David Mooney

This is my Spitfire Vb built from the Hobbyboss kit, I know many complain about it for a few reasons, but to me it looks like a Spitfire...…...and that's good enough for me lol! Its was built out of the box and MRP paints were used. Hope you like it, but here is a bit about the man in the machine first. Squadron Leader 'Buck' Casson, who has died aged 88, escaped from France in May 1940 to fly Spitfires over south-eastern England during the Battle of Britain; later he was a flight commander in Wing Commander Douglas Bader's "Tangmere Wing" before being shot down over northern France in August 1941. Casson was one of the original three trainee pilots to join the newly formed 616 (South Yorkshire) Auxiliary Air Force Squadron at Doncaster in early 1939. Training at weekends and during the annual summer camps, he qualified as a pilot in early 1940 before being sent to France as a reinforcement to 501 Squadron. But, before he could join them, the train on which he was travelling was bombed outside Amiens and he lost all his belongings. Casson managed to escape by boat back to England from Cherbourg. After a brief spell flying Hurricanes with 79 Squadron at Biggin Hill, he rejoined 616 at Leconfield, Yorkshire, just as the Battle of Britain gathered momentum. At lunchtime on August 15, the fighter squadrons based in north-east England were scrambled to face the Luftwaffe's most concentrated attack against industrial targets in Scotland and the north of England. Casson flew one of the 12 Spitfires which met the enemy as they crossed the Yorkshire coast. Within minutes, 616 Squadron had accounted for six of the unescorted bombers, with similar results achieved by other northern-based squadrons. A few days later, 616 flew south to Kenley where the squadron was involved in some of the fiercest fighting of the battle as part of Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park's No 11 Group. Once 616 became fully operational again in early 1941, it was transferred and came under the command of the new Wing Leader, the legless pilot Douglas Bader, at Tangmere. The squadron boasted a glittering array of outstanding pilots, including "Johnnie" Johnson and "Cocky" Dundas. With his steadying and mature influence, allied to the experience gained during the hectic summer days of 1940, Casson became a section leader. On May 5, he shared in the destruction of a Junkers 88, but was hit by return fire, and was forced to bale out over Chichester harbour. On August 9, the "Bader" Wing took off for another sweep over France. During a hectic fight in which German fighters surprised them from above, Bader was shot down, and the Wing was forced to scatter. Casson had accounted for an Me 109 when he went to the aid of a lone Spitfire, but before he could join up he was engaged by a German fighter. Cannon shells damaged his aircraft's engine, forcing him to crash near St Omer, where he was captured. Shortly after his arrival at Stalag Luft III at Sagan, it was announced that Casson had been awarded the DFC. (The Telegraph)

This is my Spitfire Vb built from the Hobbyboss kit, I know many complain about it for a few reasons, but to me it looks like a Spitfire...…...and that's good enough for me lol! Its was built out of the box and MRP paints were used. Hope you like it, but here is a bit about the man in the machine first. The son of Polish-born Swiss parents, Zumbach was registered as a Swiss citizen and hid his nationality in order to join the Polish army in 1934. He served as an infantryman until 1936 when he transferred to the Polish Air Force. After graduating from flying training in 1938 he was posted to 111 Eskadra Mysliwska. Zumbach did not fly during the German invasion of Poland due to a broken leg as a result of a flying accident during the summer of 1939. He returned to his unit only to be evacuated to France via Romania. While in France, Zumbach flew the Morane 406 and Curtiss Hawk 75 with GCII/55. On 10 June, he was one of several pilots shot down by Bf 109s, but escaped unscathed. On 18 June 1940, he traveled to England by boat and on 2 August was posted as one of the founding members of the newly formed No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron. During the Battle of Britain, Zumbach scored eight confirmed kills and one probable, mostly against Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters. Zumbach was shot down by a JG 3 Bf 109 over Dover on 9 May 1941 when returning from a mission, but he was able to bail out unharmed. Zumbach became one of the first Allied pilots to engage in combat with the German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 when he damaged, and in return, his aircraft was damaged by a "single radial-engined fighter" on 13 October 1941. In December 1941, Zumbach was posted to 58 OTU, and in March 1942 returned to 303 Sqn as a flight commander. In May, he was promoted to Squadron Leader and took command of the squadron, a post Zumbach held from 19 May 1942 until 30 November 1943 During this period, Zumbach flew three Supermarine Spitfire VBs, carrying the serial numbers BM144, EP594 and EN951. All these aircraft carried the same code, RF-D, ("RF" being the squadron code for 303 Sqn) and "D" being the individual aircraft code. All three aircraft carried a cartoon of Donald Duck on the port side of the fuselage, slightly forward of the cockpit. Zumbach's victory tally was marked with German crosses under the cockpit on the port side; confirmed kills were outlined in white, probable kills in red, and damaged aircraft with no outline. After handing over command of 303 Sqn to Sqn Ldr Bieńkowski, Zumbach spent a year in staff appointments, including the Polish Air Force Staff College. He returned to flying duties as the commander of the 2nd Polish Air Wing, No 133 Wing. On 25 September 1944, he scored his final victory of the war, a probable kill over a JG 26 Fw 190 over Arnhem. On 30 January 1945, Zumbach was posted to HQ, No. 84 Group. While flying an Auster that was used to visit units under the Group's command, he made a navigational error and ran out of fuel. He force-landed in enemy territory and spent the final month of the war as a prisoner of war. Zumbach's final victory tally was 12 (and 2 shared) confirmed kills, five probables and one damaged.

