Old Phart

Thanks Alan. I didn't actually mean that the covers were coloured half white, half black, that was poor writing on my behalf. However, I hadn't twigged that they had a wheel cover. It makes perfect sense that one is black and the other is the other colour, so that's what I'll do.

I'm building a Singapore based Buffalo. It has the early RAf colours with the underside half black and half white. What colours are the wheel hub/centres? I'm guessing the white side will be painted white, but what colour would you paint the black side? Even if they did roll out of the factory with different coloured wheels, squadron life would see the wheels changed fairly often and I'm guessing they didn't worry about the colour. So what should I paint mine? Aluminium?

Are you referring to gloss vs satin here? I'm about to do the same thing and there is sooooo much conflicting information on the net.

The seats. Were they just a metal seat painted interior green or were they upholstered?

Funny, that looks nothing like the instructions in the last kit I built 🤣 Puts a real perspective on the sizes doesn't it. I was surprised to see the turrets installed with guns already mounted, I would have thought that was an armourer's job at a pre-delivery squadron.

Don't fit it all and claim you're doing the poor gunner a favour? 🤣 Sorry, that's not helpful but I hope you had a giggle 😁

Thanks Alistair. What's the story with the tail cone? I hadn't actually looked at the prop so aren't too sure of the difference you mention. But this one is just testing the water, I'm not too fussed about absolute accuracy just yet.

Welcome aboard Giuseppe. Your English is probably better than my Australian version 🤣

Welcome John. I too decided to start back with 1/72... and am now terrified by how small them things are. Good if you don't want to do a lot of detail I guess.

Welcome. I'm glad you put in that bit about 'originally from Dublin', I was wondering what a Texan's got to do with the Irish Air Corps. You've got a fair bit line up there. Have fun.

I must say that this model is quite a bit smaller than I expected, perhaps a stumpy aeroplane in 1/72 wasn't the best choice to get back into the game 🤣

I just received my decals from Red Roo and I must say I'm impressed. Very fast delivery, especially this time of year. Options given. Different colour schemes (though not for the Buffalo) and the appropriate decals noted. Most impressed. So I now have my decals and colour scheme but it's been fun doing the research. I was working on the model earlier. Note to self, 1/72 sounds a good beginner's scale, but it's flamin' not. Sheesh this thing is tiny especially for my tired old eyes and creaky fingers.

Thanks Alan, there's a lot to wade through in that thread.

Thanks. Yeah, the Buffaloes actually did quite well and probably could have done better with experienced pilots (the Japanese pilots were all experienced in China). Their guns were electrically operated and the electrics didn't like the humidity and heat, almost always seizing, sometimes after only one shot. As I suspected, pity it couldn't have been done better. Thanks Alan.

Thanks Daniel.