452 (RAAF) Squadron Spifires - ** Finished **

[Rabbit Leader]

I'm finally joining in on this GB after a few personal issues that had stalled my modelling productivity for the last two months. 

 

Background

In addition to the many thousands of service men and woman that served in the Pacific region during WW2, there was also an equally large contingent of Australians on active service in Europe and the Middle East. As well as No's. 3 and 10 (RAAF) Squadrons who were already serving away from home, seventeen additional units were formed within the 450-467 Squadron number plate range. These new units went on to operate a wide variety of allied aircraft in all manner of combat roles.

 

No. 452 Squadron was the first of these Australian 'away based' fighter units to form in the UK. As part of 11 Group, it was initially equipped with Spitfire Mk.IIa's until re-equipped with the cannon armed Mk.Vb a short time later. Now, as it's very possible that I'll quote some historical notes incorrectly, I'll direct you to this link which will hopefully provide more squadron information for those of you who may be interested.  

 

GB WIP

One of 452's most famous pilots at the time was Keith William "Bluey" Truscott. Between April 1941 to May 1942, Truscott was credited with 16 confirmed air-air victories and awarded a DFC and Bar. In true Aussie fashion, Truscott was also a handy sportsman and not only Captained his Melbourne High School Cricket team but also mentored a young student by the name of Keith Miller. Post War, Miller would represent his country at Test level and is regarded as one of Australia's finest all-round cricketers. Truscott was also handy with that odd shaped Aussie Rules football and played 44 games (kicking 31 goals) as a Half Forward Flanker for the Melbourne 'Demons' Football club. He was a member of their 1939 and 1940 Premiership sides and also played a few games on his return from the UK before heading off to the Pacific theater to continue the fight against the Japanese Imperial forces.

 

So for me - a Cricket loving, AFL following ex-Melbourne aircraft modeller, honoring one of Truscott's 452 Squadron Spitfire's in plastic kit form surely ticks all the right boxes.

 

The photo's below show the mandatory kit sprues. I have one 1/72 Tamiya Vb and two 1/72 Airfix Mk.1/IIa's so although I'll just build two 452 machines for this GB, I'll push a third kit along until it also gets finished or runs out of steam. Using the superb DK decals 452 (RAAF) Squadron sheet - which will hopefully arrive today, I'll probably model Truscott's Spitfire IIa (UD:N) and do the  Vb as either one flown by one of the other famous 452 pilots - Finucane, Chisholm or Thorold-Smith?. I'm still quite undecided at this precise moment. 

 

Anyway - I've made just the smallest of starts and will hopefully update my ham-fisted progress at regular intervals.

 

Cheers.. Dave

 

    

 

 

 

 

[stevehnz]

Watching.

Steve.

[Robert Stuart]

At least, you've started now Dave, so welcome.  I hope your issues are sorted happily soon.

 

Looking at the array of photos you have there, you are building three kits, two Airfix and a Tamiya?  

It'll be interesting to see them compared in the same thread.

[Rabbit Leader]

4 hours ago, stevehnz said:

Watching.

Steve.

Then I’d better do these kits justice then Steve. Actually it would be nice if you could join us with an aircraft to represent one of the NZ squadrons. Am I correct in thinking that you had a 487 Squadron Ventura in mind at some stage? 

4 hours ago, Robert Stuart said:

At least, you've started now Dave, so welcome.  I hope your issues are sorted happily soon.

 

Looking at the array of photos you have there, you are building three kits, two Airfix and a Tamiya?  

It'll be interesting to see them compared in the same thread.

Almost 100% now Robert so thanks for the GB welcome and well wishes. 

 

There’s no surprise that the Tamiya kit has the superior surface detail however I’m not a fan of the seperate wing tips. I understand why they (and countless others) have chosen this method of part breakdown but it’s not the easiet of joins to get right. I’ve read this kit has some shape issues, but I won’t be dwelling on correcting any of these - looks ok to my eye.

 

The Airfix Spitfire dates back to about 2011 (I think) and is probably one of their earliest moulds to come out of this ‘revived’ era. The Panel lines are very sharp but also quite deep. I’ve seen plenty of built examples and they can look good if built properly.

 

It’ll be interesting to see them lined up together, so let’s just hope I get there. 

 

Cheers. Dave. 

[stevehnz]

1 hour ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Then I’d better do these kits justice then Steve. Actually it would be nice if you could join us with an aircraft to represent one of the NZ squadrons. Am I correct in thinking that you had a 487 Squadron Ventura in mind at some stage? 

