moaning dolphin

Good day to you all from glorious Nova Scotia! Hope you are all doing well. This is my latest release, built as part of the Corsair GB which finished last month. Although I did manage to get it up in the gallery, it wasn't 100% finished so here she is in her (technically!!) finished glory. This is the Tamiya 1:32 Birdcage kit, done up as a Fleet Air Arm Corsair Mk I JT190 of 1837 NAS, based on the Eastern board of the US. This particular aircraft belonged to Squadron CO and Fighter Ace Lt Cdr Jackie Sewell DSC RNVR. Ultimately the aircraft claimed his life during a training flight when he collided with his Senior Pilot S Lt David Watson RNVR in JT198 over Yarmouth, Maine. Both pilots lost their lives and they both now lie at rest at the Military Cemetery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The kit was built more or less from the box, I added some fabric harnesses as they looked better than Tamiyas steel versions which aren't very flexible. I also added some cockpit stencils to add a bit of realism and interest to the standard cockpit. Points to note on the aircraft. JT190 didn't have clipped wings as it was a US based training aircraft, it also retained US harnesses and didn't have the rear view windows common in most Birdcage Corsairs. The aircraft is displayed having been pushed back for maintenance hence the tail wheel is meant to be reversed! The engine is a thing of beauty and really should be displayed so left the cowlings removeable. I added some ignition harnesses to the engine from wire. The insignia markings are painted, which was a great journey of discovery! The Royal Navy JT190 was from Xtradecal and I used the kit stencils. The internal paints were Mig Ammo, external were Vallejo for the sky, Model Master Gunship Grey from the EDSG and my own mix of Olive and Green for the Slate Grey. I used very fine thread for the aerials (if you can see them!). I think the weathering is slightly heavy but I am claiming artistic license for that! I also took liberties with the flaps which by rights should be stowed and the cowling flaps are closed where they should be open but the detail looked too complex and time consuming for this build! All that is remaining is the tape for the gun ports and also on the nose cowling there should be some sealing tape but I couldn't decipher the exact layout so left this out This kit was a truly wonderful build, the parts just fell together and the joins were nice and tight. In fact id anything didn't fit right it was down to me not fixing it in properly! If you want to follow along the build the link is below. Now the pics! JT190 in glorious technicolour (with a backward tailwheel!) And finally the Lt Cdr Jackie Sewell who inspired this build, RIP. Bob

Thanks for that, I started to run out of time and really wanted to get it in the gallery so I had to leave a couple of things off but at least I 'Technically' finished Bob

Good day everyone! This is my effort, Its the Tamiya 1:32 Birdcage version dressed up as a Fleet Air Arm MkI Corsair, JT190 of 1837 NAS, based at the US Naval Air Station Brunswick in Maine. The aircraft belonged to FAA Ace Lt Cdr Jackie Sewell, it also claimed his life on 4th October 1943 during a training exercise of Yarmouth, Maine. The kit is 99.9% complete but I was running out of time and rather than rush it I decided I would still post it as complete even though I want to do a bit more weathering and add a couple of extras like aerial wire but dont want to ruin it unnecessarily. Markings are painted by my own fair hands with kit stencils. I will post completed completed pictures in the RFI gallery when done and link it through the build thread. Thanks to all those that chipped in to help out and to our steadfast moderators for running a fine GB And the build link Cheers all! Bob

I did ponder on it and i think a second one would be folded but i think those Wolfpack conversions are expensive and rare aren't they? (Edit, or am i thinking Danger Hobby? Danger Boy? ) I thought on the Hobbyboss kit but i think the Accurate Miniatures kits are so much better. If i can get z set i would go folded. Youve produce a fine example yourself.

I do like the P3 so Im in! I work with the CP140 and we also have Norwegian P3s in plant as well, we currently have 299 sitting in the hangar now and pretty sure 206 has been through us. I started a CP140 a few years ago and had the intention of scratch building all the details, I spent a good few weeks on it with much cutting and no gluing at all! I really do need to dig out the thread and re ignite it soon! Anyway looking forward to seeing your efforts, from what I've seen it builds into a pretty decent model. Bob

Lovely job, currently reading his book and its nice to relate your Seafire to it, I had only read about his spotting duties the other week, we are now into the Far East, quite a riveting read! BZ!

