warhawk

Hello, I'm interested in building a model of one of these Dinahs, but my Google and reference search produced no wartime photos of any Ki-46-III with these emblems, only profiles. Could they be just fantasy? Source: Gahoh.net Any help is appreciated.

I'm gonna go ahead and say Venice. The town square below Spit's wing radiator looks like Piazza San Marco. Now what in Venice was important to reconnoiter is beyond me... Maybe te US pilot just diverted for some sight see- uhm 'recce-ing'.

Here's my typical flowchart when doing biplanes: Assemble everything except the upper wing and struts (outer upper wing and lower wing pieces also separate if going for a folded option). Align the upper wing to fuselage+lower on a jig, but glue struts only to either upper or lower wing (depending if they are in upper cammo or U/S color). Prime everything Drill holes for rigging using photos of the real thing. Paint, decal, lacquer, weather everything. Join the fuselage+lower and upper wing sub-assemblies. Step No.2 ensures we have a good and easy alignment now. Rig it. Long story short, do as much test-fitting, aligning, and preparation for the rigging before painting. This way You don't risk damaging the paintjob. Now, specifically for the Swordfish, You might want to also leave these small fuselage-to-lower-wing struts off until step 6. img source: GrubbyFingerShop

I highly reccomend reading through these two series of his articles: Ki-43 III Ko Colours (a late-war IJA type, loosely applicable to other IJA machines of late-war period) http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2009/02/ki-43-iii-ko-colours-part-i.html http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2009/02/ki-43-iii-ko-colours-part-2.html http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2009/02/ki-43-iii-ko-colours-part-3.html The Vexed Question of IJN Browns (covering both IJA and IJN types) http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2008/06/vexed-question-of-ijn-browns-part-1.html http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2008/06/vexed-question-of-ijn-browns-part-2.html http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2008/06/vexed-question-of-ijn-browns-part-3.html http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2008/06/vexed-question-of-ijn-browns-part-4.html http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2008/06/vexed-question-of-ijn-browns-part-5.html http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2008/06/vexed-question-of-ijn-browns-part-6.html http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2008/06/vexed-question-of-ijn-browns-addendum.html

An interesting photo popped up at Reddit - No. 252 Squadron RAF in North Africa, date unknown

I love the minimalist package design of this company. Harkens back to glory days of Alpha, Novo and similar USSR-era manufacturers.

It would be great if these could also be made available for separate purchase.

First series-produced Yak-1 fighters (painted in uniform green upper-surfaces) were delivered on Sept 11th 1940. The instructions to delete stars on wing upper surfaces (as well as introducing green/black upper cammo) were published the same day of the German attack - June 22nd 1941. So yes, the earliest Yak-1s did have stars on wing upper surfaces (visible at the very right of image below), albeit for a very brief time. img source: Table of colors utilized on Soviet warplanes June 1940 - July 1941 Regards, Aleksandar

And it will also show on the inside canopy. Perfectly adequate for most 72nd and 48th scale closed canopies.

Since I mask almost all canopies manually, I usually prepare two masks for each of these sealed windows - standard one (fitting the window frames without seal), and one of same shape, but slightly smaller. I first use the smaller one, spray yellow color, then use larger to mask to the frame (so I can cover the yellow and further use cammo colors). These seals were usually done by hand, so You can also free-hand the yellow lines with a brush, then use just the standard mask for each window (it will also cover the yellow). Regards, Aleksandar

From SH Facebook page:

Unless books themselves include relevant scans from manuals (which is a trend I noticed recently with some publishers, and welcome it wholeheartedly).

Tried to to that here, cannot vouch it is complete, though... Regards, Aleksandar

What I meant is was this rear part of the cockpit ever painted Green? source: Anatomy of the Spitfire’s Cockpit at Spitfiresite

Was this practice of painting Spit cockpits aluminum aft of the rear cockpit bulkhead introduced from the start of Spitfire production? I also see it on some restored Vs and IXs.