maltadefender
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Posts posted by maltadefender
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Slight change of plan.
I'm going to press on with the Messerschmitt but not the Tomahawk as an entry for this GB.
Having now done as much research as is necessary, I've come to the conclusion that the paints provided in the set are completely and catastrophically wrong for a 112 Squadron Tomahawk. Those aircraft were operated in Temperate Land Scheme with unapproved red spinners (orders seem to have been for Sky), way past the time that the decals in the set depict. Some of the squadron's Tomahawks were eventually repainted in Desert Scheme but this came right at the end of 1941 with the introduction of the GA- squadron codes as well.
The pilot of this aircraft was Neville Bowker, whose daughter remembered him saying that: 'they had to get special permission to repaint on top and under because the colours were wrong for the desert even the colour for the sky looking up at flying aircraft and made them easy to see and it took some time because the ground staff had a fulltime job repairing aircraft. I always laughed about that because the Sharks teeth were enough to attract anything.'
Additionally, the 112 Squadron site notes: There was an Amendment No. 3 to the Directorate of Technical Developments Circular No. 144 dated 10 April 1942 ( note the date ) which formalised Middle Eastern camouflage as Dark Earth/ Mid-Stone/ Azure Blue but specifically noted that spinners (on day fighters that is) were to be Dark Earth ie. camouflage.
Hope nobody thinks I'm breaking with the spirit of the GB but ultimately I bought this kit years ago to depict a specific pair of aircraft and if the Starter Set of a Spitfire only came with yellow and purple paint you wouldn't try and make it up as a squadron aircraft - you'd either do it as a fantasy racer or buy the correct paint!
I am going to build the Tomahawk... but I shall go back to using Xtracolor enamels of the correct shade. As a result only the 109 is going to be part of this GB, sadly.
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It'll take more than a coat or two!
A bad workman blames his tools... so I'll hold my hand up as a bad workman! After painting the spinner I realised that, without primer, the white paint needs three coats plus some touching-up. This meant that, rather than put the white down first, masking it and painting the rest of the fuselage, I thought it best to work in reverse and put the white on last.
Great - except that the very watery paint lifts the masking tape left, right and centre. I am still rectifying what was a very runny mess - just need one more crack at the tail stripe and a bit more work on the slightly bizarre blue for the lower surfaces then I'll be done.
Quite happy with the pre-shading, although the this white paint takes away from it so will attempt a bit of 'post-production'.
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Well, as I said... it's not something I do very much!
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Weekend update has a little less content than I'd hoped for but father-in-law's 70th birthday takes precedence.
Last night I painted the cockpit and assembled it. I didn't take pictures because you've all seen it done more interestingly a million times before. One thing I might add in is painted seatbelts if I can mix a convincing shade for them out of the remaining paints.
There was one score for the carpet monster, which was the gunsight. I painted it beautifully, glued it, put it in place and it stuck to my fingertip. Then fell off down a crack between the cooker and the work surface in the kitchen. As a result of this my plan to have the cockpit candy open is now scuppered and it will be closed. Which is fine - very few aircraft were left in the Sahara with their cockpits open for any great length of time. Enough dust got in as it was.
With the cockpit done I closed up the fuselage, put the main wing elements together and got on with pre-shading. I have very seldom attempted pre-shading, let alone in 1/72, but I felt that with the quality of paints on offer (not great) and in the case of the 109 such a basic scheme to hang my hat on (buff, buff and more buff) it might be best to give it a whirl.
One of the benefits of these paints is that it's quite easy to pre-shade even if you're a bit of a thumbless wonder like me. Whack the black paint on then using a thumbnail clean away the excess. Boom! Here is how it all looked part-way through the 'scratch card technique'.
Having got that far before the second round of 70th birthday celebrations today, the wings and fuselage were mated up at tea time. With all the partying now over I'm typing this as the first coat of blue and buff are drying. Pics to follow.
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Washed all the sprues twice last night. Washed once and tried painting the prop but there was still a filmy residue on it that dispersed the paint. Another wash later and it now seems to be about right.