Very nicely done!

Lovely little build and an interesting history of the type, thanks and job done! Bob

Good Morning All! I seem to be having a good output lately and this was one of my latest, built as part of the 'In the Navy' group build elsewhere in BM. As that GB is now well and truly over (thanks mods!) I thought I would share my efforts here as well for those that don't frequent the GB section so much. This is my Grumman Avenger MKII, JZ525 of 849 NAS onboard HMS Illustrious as part of the British Pacific Fleet. Kit is the 1:48 Italeri version, which is a repop of the Accurate Miniatures kit. I used an Eduard internal etch, mainly for the seat harnesses and instrument panel. I totally remodelled the centre cockpit based on all available information and a bit of good old imagination. The decals are from an old Aeromaster decal set, they weren't in a very good condition but I managed to adapt and overcome with a bit of imaginative repairing. The internal paints were from the Mig Ammo range and externals were from the ModelMaster Acryl range. Not sure about the weapon load or Yagi aerials being correct but hey ho I chucked them in any way. I deliberately left her unweathered as I didn't want to screw up the paint work I had been eyeing this up in my stash for what seemed like ages, must be over 15 years now. It felt good to finally get it done! Onto the phots! Internal detail is quite hard to see so here are a few in progress shots And if you want to follow the trials and tribulations here is the build thread. Cheers now Bob

Lovelly subject, always fancied building one up as a FAA subject from when I first saw the AM kit. Looking forward to seeing how it goes together! Bob

Thanks for the encouragement! Much appreciated! I had a couple hours today so I built up the wings and flaps, I glued in the wing, added flaps and also that tail planes, at least I'm not having to constantly pick them up off the floor now! After they were dry I looked at a bit of weathering. I didn't want to go overboard but looking at old pictures these machines showed quite a bit of wear. I had previously sprayed on ally, then chromate primer before the top coat. My first thought was to gently remove upper layers of paint down to the ally (which I did protect with a gloss coat). Initially I tried a cotton bud (Q tip for us Canadian dwellers!) dipped in nail varnish remover. Now my bottle is probably several years old so has lost a lot of its volitility and I also dried out the bud as well so it wouldn't just strip everything!. My first attempt was on the starboard wing, but I mistakenly started at the wingfold instead of further inboard where the wear should have been! so that's an area I may have to revisit because I got excited and removed too much! I took a lot of care on the wing walk areas. I am not sure if RN aircraft had walkways painted on so I opted not to paint them in (I've seen them with and without). My Q tip was very dry and it took a lot of rubbing to wear the paint down to show the undersides (which is a good thing!). I tried to keep it refined and natural, I think it looks ok... Here is the starboard wing, this would have worn a lot more as it was used for entry by the pilot as well as ground crew. Normally the flaps are housed and used as a step up onto the wing so they got a rubbing as well. I also masked off a couple of step panels to simulate wear to just those areas. The port wing was used a lot less, mainly for maintenance and a ground crew strapping the pilot in. There are also a couple of areas I rubbed down with 4000 grit wet n dry to just reveal the primer area. Again just trying to make it look natural (and I have since refitted the flap above! That just doesn't want to stay in) You can also see above that I have started the landing gear. These come split in two and Tamiya have you insert a .7mm metal rod in there to strengthen the oleo. I built these up more and they are now ready for a splash of paint Again a lot of nice detail I don't really need to add any more to them. After that is sealing in the airframe colours. I want to do a gloss coat as I still have the kit decals to apply but I have notorious problems with a decent acrylic gloss. I think I need to work on my technique. But that's all for now. Laters! Bob

