Massimo Tessitori

I prefer to start another kit, so I have more time to resolve the issue of the ruined decals sheet.

I've just googled now 'Angola tank' and many photos of yellow painted T-34/85 and T-54 emerged. I've not seen yellow T-55s till now.

Hi, I've met a big problem with the decals of the box. The whole sheet is very old and visibly cracked. I fear that it's unrecoverable, unless I cover it with a thick layer of some clear to keep pieces together, but this couldn't promise a good result. I am considering to replace the whole sheet in some way, but I haven't anything similar at home. I fear that I'll have to buy some aftermarket sheet to build the model. Any suggestion?

I remember to have seen photos of Angolan T-34s painted in uniform dark brown and uniform ochra yellow. I don't know if this was the case of T-55s too.

Really good colors for that age. Thank you for the link to the gallery.

Hi, good images, thank you. Are they colorized or real fotocolors? The gear leg and hub of I-QV seem strange, I can't see metallic reflections but their color looks lighter than the sky of the undersurfaces. I suppose that I'll paint it sky to make the thing simpler. The inner face of the cockpit door seems really pale on the color photo. Have I to mix colors, or to use 'sky' for the cockpit interiors too? The warning about the decals is important, now I hope that these decals will appear better in opera than on previous models by following te suggestion about hot water. Thank you very much.

Hi, I'll tink about the reshaping works... Now I am trying to create a proper mix starting from a can of XF-52. Unfortunately I have not XF-49 at home, so I'm mixing with what I have. I have added some XF-60 Dark yellow to XF-52, taking inspiration from and I'm checking if the contrast with dark green is convincing, perhaps I shall darken it a bit with some green. From the photo, DW-O seems to have the linear sliding hood, but I am not sure about QJ-B that is more interesting for me because of the black area under one wing. The drawing of the Tamiya boxing shows the landing gear as black as the wing, but the photo clearly doesn't confirm this, isn't it?

Thank to you all for your quick answers. To check the section of the nose and the wing root trailing edge, to turn the XF-52 into something more yellowish (some sources say 30118), to check the seat... It looks all reasonably easy. I'll start it after the completion of my T-80U.

Hi all, I am considering to build the old kit of the Spitfire Mk-1 Tamiya 1/48. I would like to ask suggestions before starting. Are there bad defects on this kit? My impression is good enough, but I know that it is not the top on the market, else Tamiya wouldn't had done a fully new kit. How about the buildability? Tamiya has a good reputation for this. Does the canopy fit in open position? Are the paints dark green XF-81, dark brown xf-52, sky XF-21 and cockpit green XF-71 good matches for the real colors? Besides, I see that both linear and bulged sliding hoods are included as alternative. The instruction sheet seems to draw the linear hood for both the planes depicted on the painting options. Is this right? Thanks for any help. Massimo

VK-107, prototype

Unfortunately, the Yak-6M was built only in one prototype. All the decals and equipments in the Amodel kit are only what-if extrapolated from standard Yak-6s. I am very angry with Amodel since I discovered this. About the landing gear, I've read the same things as you read, and it can be seen in many photos. Regards Massimo

Nice model, but the armament is of a fighter, not a bomber.

Hi JWM, you are building a most interesting model. I wasn't aware of the existence of that vacuform that doesn't resemble too bad. About the painting pattern: planes built in 1943-44 will conform to the scheme of 1943 in green-dark grey-light brown, while those in 1945 were painted in two greys. The repainting in this later scheme is dubious for many types because bw photos don't respect the sketches of the directive of 1945, but ShCh-2 is the only type that is shown to perfectly fit on bw photos. You have collected a good amount of documents and you are showing that a model of this plane is possible for a well determined modeler. I'll follow the topic with interest. Regards Massimo

hi, if anyone is interested, the pages on C-47 and DC-3 in Soviet service are ready and accessible from here: http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/li-2/li-2.htm. The page has profiles of Tapani Tuomanen. If anyone has images or informations good to improve it, please let me know. The part on the Li-2 is still old, a revamping has to be done within the year.