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I've got a load of Airfix Albatros D.Vs that cost £1.49 each but only the single Alamein set. Clearances were good for the stash but left a void thereafter.
I now have no reason at all to go into the town centre. We had both Antics and Modelzone but both are gone, as is much of the old High Street life. We tend to shop online round these parts which is extremely sad. And now of course everyone who has bought our data now knows what this household buys, when we buy it and what special offer to email us. I get bombarded with special offers on nappies and washing up liquid... makes you wonder what on earth goes on here while I'm at work. Incontinence parties and bubble slides, I think. Or bubble parties and... no, I'll stop there.
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Well now. In the spirit of the GB my plan is to get as far through this little pairing as possible in one weekend... three children, one wife, one mother, one father-in-law's 70th birthday and everything else that life can throw at you in 48 hours notwithstanding.
I've chosen the El Alamein Dogfight Double set because, well, it's the only thing I've got with the required paints, glue and brushes. But I'm also very glad to have this opportunity to build it because otherwise I would procrastinate and build other stuff and it wouldn't get done. Which, having spent only £7.99 for two new tool Airfix models and all the required paints, would be a sin.
And my tools:
I'm calling this build A Good Clean Fight. If you happen to chance across my posts usually Derek Robinson isn't far away and my favourite of all his books is the one set in the Western Desert during 1942 when Hornet Squadron flies Tomahawks and Kittyhawks while the SAS traverses the Sahara in Jeeps and blows up the 109s that refuse to go and fight the Desert Air Force.
As a result I'm fairly laid-back about the paint and decoration of these aircraft. They represent a moment in time that was captured in my favourite novel, and as such I'm fairly relaxed about the details of the models and the various paints and decals I have at my disposal courtesy of Airfix.
On that note, there isn't a cat in hell's chance that the Tomahawk depicted in the set had a white spinner. Looking at the photos, it arrived in North Africa wearing Temperate Land Scheme and was repainted in Mid Stone, Dark Brown and Azure Blue. The spinner - to my eye deciphering the colours - is yellow. So that's how I'm going to paint it. But feel free to join in the debate while I build the Messerschmitt!
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Thank you. I remembered last night that I have the ModelZone 'Alamein' Dogfight Double set of the P-40B and tropicalised 109E.
If the paints have survived storage that's my first choice.
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Do the Gift Sets count, chaps? One of the first kits I built as a smaller person was a Sea Harrier and I've got a yen to do the Dogfight Double Falklands set - which comes with paints, glue and brushes. Either that or a Lightning F.2A
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So apparently no two versions of Indra Lal Roy's life are the same. Depending upon which account you read, he was born variously in 1892, 1898 and 1899, he either went to Balliol or didn't and what the heck he was up to during his service is a mystery apart from the last two-and-a-half weeks.
He didn't go to Balliol, by the way. That was Malik, the Camel pilot. And it looks like 1898 is the lucky number.
I'm not doing all the 'aces' but one or two deserve a bit of attention - or at least clarity, where a combination of factors have obscured things.
Soon be on to the actual construction and maintenance content.
Is anyone else here either going to Shuttleworth this weekend or Stow Maries next month?
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Well I hope that the Ferrari book tickles your fancy, ozo. There's some dynamite stuff in there from team members on the 1976 season in particular that I'd never heard before.
With the S.E.5 it's all been fun so far. The first challenge has been trying to write an interesting type history that doesn't read like the many books that have come before, whilst being accurate and pertinent. It's a reminder that having a particular interest in an aircraft or period is so heavily dependent upon the quality of information and the way it is written - and in that the S.E.5 has been very well served by some extremely diligent and entertaining authors until now. Hopefully I won't drop the ball on that front (no pun intended!)
That part is just about done. The remainder of the content depends upon input from expert restorers, display pilots and original documentation. Again, we're pretty well stocked for expert contributors and I'm not losing sleep over what they can bring to turn ribs, spars and magnetos into strong copy!