Good day every one! Before I start on this upodate I had a PM regarding this particular aircraft, just as I had fitted the rear tunnel windows a kindly gent in the know pointed out that this particular aircraft was quite unique as it didnt have any! I had never noticed but have a look at this image Where as if you compare it to this image you can see it is really quite obvious ... ...if you know what to look for, so I am grateful to this intervention and learned something new to boot! So I continued to mask up, the 7M was a right pain and im a bit worried that it might go to put, but lets just have a bit of confidence, so ready for the top coat, here she is (edit: this is just before i masked the 7M!) You can see I have also highlighted the fabric ribs, not sure how this will come through but we'll give it a go! It was out with the paints. First was Model Master Acryl Gunship grey, this is very similar to the primer and plastic so its quite hard to see it going down, after that I used my special mix of Model Master Acryl US drab and dark green. This went on much clearer! However my airbrush really struggled today. It was really hot and humid and I had to stop and clean every few minutes. I persevered and this is the result You can see a few areas on there that need a bit of touch up, so got that done and its time for the big reveal! Oooh my nerves were a wreck but this is how she fared So it looks not too bad! I'm going to put it down for a few days, walk away and then come back and see if anything needs addressing, my OCD is already looking at that 7M! But thats all for now, thanks for looking in and encouraging this! Bob

I do have a Fulmar on the go but that was started way before I started researching Jackie Sewell so it is in an early scheme and I don't have another in the stash …….. yet! So it may happen. Well today I plucked up the courage for, what was to me, the hardest part of this scheme. Producing the 7M letters. One of the initial reason for picking this particular aircraft was the ease of the lettering (requiring only straight lines) before I started looking into the pilot and fate of this aircraft. I don't have dimensions of the lettering so a lot of it will be by eye, this picture being a good reference In this picture you can also see that the area around the code has been scrubbed and looks faded. I am wagering that the code was recently changed and getting rid of the old code left a lighter patch. So I will try and replicate this. I don't have any pictures for the other side but I will assume that set up is similar to this one. First up was to mask off the lighter area and cut out my figures from masking sheet. So like I said I don't have the dimensions of the code but I have the picture and also a copy of a 1:72 set of decals for this aircraft. This allowed me to work out the heights in relation to the fuselage roundel. My rough estimate suggested a height of 14mm and a width of 2mm. This equates to 17.6 inches, just shy of 18 so allowing for my Bobby fudge factor I was happy with that. Also rounding up the mm allowed me to use my Tamiya masking sheet which has 1mm graph printed on it, an absolute god send in this instance! So I set about with my drawing skills and the sharpest blade I could find. Now ready for the white backing I also cut out a second stensil as close as possible for the other side. While doing this you can see above I also sprayed the area behind the cockpit so I can apply that glazing as well now as shown below. I then lined up the stensil, on the first picture you can see it is in line with the panel line above so again with the grid paper this made it easy to line up staright. After a bit of faffing and to-ing and fro-ing I hit it with some red, very carefully and lightly at first of course. I gave myself a drum roll for the removal …... Not bad at all if you ask me! Yes it is a little bit lower than the original and also a bit wider as well, and on the other side …. Looks a little bit messier close up but generally work able. Next is to try and mask over the code to leave a thin outline of white before I go ahead and add the top coat. That's when I find out if my lines are parallel lol So its coming on, and I'm not even into the panic of the last week yet! Cheers now Bob

