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I’ve wanted to build an accurate model of a specific B-17F for some time and have been trying to collect references on and off for a while now. Instead of all this piecemeal, not particularly scholarly, information, is there a better way? Is there a proper reference volume for the production block variations and field modifications within the B-17F model? I’ve found the “B-17 Production” series by David Gansz, but as far as I know the three volumes only cover the B-17G. Specifically I’m looking for references pertinent to B-17F-35-VE s/n 42-5944. Info from various online sources (which are obviously copied-n-pasted across sources) show: “Delivered Long Beach 28/5/43; Tinker 5/6/43; Presque Is 15/6/43; Orlando 9/7/43; Patterson 19/7/43; Assigned 419BS/301BG Cerignola 16/12/43; Lucera 1/2/44; {46m} Missing in Action Blechhammer 30/6/44 with Chas Dodrill, (10 Returned to Duty); ditched Vis Is, all survive.” I have found no other references or pictures of the specific aircraft, although I have collected some good images and information of other 301BG aircraft and operations. My reason for building this particular aircraft is that years ago I acquired a grouping from the estate of Captain Charles Dodrill. In my collection of WWII uniforms I have his flight jacket, flight suit, field jacket, and other small items related to his time in the 15th Air Force. I’d like to make a model of the plane to display alongside his flight gear.

Found these just now and wanted to share. The B-25G footage was very interesting- that was a LOT of recoil when the 75mm cannon was fired! Enjoy! Mike https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEek5IvGYKg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmyVtoPZ_KI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7XmzaL2xyU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSp4RAlm2rc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5FLZptuMcE

Dear Forumites I'm almost 100% sure that similar question has occured before but UG hasn't help me with it. That's why I decided to ask it here as there are lots of people who have huge knowledge about Spitfires. I have a question about famous "custom" dust filters made by MU in Abou Kir/Abukir. Are there any existing drawings or detail photos? Until recently I thought that there was only one type but my friend, who is currently working on I.R. Gleed's Spitfire Mk.Vb from Africa has told me that there's something "wrong" with Gleed's Spit filter. I've looked at the photos taken during the session with No 601 sqn and noticed that he's right. Abukir filters on "The Winged Sword" Spits have different shape from Gleed's Spitfire. Later I've checked my books about Spitfires and found that there were, at least, two types... 1. Bulbous intake part and very thin aft part of the filter (as per 601 sqn Spits) 2. Bulbous intake part and wider aft part which looks as if they just modified the front part of Vokes filoter leaving the aft part without changes. Thank you for any help. Cheers! Dominik

