Sovereign Military Order of Malta Dewoitine D-510

[Mitch K]

Before going on a large-scale re-equipment drive, the SMOM operated three fighter types, the Fiat CR.32, the PZL.24 and the Dewoitine D510.

This is the old Heller 1/72 scale kit, which I picked upon Ebay for £2! The decals were toast but I had no intention of using them anyway, so that's no loss.

The kit scales and shapes out very nicely against the plans I have. The kit is moulded in the soft, medium grey plastic that was standard for all Heller kits back in the day. The detail is all raised, but is very fine and delicate, and I'm going to leave well enough alone.

Sprue shot:

The upper and lower wings are an easy start - I even remembered to drill the pilot holes for the undercarriage! The seat is quite nice and there's a floor provided (saves me a job), but I'll replace the very crude control stick and add some extra details as per normal. Interior colour will be something vaguely chamois-y: the reference I have shows quite a light, bright sandy-yellow.

[charlie_c67]

Interested to see what scheme and roundels you'll be using for this!

[Mitch K]

The cockpit as provided comprises a floor (OK), a seat (which is actually pretty good), an instrument panel (functional) and a control column (yuck!).

I've added framing, assorted boxes and greeblies, a throttle unit, pedals and a low-level second instrument panel. The control column was replaced, the seat got a strap hole and I'll add a seat adjuster. Once it's all dry I'll fit some details (struts) on the trim wheel.

Once I've painted it up, I'll add some straps, from paper and wire.

[Mitch K]

Here's the completed cockpit, painted, strapped and all the rest:

And with the fuselage buttoned up and wings attached:

I've drilled out the exhausts and fitted some pieces of pin in the horizontal stabilisers. These will fit into holes in the tail area to strengthen the butt joints.

[Mitch K]

Most of the bits are on, and fuselage seams are done. The wing and elevator joints are not great, but I'll do these with milliput in the next day or two. I can sort them without sanding, and hence save the surface detail.

The radiator installation is quite grim, and the instructions aren't especially clear as to exactly where it fits, but some coarse filing and a g-clamp won the day!

[Blitz23]

This will be interesting Mitch, I actually started mine today whilst I wait for some bits for my Caudron to arrive.

[Mitch K]

Filling around the various seams went off OK with a bit of milliput, and minimal sanding was required (as I had hoped). The undercarriage is a little bit fiddly, and doesn't feel terribly strong, but went together OK, The braces aren't glued in, and can be popped out to allow the wheels to go in at the last moment. The step provided in the kit was replaced with a section of guitar string.

After a scrub and tacking off, she got a coat of white primer and the undersurfaces, sides and wing roots were painted with Tamiya silver mixed with a touch of light grey. I shot a coat of Klear over this as I've found it prone to shedding over what ever goes on top if I don't.

I masked up the sides and other areas, then went with the upper surface camoflage. The sort of feel I was after was of "We're a bit new to this camoflage lark", just at the tail end of the bright colours of the 1930's. The base is RAF Dark Sand, with a freehand aibrush mottling of RAF Dark Earth and French Kaki.

The airspeed venturi was drilled out, but you might notice I managed to crock the port-side undercarriage supports, and had to replace it with some plastic card I shaped to roughly airfoil section.

[trickyrich]

what a great looking little beasty!

The pre-paint finish is great and I do like the colour scheme, look forward to seeing this one finished.

[Mitch K]

These are the fuel pipes that connect the tanks in the inner sections of the wings with the one under the fuselage. These are 30ga wire.

These are the decals, home printed. The roundels and tail cockade are printed on white decal sheet, with a background of roughly the upper surface colour. Obviously, they need to be trimmed very, very close before application. The codes, serials and so on are on clear sheet - easier to apply, but less opaque. I printed an extra one of each, just in case.

Here's the decals in place. I put them on onto pools of Klear, to help adhesion and reduce silvering. These decals do NOT get on well with decal setting solutions!

The "Bella Contessa" logo was too big to use, so I'll re-do that one bit tomorrow, either dropping the font size or remaking it as a vector file in Inkscape that I can resize.

[Cookenbacher]

That is a great looking scheme Mitch.

[tc2324]

Those decals look great

[tc2324]

I should also of mentioned that the kit and paint scheme is also looking a winner.....

