RAF Walrus II from 1/72 Matchbox/Revell kit

[Acklington]

Following on from the WIP thread for this model, http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235035905-172-raf-walrus-from-matchboxrevell-kit/&tab=comments#comment-3004200, here are the completed photos;

Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (38) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (41) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (50) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (56) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (59) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (61) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr
Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (68) w by Philip Pain, on Flickr

Just a comment about the accuracy of the scheme, as it is based on a partial photo of some erks stood in front of the rear fuselage, and obliterating most of the code letters. The 'FA' and the hyphen are correct, and the colours are red, unlike some RAF Rescue squadrons that used yellow. However, the individual code letter 'B' could be a 'D' or even a 'G' as only a bit of a curved letter can be seen. RAF Rescue squadrons only had a few aircraft each, to include the Walrus and Defiants, later replaced by the Anson. The highest letter known for 281 Squadron is an Anson coded 'F'. As the Walrus came first, early alphabet letters are likely, thus choosing 'B' for this model of Z1768.

 

This kit is the Revell re-issue of the Matchbox kit, and to improve the detail of the kit, some 130 individual additions/corrections were made. It is fully rigged using nylon thread and, as shown in the WIP thread, the rigging was first attached to the inside of the parts, before construction, and then pulled through and secured after gluing parts together.

 

Thanks for looking.

[General Jumbo]

Beautiful build. I remember attempting the matchbox kit as a kid and it put me off bi-planes for good!

[Spitfire31]

Fantastic! Another inspiring demonstration of what can be done with an elderly kit with talent, dedication and modelling chops!

 

Impressed no end over here…

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[ColinChipmunkfan]

That is a great model, superb job on the rigging, well done, good to have the history as well Philip.

[AeroNautique]

Hard to believe it's just a simple Matchbox kit...you've done an amazing job, the finish and the rigging look amazing, especially given the small scale.

[invidia]

great looking model, hard to believe this is the old matchbox kit.

[Neil.C]

That's beautiful.

 

Lovely interesting post too. 

[MikeR]

Excellent!

 

Mike.

[Convair]

Very nice Shagbat.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Beautiful Walrus ...  

[tonyot]

Wonderful,......simply wonderful!

 

Cheers

          Tony  

[Vinnie]

That is an outstanding build. Superb work with the rigging. Well done.

[Bear Paw]

“Just a comment about the accuracy of the scheme, as it is based on a partial photo of some erks stood in front of the rear fuselage, and obliterating most of the code letters.”

 

Hi Acklington, lovely model from that old kit, and what is an erk btw?  

 

Andrew.  

[JWM]

Really great job! I am impressed

J-W

 

[Cookenbacher]

Fantastic result.

[Beard]

That is rather splendid. No, it is very splendid.

Edited April 10, 2018 by Beard

[SA80A2AR]

shot the cat (or pidgin) that is deatled

[Possibly Apocryphal]

That is quite glorious!  Hard to believe the Walrus was designed by the very same R.J. Mitchell who also created the Spitfire.

[Acklington]

16 hours ago, Bear Paw said:

“Just a comment about the accuracy of the scheme, as it is based on a partial photo of some erks stood in front of the rear fuselage, and obliterating most of the code letters.”

 

Hi Acklington, lovely model from that old kit, and what is an erk btw?  

 

Andrew.  

Many thanks for the comments, they are much appreciated.

And to answer Andrew, the slang expression "erks" applied to RAF ground crew. But obviously not as widely used expression as I thought - sorry!

[stevej60]

That's a great build and finish.

[kapam]

Awesome work!

Your precise building, painting and rigging efforts belie the source material.

Brilliant

.

 

[russ c]

Great job on that old kit, looks amazing

[adey m]

Acklington, that is the Best Walrus model I have seen up to now, I cannot believe it is 1/72 scale  and that it is the old Matchbox kit to boot too.

 

Your research and attention to detail has resulted in a stunning model.

 

My favourite colour scheme too.

 

And every stage beautifully photographed.

 

I like it alot...............

 

regards,  adey

[Strangeways]

That brings back memories (though my attempt in the early 80s looked nothing like that). Superb modelling.

[FAAMAN]

Absolutely superb, beautifully finished

I've a Matchbox issue in the stash, will have to take note of your build