Hello all, I wonder if some of you could give me a little advice on some paint colours for my two Spitfire's I'm building. One is to be in the brown 'n' green camo and one in the grey 'n' green camo scheme. If you could help me with some paints in the Mr Hobby range I'd be grateful. I have the brown H22 nailed, but not the green as they say it's H23....but it don't look right. On the grey 'n' green scheme they call out H306, but I'm not sure it looks right to me. So any advice of colours in the Mr Hobby range would be gratefully received.

Thanks Michael, it's those extra details I feel that make a model, going one step further moght be more challenging but worth it in the end.

Thanks for your kind comments, it was the camo that drew me to it, it was a certainly a bit different and a bit tricky in the application. The kit has some very 'interesting' fit issues, but it can come together at the end.

This aircraft was built from the Eduard premium kit with supplied brass etch and masks, only addition I made was the map in the cockpit. Painted with Mr Colour lacquer paints used with 400 leveller thinners. This interesting camouflage schemes were rendered on the aircraft of JG 54 by the unit’s ground personnel in the summer of 1940. They applied vertical to diagonal lines of RLM 71 in an attempt to darken the light blue fuselage sides. The standard scheme of 02/71/65 was applied, along with the quick identification attributes. The period scheme was applied to Yellow ‘13’, with which, on August 12, 1940, Lt. Josef Eberle managed to cross the Channel and belly land in France despite personal injury. The wingtips and fin of Eberle’s aircraft were painted RLM 27 Yellow, lighter than RLM 04 that the spinner, tactical number and background of the III./JG 54 emblem were painted. The bottom wing color RLM 65 extended marginally to the upper surface. Some sources erroneously identify this aircraft as an E-3. Despite having tempted fate once over the Channel, he was not as successful on October 9, 1940, when he lost his life in combat with RAF fighters. Thanks for looking 🙂

I left them on purpose to see if anyone spotted it.....of course I did! Lol! What a plonker, thanks for spotting my error 😁

Thanks everyone for your kind comments, it wasn't the easiest kit to get together and a few bad words were said, but im happy with the result 🙂

This aircraft is built for the 1/32 Eduard kit straight out of the box, only personal addition is the map in the cockpit and a set of Air Masters canons. The Messerschmitt Bf 109E fighter of Franz von Werra, shot down over England, where he was taken prisoner in January 1941. Von Werra was sent with other German prisoners to Canada, where possibly he became the only German airman to make his escape from there, returning to Germany via the still neutral U.S.A. Von Werra was also a skilled fighter pilot, although his results weren’t anywhere near those of the Luftwaffe’s top guns. He most frequently flew as a wingman of Hauptmann Erich von Selle, the commanding officer of his unit. In this role, he scored four victories during the Battle of France – a Hurrricane, two Breguet 693s and a Morane MS.406. Despite this initial success, von Werra’s tally did not advance any further during June, July and larger part of August, despite the fact that operations against the RAF were being flown almost daily. Then suddenly, on 28 August, von Werra returned from a mission claiming 9 aircraft destroyed. According to his report, he first shot down a Spitfire during a general melée, then became detached from his unit, spotted three Hurricanes on a landing circuit and destroyed them one after another. Lastly, he zoomed low over the airfield, setting additional five Hurricanes on fire. Then came the day of 5 September, when von Werra was shot down. On that occasion, II./JG 3 was flying as an escort to a bombing raid on Croydon. On the return leg of the raid the bombers were attacked by a swarm of RAF fighters. Hauptmann Von Selle, leading the thirty escorting Messerschmitts, gave the order to attack. At the exact moment when Selle rolled his aircraft to starboard to initiate a dive, another gaggle of Spitfires jumped them from behind, their guns blazing. Von Selle’s aircraft avoided the bullets. His wingman, Franz von Werra, did not have such luck; a well-placed burst damaged the engine of his Bf 109 and knocked off his radio. Without engine power, the German pilot was unable to shake off the attacker, which followed him in a dive, squirting the Messerschmitt with a series of short bursts. Ultimately, von Werra had no choice but to make a crash-landing. This he did, putting down his aircraft wheels-up but otherwise intact on a field at Loves Farm, Marden, Kent. The identity of the victorious British pilot remains the subject of debate until this day. Some researchers claim that the pilot who was responsible for the shooting was F/Lt John Terence Webster of No. 31 Squadron. Others believe it to be a shared victory by P/O George Bennions of No. 41 Squadron and P/O Basil Gerald Stapleton of No. 603 Squadron. Yet others have attributed the same achievement to F/Lt Paterson Clarence Hughes, an ace of No. 234 Squadron with a victory tally of 14. Officially, the credit originally went to ‘Stapme’ Stapleton, but Hughes final DFC citation in the London Gazette of 22 October 1940 awarded him a half credit for the same. (The spitfire site n.d.)

