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maltadefender

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Posts posted by maltadefender

    Eduard 1/48 F6F-5N Hellcat - FINISHED (late!)

    in Night Fighters GB

    Posted

    Oh dear - part 2.

    I'm afraid that the Hellcat is still without a pilot figure, leaving a 'ghost ship' currently flying on its plinth. I've been holding out for the little chap to arrive and hoping for the time to get him done and rebuild the cockpit around him before decalling but today's the last day.

    Group Build crash'n'burn - part 2!

    I will finish the model ASAP and post, but it seems my first GB attempt ends here...

    Well done to all, and thanks for all the guidance on my first GB. Onward and upward with the BoB GB!

    'Jumbo' Gracie's Hurricane - FINISHED

    in Battle of Britain 70th Anniversary Group Build

    Posted

    Good work, you paint before assembly?

    Thanks Mish. Yes I've decided to go back to doing it this way like I did as a kid. The Malta Hurricane build taught me that it's easier to get the lines as crisp as the brush allows when there aren't lots of wings and pitots in the way! It's how my Dad taught me to do things way back when - if I get an airbrush at some stage I'll experiment but hopefully it'll work out with this pair.

    'Jumbo' Gracie's Hurricane - FINISHED

    in Battle of Britain 70th Anniversary Group Build

    Posted · Edited by maltadefender

    OK I've surrendered to temptation! Spinner has been repainted using a random pot of Molak Enamel Plus 'Sea Blue' which is a dead ringer for the blue on the tail flash decal. According to three sources, Geoffrey Page's 'Little Willie' wore a pale blue spinner as did the other two in his section and I'm a sucker for pale blue on anything... especially Cameron Diaz!

    It's a nice shade, previously used on the nose stripe of Mike Hawthorn's Vanwall. Here's Cameron's take on the colour...

    2wcjwah.jpg

    Good lord, finished one! First proper build...

    in Ready for Inspection - Aircraft

    Posted

    After much research, debate and enjoyment, I think we're almost all agreed that the finish applied to most of the Hurricanes in late 1941 was Tropical Land Scheme - namely Dark Green/Mid-Stone/Azure Blue.

    Given that the identities of many Hurricanes in Malta got a bit blurred, and that in April-June there was a common pool of aircraft at each airfield to be shared by the squadrons based there, few of these aircraft featured individual squadron codes but did have individual identification letters. Not all of them had their serial numbers on either - either overpainted or, frankly, redundant after so many rebuilds!

    As such I've just done my best to make a 'generic' look for this Revell 1/72 model. It's the second kit I've completed since returning to the hobby and the first time I've ever used such exotic materials as decal softener, clear parts glue and matt varnish. It's far from perfect but I like it - and thank you so much to Troy Smith for the decals and to Nigel Bunker for the pilot figure. First a couple of solo shots:

    CIMG1097.jpg

    CIMG1096.jpg

    And together with my Corgi Malta flight showing the wide array of colours on show in 1941! We have the 'Bosun blue' Mk.I recce kite, standard temperate land scheme Mk.IIa and 1940 Dark Earth/Light Earth/Sky Blue Mk.I Trop from 1940... and my generic one, alongside the 'rather-too-blue' Spitfire Mk.Vb from 'Merlins over Malta'

    CIMG1094.jpg

    CIMG1092.jpg

    'Jumbo' Gracie's Hurricane - FINISHED

    in Battle of Britain 70th Anniversary Group Build

    Posted

    And they’re off!

    Firstly my apologies for not getting the sprue shots exactly as required... I got carried away with painting! So then, on to what’s going on.

    This is going to be a two-plane display using the Airfix 1/48 Hurricane as ‘Jumbo’ Gracie’s mount, with a 1/72 Revell Messerschmitt Bf109 E depicting the aircraft of Lt. Walter Blume of 3/JG 26. Blume was shot down and made POW on August 18, which puts him in the right timeline for Gracie’s Hurricane. They will be displayed on an Airfix ‘Dogfight Doubles’ stand, which is being donated by the Ju88/Hurricane Mk.IIB set – I like the idea of the change in perspective making what I hope will be a realistic 1:1 look.

    Here are the box shots of the component kits:

    CIMG1100.jpg

    The decals for Blume’s Messerschmitt are from Techmod. I always like the unsullied blue/splinter camouflage better than the ones that have been embellished with more patches, splashes or stripes of green over the blue - plus I don't have an airbrush so my life is made a lot easier!! Add in my lucky number 13 and the fact that, like Gracie, JG26 would go on to have a pivotal role in Malta and I think it makes a great companion for my ‘star’ Hurricane.

    TM48080_1.jpg

    Here are the sprue shots after I started painting. The Messerschmitt was simply sanded, filled and washed before applying the posh Revell enamel blue – I got a a six-pack of Luftwaffe colours for £7.99 that are in a satin finish better suited to applying decals than their standard matt paints.

    CIMG1101.jpg

    One thing I have noticed is the totally lousy quality of the canopy parts. There’s flash that seems to be more solid than the actual parts, plus enormous great chunks missing. Hopefully some sanding and trimming will minimise the problem but I guess that’s what you get for £3.99 these days!

    The Hurricane was sanded, washed and given a light dusting of Halfords grey plastic primer. I find that Xtracolor paints lack bite on the plastic without priming them first, but am delighted with how smoothly the Sky went on with the old hairy stick once she was prepped.

    CIMG1103.jpg

    And that’s as far as Day 1 took me. I’m balancing this little lot with work, an ill wife, finishing my Night Fighter GB entries and looking after my stepdaughter – so progress may be slow this week!

    'Jumbo' Gracie's Hurricane - FINISHED

    in Battle of Britain 70th Anniversary Group Build

    Posted

    Hi Troy,

    It's pin the tail on the donkey time! Agreed that the vast majority of squadrons were uniform black but there were those exceptions you listed. Also in the recent FlyPast BoB tribute edition there's a profile for a red, white and blue tricolor spinner on a 601 Squadron Hurri (with a red and white lightning flash down the fuselage!).

    The light-coloured spinners at 85 Squadron threw me, although I gather that they flew with grey undersides which were often oversprayed up to halfway up the cowling. Also 'Ginger' Neil records that red section at 249 Squadron flew with red spinners, which he later reinstated in Malta - when 'Laddie' Lucas got there in January 1942 the first thing he did was to repaint the surviving aircraft's spinner black to avoid drawing unwelcome attention to himself!

    As far as the light-coloured 56 Squadron spinners go, they were certainly light coloured as you say - and that this was fairly uniform across the squadron, most likely Sky. There's also anecdotal evidence that blue section (led by Gracie) was flying with blue spinners when Geoffrey Page was shot down in flames on August 12. At the moment I'm walking a cautious line down the middle and going for the Sky spinner with the blue section leader's stripes across the fin flash, but may yet go for blue.

    Decisions, decisions!!

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