Cheers. Dave. 

Yes, but that is going to be for another day, I'm very time pour just now & have lost my modelling space. I had thought maybe an Airfix Spitfire IX as Colin Gray's mount would be as good as it gets but that's still a maybe. depends on how tolerant someone could be to my modelling in the dining area on a tray at the table.

Steve.

[Rabbit Leader]

She’ll be right Steve. My missus can smell cat wee from two kilometres away but somehow doesn’t mind the modelling fumes too much. The Airfix IX should be the perfect dinner table build if that’s what you think you could get away with. You could always send the missus on a holiday... the weathers still warm where I’m at!! 

 

Cheers.. Dave

[zebra]

11 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

She’ll be right Steve. My missus can smell cat wee from two kilometres away but somehow doesn’t mind the modelling fumes too much. The Airfix IX should be the perfect dinner table build if that’s what you think you could get away with. You could always send the missus on a holiday... the weathers still warm where I’m at!! 

 

Cheers.. Dave

Mrs Z seems to be tolerating my invasion of one end of the table. Good thing it’s quite a big table! I think airbrushing inside the house might cross a line though.

 

Will be following this build. I seem to be loving Spitfires at the moment. Who’d have thought Spitfires would be popular in a RAF anniversary GB???

[stevehnz]

Seems I might be running out of excuses, time to test the water I think. Zebra, that would've been a like but for the last line.

Steve.

[tonyot]

Sorry to hear things have not been so good Dave,.....hope everything is fine now mate? Looking forward to following your builds,..... great subject matter,.... as far as I`m concerned the RAAF overseas team were honorary RAF units anyway,... along with the other Commonwealth units under British control! 

 

Cheers

         Tony

[Rabbit Leader]

Thanks for the kind sentiments @tonyot. I’m back on the modelling bench now so that’s a good sign that I’m close to normal. The DK decals have arrived and it might be hard to just stop at two of these 452 Sqd Spits! Might even pick up their 453 and 457 Sqd sheets while there still available. 

 

Cheers.. Dave

[tonyot]

8 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Thanks for the kind sentiments @tonyot. I’m back on the modelling bench now so that’s a good sign that I’m close to normal. The DK decals have arrived and it might be hard to just stop at two of these 452 Sqd Spits! Might even pick up their 453 and 457 Sqd sheets while there still available. 

 

Cheers.. Dave

Good to hear Dave,...... looking forward to seeing these and yes I`d snap up the other decals while they are available,.....because with DK they are limited run and when they are gone,.they are gone and then almost impossible to find elsewhere. It is a shame that they are becoming rather expensive,....well in the UK at least anyway. There are some very interesting sheets on the horizon too,

 

Cheers

         Tony

[Michael louey]

Hi Dave,

 

Good choice of subjects. I was in Canberra for work last week and had a chance for a lightning visit to the Australian War Memorial. Resident there is one of your subject aircraft - the Spitfire II of Bluey Truscott. It was repainted during the war for use in one of the training units but it's still in original WW2 RAF colours.

 

Here's a few shots - probably not much use for your build due to the repaint, but interesting none the less.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The display made it a bit hard to get good pictures of the whole plane. I've got a number of other detail shots but I might put those into a seperate walkaround post.

 

Best Wishes for the builds

 

Michael

Edited April 20, 2018 by Michael louey

[Rabbit Leader]

Thanks Michael, these are great pics. I've been meaning to get myself to Canberra and visit the AWM for some time now, however I keep putting it off for some silly reason. 

 

Now these are very interesting photos of P7973. I've just cemented the underwing oil coolers to my two Airfix Kits and the instructions (and my Spitfire reference memory) told me to use the early style version for both a Mk. 1 and  Mk.IIa. The first photograph that you've kindly posted above however would now indicate that I may have got this wrong? The museum example shows the later style (deeper round front) design that I would have normally associated with the Mk.V series. It also appears that the flared exhaust stubs are used, rather than the earlier smooth type. I believe the prop and spinner are not original items off P7973, however does anyone know if the oil cooler and exhausts are also spare parts taken off a Mk.V airframe in order to complete this museum piece?

 

I do not have any period photographs of this aircraft whilst assigned to Truscottt, so if there are any out there and you are happy to share, please feel free to PM me or post these within this build thread. 

 

Cheers and thanks for the great photos once again Michael... Dave. 

[TEMPESTMK5]

Good afternoon Dave

  I am watching too ...

