Kleio

No problem at all. I just noticed you said Sd.Kfz. 250/10, not 251. So this changes my suggestion to Dragon, as AFV Club doesn't do one. Dragon has some discrepances in it's running gear though.

I personally wouldn't build one of them out of the box, but for some versions you even have to buy aftermarket stuff and/or scratch build. I marked the ones I just guessed from seeing superficial reviews with an asterisk. All other suggestions are not based on how easy they are build and how good they are engineered, but on accuracy and overall dimensions. Mk II Matilda IV CS: Tamiya Mk II Valentine II: AFV Club Pz IV ausf. G (late): Dragon Mk I Universal carrier: Riich* Opel Blitz 36: Tamiya KV-1S mod. 1942 (late): Trumpeter SU-152 (KV-14) mod. march 1943: Bronco BA-20: HobbyBoss* StuG III ausf. F/8: Dragon Jeep Willys MB (hmg): Bronco* M4A1 Sherman: 75: Asuka/Tasca; 76: Italeri or Dragon/Cyberhobby - I would go with the Italeri one, as both need much rework in my opinion. Or wait for Asuka finally doing one. CGMC T28E1: No plastic kit available afaik. Commander Models does a resin conversaition. SdKfz 250/10 (alt) (DAK 1943): Dragon SdKfz 251/9 ausf. C (DAK 1943): AFV Club 7.62 cm Pak-36(r): Bronco*

There is a very interesting vintage training video on ditching in a B-17. You might enjoy it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4xTjvtS5W0

First of all, I want to say I'm very happy about the many contributions! It's not solely about finding a model for my model kit, but it's a very interesting topic in general. While reading through the new comments chronologically, I was surprised and happy how seemingly easy the main question could be solved - now we know it wasn't. I think Seahawks thoughts are very reasonable and legit. Therefore we still have no photographic example of a Meridian Hellcat yet. While writing this post, I found a build report of a 1/72 Eduard Hellcat, wherein the author deals with the same "5◎A-Problem". @iang's list seems to be a very good trace. Is it based on the same records from "The National Archive" Grey linked earlier? @Gomtuu provided us with all FAA Hellcat registrations (I call it like this to partition it from the Grumman s/n) according to "British Naval Aircraft since 1912". Following is a comparison and visualization of this listing, the one published on fleetairarmarchive.net and the Palembang Hellcats called out by iang. Note I simplified the listing from fleetairarmarchive.net for a better visualization. Check their page for more information like the contract numbers and more. British Naval Aircraft since 1912: fleetairarmarchive.net: Allocating the Palembang F6F's according to iang's list: F6F-3/Mk.I FN320-FN449 FN320-FNB449* 1839 NAS: R◎5H, R◎5J, R◎5K, R◎5L, R◎5M, R◎5N, R◎5P; 1844 NAS: (R)◎6F, (R)◎6G, (R)◎6H, (R)◎6J, (R)◎6K, (R)◎6P, (R)◎6W, (R)◎6X JV100-JV221 JV100-JV221** R◎5G, R◎5R All following are F6F-5/MK.II if not specified: JV222-JV324 JV222 - JV324 JW700-JW784 JW700-784 1844 NAS: (R)◎6L, (R)◎6R JW857-JW899 JW857-JW899 5. Wing Leader: TH JX670-JX999 JX670-JX964 1839 NAS: R◎5A, R◎5B JX965 to JX967 Mk.II (NF) JX969 to JX999 JZ775-JZ827 JX775-JZ827 ("Some delivered as II NF") JZ890-JZ999 JZ890-JZ911 Mk.II (NF) JZ947--JZ999 Mk.II (NF) KD103-KD160 KD103-KD160 Mk.II (NF) KE118-KE265 KE118-KE265 Mk. II (NF) *: For reasons of correct quotation I carried over what I think is a mistake: The B in FNB **: According to @Seahawk: "...cowling side bulges and lower cowling flaps: these were deleted from FAA Hellcats somewhere between JV100 and JV189...". Therefore the cowlings used on R◎5G and R◎5R are not clarified yet, but R◎5R most likely had the first style - if the FAA registration is correct (what I do and have to believe right now). @iang, you say you have a list of pilots serving during the Meridian-timeframe. If you want to share it with us, please do so! I would highly appreciate it. I didn't know the photo of JW782 (couldn't it be JW762 also?), nor the third one Troy posted. Thank you both for sharing! Are those colorized or originally colored ones? Nick (whose knowledge I highly appreciate and who already helped me with the TSS), what do you think about the color- accuracy of those photos at all? From what you have written, you sound somewhat confident about it, whilst it doesn't look to me like the chips we have talked about. For example, to me the Extra Dark Sea Grey looks much more violet in this photos. Greetings

Hello Scimitar I'm right now mainly focused on the WW2 Indian/Far East theatre, but the more I know about it, the more I want to know about related topics. For example the usage of the Fairey Firefly during WW2, but particularly during the Korean War already begins to attract my interest. Maybe something I will go into in the future.