Heinkel He.111H-6 North Africa (48265) 1:48 ICM via Hannants The He.111 was originated in secrecy, disguised as a civilian transport in the mid-30s, but once Nazi Germany came out of the closet and disregarded the Versailles agreement, it immediately became clear that they were rearming in a major way. The early civilian and military variants had a more traditional stepped canopy, and there is a famous piece of film that is used and reused in documentaries showing a D or "Dora" variant dropping bombs during the Spanish Civil War as part of the Condor Legion, which was Hitler's proving ground for his new designs and Blitzkreig tactics. Various revisions followed until the P, which introduced the now-iconic stepless fully glazed cockpit, which improved both aerodynamics and the pilot's situational awareness. The P series saw limited action in WWII as it was replaced by the more competent H variant, substituting Junkers Jumo 211 engines, detuned to give it the throbbing beat that was to be heard over Britain almost until the end of the war. The H-3 had an improved version of the engine and increased numbers of machine guns for self-defence. As is often the case with wartime development, the end of the Battle of Britain saw the introduction of the H-4 with better engines and external bomb racks. The H-6 also had improvements in design. The Jumo 211 F-1 engine gave it increased performance, and defensive armament was upgraded with one 20 mm MG FF cannon in the nose, one MG 15 in the ventral turret, and in each of the fuselage side windows with some carrying remotely-operated tail-mounted MG 17s. The performance of the H-6 was also improved; the climb rate was higher and the aircraft could reach a slightly higher ceiling, despite its all-up weight increasing. The Kit This is an adaptation of the (relatively) newly-tooled range of 111s from ICM which we reviewed recently, and a rebox with different decals of the European theatre H-6 that we also reviewed in mid 2018. ICM have improved the quality of their products substantially over recent years, and this extends to all their products that we have seen during this time. The kit arrives in their lidded top-opening box with a glossy card lid and painting to top it off, with 11 sprues in medium grey styrene, two in crystal clear styrene, an instruction booklet in line-drawn colour, and a long decal sheet that can be found ensconced within the booklet. On opening the bags, it is very apparent that this is a thoroughly modern tooling, with lots of lovely details, crisp moulding, and some very clever engineering on display. This version also includes torpedoes which the variant used on shipping off the African coast in the Med. Construction starts with the two wing spar parts, which are separated by the gear bay roof assemblies and a walkway part. Additional detail is added to the bulkheads along with the fuselage walkways and a smaller bulkhead toward the tail, with the lower portion of the mid-upper "turret" ring attached to the floor. The cockpit floor is then assembled with rudder pedals, instrument panels, seat and control linkages, slotting into the front spar once finished. An additional chair and the overhead instrument panel are installed later in the build. As a prelude to closing up the fuselage, the tail wheel is fitted together, which has the wheel separate and consists of five parts. Preparation of the fuselage halves involves adding the inserts into the wing roots and making good the join; inserting the paired side windows; adding ammo can racks; radio panel; the pilot's control column, and more glazing in the ventral gondola. The spar/cockpit assembly is then fitted to the starboard fuselage half and the port side is added along with some glue. The rudder is separate and fits to the fin with actuators, then the missing fuselage panels between the spars are added, which of course will need painting and fettling in if you're bothered about the "endoscope brigade". If you are intending to fit the tail armament option then the tail cone will need to be cut off at the marked line and the new one added with a barrel inserted in the small hole. The mid-upper insert is designed to cater for different gun installations, and has a crisp serrated ring moulded-in, with controls and bracing strut added before it is installed into the fuselage opening, closing off much of the rear fuselage. There is no bomb bay interior to this kit, but the side walls are included and add a little structural strength to the assembly before being closed in. At this point the wings are begun, with the lower sides added to the fuselage/spar assembly first. The ailerons are separate, and are built up before the uppers are added, as are the elevators, and the two engines, which are provided in their entirety, along with much of the ancillary equipment and engine mounts. The completed Jumo 211s are fitted to the front of the spars and depending on whether you want to display them or not, and then enclosed by cowling panels, radiators and the intake/outlet ramps. The bottom cowlings can be split to reveal the engine detail, which is a good way of showing off the detail without ruining the lines of the aircraft. The upper wings and ailerons are fitted, the remaining cowling panels with the exhausts are added, with the latter having a decent indent at the tip to simulate being hollow, and finally the nose glazing, which has a machine-gun and the aforementioned overhead instrument panel, which is moulded in clear styrene and is provided with a decal for the instruments. The nose "cone" is a separate clear part, and it too is fitted with a machine gun with a choice of single or twin drum mags and dump bag for the spent brass. Another two MGs are fitted to the front and rear glazing on the gondola, and the mid-upper gun is added to the turret ring, along with the protective clear shroud at the front. A different nose cone is provided if using the heavier armament and a different underside blister noses is included. A new clear rear canopy segment is also included on the new sprue box with a hole for yet another machine gun, a choice of parts for the front glazing of the gondola and a choice of open or closed upper turret is also included. The main wheels are each built up from two halves, and placed between the twin legs that have the main retraction jacks moulded in, and secured with a number of cross-braces between the two legs. An additional ram is fitted within the bay, attached to the rear cross-brace. The gear bay doors fit to the bay sides with large tabs, as do the bomb bay doors if you are using them, and these last parts have the correctly separated four "petals" that are seen on the real thing, rather than a single panel. The props are made up from a single part with two part spinner and back plate, which fit onto the engine's output shaft through the vented front of the cowlings. The weapons included in this boxing give the modeller the choice of a pair of bombs on streamlined pylons that attach over the bomb bay doors and each bomb has fin stiffeners and anti-sway braces to add detail, or a nicely detailed pair of torpedoes that have raised details on the body and a set of steering vanes around the screw. Behind that is a four-louver box-tail that helps with entry into and control once in the water. Markings There are three markings options in this boxing, all of which are desert themed with a base of Afrika Brown RLM79 over RLM78 blue. From the box you can build one of the following: Stab StG3, Libya, Sept 1941 Sonderkommando Blaich, Africa, Jan 1942 2./KG26 Grosseto, Italy Dec 1942 The decals are up to ICM's usual standard and although they're not marks as such, they give the impression that they are by DecoGraph with good registration, sharpness and colour density, and a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. The stencils are dealt with in the front page of the painting instructions on a bare airframe so that they don't clutter up the individual markings options. Conclusion Another impressive Heinkel He.111 from ICM with plenty of detail from the box, crystal clear parts and good quality decals. If you have a hankering for a North African 111, then this might just be for you. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of

Kit - Tamiya 1:48 Paint - Tamiya acrylic & AK Xtreme Metals Decals - Superscale 48-1176 & 455 Extras - Eduard etch placard set & Zoom Set, Ultracast resin seat. NA P-51D-5 Mustang Assigned to Capt. Freddie Ohr 2nd FS, 52nd FG Italy late 1944 Just completed for a Group Build on another forum. Straightforward and effortless kit from Tamiya, been a while since I built a 'D', but as ever it was a joy. Feel free to make any criticism, comments or ask any questions. Hopefully see y'all at the IPMS New Zealand Nationals this weekend if you aren't going to Telford.?. Ian.