Thanks for the kind comments, it your usual story with revell, a real pain but with a bit of effort it can turn out well.

This is my reproduction of a Bf-109 G-6 Werknummer 160717, it was flown by Gruppenkommanduer of II/JG 51. Hptm Karl Rammelt. When his unit moved to Romania during the second half of 1943 the white fuselage band was painted over in a lighter version of RLM74. It was at Nisch in Romania when the wooden club was painted on to Hptm Karl Rammelt's aircraft by his ground crew. Not much I can really expand on the with the kit itself, but I built it straight out of the box expect for the seat harnesses. All comments welcome, oh and yes, the sun does come out in Scotland lololol

I said exactly the same thing, but sometimes getting out of the comfort zone and trying something new.....is good for your skill development or the recycling bin depenant on how it turn out of course 😁

The base it is sitting on is 12"x12" and just sits on it, so it is quite big. Thanks for everyone's comments 😁

Good question, but id pretty much stuck with humbrol all my modelling life, I tried tamiya and a few other acrylic types but never seemed to get on with them too well. So, I heard about these new lacquer paints were better and a tougher finish.....and they was sooooo right. The finish is hard as nails and sits smooth as the kit part if you use the 400 thinners, they are highly recommended by me.

My apologies, I missed adding the tag, it's from the trumpeter kit

Hello all, Ive been working on this for a while between projects as it took a fair amount of time to get the 'snow-flage' right, I think I got there in the end. I have recently swapped paint to Mr Colour lacquer's, I must admit I was a little on edge using them, but they are fantastic to work with. Only added extras to the kit are the seat belt from eduard, as ever, its built to look right so please forgive in-accuracies' in my work or the kit. All comments are welcome.... P.S. I apologise about the white background, but I could find anything else to cover the background 😞

I actually used RLM 76 from humbrol, but every manufacture's RLM 76 is a different to each others. Sticking to the same brand of colour will give you a uniform colour, but even in war time when supplies become low,, the colour varied quite a lot so its hard to get the colour wrong............unless its drastically wrong of course.

Thanks for your kind comments Rod, the plane is made from the trumpeter bf-109 e-3 kit

Thanks Steve, the attraction to the scheme was that it was really different and a challenge.

Sorry Mitch, I just realised I missed the scale out of the title. Its 1/32 (updated now) and a pretty easy kit to build 😁

Hello all, I thought id try something a little ambitious on this 109 as I had three sets of decals for a Fliegerkompanie J-371 Bf-109 E-3, I guess I swung away from doing it before as the size of the decals was a little scary. So I painted it up ready for the decals knowing I had a degree of safety having three sets to get it right............hmmmmm! I gave up,and then broke out the masking tape for a masking marathon . In hindsight, it was the only way to get this scheme done and I am pretty happy with the overall result. All comments are welcome

I hope no one minds me bringing this back up as I have finally got round to completing the base, I'm quite impressed with the overall look I have archived

Thanks for your kind comments keith, we all know the revell kit has it's issue in regards to accuracy , but for £20.....who can complain.

Yes, but why on earth they used a knuckle joint and and then a male/female connection.....i have no idea what they was thinking. Why not just do a standard rod and hole (male/female) assembly, surely the knuckle could be moulded to help get the right alignment. Thanks for all the comments 😀

This is a my second build in a few days that I have completed while I'm trying to get my mo-jo back for the ju-87 I am building. The model kit is from Trumpeter kit and builds quite well, only issue I found was the correct seating of the undercarriage. The way the undercarriage is built up is a bit of a strange approach and doesn't exactly help the modeller and once complete, it isn't the strongest 'set' I've come access, other than that, a good build. Built out of the box and painted with Humbrol paints except for Mr Hobby for the RLM04 yellow Hope you like it, all comments are welcome :-)