greatgonzo

Thank You .

I have written on Polish site about fellow Britmodeller's comments these were nice but of no great value. These words are taken out of longer post treating about internet presentations and out of context obviously. It was never my intention to offend nice guys like You. Still if anybody felt unease with the words quoted by Artur I do honestly apologise. I will be glad to explain any doubts if the apologies would appear to be unsatisfactory. Thank You again for Your kind comments and please feel free to point out possible mistakes if You care. Dave, if You want to get rid of Your kid, don't make me a reason please. Your prettier half could curse me .

Thank You very much! The forum does not accept full scale pics. This connected with Photobucket settings do handicap the quality. Anybody interested in better version may take a look here: http://www.pwm.org.pl/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=35803

She wasn't. Only started that way. Thank You all for kind words.

The craft was flown by Wojciech Kołaczkowski in Polish 303SQ. Kołaczkowski flew well known RF-Krysia Spitfires later on and being excellent pilot and officer he promoted to CO of 303rd. But in spring 1941 RF-W for Wojtek was his mount. This very Spitfire was used by legendary CO of first Polish Fighter Wing Witold Urbanowicz on two missions, when he led the unit over France. Leaving Polish squadron the craft entered service in Australian 452SQ and helped Irish ace Brendan 'Paddy' Finucane to score three of his kills. It wouldn't be possible to build this model without always extraordinary help of Edgar. I want to thank You here very much for placing light on shadowed mysteries of Spitfire construction and history. You've done wonderfully, I only did my best. Unfortunately when I have started this build in 2007 I wanted quick and easy Spitfire to please myself. My modelling preferences changed soon which forced me to perform many surgical corrections in already existing and fixed elements. This and my poor original planning shows up here and there.

Weren't the MkII Spitfire Rotol blades made of aluminium?

And You should be!

The difference is a bit like Razorback/Bubbletop windscreen. Still do as You like. I have been dangling with a bits like flap telescopic actuators, canopy removal units or clear vision panel pins in my Spitfire lately, which is the very same Tamiya kit, so I feel a little touchy on Spit accuracy these days ;-). Yes, I still want Lanny, of course. I am waiting patiently, which is easy now as we are rebuilding our site and it is quite asleep at the moment. Good luck with Your builds!

I am afraid not. There are two types of windscreens in Tamiya box. The only way You may be lucky is if You used the wrong one already, an that would have been the one killed by the book . Which one You need? It is almost sure the early one. I'll look. I had to destroy one windscreen to fit squadron vac, as it is not designed for Tamiya. Not sure which one. I also have spare vac, but as I said, it needs a lot of work to be used.

Gabreski in 315th sq could be an option. You would have an American citizen in Polish Air Force squadron serving with RAF. Techmod makes the decals.

Arkady. Przepraszam. Napiszę po polsku. Arkady, do not make a mess.Change this fender the way it should be. Marek already has even sent You a picture of the right mounted fender already. Who cares the model is beautifully done, when such a big element is seen, how it is glued the other way round. Maciej Helping those of You guys, who had no chance to learn Polish so far. I tried to match the quality of the language in the post while translating. Artur, beautiful model, as usual.

Which one? Or would her rather be Donovan Smith's 'Ole Cock' over England?

I don't know about modern RAF lettering but I have worked with IIWW USAF and RAF fonts and they always needed corrections for a model. A 'close enough' font is a good start and makes the drawing process a bit faster.

The colour looks spot on (according to my imagination). And the choice of a pilot is more then welcomed.

There is an interesting story connected with 1918-1920 war. In 1919 a group of American volunteers joined Polish army. They were posted to 7th sqn taking part in war against Soviet Russia. On occasion a new badge has been designed presenting connections between Polish and American military history. The items of the badge mixed US colours and Tadeusz Kosciuszko's Insurrection symbols. One of the leaders of the group was Merian C. Cooper, an aviator who earned his later fame as Hollywood producer with classic 'King Kong' under his belt. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm..._Kosciuszki.jpg The badge being one of early Polish aviation symbols became very traditional and inherently connected with history of Polish air forces. You could have found it on September'39 P-11s: http://img.wp.scn.ru/camms/ar/237/pics/29_32_b1.jpg and later on RAF Hurricanes, Spitfires and Mustangs: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...izjon_303_4.jpg. The circle of time helped Merian Cooper to reunite with 'Kosciuszko squadron'. He had a chance to drop by 303SQ while visiting Great Britain during the war. And the budge is still alive: http://pliki.lotniczapolska.pl/jpg/foto%207-04.jpg A lot to do for a modeller with wide range of interest .