How did ANA olive drab fade?

Hi, there is a wreck found in Siberia in relatively good conditions. https://ww2incolour.blogspot.com/2012/07/russian-c-47-dakota-found-in-arctic.html It is clear that the wing consoles and the tail still preserve clear remains of the original OD/MG painting. But what about the dark grey shade utilized to repaint the fuselage and central wing plan? Looking at the other photos of the page, it seems that the repainting was partial only. This suggests that the repainting was a restoration of the previous livery, and that the US olive drab and the new paint had to be similar in origin, even if they aged in such different way. Could it be newly supplied US OD paint with a different and more stable chemistry? A Soviet imitation made after the war? Many Soviet lendlease planes appear repainted with a dark and glossy color at the war's end or later. It seems too dark to be Soviet AGT-4, but books on Soviet paints don't describe such shade. I don't think that it was AGT-12 that was prone to fading to a lighter shade.

Hello Jure, thank you for posting this photo. It seems really that the area around the serial number was painted with the medium green, but the contour is blotchy, probably it was retouched after having been mounted on, or was made to increase the contrast of the number on the background. Regards Massimo

I don't put this in doubt. Just I would like to see wartime photos of the subject.

Hi, vertical tails in medium green with curvy demarcation... interesting. It would be nice to see color images of that age. Regards Massimo

Excellent document, thank you. Now I can try to identify the version of the planes appearing in photos.

Hi, thank you, so all serials starting with 4 and some starting for 3 should indicate C-47B (between the planes in Soviet service). My source (only an old modelling magazine of nearly 40 years ago, but with a surprising amount of concentration of informations) confirms that C-47D were C-47B with the supercharger removed, but don't say when this was done.

Hi, never mind, I've found an answer on an old article. Shapes of photos 1 and 2 are compatible both with C-47 and C-47A. All shapes are compatible with C-47A. The visual difference between the versions is the small pipe aside the exhaust pipes that was for air heating. C-47B are similar to late C-47A, only some difference in aerial and pitot was visible.

Hi all, thank you to you all for your suggestions. I am looking informations because I have to check the profiles of Soviet C-47 and DC-3 made by a friend and build a page about them. At present time, my difficulty is the nomemclature of versions, on which I have found unconsistent informations. Red stars 4, of Geust and Petrov, calls 'c-47A' the planes with a small supercharger intake and the long filter over the cowling, and C-47B those with the bumped back supercharger intake, as the plane of the photo above. Wikipedia seems consistent with this, suggesting that the differences between C-47 and C-47A were on the electric plant, and C-47B had a different supercharger. But... Aviakollectsia shows a profile of C-47 with the short intake without long filter as C-47, a profile with a bumped-back intake as C-47A, and a similar one with some more aerials as C-47B. At present time, I have not decisive sources to decide which is the right nomenclature of the versions. Could anyone make clear which is the right nomenclature of planes as, for example, with reference to the shape of the supercharger intake:

I am looking at the book in real colors of WWII of AK, it gives a darker and more blue-purple shade gor ANA 603 used after 1943 than Neutral grey 43 in use in 1941-43. There is a long discussion on sources and approximations on this book. Interestingly the shade of control surfaces of B-17 is lighter too. I suppose that this was a general thing for all types with fabric skinned surfaces. Another point on which I have doubts about C-47 is the disposition of wire aerials. I see two longitudinal ones between some masts (2 under the fuselage and at least 1 under the central part of the fuselage, plus two or three wires between the fin and the front back of the fuselage. Were these wires alternative or installed together?

Hi, I would look for some answers about C-47, I'm not particularly knowledgeable on this plane. In the mid years of the war, the OD finish was broken with blotches of medium green on the wing and tail contours. Was this use abandoned in the late stages of the war, leaving only OD uppersurfaces? Another question: the shade of OD on the fabric-skinned surfaces of the ailerons, elevators and rudder was often much lighter than on the metallic surface. Was this visible only on aged planes, or even on new ones? What about the neutral grey on the mobile surfaces? Was it visually different from that of metallic parts? I will be grateful for any information.