vppelt68

47 like:s or haha:s so far at a Finnish fb airwar history group, of course credited to Sturmovik

Looking very good! For the "pisteeksi i:n päälle", meaning adding "the dot above the i" or "icing on the " you might want to edit your build thread title to read "HävLv" with the umlauts, as it's short for "Hävittäjälaivue" - Special Hobby got that wrong . V-P

Yes, there´s no doubt it was the MT-422. How, I don´t know, but regarding the painter´s track record in aviation history and modelling I just believe what I´ve read . V-P

Haha, you mean the third reich pr-department screwed up with the public image of this airplane, and it took a post-WW2 Finnish sergeant to make it right - I can't help but agree with you . (Actually, me neither has never got kicks of these planes in German hands although I have built several "Finnish" 109:s in all-Luftwaffe insignia to depict those aircraft they had had to go to combat with before finding time to repaint them)

Hello, I´ve worked on this kit on a few nights now, and so far I like it quite a lot. There´s nothing to actually show photos of yet, but I wanted to show you the surprise Zvezda had arranged re the instructions That is seriously confusing, but nothing a mirror can´t resolve! V-P

Are we already on with this one?! Well it won´t be a P-40 or a P-51 for me after all, but (ho-hum You say, yet another 109, who cares?) the last of my AZmodel Bf 109 Joypack kits. I´ll be building another post-war Finnish Air Force "Mersu" with a very short-lived Sharknose paint scheme and /R6 gun gondolas but without the actual guns. The sprue, instruction and decal pics should be the same I already took before the one I built in the "50s NATO vs. Warsaw Pact in Europe GB" with both of these builds in mind. They can be seen here: So next up (after Ju 88 #2/2019 is finished in the Specialists GB...) will be this Bf 109 #2/2019. The Sharknose was unfortunately very shortlived . It was painted by young flight sergeant Börje Hielm sometime in January-February 1948. By the Airforce Day 6 March the same year, the Sharknose was already gone, ordered by squadron CO to be removed before that date. Mr. Hielm´s career on the other hand was not done by that! In 1951 he moved to Aero Oy (later Finnair) to fly and captain DC-3, Convair Metropolitan, Super Caravelle, DC-8-62 and DC-10 in commercial traffic until 1982. In his spare time he founded the IPMS Finland in 1968, being its #1 member, and was one of the founding members of Ilmailumuseoyhdistys, the Aviation Museum Society of Finland. Well done! Best regards, V-P Edit, as I promised! First a pic of her and the guy she used to go regular with, ylikersantti Gösta Lönnfors, during the hot summer of 1944. S.Sgt Lönnfors was a former Curtiss Hawk pilot credited with shooting down one Pe-2 with a Bf 109 G-2. Then the plane herself: WerkNr. 411938, delivered in Finland 8.4.1944 and assigned to Ylik. Lönnfors in 1/HLeLv 34, 30.4.1944. Landing accident in Utti 14.10.1944 - well, not accident as Lönnfors apparently forgot to lower the landing gear . Lönnfors was physically unhurt... Right after that, MT-405 when landing hit its empennage - another . Under repair until 18.6.1947, now that was quick! Assigned to HLeLv 31. Last flight 14.9.1948. Written off 14.1.1954 - very quick work again! Total flight hours 173h 50min. The plane was credited to be flown and shot down 9 Soviet aircraft with; 3* La-5, 3* Il-2, 2* Yak-9 and a P-39 by Maj. Luukkanen, Ltn. Pokela, Ltm. Juutilainen, Ltm. Fröntilä, Ylik. Tuomikoski and Ylik. Leino. A trustworthy mount good for the pilots that flew with her! She received the Finnish Warpaint to replace the RLM 74/75/76 livery during the nearly three years spent in repairs after the war.

Me and my Seafire IIc are still here V-P

You´re partially right, Dennis, the Luftwaffe Med theater colour was white but that order concerned just the fuselage band and the wing tips. There are several JG 27, 53 and 77 Gustavs with yellow lower cowlings. Here´s a link to one of the greatest and most reliable Luftwaffe on-line sources. Scroll down to post from 6 February 2019 to see a pic with 6./JG 53 14 + - . Yellow was the Staffelfarbe of 3., 6. and 9. flights. By summer of ´43 new Messerschmitts delivered to Sicily were in regular fighter camo and not repainted in desert colours. http://falkeeins.blogspot.com/search/label/JG 53 V-P

You live and you learn. I never knew that decal option A recce unit had organic transports. Interesting...

, please! Their nickname in Finland is "Vamppi", which also means a vamp, man-eater etc. type of lady. The name fits her bulbuous curves well V-P

I came across this pic taken at our Air Force infantry section exercise and reported at their fb site. A T-54/55 is the coolest when it's been hit and smoking .

Why not, but having two separate GB:s gives us two opportunities to build those oldies :-)

It's a beauty, Stu! For your future actual 8th AF veteran build, there are both the Boeing GB and the Night and Day GB proposals out there that would be good for that purpose... Just waiting for your signing on to them (both) . V-P

maybe the trickyrich approach would help in this case? Something like combining an "Unarmed GB" with subsections for cargo/transport, trains and railroads, emergency vehicles/medevac, cruiseliners... whatever you can come up with...

That's a good one