EirikB

People reading my posts in here must think I only talk about future projects, instead of building models. 😄 I do indeed build models, but I must admit that I have planned a few difficult projects where research is needed to get it right. I want to bulid a Breguet Br.1150 Atlantic c/n 39 (F-XCVD) from the French Navy (Flottille 22F). Why exactly this one you might ask? Again it is connected with my home in the High Arctic. This aircraft crashed in a mountain (Methuenfjellet) on Prins Karls Forland near Spitsbergen in August 1967, during a NATO-excercise. I have searched, but I can´t find any images of this specific plane before the crash. I guess it had the grey/white paint scheme. I have been to the wrecks site many years ago and i remember the black letters "39" on one of the parts. Do any of you have knowledge about good sources of information about the French Breguets in the 1960´s? And maybe images of c/n 39? As a start I have the 1:72 Revell Breguet Atlantic 1 and Berna decals. I guess more modifications will have to be done to get it to look like c/n 39 as it was in 1967.

No, they (we) haven´t. I guess it will take some time when you look at the time spent choosing helicopters tha last few decades. We never buy products form the shelf, we have all kinds of specifications that complicates things. The process of purchasing new rescue helicopters took over 20 years... The RNoAF also lacks helicopters to support the army in the north. They used to have Bell 412 SP for this purpose, but these were relocated to the southern part of the country some years ago. Some say that a combination of Blackhaek and Seahawk could fill the void after NH90 and Bell 412. But no decision is made yet.

Fantastic build. This thread was very interresting to follow! I specially love the canopy work, truly inspiring. In your original post you said you in heinsight would have chosen to modify a PBY-5A kit instead of replacing the "bloated" tail. I have tried to perform some Google-investigation myself, but do you know if there are other significant (?) differences between the amphibious PBY-5A and the water-landing-only versions? I ask because I have to make a similar decision as you faced before your project. I plan on doing a complicated build of a specific Catalina Mk. IVB from 333 sqn (KK-N, JX381, 73040). I addition to remove the retractable wheels I will have to cover gun turret at the front of the aircraft. It was used by a civilian Company (Vingtor Luftveier A/S) before it was bought by the Royal Norwegian Airforce in 1948. The aircraft crashed on Bear Island (Bjørnøya) in march 1954 while returning from Spitsbergen where it dropped mail to the mining settlements there. The story is personal to me, if it wasn´t I would have chosen an easier project...

I will buy a few of these for sure.

Yes, AZ-C had underwing cameras, here is the booklet you are referring to. On page 13 there is a picture of the underside of the wing showing the cameras. Thanks for all inputs, they are all appreciated. Eirik

Hello all. I know this topic has been discussed before in this forum, so I will try to be specific. I want to build a Spitfire PR Mk. XI (1:48) that served in the Royal Norwegian Air Force after WW2. To be more precise I will make the AZ-C (PL994). Here is a link to The Spitfire Site that have a nice drawing and description of the similar AZ-B. Reconnaissance Spitfires PR Mk. XI in Norway I have the Quickboost conversion kit and camera, and I have Vingtor decals. What I don´t have is the proper kit to use, and what kit to use has been discussed in here in the past. I am not a Spitfire expert, but I understand that both Mk. VIII and IX will work. Questions: Quickboost recommends Hasegawa for the resin conversion kits, but I wonder if this Eduard Mk. VIII kit will do the trick? If yes, what are the things I need to change other then using the Quickboost kits? Best regards, Eirik Berger

It was truly fascinating following this build. I will expand my modelling horizon from just airplanes to also include ships. I am above average interested in Arctic history and I wonder if this image can be of HMS Aurora during the evacuation of the civilian population on Svalbard August 1941? It is from a private photo album and the text below the images says "On our way to England".

I got my hands on a Monogram Heinkel He-111 (H5) in 1/48, instead of choosing among the two versions suggested in the box - I want to make this a specific aircraft. Wekusta 5 based in Norway had JU-88 and He-111 on visits to Svalbard/Spitsbergen serving the weather stations there. The germans had several stations around the islands, but the main station was Bansö just outside Longyearbyen (a Norwegian mine settlement). Bansö was located in Adventdalen (Advent valley), a large and flat valley perfect for landing aircrafts during winter. They also landed on the sea ica Adventfjorden (Advent fjord) a few kilometres away, and it was here He-111 1B+OH ended its career when one of the landing gears broke. It ended up on the bottom of the fjord. I am not sure if the 1B+OH is a H5 or H6. Xtradecal as made decals for this specific aircraft, but only in 1/72. All I need is the letters 1B+OH (black without outline) for the markings on each side of the aircraft. It does not seem that the aircraft have the Wekusta 5-badge. The image below is from the Xtradecal instrutions. I have searched and have only found 1/72 letters, or 1/48 post war letters. They might work as a good-enough-solution. I have searched this forum for information as well, and many points to fantasyprintshop, but I had no luck finding what I am looking for. I could print them my self on decal paper, but then I have to find resources on fonts and sizes. Some questions: - Does anyone have good sources for the kind of 1/48 decals I am looking for? - Are there good (online) resources of information on Luftwaffe WW2 markings? (useful if I am making my own) - What are the differences between He-111 H5 and H6? As soon as I start I will show the progress in the Work in progress section... 🙂