I've been unearthing some rather nice photos that I've never seen before. Aerial photos of all the factories in which the type was built for one thing and some extraordinarily photogenic young Brummie girls building S.E.s at the Austin works... one senses the hand of Lloyd George's press bureau at work, selecting only the most winsome seamstresses to be recorded for posterity, but the resulting images are fantastic.
Also, I completed a lifetime's ambition in meeting Derek Robinson and interviewing him about the writing of Goshawk Squadron as the focal point of a thoroughly brilliant afternoon spent yarning about books, flying and all matters in between. They say you should never meet your heroes for fear of disappointment... this one delivered. And then some! I think that this piece will go into a chapter dedicated to the S.E.5 in films, books and modelling - how to appreciate the S.E.5 in your own home, sort of thing. We'll see!
More as and when...
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I'm sure that a U-2 manual won't be too long in coming.
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Well, my first addition to the series is done and dusted: Ferrari 312T series (1975-80, all models). Next up, though, is the one that I really, really wanted to get so I'm delighted to say that work is underway on the S.E.5 (1917-20, all models).
Any thoughts and requests gratefully received. At present, as I said before, I'm working on the basis that there won't be any readers actually planning to restore one and that a lot of potential readers already have a decent stock of books. So while there will be a lot of the sort of content that you would expect from Haynes on the 1:1 aircraft, there will be a chapter on modelling, too. And other things. Can't wait to see how it all comes out.
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Yes hardbacks are problematic aren't they? And a lot of subjects have got fairly authoritative modelling guides already. But on one side far fewer people are going to restore or recreate a 1:1 aircraft than will model it. I know that the manuals are hardly exhaustive in the preparation of engines and airframes but still... they need to look and feel a bit manual-ish don't they?!
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Hi all,
I've seen some thoughts for and against how useful Haynes manuals are for modellers. Has anyone tried the new Sopwith Camel book, and is there anything specific that you would want to see in a future manual?
All thoughts welcome...
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I've been a bit embattled by a wife with a snapped tendon in her wrist, three rather antsy end-of-holidays sprogs and a nasty dose of work. Looking down the barrel of quite a serious week's business at Goodwood next week but then all being well I can crack on a bit after that.
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My cabinet is too small for the Z.1007 or SM.82 that I was hoping to build. Looks like it will be something of more modest proportions.
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Lovely as ever, Tony. Which kit is that?
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Well, it's been a while since the last one, Tony!
Two threads for the Hurricanes isn't bad. I think we're up to 746 for the 'blue' Spits!
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Hi - they're from Malta: the Hurricane Years 1940-41 and Malta: the Spitfire Year 1942. Cracking books.
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'Laddie' Lucas referred to Spitfires being green-blue but generally that can be taken for Sea Scheme and/or the mellowing effects of dark grey shades being spread thinly over Desert scheme and fading in the sun. Never heard it applied to Hurris.
Also, let's not forget, all the aircraft were being flown by blokes who didn't give two hoots about the colours that they were painted. With aircraft being repainted, replaced, blown up and cobbled together at a furious pace under the most intensive bombardment of the war it would have been hard for anyone to keep track.
Photographing them was rare because most people were either keeping their heads down during a raid or working like billy-ho to clear up afterwards. And precious few of the ground crews or store men have been quizzed about it - mainly the pilots, who were somewhat preoccupied at the time.
I am a big fan of Brian Cauchi's book but can't help but smile at some of the correspondence he published between himself and some of the veterans as they politely find ways to say: "I actually haven't got a clue, old chap!"
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Really lovely work on a cracking little kit.
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Back on these two soon. Just the aerials to re-do. The Spit's went baggy after it fell off the stand and the 109's broke when Mr. Fatfingers here was belatedly putting some swastikas on.
Since then I've been travelling for work so looking forward to a couple of clear days to finish off and crack on with the next entry.
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That's made my evening to see - really lovely work.
A Good Clean Fight - Dogfight Double
in Starter Set Group Build II
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Well, this is making me feel 12 years old again. And not in a good way! Really frustrating job on the masking but it's close enough. Can't wait to get back to my own paints!