Crimea River

Not so much stepping on the radiators but rather the flimsy sheet metal panels that cover them. I concur that most Mosquitoes probably sported these. The excellent Aviaeology decal sets include at least two versions of these stencils

Right now the engine is in pieces Chris. Long story. We are awaiting parts from Vintage V12s and then will reassemble with test runs hopefully later this year

I have both the Overhaul and Service Manuals for the Merlin 28/29/31 and there is no mention of cooling requirements for the generator. Our restored Hurricane Mk XII 5389 has evidence of the cowl opening mentioned above but it had been faired over with a patch. If you pause the below video at 0:46 and 1:53 you can make out the patch on the cowl. This patch was not added during the restoration process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3eB9EuWR1k&t=63s

Our restored Hurricane XII s/n 5389 started life in DE/DG but showed evidence of the DE being overpainted with grey and yellow leading edges added. I don't know any details about the ski version being discussed.

All I can offer is that the original .303 Brownings that we acquired for our restoration projects were just that - a matte or semi-gloss black.

A good build with detailed discussions on 5819 here: https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/gallands-bf-109e-4-1-32-scale.27756/

Thank you Michael for the detailed response. I have previously read most if what you said about the history of the schemes and colour arguments. I am depicting the model in what you describe as scheme 3 and understand your suggestion that the panels would have been red with smoke stains. I am wondering if it is possible that the patches that had been applied over the faired MG holes were doped fabric and that these might have been subsequently removed leaving reddish brown stains from the dope?

Thanks for the inputs gentlemen. The theory that the patch is black is interesting given that the points of the star marking, known to be red, would then also need to be black given that they seem to have taken on the same hue as the panel. The thought of a dark bare metal did occur to me as it is known that the MGs were removed and replaced at least once on this particular machine.

Good day all. Japanese aircraft are not my forte but I nevertheless plunged into Tamiya's beautiful 1/48 Ki-61 Hien for my first foray. I like to study my subjects and build models as accurately as possible and chose the subject s/n 4424 shown on the box cover because it's well documented in photos. My question has to do with the panels on the leading edges that surround the MG barrels. Tamiya provides bright red decals for these as shown by decal number 67 here: One oft-published B&W shot of this aircraft has been colourized and a detail of this picture is shown below. Though I don't often stake much faith in colourized pictures, it does raise the question in my mind whether or not the dark patch is indeed red or a dark brown as suggested by the pic. Or maybe the panels are a dark bare metal? One clue here is that there is a 4 pointed star marking around the gun port common to most Hiens and these are supposedly red. The horizontal points of the star can be seen in the above detail and these appear as the same brownish colour as the panel that I'm asking about. So, before I mask and paint the panels red as Tamiya indicate, I wanted to see if any of you have some thoughts for or against? Thanks for your interest.

For airbrushing, Werdna nailed it. Close in, low pressure, lots of practice AND, a thin paint/thinner ratio of say 30/70.

Our B/P.R.35 RS700 had the wood parts of the wheel wells painted grey-green and there was white in the bomb bay portions of the wing. The interior, invisible structure of the wings and stabilizers have some sort of light grey paint.

These are excellent if you can find a set: https://www.aviaeology.com/store/p131/AOD72005m.html#/

I think this was announced last summer and should have been out by now. Anyone know if it's available on DVD?

I think that you will find that, once installed, the Gee support frame will be largely invisible. A few wires glued on an angle mid way down the Gee box would suffice to represent the upper part of the frame.

@Jochen Barett That's a different bird - 9K+BH. He's looking for 9K+BN.

If you can locate a copy of this book, there may be other/better pictures of your bird. Our local library here in Calgary had it some years ago.

I built the Tamiya kit and it's a real beauty. I can't vouch for the Eduard one but my experience with their Mk IX would suggest that the Mk I would be excellent as well. If you go with the Tamiya kit, follow the instructions very carefully with regard to work needed for the open or closed canopies. You need to decide at the beginning which way you will pose the sliding canopy and the access door as there is cutting involved.

Good info on American fit-outs here: https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/american-fighter-aircraft-radios-1942.57587/

Just to add to the mystery of the presence of those cowl inlet/outlets, the original port cowl for our Hurricane Mk. XII s/n 5389 had an aluminum patch riveted over the location of that detail.

Eduard make one in the Brassin series but it's pricey. Here's a picture showing the exhaust stub attachment:

Getting back to the the original post regarding the colours of He162 White 4, The Roger Gaemperle book "Captured Eagles Vol. 1" has a good description of this particular bird as well as 4 photos that I have not seen posted online elsewhere. Some notes from that document: - The assertion that 120067 was an "early" He162 would seem relative since the first flight of a Rostock-produced He162 was on January 14, 1945. - 120068, a close sister to our subject bird, was flight tested on March 29, 1945 and was then ferried to I/JG1 at Ludwigslust on April 8. It's suggested that 120067 was ferried there at the same time. - 120067 ended up in American hands after transfers from the British though how it got to Kassel, where many of the extant pics were taken, is not known. White 4, along with at least 4 other He162's had "probably been disassembled and then transported to Kassel by ground. When they were reassembled, White 4 received the wing and tail of one or two other He162s." - Gaemperle says that White 4's wing was shipped to the US and then photographed on Yellow 7, W. Nr. 120222. - The tail attached to White 4 was mostly natural metal with some portions primed only, probably in 02. - Gaemperle acknowledges that colour variations are probable but that the camouflage of White 4 "appears to have been to a great extent in accordance with Oberflachenschultzliste 8-162." (i.e. 81/82 over 76) - A photo of White 4 at Leck shows the "festooned" camouflage demarcation on the wingtips. Later photos at Kassel showed different wingtips. - Two side profiles by Simon Schatz are provided. One is from the starboard side at Leck showing a Braunviolet 81 tail with a white 120067 W. Nr. The other profile shows White 4 as it appears at Kassel with the uncamouflaged tail and different wings. - The right rear engine cowl, as seen at Kassel, had a crudely hand painted "120067", thought to have been placed there by Allied ground personnel prior to disassembly. There is further discussion about the stenciling and the colours of the JG1 Wappen that I can get into if desired but, to summarize, Schatz's interpretation of the colours shows the fuselage painted in 82 over 76, the engine cowl in 81 Braunviolet. The wingtips appear to be 82 in both views. Presumably, the opposite wing in each case would be in 81 if the directive was closely followed. So, two versions of this bird are supported by photos - one as it appears at Leck with the known W.Nr on the tail and the other as it appears at Kassel after having been slapped back together with a mixture of parts.

I was in a similar boat 11 years ago when I built mine. I cobbled together a number of online reference pics, opinions, and my own speculations to add detail and you'll see this in the link. Since then, a number of new references have arrived on the market as shown above and so I can not vouch for the accuracy of what I did, especially in the rear cockpit area. I recall that the biggest disappointment was lack of detail in the wheel wells - very lazy and unexpected for Tamiya. Some feel that the nacelles behind the trailing edge are too long and that may very well be the case, though something that I did not want to tackle at the time. Other than that, it goes together well and makes for a nice model. Good luck with the build!

Thanks for that. Finally a use for purple!

Also shown to good effect in the film footage of Schongau airfield posted elsewhere here.

Note that the two skeletons have subtle differences and are not simply mirror images.