Polish RAF Mustang III

[bruce bay]

I am currently wrestling with Zvezda's PE-2 - which is a beautiful kit, but extremely parts-heavy. So I jumped at the chance to knock out a quick build for a friend's desk. My mate in the office's IT dept. is English-Polish and got envious because I made the other IT guy a Tamiya Zero (as requested because he likes anime, and specifically The Wind Rises).

 

Needless to say the kit threw itself together, with major parts only just needing glue in places. I used a mixture of decals because the only stipulation was that it be a Polish RAF 'plane, but with 'some colour' - hence the red spinner and blue markings. 

 

Outside was painted with Tamiya rattle cans - RAF Dark Green, Ocean Grey, Haze Grey. Then post shaded with oil paints before a brushed on layer of Vallejo satin varnish slightly watered down. 

 

Thanks for looking - back now to the PE-2! All notes, criticism welcome! 

 

Bruce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[serial modeler]

It is a beautifully made kit with a great paint job. The colors and the camouflage placement is correct. I like the gentle weathering, chipping etc.

The only thing that hurts my historian's conscience is that it has no reference to any of the markings used by the PAF in Britain. The closest it comes to Polish is that if the XZ is reversed it would refer to the Polish Fighting Team flying with 145 squadron on Spitfires in North Africa in 1943. Incidentally they also used red spinners, but desert camouflage. They used ZX in that exact blue with individual letters following.

If you want to surprise your Polish friend even more make another model for November 11 as that is not only the 100th anniversary of Polish Independence but also the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Polish Air Force!

Edited April 10, 2018 by serial modeler

[noelh]

A master class in painting and building with exactly the right amount of subtle weathering. I love it. 

[JWM]

Nice painting job, but scheme is rather "what if" I think... What @serial modeler said is true.

J-W

[bruce bay]

4 hours ago, serial modeler said:

It is a beautifully made kit with a great paint job. The colors and the camouflage placement is correct. I like the gentle weathering, chipping etc.

The only thing that hurts my historian's conscience is that it has no reference to any of the markings used by the PAF in Britain. The closest it comes to Polish is that if the XZ is reversed it would refer to the Polish Fighting Team flying with 145 squadron on Spitfires in North Africa in 1943. Incidentally they also used red spinners, but desert camouflage. They used ZX in that exact blue with individual letters following.

If you want to surprise your Polish friend even more make another model for November 11 as that is not only the 100th anniversary of Polish Independence but also the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Polish Air Force!

 

2 hours ago, JWM said:

Nice painting job, but scheme is rather "what if" I think... What @serial modeler said is true.

J-W

 

Hi both - thanks so much for your notes. And yes - I couldn't agree more! As mentioned - my friend's only request was that it sported RAF and Polish markings, with some colour - hence RAF markings, and Polish checker markings, and the red nose.

 

But yes - this was a quick build for him, and as he's not in any way interested in aviation history - just wanted something on his desk too, so I threw something totally non-historic together. 

 

Thank you for the kind words about the finish - much appreciated! 

 

Bruce

 

 

3 hours ago, noelh said:

A master class in painting and building with exactly the right amount of subtle weathering. I love it. 

Thanks so much! Too kind. I think my cheap phone is flattering the result a bit! 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Now that is one Beautiful Mustang  Major Plus that its Polish 🇵🇱

[KRK4m]

Lack of Fin Flashes and yellow wing leading edges make this Mustang less colourful than it should be...

Cheers

Michael