There is a photo http://www.americanairmuseum.com/unit/4075 showing the P-38J-10-LO serial 42-67959 factory painted in OD over NG and sporting individual code S on the tailboom. At this very moment the aircraft belonged to the 20th FG in the UK. Then it was passed to the 82nd FG in Italy and finally lost over Munich in January 1945 (the pilot, J.A. Garmon, was KIA). Do you think that this particular a/c retained her OD/NG camo when flying in the 15th AF in 1944 or was she stripped off the paint to the NM finish? Are there any photos known of the 12th and 15th AF "bearded" P-38J/Ls in OD/NG ? I know there's one profile here http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/f/298/3/0 covering "Elaine III" of Capt. Jack Walker but I don't believe the profiles as long as I don't see the photos... Cheers Michael

One of the few (and perhaps best known) Hudson units operating over the MTO was Australian-manned No.459 Squadron. These Hudsons (Cyclone-engined Mk.III and Mk.IIIA as well as TwinWasp-engined Mk.V and Mk.VI) had RAF serials, of which some 80-90 are known. Last pictures of these a/c, taken in early 1944, show most of them in high-demarcation anti-submarine RAF Coastal Command scheme of Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey (Temperate Sea scheme) over White. But in the web there are also photos from earlier period, showing the a/c in low-demarcation scheme. I would like to know your opinion, whether these planes wore Temperate Land Scheme (DG/DE over Sky), earlier Temperate Sea Scheme (EDSG/DSG over Sky), Transport Command scheme (EDSG/DSG over Azure) or Desert Scheme (DE/MS over Azure). Some of them feature more contrasted areas, some are less-contrasted, so.... The photos I mention depict: T9397 Mk.III http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/459-Hudson/P007594 and http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/459-Hudson/P990152 V8998 Mk.III http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/459-Hudson/P892238 AE510 Mk.III http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/459-Hudson/P027089 FH242 Mk.IIIA http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/459-Hudson/P027085 FH257 Mk.IIIA http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/459-Hudson/P007596 FH285 Mk.IIIA http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/459-Hudson/P027092 FH292 Mk.IIIA http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/459-Hudson/P027088 FH300 Mk.IIIA http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/459-Hudson/P016921 FH351 Mk.IIIA http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/459-Hudson/P027084 as well as the unidentified a/c featuring nose art http://www.adf-gallery.com.au/gallery/459-Hudson/P007597 As the "anti-sub" planes belong to the same batch FH227-FH459 it looks almost sure, that white undersurfaces and fuselage sides were introduced "in field" over the previous low-demarcation scheme. But this is only my opinion, however... Cheers Michael

When the Bf One-ten is done, I'll start building a Sword Seafire IIc here. I'm either doing one of the kit supplied decal schemes or, if I can get myself convinced to buy a set for an HMS Formidable based bird, I'll do that. No big difference in paint schemes, though! V-P EDIT: Will do just the Frankeseafire 1b in this GB and the IIc in the MTO GB

So these are my completed entry's for the MTO GB, a thoroughly enjoyable group build full of fantastic and inspiring builds.... pop along and have a look! This was supposed to be a triple build, however life got a little in the way so my time was shortened.... I really wanted to post a topic on Christmas day called "we three twins" witty arn't I! Any way I digress.... here is a link to the wip for more info So first up for your festive perusal is a SAAF b-26 marauder that flew from Italy with no 2 squadron. The transfers are from the Xtradecals sheet "med twins", Tony O'toole helped with the set and gave a good few pointers on some of the options, what a great guy offering out his knowledge freely! Hope the back starts to improve mate.... anyway the kit is the rather old, but really rather very good, airfix in 1/72. Internal detail is very nice and there is lots of it, it goes together fine no major issues (well maybe apart from the engine necklace's) and the external details are nicely done but made of both raised and engraved panel lines. Here s how she ended up... V-Viking Untitled by robert mulvey, on Flickr Untitled by robert mulvey, on Flickr Untitled by robert mulvey, on Flickr Untitled by robert mulvey, on Flickr Untitled by robert mulvey, on Flickr Untitled by robert mulvey, on Flickr Paints were tamiya and weathering was done using micromesh between coats to create colour fade/bleaching, mixing my own shade of olive to highlight panels and using pastels to fade areas and desaturate roundels etc.... So next up is "bottoms up II" which crash landed in corsica, it's my first try at a US aircraft (since I was a child I should add) and a NMF. I do love this scheme and it was picked by my wife! It popped up when I was looking for options to do in the GB and she found it funny... I said it looked like her, and she is a yoga teacher and we'll. ... here she is Untitled by robert mulvey, on Flickr Lucky guy.... And here is the rest of it! Untitled by robert mulvey, on Flickr Untitled by robert mulvey, on Flickr Untitled by robert mulvey, on Flickr Untitled by robert mulvey, on Flickr Untitled by robert mulvey, on Flickr The kit is the italieri 1/72 b-25 j/h not a bad kit goes together ok, detail is ok.... its ok.... I could have done better as well to be fair... paints were citidal for the NMF using a couple of shades to get panel variation and a little bit of humbrol, for the other colours. Pastels again to weather the transfers panels etc... Merry Christmas all C & C welcome Rob