Patrice

 

[tonyot]

20 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Now these are very interesting photos of P7973. I've just cemented the underwing oil coolers to my two Airfix Kits and the instructions (and my Spitfire reference memory) told me to use the early style version for both a Mk. 1 and  Mk.IIa. The first photograph that you've kindly posted above however would now indicate that I may have got this wrong? The museum example shows the later style (deeper round front) design that I would have normally associated with the Mk.V series. It also appears that the flared exhaust stubs are used, rather than the earlier smooth type. I believe the prop and spinner are not original items off P7973, however does anyone know if the oil cooler and exhausts are also spare parts taken off a Mk.V airframe in order to complete this museum piece?

Hiya Dave,....... many of the early Spits sent to training units were progressively updated with newer items as the spares for the Mk.V variant became more commonplace, such as oil coolers, spinner/props and exhausts,...... so although it is correct for the colour scheme,.... it is wrong for the earlier scheme. 

 

The same thing occurred with Hurricane`s too,.... with later parts progressively added. 

 

Cheers

         Tony

[Dermo245]

On 4/17/2018 at 6:55 AM, Rabbit Leader said:

I'll probably model Truscott's Spitfire IIa (UD:N) and do the  Vb as either one flown by one of the other famous 452 pilots - Finucane, Chisholm or Thorold-Smith?. I'm still quite undecided at this precise moment. 

 

 

Nice one Dave, welcome back and look forward to following!
As an Irishman, I was going to build Finucane's as well if that's ok with you ? 

 

Cheers,

Dermot

[Rabbit Leader]

That makes a lot of sense Tony so thanks for adding your comments and knowledge. I was beginning to doubt (what I thought was) my sound knowledge of Spitfire variants and their inherit differences.

 

I’ve often commented that I reckon I could name any mark of Spitfire by looking at a quick photo, but ask me a question about the human anatomy and I’d fail every time! 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

[Rabbit Leader]

5 minutes ago, Dermo245 said:

Nice one Dave, welcome back and look forward to following!
As an Irishman, I was going to build Finucane's as well if that's ok with you ? 

 

Cheers,

Dermot

Dermot, I’ll take great pleasure to allow you the honour of modelling Finucane’s mount. As an Irishman it’s only fitting that you do. Plus there’s plenty of other Aussie larakins on this DK decals sheet to fill a small pub!! 

 

I’ll look forward to seeing your build. 

 

Top o’ the morn’in to ya!!.. Dave

[Dermo245]

Dave, you're a gentleman than you. 

 

I can't guarantee it will be as good as yours (i'm using the Italeri kit) but will do my best with it!

 

BTW, I'm not calling dibs on this scheme - if anyone else in the Britmodeller universe wants to build it, please go for it!

 

Cheers,

Dermot

[Rabbit Leader]

Update #2.

 

After a pretty hectic week of work it was time to ‘relax’ and get back to these three little kits. Although I’ve not spent time on the modelling bench since the last update, I’ve still been researching these 452 Squadron Spits and am amazed with what I have now come across. I suppose, like most of us on here, you would think that we would all be across the many nuisances and differences that make up the Spitfire? I’ll admit, I over estimated my knowledge. 

 

The DK decal sheet instructions are quite small, however if viewed on ones iPad and enlarged a smidge, there’s plenty of differences within the fifteen Spitfire Vb’s on this sheet. I ‘assume’ that these are based on photographic evidence which I would dearly love to see, however once I studied this sheet and looked at the parts that make up the Tamiya kit, you are actually quite restricted to what you can model OOB. 

 

The main issue concerns the windscreen. I’m not sure if this is the correct terminology, however quite a number have (what appears to be) a sloping / curved front edge either side of the external bullet proof windscreen. Tamiya supply a ‘straight’ edged windscreen which looks to be not quite right. They also provide an internal armoured windscreen with straight edge so this appears to be the only piece that’s usable. I now see why Airfix provide optional front fuselage parts on their new tooled 1/48 kit. 

 

The other difference concerns the prop and spinner, however I have a spare DH spinner from the Airfix kit which opens up a few more options. I also decided that (for 1941 anyway) the upper wing strengthening strakes were not around then, so sanded these off to muster that extra bit of accuracy. 

 

I had already decided that the Airfix IIa would be ‘Bluey’ Truscott’s mount and am now favouring ‘Throttle’ Throrold-Smith’s Vb after working out what I could build from the Tamiya kit and spare bits I’ve got. 

 

Enough chit chat - here’s some more photos and two profile images of what I’m planning to portray - UD:N P7973 and UD:D W3821. The kits are a little more advanced than these photos however I’ll take better shots later to hide my grubby build technique. 

