Grey Beema

Can't find it at the moment but there was a film taken on board HMS Formidable of operations in the Pacific. In the background you see a partial view of JX772. When I find it I'll post it..

Sorry my clumsy notation as I copied it from some working notes I have written where I use 99 as a numeric I don't know. JW799 had the tail code W and the side number was 1?? but what was the ?? The aircraft was an 1839 NAS aircraft according to Sturtivant.

GSB and rather "dog eared" according to 5th NFW Diary written by the detachment to Formidable. The detachment provided four Night Fighters and two PR Hellcats. The captain of Formidable had then struck down to the hanger as soon as they landed because they were scruffy compared to his new shiny Corsairs. Also in the diary it says that the Hellcats were regular Hellcats and only two of the four pilots had night carrier landing experience. The PR Hellcats had their guns removed and were polished over the first couple of days on board to get more speed out of them. This is my interpretation of Lt WHI Atkinson's Hellcat JX772 based on the thread posted above.. One day I'll get around to rebuilding it. 2.04.45 Mitsubishi A6M “Zero” Destroyed. Kawasaki Ki61 “Tony” Probably Destroyed, E. coast Formosa. Grumman Hellcat II JW779/W199 (note:- 1839 NAS aircraft) One day I'll rebuild if but before that I need to identify the side number of the aircraft Atkinson flew 02.04.45 2.04.45 Mitsubishi A6M “Zero” Destroyed. Kawasaki Ki61 “Tony” Probably Destroyed, E. coast Formosa. Grumman Hellcat II JW779/W199 (note:- 1839 NAS aircraft) Good luck with your build

This is a great job. I built the Roden 1/48 Sea Gladiator kit and TBH it spent two years in the corner of shame before it got finished. I found it quite mojo sapping. Yours is much better, great job..

Yes, and:- "Skua- The Royal Navy's Dive Bomber -Peter Smith" The Blackburn Skua was notable for a Royal Navy aircraft for the large number of ‘firsts’ she notched up in such a short career: First –monoplane in Royal Naval service; First –all-metal aircraft in Royal Naval service; First –British aircraft to shoot down a Confirmed German aircraft in the Second World War; First –aircraft in the world to sink a major warship by dive-bombing; First –British aircraft to have a bomb-ejector fork for bomb to clear propeller in dive; First –British aircraft with sleeve-valve engine; First –British aircraft to feature Koffman starter gun for engine; First –British aircraft to mount four Browning guns clear of prop. No CC gear; First –British aircraft to feature two-speed propeller (two pitch positions); First –and only aircraft to be fitted with anti-spin tail parachute; First –British aircraft equipped with radio-homing beacon on new VHF; First –British aircraft to have front gun reflector sight; First –British aircraft fitted with oxygen bottles and supply lines.

S.1.E Scheme. Extra Dark Sea Grey / Dark Slate Grey / Sky Grey (similar to Barley Grey)..

Do the leads they are quite prominent. If you don't do them you will always regret it...

I built that kit many years ago too. I remember I motorised it but had to trim down the crank case to fit the prop on...

Nice Firefly, well done, great finish. If you like TSS - you could build the Hellcats, Corsairs, Seafires and Barracudas that were also involved with the RN strikes in 1944... #justasuggestion

Not a Wildcat expert but I think with a 6 gun wing, lip scoop, stepped hub propellor, I'm guessing it's an F4F-4 same as the Tamiya 1/48 job..

RGB figures I have that I used for my inkjet printed markings are:- Roundel red 168/54/54 Roundel Blue 6/20/29 It is interesting though that there isn't really a definitive answer to this. I need to see if I can get hold of Vallejo paint locally... Thanks everybody for taking the time to respond..

Impressive Carl. Really like that thank you. Do you make your own masks? If so how do you go about it?

Just to show, this is how the home printed squadron codes came out. If I had used white decal sheet then the colour might have looked denser but it would have left me with a lot of trimming. Having said that you can see the decal edge. Having said all of this I only need to do one more red code in my projected collection so it might be acedemic now but I would like to know for future reference..

Good call Steve. Possibly, I would have to go and dig out my reference but that's why I'm asking about paint because painted codes would look better anyway. Then again I would have to paint the Roundel too. I am making an assumption that any red squadron codes should match the red of the Roundel. Perhaps that assumption is wrong to start with... The other Issue is that Sovreignhobbys do not post outside the UK...

Thanks WIP, I didn't take the RGB codes from the Tamiya red which I know is too bright. I used e-paint.com I think. I think I will have to experiment with Sovereignhobbies colours, was just hoping there was something I could get locally without having to get them mailed in..