On July 9th, 1943 Allied transports took off from Tunisia with 144 assault gliders in tow in the opening move of Operation Husky, the invasion Sicily. The assault gliders, 136 Waco CG-4/Hadrians and 8 Horsas, were to deliver 2075 troops of the British 1st Airlanding Brigade in a daring night time assault to secure the Ponte Grande Bridge. The story of the assault can be seen here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ladbroke but the 1st Airlanding Brigade would run afoul of bad weather, friendly fire, poor nighttime navigation and a lack of communication between the gliders and their tugs. Released at the wrong point, 65 of the assault gliders failed to make landfall and ditched in the nighttime sea. The remaining gliders were scattered, and only a dozen gliders hit the landing zone. Of the remaining gliders only 59 more reached Sicily but some missed the LZ by as much as 25 miles. Regardless, the 1st Airlanding Brigade was able to take the bridge (with a force totaling only 87 men) and hold it until they ran out of ammunition. The Italian forces then retook the bridge but they where unable to demolish the bridge because the 1st Airlanding Brigade had removed the demolition charged the Italians had rigged on the bridge. In a small tribute to the brave men of the 1st Airlanding Brigade I will build the 1/72 Revell Waco CG-4/Hadrian in the markings of the craft used in Operation Ladbroke. (Which, oddly, are USAAF markings as the Waco gliders were "loaned" to the British for this operation) The kit it self is an older Revell offering (does anyone know the release date?), very basic interior but some nice "fabric" work covering the wings and fuselage. The first step is to glue in some flat stock along some of the edges of the fuselage halves to avoid the thin butt joints that the kit has. I hope that you will enjoy the build. Greg in OK

Just laying my place marker for this group build. With my Hurricane Mk.IId all but done, I just need to clear a few smaller builds and I can get stuck in. Perhaps unsurprisingly this will include a pair of P-40's, one Brit and one South African, and an Italian based P-51. It was also going to include an SAAF Marauder, unfortunately when I tried to remove the tissue paper from the decals they acted more like rub on transfers than water-slide . I may still manage to sort something out but I think I may be out of luck...

And at last it's time for this much awaited group build. My contribution will be a SAAF 16 Squadron Martin Maryland based at Addis Ababa, Abyssinia in mid 1941, which isn't exactly North Africa, but I got approval to build it. I'm 99% sure I'll be building a Maryland with serial 1604 for which I have a nice color profile as well as b/w photo (along with a/c log details and plenty "stories") in Graeme Gibson's excellent book Path of Duty about 16 Squadron's journey from 1939 to 1943. Off course I cannot post the profile and photo because of copyright. There were two Marylands active with 16 Sqn at the time (1603 & 1604) and was used for recce, bombing, strafing and also for dropping propaganda leaflets on the Italian's. 1604 was written of on 20 June after crashing on the aerodrome. As far as I understand these were Maryland Mk.I's originally intended for the French before the armistice, which means I have to make some slight modifications to the Mk.II kit. The props of these Mk.I's were Hamilton Standard's with diagnostic cuffed blades, which means I will have to try put cuffs on the props (already having nightmares because if that ). There's less aerials on the Mk.I, but that's an easy fix, and the paint scheme is a bit of a mystery. As far as I can figure out these were still in the French scheme when delivered to the SAAF - olive drab over light blue grey - vs. the one's intended for the British which were dark green / dark brown over sky. Apparently the SAAF *may* have applied a "chocolate brown" to the Maryland's uppers in the theatre, but I don't think there's solid proof of this. I chose to paint my subject olive drab over light blue grey like the profile of 1604 in Path of Duty. Hopefully that's enough info to peak your interest in this subject. And with that's here's the kit I'll be building. And here are some sprue shots (suprisingly low part number for a bigger kit) The clear parts And some resin bits These are the decals I'll be using. Since I'm not aware of any decals for the subject I'm building, I have sourced all the necessary markings from different sheets. These sheets provide me all the decals I'll need. And I received these for the fuselage numbers. These Maryland's didn't carry fuselage codes apart from serials. And here is the instruction sheet. Not the best but I'm sure I'll figure it out. Can't wait to get started. Cheers Jimmy