Hello all. I continue presenting my dream builds. I really want to make a Catalina Mk. IVB in a specific color scheme from the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF). The aircraft I want to build is the KK-N (JX-381 - c/n 28129) from 333 sqn. A part of the squadron was based here in Tromsø after WW2 and among other missions they flew to the mining settlements Svalbard with mail which they dropped from the air. The picture below (taken by Leif Archer Grøndahl) shows KK-N when dropping mail in Longyearbyen on Svalbard March 28 1954. Excited inhabitants were watching the plane waiting for mail and news from their families on the mainland. The mail was dropped since the fjord was normally frozen during the winter and this is was the non-amphibious version of the Catalina. On the return flight to Tromsø the plane crashed on Bjørnøya (Bear Island) killing seven people. One survived. The observant viewer can see that the KK-N did not have the nose turret, so that gives me a challenge customizing the nose of the plane. "Fun fact": For those of you who have read my post on my soon to be He-111 build (1B+OH) , I posted an image of the plane on the sea ice with broken landing gears. That image was taken on the fjord in the background of the Catalina. The mountains behind the He-111 on the sea ice is the same as you can see around the tail of the Catalina in the image above. Here is an image showing the color scheme: So, now i just need to find a suitable 1/48 Catalina PBY-5 kit. I will make the decals my self.

Thanks for valuable information. The picture of the He-111 is from Banak (Lakselv) in northern Norway. Here is an image of a JU-88 with the Wekusta 5-badge

Hello all. As i mentioned in the introduction section I am taking up this hobby after a 25 year break. And I have spent the last few Corona-months well, ordering/buying kits so that I have a few "in stock". I got my hands on a Monogram Heinkel He-111 H5 - 1/48. Beautiful kit with photo etched parts and a detailed resin cockpit. However I do want to make this kit to a specific aircraft from 1B+OH from Wekusta 5 that were stationed in Norway. They had both He-111 and JU-88 and flew up to the weather-stations on Spitsbergen during WW2. 1B+OH landed on the sea ice near Longyearbyen and broke the landing gears. Eventually it went through the ice and ended up on the bottom of the fjord. I have lived most of my adult life in Longyearbyen and fascinated by the local stories from WW2. Thats why I want to make this specific arircraft. To my surprise I found that Xtradecal actually have made decals for 1B+OH, but for 1/72. http://www.hyperscale.com/2016/reviews/decals/x72248reviewmd_1.htm I have not found a similar decal kit for 1/48, is it just me being rubish at searching or did Xtradecal make this only for 1/72? If so, are there any decal kits out there with letters suited for Luftwaffe markings on the He-111 (in 1/48)? Wekusta 5 had a green badge with a frog with wings - at least on the JU88s. Maybe they did not use it in the He-111. Eirik

Hello everybody, my name is Eirik and i live in Tromsø in the northern part of Norway. I am re-entering this hobby after a 25 year break. I built a lot of planes in my youth, but now I want to step it up a notch or two and spending more attention to details, weathering etc. There are so much shared knowledge and inspiration on different forums and Youtube - so I cant wait to start up again. I have also purchased an airbrush kit, and I am spending evenings gathering some experience. I will share images of my projects as soon as I am up and running. A good thing is that my 10 year old son is very interested in everything that flies, and he also wants to start building scale models - so this will be a father/son thing. My first two builds will be a pair of Gloster Gladiators (1/48). The first will be a version from 263 sqn that served in Norway in april/may 1940 (Roden 401). The second will be a Norwegian version (Roden 438). I really like these planes and they made an important contribution in Norway during the early stages of WW2. The first build will be my personal little tribute to 263 sqn, their effort in the Norwegian campaign will not be forgotten. Initially I will make models of planes that have some sort of local relevance. In my dreams I find the Hasegawa kit (00832) of the Lancaster B Mk.I w/Tallboy 'Tirpitz Raid'. It is sold out everywhere. Tirpitz was sunk just outside Tromsø where I live. Perhaps it can be a future custom conversion project - when my skills have improved... :) Eirik Berger