One of the things about doing this build was to find out more of the Pilot, FAA Ace Jackie Sewell. Information regarding him personally is quite sparse from what I can find, including his early Naval Career, age at joining up and age at which he perished. There is a bit more of a comprehensive history of his flying career. I have dug out some valuable information from various sources across the net. Below is an abstract from his time onboard HMS Illustrious flying Fulmars in Sept 1940 to his untimely death. It may seem rather long but is well worth a read. He also crops up in Mike Crossley's biography 'They gave me a Seafire'. Alfred Jack Sewell DSC RNVR SLt ‘Jackie' Sewell served as a Fulmar pilot on HMS Illustrious in the Mediterranean during 1940-41 usually flying with Leading Aircraftman Denis J. Tribe as his observer. His first claims came on 2 September 1940 when he claimed two S.79s of 235a Squadriglia, 59o Gruppo BT (this is probably wrong since 235a Squadriglia belonged to 60o Gruppo BT) west of Malta During the great air strike against Rhodes on 4 September 1940 by Swordfish from HMS Eagle and HMS Illustrious he took part in the Fulmar patrols off the island. At 10.30 Lieutenant Barnes and Sub Lieutenant Sewell of Yellow Section engaged four S.79s, these escaping after each pilot had inflicted damage on them. The same pilots met two more of these aircraft at 11.05, the pair attacking down to 80 yards, shooting one down in flames and damaging a second, while Sub Lieutenant Godfrey damaged the engine on a third. The Italian aircraft shot down was a S.79 of 201a Squadriglia, 92o Gruppo BT. Three more S.79s of 92o Gruppo were also hit during this combat, two of them severely, and they landed with two dead and five wounded aboard. On 12 October, Regia Aeronautica was out in strength to attack the Mediterranean Fleet. At 11:45, a Z.501 shadower was shot down, victim of Sub Lieutenants Sewell and Roberts of 806 Squadron. They chased it from 3,000 feet down to sea level where it ditched. They strafed it, but saw no sign of life. Later a total of 31 SM 79 bombers from Sicily attacked the Mediterranean Fleet, finding the Fulmars from HMS Illustrious up and ready to intercept. The first formation of twelve bombers from 34o Stormo attacked HMS Eagle and the bombs fell so close to the old British carrier that the shock waves were critical in damaging it sufficiently to miss the upcoming Taranto operation for defects in the fuel system. All the bombers came back in damaged conditions caused by AA and possibly by the attacks of Lieutenant O. J. Roger Nicolls' Red Section of 806 Squadron, which at 12:30 sighted twelve SM 79s at 14,000ft. Lieutenant Nicolls (Fulmar N1879) carried out a beam attack on the second section of three and then a stern attack on a lone aircraft. He saw white smoke pour from the starboard engine, and pieces flying off. It was considered unlikely that it could get home. The subsequent formation composed by ten SM 79s of the 36o Stormo was also attacked by the Fulmars, which this time shot down two machines of the 108o Gruppo and the 109o Gruppo. These were almost surely victims of Blue Section of 806 Squadron, which attacked five SM 79s at 13:50, attacking these at 16,000ft. Lieutenant Commander 'Crash' Evans led Sub Lieutenants Graham Hogg and I. L. F. Lowe into beam attacks, claiming one shot down in flames and forcing a second to ditch; both aircraft were credited as shared by the three pilots. Another SM 79 returned damaged with one dead crew member and two wounded while another SM 79 of the 109o Gruppo, flown by Tenente Giorgio Pieri crashed on Mount Etna while coming back to base and was reputed damaged by the British reaction. In general the Italian crews were unable to claim any hits on the British ships because of the heavy opposition experienced. A third formation of seven SM 79s of the 34o Stormo attacked Italian ships in error, luckily without causing damage, the commander of the Italian formation was removed from his position at the end of the mission. Fourteen Ju 87s of the 96o Gruppo and SM 79s of the 105o Gruppo Aut. B.T. failed to find their targets. It is reported that Sunderland L2164 of 228 Squadron, flown by Flight Lieutenant McCall saved the crew of a shot down Italian Cant Z.501 seaplane. It was reported that after a two hours search, three Italian airmen (2nd pilot a Sergeant Major, observer a naval officer and the wireless operator) were found in a rubber boat, the pilot and the gunner were unable to escape from the sinking plane and were drowned The Z.501 was the one claimed by Fulmar pilots (Sub Lieutenants Sewell and Roberts) during the day and although there is little doubt that it was indeed shot down, it is still unidentified. On 1 November 1940 patrolling Fulmars from HMS Illustrious were vectored onto ‘shadowers’ and Sewell with L/A Tribe in Fulmar ‘Y’ intercepted two Z.506Bs. They shot one down in flames while the other escaped in a damaged condition. On 6 November 1940 two convoys sailed for Malta, one from Gibraltar and one from Alexandria, the later with codename MB.8. To provide cover for MB.8 directly and for the other vessels indirectly, four Mediterranean Fleet battleships, two cruisers, HMS Illustrious and thirteen destroyers put to sea. Because considerable aerial action was expected, the carrier also embarked two or three of HMS Eagle’s Sea Gladiators as reinforcements (at least N5513 and N5523) for 806 Squadron’s Fulmars on this occasion. First action came on 8 November, and it was two of the Sea Gladiators that made the first “kill”. At 12:30, Lieutenant O. J. Roger Nicolls and Sub Lieutenant Sewell caught and shot down a Cant Z.501 of the 186a Squadriglia RM. The Italian aircraft had left its base at Augusta at 09:00, three of the crew were rescued by a Sunderland while the pilot and the engineer died. At 12:20 on 10 November, a Z.501 from the 144a Squadriglia RM at Stagnone (was shot down by Lieutenant Barnes and Sub Lieutenant Sewell, after chasing it down from 4,000 feet to sea level. It was then strafed. At 13:30, nine S.79s from the 90o Gruppo, 30o Stormo attacked the fleet. Barnes’s Yellow Section of 806 Squadron again attacked one, which started losing height after being hit in the starboard engine, and claimed it as a shared damaged. On 10 January 1941, he shot down a S.79 together with Lieutenant R. S. Henley