[Mitch K]

Those decals look great

The roundels are those that the Order actually used on aircraft in the post-War period: they flew some transport planes on behalf of the Italian government. The fin flash is the Arms of the Order.

Landing lights are painted, along with the headrest and cockpit coaming. I finally got the last decal done - she's the "Bella Contessa" at last! The prop isn't fixed at the moment. That will be one of the last jobs, with the windshield and gunsight.

The wheels just popped into place, the gun barrels are steel tubing and the radio aerials are dressmaking pins.

The panel line wash is artists' oils: burnt umber and French ultramarine. This might well be as much weathering as this one gets. I'll let it get dry before I give her a coat of matt and add the last few details.

[tc2324]

Awesome work...

Edited May 11, 2015 by tc2324

[Blitz23]

Love it!

[Mitch K]

I've blown a coat of matt over her, then I added the windshield (I hand-painted this), and a ring gunsight from stretched sprue. I'm calling this done. It's too late to do any "proper" photos tonight, so I'll do one more post, with some pictures and the back story I've created.

[Mitch K]

The Dewoitine D510 was an interesting intermediate design. An all-metal monoplane, it presaged the designs that became famous during the Second World War, but still had many anachronistic features, like a fixed undercarriage and open cockpit. Quick and manouverable, it was armed with two machineguns in underwing gondolas and a 20mm Hispano cannon firing through the propeller hub.

The D510 entered service with the Sovereign Military Order of Malta early in 1937, and served in three squadrons. These differed from the French model only in having the wing guns replaced with Colt MG40 types (M1919 export copies) in 7mm calibre. They were heavily involved in neutrality patrols during the Spanish Civil War, but had been largely replaced by Hawk 75s by the 1940, and saw limited combat. Some of the aircraft lingered in West Africa, where they served by patrolling and attacking bandits. In this latter role it became clear that the fuel tanks were extremely vulnerable to ground fire.

Claudio “Corridore” Sabatini was born into an upper class family, and was a headstrong, reckless boy whom it seemed nobody could keep out of trouble for any length of time. A thrill-seeker from an early age, he demonstrated a talent for handling anything with in engine, whether it belonged to him or not! Eventually, the boy was put into the hands of the Order for military training in the hope this would knock the wild streak out of him. To everyone’s great surprise, Sabatini knuckled under and proved himself to be a hard-working and capable soldier, who after taking lesser vows, volunteered for flight training. A natural pilot, he was considered likely to rise in the Order once he took full vows as he was encouraged to do. However, after three years as a pilot he asked for and was released as a Confrere (in effect a kind of reservist). He immediately returned to his old ways, becoming a notorious playboy and beau sabreur, who enjoyed some success racing cars, power boats and aircraft. With his huge charm and film-star good looks, he was a popular gossip column figure, who caused scandal by carrying on a torrid and very public affair with a recently-widowed countess, from which came his habit of naming all his vehiclesand aircraft “Bella Contessa” from that point on.

In 1938 the Order offered to put “planes in the air” over Czechoslovakia against the Germans. Its aircraft, which had previously been gaudily painted, in part to mark their neutrality in the Spanish Civil War, in part a result of the aristocratic background of many of the pilots, were ordered camouflaged. This was ccording to a directive which stated (among other things) that “large displays of heraldic devices shall not be carried”. Of course, this was interpreted as allowing small heraldic displays, and so when Corridore was recalled to service, he immediately had his plane marked to carry the words “Bella Contessa” under the port cockpit side and his family coat of arms on the right.

Sabatini transitioned to the Curtiss H-75 shortly after it entered service with the Order, and fought in the Battle of France, scoring six confirmed kills, along with three probables and three damaged. He continued to score in the Battle of the Islands, his total standing at ten when he was shot down and wounded over Pantelleria. Once he recovered he transferred to Spitfires, flying missions over North Africa. He was killed when his damaged plane broke up on landing, his final tally being fifteen confirmed kills.

[Cookenbacher]

Beautiful build and convincing back story Mitch!

[Mitch K]

Beautiful build and convincing back story Mitch!

Cheers Cookenbacher! It was a fun thing to do. I don't think I've quite got SMOM What-if builds out of my system yet!

[Cookenbacher]

Would love to see the story continue.

[tc2324]

Great concept and execution.

A lovely bit of whiffery.