Are you sure you can determined from the FAA roundel alone, if Operation Outflank accounts as a BPF action? To quote Wikipedia (not the best piece of evidence of course): "Operation Outflank was the first combat operation of the British Pacific Fleet". The mentioned book "The BPF: The Royal Navy's Most Powerful Strikeforce" also accounts it as a BPF action. In the book is a picture of a distant Hellcat, which looks to be coded K◎6K, and, according to the author, was taken over Medan during Op. Robson. This, if the author located it correctly, is the closest shot to the Meridian action I know of. Maybe someone can tell more about K◎6K. It wears white IFF stripes on the front of the cowling, the wings, and the horizontal/vertical stabilizers - something I only have seen before with Hellcats embarked on escort carriers in the Indian Ocean during 1945. Therefore I take the caption with a pinch of salt, until someone can tell me more about K◎6K. To clarify the question: Im looking for a Hellcat used during the two Palembang raids. Therefore I need to know it's FAA registration number, it's operational code and maybe it's pilot. The best case would be a photo showing it, so I can copy the placement and style of the markings exactly. Maybe this wasn't clear from my initial post. I'm sorry, I'm not a native speaker. @Grey Beema That sounds quite interesting! Good find, thanks! Can you tell me where to find the Squadron Operations Diaries you mentioned earlier?

@Grey Beema Yes exactly. No, I didn't, as I don't know about them nor do I know where to find them. But this sounds like a good trace! In relation to your first reply: The BPF was already founded then, but you are right, it's a gray area, as Sumatra does not border the Pacific. @Graham Boak Thank you! It looks more and more as if there weren't any photos taken during the timeframe surrounding the raids. But I haven't give up hope yet. Them just beeing Mk.I doesn't clearify the question about the cowling, but the registration does. I wonder where they got them from.

Yes, I know the article you linked. Thank you anyway. It was actually the foundation of my research. The book "The BPF: The Royal Navy's Most Powerful Strikeforce" linked there, I have read since. Both sources are essential if you want a bigger picture, but do not answer such specific questions.

Hello everybody, I'm in the process of building a FAA Hellcat Mk.I used during Operation Meridian I/II. Many questions on details I could solve myself while analyzing, I think, nearly every picture and video accessible on the Internet, or by reading books and posts in various forums. Only one very important question I couldn't solve to my satisfaction at all yet: Which specific airplane I'm building? Of the many pictures I looked at, most were seemingly taken in 1944 (many pics are dated definitely wrong throughout the Internet) and I don't like to guesstimate if the aircraft, this long after, used the same code during the raids on Palembang. Also the FAA registrations are not easy to make out most of the time, and I'm not familiar with the codes used by the 1839/44 NAS nor any other FAA squadron. So the questions is: Does anyone know which specific Hellcats were flown during the 24th/29th January 1945? I would highly appreciate if you could include the source of the information, but the ultimate goal would be a picture of the specific plane. Still just a registration number would already help a lot, as this would clarify at least which style of cowling would be accurate. If you can contribute anything I'm very grateful! Any other commend, picture, etc., is of course appreciated as well - you never know everything or could locate every picture.

Hello Forum! I quickly want to introduce myself to you, after I finally registered here. Why I say "finally"? Because I stumble over this side for years now, nearly every time I look up something hobby related. I'm pleased with the high quality of the content - highlighting especially the reviews. This and the fact I'm very interested in the FAA lately, made me finally register myself. I'm from the old continent, so English isn't my first language, but please feel free to correct me if you find a blunder in my posts - I always want to improve. That's a good point to say that I'm a so called "rivet counter". Having read an endless amount of posts in innumerable forums over the years I know, some people have a problem with it, as some "rivet counters" have a problem with the basic and simple hobbyist - I happily accept everybody's own style. Mine is to combine my general interest in history (cf. my username) with building model kits, and therefore I'm most of the time seeking the highest accuracy possible. This is another good reason why I like this site: It seems many knowledgeable people from the UK and all around the globe are gathered here. See you in the threads!