 

 

 

 

 

Above and below are two images from the DK Decals instruction sheet. You can see the differences with the windscreens between these two Spitfires. Many Vb's on the sheet have the armoured glass and sloping sides as shown on the IIa, which IMO the Tamiya kit does not quite capture correctly. The Vb below shows the internal bullet proof windscreen and DH prop. The windscreen is provided within the kit, however the Prop and Spinner can be sourced from the Airfix Mk.I/IIa box. The canopy openings are quite different between these two kits so unfortunately the Airfix canopy cannot easily be grafted onto the Tamiya kit without considerable surgery. It may be possible, however I'll leave that for another day I think. 

 

 

Cheers.. Dave

[Rabbit Leader]

Update #3

 

Just a quick update and showing these three kits all starting to look like the familiar shape that we all know and love. The Airfix kits do need a little care to construct in order to get parts to fit right, however nothing over the top - we are all modellers aren’t we not? 

 

When taking one of the Mk.1a canopy’s off the sprue I took a little too much clear plastic away from the side, not much however enough to annoy me. Therefore, this made my mind up as to how to finish the third Spit. It’ll be an early Mk.1 two blader and may even be the feature for another (similar themed) aircraft double build 100th GB entry. 

 

Still got another day off work tomorrow (ANZAC day) so I’ll do another update after the modelling day is done. 

 

 

 

 

And here’s a timely Anzac Day YouTube video commemorating the RAAF’s contribution to the European theatre. Bluey Truscott and 452 Squadron are featured within. 

(Sorry - looks like this video is no longer available?)

 

 

Cheers.. Dave. 

[Robert Stuart]

You are making fast progress there Dave, even with a damaged canopy.

It does sound as though you have a work-around for that, so I'll be interested to see the outcome.

 

OT: Some of the fin flashes on those decals look a bit different, they've stirred my curiosity  ...

 

 

[Rabbit Leader]

Thanks Robert. Well these kits go together pretty quickly so there’s no need to procrastinate. Once the cockpits are all painted up the rest all fall together well enough. Although the Airfix kits are not as fine as the Tamiya Vb, I think I’m enjoying the Airfix builds just a little bit more. 

 

Those fin flashes are interesting. You can see them applied to some of the Pacific based Mk.VIII’s on the instruction sheet. Now that’s a thought - I could continue this 452 Sqd theme when the Pacific GB starts later this year? 

 

Cheers.. Dave. 

[Rabbit Leader]

Update #4

 

Just a quick update where I've kind of been concentrating on the two Airfix kits, although the Tamiya Vb is not that far behind.

Considering my modelling interests, I was surprised that I did not have a traditional Dark Green, Dark Earth, Sky model as part of my small completed plastic air force.

Therefore I started to test out some of my paint collection to see what I had and what looked best (to me) - I was very surprised with the results.

 

These days, I almost exclusively use Gunze's range of Mr Color paints and mixed with their Levelling thinner always seem to give great results.  

I tested both their DE and Sky colours and they looked OK at first glance. When I then compared them to other brands of the same colours I changed my mind a fair bit.

 

This is my test of Sky paints. From Left to Right are -

Tamiya XF-21 / Gunze C368 / Mr Paint MRP 118 / Humbrol 90 / Humbrol Authentic HB5 (note - both Humbrols are 30-35 year old tins).

 

 

I realise that it may be hard to judge these spoon samples from the photo above, however to my 'calibrated'(?) eye the two Humbrols were by far the best two matches. I judged the Humbrol 90 best and it just edged out the HB5 as it seemed a little less yellow. I'd still be happy to use HB5 however. IMO, the next best was Tamiya's XF-21 (a little dark), then it's a toss up between the Gunze (too dark & green) and MRP (probably closer to Duck Egg Blue).

 

Anyway - here's two thin coats of Hu90 applied to 'Bluey's' Mk.IIa. I'm afraid I didn't take any photo's of my Dark Earths, however Gunze's H72 Acrylic seems best by a long way. I'll also use H73 for the Dark Green. Lets hope I can get away with using Enamels and Acrylics on the one build. The prop spinner, base plate and (under mask) rear fuselage band 'Sky Blue' is a home mix of White and a few drops of Azure Blue.  

 

 

Hopefully, I'll mask tonight and apply the Dark Earth sometime tomorrow.

Cheers.. Dave

 

[Ventora3300]

Excellent work, Dave. I have one of these Airfix Spitfires so I'm watching carefully. Cheers.