Mitch K Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 This is a nice little kit, which builds well. Compared to the drawings and photos I have, it seems very accurate. It suffers from very deep panel lines, heavy trailing edges and no cockpit detail. I sorted those out, and here's the result. The D520 was the best of the French fighter designs of he early war. Had more been available, the Luftwaffe might have found life substantially more difficult in the battles of 1939-40. After the fall of France, D520's served with both Vichy and Free French units, and were used by the Germans in the training role. Numbers of completed aircraft were sold to Italy and Bulgaria. The Royal Bulgarian Air Force received around 100 examples (sources vary) in 1943, first flying in combat in November of that year. By this time, the D520 was largely outclassed but the Bulgarians enjoyed some success against P38's and B24's. The D520 seems to have been respected, but not really liked, by its users. The Italians regarded it as a "good, but not great" fighter, liking the cannon armament but considering that it handled poorly compared to domestic designs. German reports noted that it needed a "very light touch" on the controls to avoid dangerous loss of control. The great Eric Brown was more forthright, describing the type as "a nasty little brute". The colours are RLM 74/75/76, mixed from Tamiya acrylics, while the markings are spares box and home prints, depicting an aircraft of the 6th Fighter Group. I've gone with minimal wear and weathering, just a little to try to give a sense that the aircraft were actually used pretty hard, but well-maintained. The smoke around guns and exhausts is what might be seen just after a couple of closely-spaced sorties, whereby the ground crew didn't get the opportunity to clean her up in between. These last three are an effort to try to recreate wartime photos: 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blitz23 Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Nice job Mitch, your really churning them out lately! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 That,s a little beauty Mitch,very nice indeed! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Very nice 520 Mitch. I have never seen a HB "easy kit" in my life... Can the cockpit be improved upon by adding some PE or scratch? The overall outlook is rather convincing, I dare say, and I am looking forward in tackling one such kit whenever I come across one... I like the final result a lot. JR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted June 2, 2015 Author Share Posted June 2, 2015 Very nice 520 Mitch. I have never seen a HB "easy kit" in my life... Can the cockpit be improved upon by adding some PE or scratch? The overall outlook is rather convincing, I dare say, and I am looking forward in tackling one such kit whenever I come across one... I like the final result a lot. JR Jean, the WIP thread here:http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234981616-hobby-boss-dewoitine-d520-royal-bulgarian-air-force/#entry2004345 has my cockpit scratchbuild in it (see post #6). I'm aware of an AM instrument panel - a chap who is building the SMER D520 in the French Fancy GB is using one, which looks very nice. The main thing is that opening up the cockpit needs drastic measures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 I just found your WIP after my above post. I see what you mean about drastic measures! Are all the HB easy assemblies similar in the cockpit area? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted June 2, 2015 Author Share Posted June 2, 2015 I just found your WIP after my above post. I see what you mean about drastic measures! Are all the HB easy assemblies similar in the cockpit area? I've built the Dewoitine and an MS406, and I've got a Spitfire Vb (trop) in the stash. The Spit is going to need essentially the same treatment as the Dewoitine, whereas the MS406 was facile. In that case, the cockpit fitted from below as part of the wing. It needed little or no major surgery, just build the bits and add them! The combined lower fuselage and wing assembly seems common across the range.The plastic is crisp and carves easily, so despite it being drastic, the work isn't very difficult. The Hobby Boss kits are also very inexpensive. Whilst I'm sure the RS version builts into a better replica, it is three times the price. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWM Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Very nice little nasty brutal plane In stash I have Hasegawa one - and difficult choice about markings... Escpecially that I have two sets of aftermarket decals - Esci and some Polish, poor quality but anyway they are. And it is too rare and no differences or variants to build a whole series of them... Cheers J-W 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted June 2, 2015 Author Share Posted June 2, 2015 Very nice little nasty brutal plane In stash I have Hasegawa one - and difficult choice about markings... Escpecially that I have two sets of aftermarket decals - Esci and some Polish, poor quality but anyway they are. And it is too rare and no differences or variants to build a whole series of them... Cheers J-W Another advantage of the Hobby Boss versions - you could build a few and not feel you have "wasted" an expensive, rare kit. I may revisit the Dewoitine - I might do a French one for completeness, and the Italian ones are quite striking in the sandy brown with green mottling. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWM Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 (edited) On Wing Palette there are 14 italians, having different camos: mix of remains of Franch *http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/f/24/32/0) orGerman (http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/f/24/32/1) or pure RA colours one , but no one is like Mc200 or Mc 202 - mottled green on llight brown, unfortunately, But Italian can be also RSI (:http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/f/24/123/0). Very interesting are Free French from 1944, where they were completly obsolate compare to P47, P51 or Fw 190D or F (http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/f/24/147/0) and they were "tinny" version of d-day strips. The Bulgarians can be also from time when they bacame Soviet satelite against Germans: http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/f/24/243/0. And France 1940 and the most colourful - Vichy.... In one word - plenty possibilities. My problem is that I am trying to have a some proportionality between number of models of certain type and the whole collections. I have only five Hurricanes, but not 25 if them. Seven Spits, not 70... In this proportios there is onle room for a single D520 on my shelves, unfortunately ...In case of Capronis they vary a lot - different engines, fuselages etc. That was an excuse for doing four of them, which does not work in case of D520 - all are of single variant D520.. What to chose in face of such plenty!!! Cheers J-W. Edited June 3, 2015 by JWM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted June 2, 2015 Author Share Posted June 2, 2015 Jerzy, that's why I build single engined fighters - I can fit more in! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I've built the Dewoitine and an MS406, and I've got a Spitfire Vb (trop) in the stash. The Spit is going to need essentially the same treatment as the Dewoitine, whereas the MS406 was facile. In that case, the cockpit fitted from below as part of the wing. It needed little or no major surgery, just build the bits and add them! The combined lower fuselage and wing assembly seems common across the range.The plastic is crisp and carves easily, so despite it being drastic, the work isn't very difficult. The Hobby Boss kits are also very inexpensive. Whilst I'm sure the RS version builts into a better replica, it is three times the price. OK Mitch, you've sold me! I will just have to be careful which kit I choose (although I suspect the kit will choose me as I don't expect much/any choice if I find a lone HB kit under our latitudes!) But I will stick to single engine planes as I don't like the over-simplifications HB allow themselves with the few twin engined aircraft they have produced in their easy assembly range. What may be a tad tricky is that I do not have a dremel yet... But I've got a pick and shovel, so it's going to be fine!!! Thanks for the info on these kits! JR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted June 3, 2015 Author Share Posted June 3, 2015 Jean, although I used a dremel, the main part of the work was done with a 6mm wood chisel. It's all a bit "old school" if you're used to the latest Tamegawa stuff, but it isn't very difficult. Apparently their approach has some dividends with multiengine aircraft: on their P38, there's no issue with aligning the wings and tail booms, because they are all moulded in one bit! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Jean, although I used a dremel, the main part of the work was done with a 6mm wood chisel. It's all a bit "old school" if you're used to the latest Tamegawa stuff, but it isn't very difficult. Apparently their approach has some dividends with multiengine aircraft: on their P38, there's no issue with aligning the wings and tail booms, because they are all moulded in one bit! Hi Mitch, nothing wrong using a wood chisel. I've used far worse in the past. I agree with your take on the P-38, but a while back I was toying with the idea of obtaining (through back channel connections) a Pe-2, until I realised that the interior was reduced to the minimum and that a few glazings were only engraved on the plastic. I am not a maniac for total accuracy, but that was not acceptable in my eyes. Hence my decision tot stick to single engined aircraft that I will try to obtain legally! Thanks for the info. JR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 Hi Mitch, nothing wrong using a wood chisel. I've used far worse in the past. I agree with your take on the P-38, but a while back I was toying with the idea of obtaining (through back channel connections) a Pe-2, until I realised that the interior was reduced to the minimum and that a few glazings were only engraved on the plastic. I am not a maniac for total accuracy, but that was not acceptable in my eyes. Hence my decision tot stick to single engined aircraft that I will try to obtain legally! Thanks for the info. JR Jean, I've had the same thoughts regarding their Brewster Buffalo - the under-fuselage glazing is provided as a decal, which I don't think I'd be happy with, and it would be too much like hard work to build the twenty-odd glazed panels on a curve! I think in a case like that, paying for the Hasegawa verson is well worth the money! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Jean, I've had the same thoughts regarding their Brewster Buffalo - the under-fuselage glazing is provided as a decal, which I don't think I'd be happy with, and it would be too much like hard work to build the twenty-odd glazed panels on a curve! I think in a case like that, paying for the Hasegawa verson is well worth the money! I couldn't agree more! Plus having built the Hasegawa Buffalo, it was a delightful kit worth every Shekel. Even if painting the under fuselage glazing was a bit of a nightmare... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight_Flyer Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Great build Mitch, the camo scheme is very well painted. I like re-creating wartime photos as well considering the time I spend looking at them in my research 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatboydim Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 A very neat model. I really like it, well done. Joe 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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