There were rules for chessboard colour orientation for PAF aircrafts in RAF just as they were before the war. Unfortunately it is impossible to remember them really being not obsessed with a matter. The ground crews painting the sign could have not even been aware there was a difference at all. Hence both ways of colour order are to be spotted on Polish birds in foreign service. Of course there was no attempt made to correct Kings Regulations in RAF aircraft national marking.

It is hard to take a side, especially as it is hard to imagine why there should be any sides here at all. Even more when you take a look at the problem from modellers perspective. Then all thing would be mostly academic, as authors trying to replicate the original looks of the plane are almost impossible to find. The ideas like 'pictures show it differently - you may do whatever you want', or 'the picture says it all' are gladly followed and then in practice reduced to popular 'in fashion' techniques. These being done with no reflection what for. How many modellers do all the best to find out what their target looked like? It wouldn't matter at all if Spitfires got dirty or not as a rule. There is one aircraft being built and you need her story. How many look for methods to reproduce this story on a model choosing their techniques with knowledge or at list hope of getting specific effect of the real frame instead of the popular models of the moment. For those who try to walk this path the informations shared by people like Edgar are priceless. Historical pictures usually (always when it is 'your' aircraft) bring nothing more but few suggestions over the obvious things. Bringing the looks of the WWII plane to life is a puzzle. Documents, first hand memories are very important elements of it. Essential when you want to avoid 'do whatever you want idea'. I am not going to add anything to supposed subject of the thread. Probably everything has been said already. I would rather say Thank You to Edgar and other members sharing their not so easy to get knowledge and experiences in this place.

Considering some RAF gunsights of the BoB period were produced in the Reich I'd call it more a tradition than irony .

I have seen no evidence of overpainting antiglare panels of 78th FG NMF Thunderbolts. Pics showing them factory OD - yes. Razorbacks and Bubbletops, both.

Usually only 2. Wing guns were seldom mounted.

HBBates Of course You are right and I have made a monkey out of myself with P-40 gear. Colours in the pictures? Well...

As Edgar mentioned many times before, it is impossible to say for sure what colour were the wheel wells, as they could have been treated as interior or underside. This goes for Spitfire at least. The P-4o hub looks clearly silver if You want it to. I took a look at the picture before reading Your text and saw a hub painted some tinted grey colour. It would be logical to paint the wheel hubs of P-40 with underside colour, as they were nothing else as underside surface in the end. American version of Sky in this case IIRC. Being not sure of the actual hub paint I wanted to point out it is only seldom easier to pin the colour with wartime colour photographs. With uncertain monitor settings and so on we do get the trouble doubled.

The second picture is a D.

Well, if there was any II WW unit capable of painting an aircraft to match an ace's dinner jacket - 56th FG it is. I am not going to defend the idea, and the more not for all 61st P-47Ms - especially when the British Night path looks really good. But this story with Mike Gladych having his Jug painted like his favourite 'Anzug' was always on top of my private list. It just went with a person so well.

It is not that simple. Right for the cuffs only. And not completely too. It is a fair guess, considering the small number of the Ms produced, they all used the same symmetric paddleblade prop with trapezoidal cuffs. The N used at least two types of blades with same cuffs. After the war some of the D's flew the same blades (including cuffs). As a matter of fact it is possible, although quite difficult, to find a late wartime D with the same blade arrangement. These above were all CE propellers of course. May be true, but not necessary for all 61st Ms. Mike Dobrzelecki quotes John Shaaf, who during his visit to Mike Gladych foung out a wartime model of his HV-M. It was build by a fellow British pilot grounded for health reasons. Mike recalled the model was painted with the very same paint used on Pengie. According to Shaaf the colour used to change depending on the angle of light balancing between black and dark blue. Gladych claimed the paint was supposed to match his favourite dinner jacket. Pics here http://www.plastikowe.pl/materialy-zrodlow...a-mike-gladycha Oh, it is in English too http://www.largescaleplanes.com/articles/W...adych_P-47M.php