StevieD

Special Hobby 1/72 Gant My first SH kit and a real gem, although I understand they're not all like that. Fiddly cockpit though. The decals were terrible - fell to bits as soon as you looked at them so couldn't save the stencils. Would definitely build another though. Thanks for looking

80th Anniversary of outbreak of WW2 next year so how about a 1/72 PZL P.11c? I went into Foyles bookshop in London recently and couldn’t find one single book that dealt with September 1939. I think we’re in danger of thinking the war started in 1940 at a place called Dunkirk. There’s a P.11c at the Krakow aircraft museum to go look at (although the wheels put on during restoration are all wrong.) How about Gnys' aircraft for the (generally accepted) first allied kill? And could be boxed up as dogfight double with the He111 or Stuka. The latter could represent WW2’s first kill - Frank Neubert’s Stuka over Medwecki’s P.11c. The BBC are planning some mega-series ‘World on Fire’ dealing with 1939 (probably showing cavalry against tanks) so there should be a lot of interest.

Yes. Got a Burmese who is fascinated by props. The Defiant was lucky. My Whitley had one blade chewed off at the root.

Thanks. Just very, very thin coats. The first few coats always look a terrible mess so there's a temptation to keep 'over painting.' Try and avoid that because even acyrlics start to thicken up (leaving brushmarks)

Dzieki!

Airfix 1/48. 307 City of Lwow Had terrible trouble with the turret on this. Just would not fit but probably down to me. Cracked the canopy while trying to sort it. And finally... managed to get the Polish chequerboard in the wrong orientation. All round well done me. Brush painted acrylic vajello black grey and weathering with Tamiya smoke pastel Thanks for looking

That if fantastic everyone. Just sent the links to my friend - you've made an old fella very happy. He remembered his father mentioning being involved with aircraft as well, but couldn't understand how and why. This explains it all. Thank you.

Many thanks. I suspected it was some 'one-off' that didn't go into mass production. My friend said his father was in the army so I never gave much thought to the Naval cap.

Hello First time the military section - usually in aircraft. I was wondering if anyone could help with the 2 images below? A friend of mine gave them to me and, as his father is in these photographs would like to know what this vehicle is. He's had a look around but can't find anything similar. All he knows is that its a self-propelled gun and was taken in 1917 on the beach at Dunkirk. His father is in the first photo and is second from the right. 'Mr Sheffield' (Don't know his christian name) Many thanks for any help you can give.

googsy He never talked about Poland or the war. You just knew when you were little that you shouldn't ask questions - although I did. He had a lot of Polish friends and they worked down the mines. The thing that stays with me is seeing them sitting round the fire talking in Polish. Although I couldn't understand the language, I've never seen men show such anger or despair as when they talked about the Russians. If anyone had seen the Devil then they had - I could feel it. I understand now of course - but as a kid in the 60s the war was about Britain v Germany and the Russians didn't really come into it much.

That's it great! I just couldn't remember if it mentioned Poland or not. Thanks so much

Does anyone have the 60s poly-bagged Stuka with paper header? If you have I'd like to know what the text is that describes the Stuka. The reason is I'm writing a book about my father (who was Polish) and part of that involves how I learned about the war from making kits and comics. Even when very young I sensed it must have been very odd for him to watch me dive bombing the living room carpet when he'd been terrorized by the real thing. Thanks for any help

Many thanks for the kind words on my father everyone. Yes he had one hell of a life. When I was a kid all he told us was "I come from a place that doesn't exist where everyone is dead." He was 14 when the Nazis invaded. His village was right on the River San, which became the border with the Soviets - but he was on the Soviet bank My family was loaded onto cattle wagons and deported to Siberia in 1940 where they died. He was the only one to get away and hid out in the forests. He was taken by the Germans when they invaded in 41 as slave labour to Romania. In late 43/44 he was offered a choice - the Wehrmacht or Auschwitz . He fought the communists in Yugoslavia and then to Italy where his unit surrendered/ was captured by the Allies. He was then drafted to the II Polish Corps and so to Cassino. He's in a quite a famous photo on Snakeshead Ridge bringing his dead mates down from the mountain. Came to this country in '46. He was only 21. Grew up alone in a war and must have seen stuff we can barely imagine. No wonder never talk about it. Quietest, nicest bloke you'd ever meet. No stress counceling in those days either. Just worked down the pit for the next 25 years. Went to Cassino last year and stood on the same spot that he did.

As my father was Polish (he fought at Monte Cassino) I'm always drawn to Polish subjects. Here's F/O Ludwik Paskiewicz demonstrating to Miroslaw Feric how he made 303 Squadron's first kill on 30 August 1940. Kept it pretty clean as Polish ground crew took great care of their machines and this is the first day of 303's involvement in the battle. Airfix 1/48 Hurricane and ICM pilots. Codes and serial for RF V from Xtradecal Thanks for looking

Text on the back of that card's interesting.... He is personally credited with shooting down more than 300 enemies!