparent for green patches, a small red star is on fin. What can be added - the carpet monster eaten original PE prop hub - now it is a home made surogat. Moreover - I found two mistakes in AZ instruction in scheme for riging and made riging following photos (namely - the rear pair of cables from lower wing goes as should go to fuselage, not to upper wing, and the riging of u/c is between main legs, not supporting struts). The propeller I made a bit more worn, since the rest of painting must be rather fresh when machine crashed in fall of 1936. The pilot was French volunteer Abdel Guideze (it is on Czech web page) - but Google does not know him. Perhaps someone heard anything who was this pilot? Here is the model: This is No 34 SCW subject on my shelves Comments welcome regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Hi, Next one of Polikarpov machines. BTW - I apparently have got something like "Polikarpov phase" or "P. mania? - in last three months I did six Polikarpovs (two R-5, one R-Z, two I-16 and now: I-15). Moreover - I am doing also I-152... (ICM). But that will be end. I have some Po-2/U-2 in stash (and I-5), but not decided yet about painting schmes or variants, so the seven will be OK for now. Going back to model - the presented here I-15 was flown by some weeks of July 1937 by Lt. Bosko "Bozidar" Petrovic. Unit - 1 Escuadrilla de Chatos, Grupo 26 de Chatos based El Coto south of Madrid. It is considered, that on 8th of July 1937 Bozidar Petrovic shot down first Bf-109B ever in history. The whole story of this machine is fiollowing (cited from Wing Palette", which cited it from? - I do not know it): "The time when Petrovic flew this machine is the end of June 1937. Fighting in Spain as a volunteer, in order not to cause any trouble to his family back home in Belgrade, he took the pseudonym Fernandez Garcia. He took over his I-15 in the end of June 1937, in Murcia, where it was an assembly line for the aircraft, shipped in parts from Soviet Union. At this time, 1a Escuadrilla de Chatos was based in El Coto airfield, 26 km north-east from Madrid, in between the cities Alcala de Henares and Guadalajara. The unit was engaged at many fronts, specially in the defense of Spanish capital. The squadron Commander was major Ivan Eremenko, while the 'Teniente Garcia's' wingman was another Soviet volunteer Leonid Rybkin. From July 1st to July 12th 1937, Petrovic was flying this aircraft in about 30 missions, but after it there is no data. Still, it is recorded that from July 1st to July 7th, Petrovic shoot down 3 Fiats CR.32 and a single Heinkel He.51. And then, in July 8th, north from city of Avila (some 100 km from Madrid), during the massive air duel with numerous fighters on the both sides, Petrovic manage to shut down the Messerschmitt Bf.109B. According to some, this was the very first shot down Bf.109 in Spanish Civil War. Few days later, near the Madrid, he shot down the Heinkel He.111B bomber. Petrovic quickly became popular. His face was even on the posters on the walls of Paris, the Interbrigade recruitment center, calling for the new volunteers to help the Republic. In order to save a brilliant pilot, in a highest military circles the decision was made: to withdraw Petrovic from the battle and send him to Soviet Union, since the authorities of Kingdom of Yugoslavia were put him outlaw. Still, the decision did not prevent Petrovic to break the orders and, on the July 12th and probably on some other Chato, he shoots down another Fiat CR.32. It was his 7th and the last victory. Bozidar Bosko Petrovic died in July 18th, 1937, at the age of only 26 (he was born in April 11th, 1911), and there are two versions of his death. Soviet military sources claim that he is shot down in a battle with two enemy fighters, while the other source states that, fighting a single Fiat CR.32, Petrovic probably suspects that enemy pilot tries to avoid the battle and dive after him. When the Fiat crashed, Petrovic begin to pull out his fighter from diving, but the aircraft's construction did not withstand. He unsuccessfully tried to regain control and crashed in a near valley. The whereabouts of its body remains unknown, but probably in a mass grave at Brunete. " Decals are mostly from drawer. I added exhaust pipes and enlarged a bit side windows, add some details inside and work a bit on engine. Here she is: As always I made propeller rotable, so here you can imagine the sound of engine: And the whole set of my Spanish Polikarpovs: Comments welcome Regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Hi, About 10 Feb I started build of three Polikarpov R machines: two R-5 and