at 10:30. During this combat Sewell’s Fulmar was slightly damaged from return fire but he managed to depart for the carrier and landed successfully. He changed aircraft and was in the air when HMS Illustrious was damaged by a Stuka and he and L/A Tribe landed at Hal Far. After the damage on HMS Illustrious he operated briefly from Malta. On 16 January 1941, he possibly claimed a Ju 88 or Ju 87 at 14.55 when 806 Squadron operated from Malta in defence of the damaged HMS Illustrious in French Creek harbour. On 24 January 1941 Sewell was up in one of 806 Squadrons Gladiators on a meteorological flight when he noticed a string of tracers passing his starboard wings, followed a moment later by a Ju 88 diving towards Hal Far. Sewell followed the intruder down and reportedly shot it down off the coast. Lieutenant Vincent-Jones, who witnessed the action, added: "From the ground it gave the impression of a terrier yapping at the heels of a mastiff!" It is possible that this was an Ju 88 (L1+HM) of 4./LG1 flown by Unteroffizier Gustav Ulrich who failed to return from a sortie to Malta during this day. After the operations from Malta he was stationed on HMS Formidable in the Eastern Mediterranean until that vessel too was damaged. He made a considerable number of claims during this period and was awarded a DSC. Underway from Alexandria via Crete to undertake a bombardment of Tripoli, the Mediterranean Fleet sailed into the area between the North African coast and Sicily on 20 April 1941. At 10:43, an unidentified plot appeared on HMS Formidable’s radar to which a section of 806 Squadron Fulmars was directed. These fighters were flown by two of the unit’s most experienced pilot, Lieutenant Commander Charles Evans and Sub Lieutenant Sewell, and the intercepted a trimotor identified as a Cant Z.1007bis, apparently on its way from Cyrenaica to Sicily. This aircraft was claimed shot down as a shared at 11:15. It seems that the aircraft in question was actually a transport S.82 (MM60325) of the 607a Squadriglia, which had taken off from Benghazi and which was lost with the crew KIA. By the evening on 22 April, the Mediterranean Fleet was nearing Alexandria, having maintained anti-shadower patrols all day, many being reported but without interceptions being made. At 17:24 a raid was finally plotted closing with the ships, and two sections of Fulmars were scrambled; these were Ju 88s of III./LG 1 out searching in the area north of Tobruk. Two such bombers were spotted 30 miles from the fleet and at once every available fighter was launched until 14 were in the air by the time the intruders got close. The first pair, from 8.Staffel, were attacked by Green Section of 803 Squadron (Lieutenant J. M. Bruen and Sub Lieutenant D. H. Richards) and Grey Section of 806 Squadron (Lieutenant Henley and Sub Lieutenant Julian Sparke). Bruen’s section forced one bomber to jettison its load and make off into clouds, possibly damaged. The second (Ju 88A-10 WNr 2209), flown by Unteroffizier Gerhart Pfeil, was also seen to jettison its bombs, but was then shot down into the sea by Sub Lieutenant Sparke, Henley’s guns having failed to operate. Lieutenant Jasper Godden, the observer in Bruen’s 6A, N1951, recalled: “We saw nothing until the Fleet was well on its way back to Alexandria – at about 1700 hours we spent 30 minutes in combat with two Ju 88s. One was shot down – not by us – all I had was a Thompson sub-machine gun – you could see the .45 inch bullets trickling out of the muzzle – the muzzle velocity was so low!” Black and White Sections of 806 Squadrons also intercepted a lone Ju 88, reported to be a shadower, and this was claimed probably destroyed by Lieutenant Commander Evans, Sub Lieutenant Sewell and Sub Lieutenant Orr (N1988). No damaged was caused to the fleet. At 11:48 on 25 May four sections of Fulmars were scrambled from HMS Formidable against incoming intruders. One section comprising 806 Squadron’s new commander Lieutenant Commander Garnett, with Sub Lieutenant Sewell as his No. 2, encountered a pair of II/KG 26 He 111s. Sewell swiftly shot down Oberleutnant Oskar Klapproth’s 1H+CN into the sea. Within minutes two Ju 88s of II/LG 1 were spotted and Garnett at once attacked, observing hits. Sewell joined the attack and soon the bomber was in trouble, but at that moment Garnet’s Fulmar was hit by return fire. His observer, Lieutenant Desmond Vincent-Jones recalled: “We were hit in the engine by the rear-gunner (Gefreiter Günther Peschke) and ditched. Jackie Sewell remained in company and orbited over us until the destroyer Hereward saw us. The Ju 88 ditched about 200 yards away – their dinghy worked, ours didn’t!” Unteroffizier Heinrich Geisenhoff and his crew from L1+CV were rescued with their victors. Late in 1942 he commanded 804 Squadron aboard HMS Dasher from October to July 1943 taking part in the North African landings on 8 November 1942. 1837 Naval Air Squadron Officially formed in the US at US NAS Quonset Point, Rhode Island, on September 1st 1943 as a single seat fighter squadron under command of Lt. Cdr. (A) AJ Sewell DSC RNVR. Initial compliment was 10 Corsair Is. After familiarization with the aircraft and equipment the squadron began training in earnest to prepare for active service. Training included navigation exercises, low flying, formation flying and combat tactics. Training was not without incidents, the first occurred on 13th Sept when Sub Lt GW Wiley RNZNVR, crashed landed in Corsair JT144, his engine failed due to a shortage of fuel, the aircraft was a write off but the pilot survived. The Squadron then moved to US NAS Brunswick on October 1st 1943 to continue training. It was 3 days later when tragedy struck the Squadron as their Commanding Officer Jackie Sewell in JT190 and sLt David James Falshaw Watson RNVR in JT198 were conducting a formation flying exercise over Yarmouth in Maine. They collided in mid air, one pilot died instantly the other died while trying to parachute out of his falling plane which came down near Pownal, Vermont, both aircraft burnt out, unfortunately neither pilot survived. Their bodies were never returned to the UK, they were laid to rest at the Military Cemetery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Sewell was credited with 1 and 1 shared biplane victories and a total of 5 or 6 and 7 shared destroyed at the time of his death.

