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Im currently building the Buff/Chamois colored D.520 seen in Lebanon in 1942. Actually there were two aircraft, #’s 302 & 397. While studying the photo’s of the two buff/Chamois colored aircraft seen in Lebanon. One (302) definitely has a broad stripe on top of the port wing. I am assuming its some sort of ID stripe as it wouldn't make much sense to camouflage these like this then add a single wide stripe to one or both wing tops ? Im not sure I can post the open photo’s. So if someone needs/wants to double check/verify my thoughts I will send the photos via D/M. Did the French have/use theater I.D. Bands on top of the wings post Vichy use ? Or were these actually camouflaged and we’ve been wrong all these years ? Please if anyone can help it would be most gratefully acknowledged. Dennis

My entry, the venerable 2 sprue wonder from the 90's. Got the Eduard mask and will be getting the French PE seatbelt set month end to spruce up the cockpit. Probably going for the scheme used during the Battle of France. If my luck holds, I might have a Special Hobby 1/72 Mirage F.1AZ to use as a second entry, depending on whether I get my hands on one that's just landed here. It's going to be a punch up to get one I think !

I wanted to do something less well known or covered for this GB and thanks to @Corsairfoxfouruncle I can. He pointed me at the Hobby 2000 re-release of the Hasegawa Dewoitine D.520. They do two versions, one of them containing three schemes used by French forces in Africa. I was so enamoured I bought two!! This is the box: Oddly, that is the one scheme I won't be doing as it required masking and painting all those stripes yourself and I'm way too slow a builder for that. I will be doing the other two options shown below: Option two looks at first like a standard French air force early war scheme, but check the rudder - that's a French naval aircraft. The other scheme is odd enough that it was just crying out to be built. You can start arguing now whether the Crosses of Lorraine should be red or blue Sprue shots and anything else I think is relevant when the posties have been - each kit, plus a paint set is coming from a different supplier. Allez!! Andy

Hi guys, I will do a Tamiya 1/48 Dewoitine D.520.It will be straight from the box, with the exeption of some PE seatbelts and different decals. The decals are from Aeromaster (set 48-095) Dewoitine D.520 collection part 2. I don't know when I will start it, but I am now commited. At the moment I am still strugeling to finish 3 models for 3 different GB's, and in about 2 weeks time there will start for me another one. Busy,busy busy. Hopefully I can finsh next week 2 models, so the pressure will be a little bit off. Cheers,

Dewoitine D.520C1 n° 277, GC III/6 5ème escadrille l'armée de l'Air, Rayack (Syria), June 1941, flown by Sous-lieutenant Pierre Le Gloan Kit: 1/72 Hasegawa Dewoitine D.520 "French Air Force" Afermarket parts : Eduard #72-254 photo-etched detail set (selected parts only) Falcon vac formed canopy (from the set #26 “France WWII”) Corrections & additions made on the kit: The nose air intakes were originally the wrong shape being too narrow at their forward end. This was corrected with plastic inserts and re-shaping. The louvers were added to the intakes as it can be seen on the photos. The under-belly cooler was too narrow and also not curved enough in outline. It was re-shaped by making two cuts in its rear part, repositioning the rear ends of the cooler sides outward and filling the gaps with Mr.Surfacer. The cooler interior (area covered by the cooler) was completely re-worked by cutting out the flat plastic fragment of the lower wing part and making an appropriate niche instead, as it was on the real thing. Therefore, the etched cooler grills by Eduard (designed to fit the kit parts) became just useless and the replacement parts were finally scratch built. The wing area where the cooler is attached was also modified according to the reference photos. The main wheel wells (too shallow and represented totally wrong on the kit) were completely re-worked, in particular, the niches for the landing gear legs. For the wheel well “ceilings” the Eduard parts were used, with some additions though. The kit parts for the landing gear covers were thinned down and modified for correct appearance. This way they still look much better than the flat etched pieces. The incorrect curved representation of the area under the rear view windows behind the cockpit (à la P-40) was removed and replaced by the flat panels at it was the case with the real thing. Some panel lines were added and some were corrected according to the reference photos. The rear view windows (unfortunately, not present with the Falcon set and too thick as kit parts) were therma-formed using the kit-parts as templates. The main wheels were flattened using the surface of the electric cooker. The etched parts for the gun sight were still too big and this one was eventually scratch built as well. I decided to add the ring gun sight as well, since it can be clearly seen on one of the photos showing this a/c. The kit decals were modified according to the reference photos.