one R-Z. There is a WIP thread on this. First R-5 (transport version in winter camo) I presented here already a couple of weeks ago. Now time for second one: the R-Z Natacha in Spanish Republican colours from fall of 1938. The presented here LN-045 was shot down along with five other R-Z on 23 Dec. 1938... She wear a Nungasser-like emblem on sides. Decals were home made (ughh....). Generally the R-Z is not just a variant of R-5. After constructing this model I consider it much different, similar or even more then the difference between Typhoon and Tempest, for instance. The original SH kit was seriously reshaped to match Michail Maslov's drawing o R-Z from his monography about R-5/R-Z family. Even despite small errors which I noticed in those drawing while compare them to photos (details in WIP). The most serious surgery was cuting out 5 mm from whole chord of lower wing (!). The whole tail was reshaped as well: fin and rudder are enlarged whereas tailplane was made smaller and different in shape. Wheels are a bit bigger and nose was also a bit modified. More details in WIP thread mentioned above. She looks like that: This is my number 32nd of SCW And here you can compare chord (especially of lower wings) of R-5 and R-Z On photo above, besides this old lady there is Soviet the R-5 limousine (transport variant). She was already on RFI some weeks ago, it is scratch conversion from Apex/Encore kit. The third one will be R-5 bomber (MPM vacu), likely in camo from Russian invasion of Eastern Poland in September 1939. Not very much left to finish it... Comments welcome Regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Hi, Having some problems with finishing my triple build of Polikarpovs R-5/R-Z project (it is in thread in WIP), I decided to do "on side" a fast cost construction of some smaller kits. This is Polikarpov I-16, early type 5 variant by A-model in 1/72. However it was not a fast construction because the kit was not shake and bake one. Especially the fit of wings was problematic, also there is also a mistake in U/c which I corrected. In book by M.Maslov on aces of I-15, I-152, I-153 and I-16 published by Osprey there is a photo of this machine with terrible story on the Vladimir Bocharov, a Russian pilot of her (story is in description of photo below) It is surprising, that lost of the machine (and pilot) was during very first action and the machine on photo has rather worn como. So here is my model: And here is new I-16 type 5 along my very old I-16 type-10 by Revell, which I did... 42 years ago, in 1975! The scheme is from some Murmansk area squadron from 1942 (please not that there is only 33 years between 1942 and 1975 compared to 42 since I did the model !!!) Now I just wash it from dust and refreshed by new coat of Valejo matt varnish: Comments welcome Cheers J-W

Hi, The second of my heavy French bombers from Republican side of Spanish Civil War is Potez 540 (the first one is Bloch 210, which I just posted). Some ten French Potez 540 were send to Spain and they formed "Esquadrilla Espagna" (Sguadron The Spain) in 1936. The key person in this was French writer and movie maker - Andre Malraux. He was volunteer there, like Ernest Hemingway or Eric Blair (who is better known as George Orwell). The markings are of machine of cpt. Mellado, Northern Front in Autumn 1936. She has individual name "Aqui te espero?" - I think it meanas "What are you waiting for?" but please correct me, if I am wrong. (EDIT '2017- it is wrong, see post by Luis Alfonso below) Decals hand painted. Narrow white stripes on side of red ones are for machine of commander. I was experimenting here with rigging - I used here steel string from guitar... Not very good idea. Similar to Bloch 210 she was also waiting long time in stash for construction - I made the model in 2001 whereas bought the kit in 1974.... Please enjoy and comment Regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Extras used: Kora Tiger Moth in Spanish service decals and resin wheels, Uschi super fine rigging thread Paints and colours used: Mr hobby Aluminium metalizer What a great little kit, this one marks the start of a little project of mine to have a go at some Spanish civil war subjects. It's a very interesting period (this one is depicted before the hostilities) and the amount of possible aircraft is huge. I found a great website which lists all the aircraft and info etc: http://bioold.science.ku.dk/drnash/model/spain/did.html Anyway onto the pictures, a guy at my local club took these for me, I must say it looks better in pics than in real life! DH. 82a Tiger Moth, Spanish Republican Airforce 1935 Thanks Jason