So am I if I'm honest Here I am again with another update. Last night I had the bare metal on the wear areas and this afternoon I laid down the Zinc Chromate primer on these areas. I then applied a preshading pattern on most areas but mainly avoiding where I had applied the Zinc. I didn't want to have any black showing through when I did the wear so left well clear of that. This is the upperside before I hit the underside with a coat of sky. I've not gone too mad over this as the effect when I paint is very subtle. I haven't fitted the rear windows yet, Ill paint the skin behind then fit the windows over. I then flipped her over and applied the Sky, I'm using Vallejo Sky type 'S' for this which is a pretty good look. I have loosely fitted the closed undercarriage doors for this to protect the wheel wells which are already painted. I know the insides are sky as well but there are a couple of different coloured areas I wanted to protect and Tamiya nicely give us some good fitting blanks to cover that area. I also butchered the tail doors to cover that area as well. The preshading looks quite non existant in this phot but it is quite pronounced if a tad subtle. I also took this time to paint the flaps and tail planes. Bit of a quick fuzzy pic, but you get the idea. Not sure what to do for the fabric effect yet, maybe mask off the tapes and go lighter, or cover the tapes and go darker. Just want to get a bit of tonal difference for the fabric areas. Although I don't know how to go about it for under the roundels, Maybe I should have preshaded them first? Oh well this is turning into quite a learning experience! I think the next thing to concentrate on is the 7 M on the fuselage side. This will be masked and sprayed so out with the scale rule, calculator and fresh scalpel blade! So until the next time, take care, wash hands and stay safe! Laters, Bob