johnd

Thanks, it was straightforward, while I'd thought I'd set the photo as public, I hadn't. John.

Cracked it! Underside paint on, drop tank cradle in place and propeller unit temporarily installed. The best part of the photo is spouse's table cloth but actually I'm quite pleased with the way the underside has turned out. John.

Sorry, struggling to get the images to display, odd not changed anything from last time... John.

It's been a while, but here's the latest...

Oh yes, I'm not saying it's a problem. It's very easy to convert. Just saying that technically it's not a IIa. John.

Trouble is, it's the Mk IIb kit and you need to remove the outer wing gun panels to make it into a IIa. John.

Well, the canopy seems to be beyond recovery but never mind, carry on... The first couple of coats of paint are on. Brush painted Humbrol acrylic 116 and 118. Despite their reputation, they went on quite well. The underside colour is meant to represent DuPont Sky, 71-021. It's a mixture of Medium Sea Grey and Vallejo's 70.885 Pastel Green. Comments welcome. In the meantime, it's time to sort out the undercarriage and propeller unit. Thanks for looking, John.

Well the wings and the canopy are on. However, the canopy didn't go too well... Maybe it'll polish out. John.

The basic shape is good, it just needs a new airscrew, canopy and undercarriage doors. I managed to sort out a canopy from the Airfix MkI/II, with a little carving involved. This kit would also yield a De Havilland propeller if you made a Rotol Mk II or Watts Mk I. There are also two pairs of undercarriage doors, one for wheels up, one for down. It looks the part as you can see from the photos above. John.

Progress has been a little slow due to the onset of a head cold and a day trip to Rochester (UK). This is where I am now: The next step is to add the lap belts, fit the canopy so I can touch up the paintwork in the cockpit from below and then fit the wings on. John.

One of the articles I consulted before starting this was this one. The argument goes that Cresswell's aeroplane was a P-40e-1 which were intended for lend-lease and therefore finished in DuPont colours. It then postulates that the Aussies would not have repainted an aircraft that already had serviceable and appropriate paintwork. This sounded quite reasonable so that's the route I chose. Hence Humbrol 116 and 118 for the upper camouflage. John.

Erm...I wouldn't set your stall on what I do. For what it's worth, I've plumped for Humbrol 116. Cheers, John.

Thanks, it's going ok so far, though I did get sidetracked and read a bit about Squadron Leader Cresswell and the various theories about paint. Still, I've done a bit to it, photos later, probably. John.

Ok, let's see if I can actually get a group build finished by aiming low with an easy-build kit. I'm going to do Squadron Leader Richard Cresswell's P-40E from New Guinea, 1942 with markings taken from the Skymodels 72-058 sheet. Here's the kit... and the Skymodels illustration... Right, better get cracking. John.

Coming along very nicely! Is the Azure Blue 70.902? Thanks, John.

Which one, please? John.

Adding red gets H30 quite close to RAF Dark Green. John.

This is Tony O'Toole's build of it showing his take on the colours and markings. John.

I read somewhere that Skuas employed as fighters had the bomb recess plated over. Others have got round the problem by sticking on half a bomb. John.

Quarantined chips. And Colourcoats.

Bag of chips.

That's all clear now. Thanks, John.

Hi all, I'm about to build the Fly 1/72 Hurricane IIB and am aiming to do the Free French Air Force option. I understand that the painting instructions are a little fanciful and in reality, the camouflage scheme was likely to be the usual desert colours (dark earth and middle stone over azure blue) with some fading and repainting in evidence. There's one thing bothering me though. The picture of the original in "Hurricane at War:2", P.87, doesn't appear to show yellow on the propeller tips which arouses suspicion that the photo was taken on orthochromatic film. This would explain why the blue on the rudder is darker than expected. I'm probably overthinking this, but if not, what would be the effect of ortho film on the dark earth and middle stone? Would it reverse the colours so the darker colour in the image would be the middle stone on the real BG707? Thanks, John.

A masterpiece. Even if Airfix or someone does release a state-of-the-art Beaufort, building it couldn't match the satisfaction you must feel from producing your model. John.

Beautiful! John.