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Hi, The Potez 631 was a night fighter, sometimes called "French Me 110". Was not very successful in 1940 campaign. Model presents machine No 198 (X-967) of Night Fighter Squadron (Escadrille de Chasse de Nuit) 1/13 based on South France, airfield Nimes-Garons shortly after Armistice in summer 1940, very likely in the same scheme she took part in fights. Many of Potez 631 wear doubled roundels on top - small and large, which were adopted successively. Here was a source: I used a mix of decals - some from box and some by Techmod *French Insignia and Potez 63-11 sets) , even small numbers for the the tiny "198" were there in this sense, that in box were decals for machine No 168 from the same squadron (so bat emblem was there as well) . The white bar on fuselage typical for early Vichy machines scheme was in fact introduced already during the 1940 campaign on Potez 63 series just as a fast identification element, though despite it a number of friendly fire cases happened due to mismatch with Me 110... It happend that I visited Nimes 12 years ago. This ia a charming and very beautiful old town with some Roman time buildings in center... But I realized that this particular machine is from Nimes right now, when I am writing the post.... Here it is: Looks that it was in my stash for 17-18 years... This is mine #6 this year finished. Comments welcome Regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Hi, I am continuing reduction of my stash, in particular the French subjects from it. Now the Loire-Nieuport LN 401, the attack-dive bomber. Sometimes called "French Stuka" for her gull wings. Not successful in operational use, though. More on this type one can read here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loire-Nieuport_LN.401 . The Azur kit had to be in my stash for 22 years, since the model appeared in 1998 ( https://www.scalemates.com/pl/kits/azur-a007-loire-nieuport-ln-411--131992 ) , and I bought when it just appeared. The kit is for LN 411 variant, which is de-marinised LN 401, ie. they lost the provision for folding wings and lost arrested hook. I added arrested hook and changed description on tail for LN401 No 4 which presents machine from No 3 from AB2 at Berck (near Calais). I have added a bomb and its rack including the arm for dive bombing which were not present in kit. I added also two MGs in wings and Hispano 404 20 mm, which is only visible in top of spinner. Some small wark was done in coolers, but is not well visible from outside. So in general the kit is done without any armament. following photos I have change a bit shapes of u/c, drilled exhaust etc... EDIT {23.12.2020) Two photos with corrected scheme, high light blue-grey in tail area (it was a mistake before...) Here she is (sorry for the noise on photos, it is very dark today in Krakow...): And two more with other light Comments welcome Regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Hi, Marcel Bloch's bombers are well know due to their ugly shapes, although the smallest and most modern of them - the MB 131 is not that much ugly for me. Despite it relatively short time in service during 1940 campaign in France mostly they served already in trainer role. This particular machine c/n serial: N12 ( code: E-232) served in Toulouse, France, in CIB (Centre d'Instruction au Bombardement = Bomber Training Center). The painting scheme was presented by by T.L. Morosanu (TLM) here http://img.wp.scn.ru/camms/ar/860/pics/21_3_b1.jpg I was following this scheme using Mach 2 kit. Small changes in kit were applied: 1. small corrcion in shapes of rear of fuselage (the very end of fuselage is now wider then fin, the same bulge is now on rudder) 2. propellers are taken from Heller Leo 451 (Heller kit has too small diameter for Leo, but it is OK for Bloch, whereas the Mach 2 props has same pitch, and should have opposite one to another, looking from pilot position the left goes clockwise, right anticlockwise) . Props are rotating 3. the Pitot probes has some distance from front canopy. 4. the bombardier window should have reinforcements so it is cut out and substituted by a piece cut out of side of CD box 5. small inlets are added on top ends of cowlings. The bottom ones are left short (in practice behind the cowlings). The longer bottom inlets (as long as whole cowling) seen for example in many drawing (inc. the mentioned above scheme given by TLM) appears only on photos from Vichy period, I have not seen it on any photo from 1940 or earlier, so I left the short inlets. It looks for me a kind of in filed later modification. 6. added control rods on ailerons (bottom side) Here she is: Comments welcome Regards Jerzy-Wojtek PS. It is # 20 this year!

Corgi issued two styles of packaging for some of their diecast aviation models. Usually they came in a sturdy box, and would contain a display stand and alternative bomb bay and undercarriage options. They would also have a numbered Limited Run certificate as these models were only produced to a limited production run. A selection of their aviation models were also issued in an economy clear plastic blister pack at a lower price, but these models tended to be of a lower standard of assembly and did not include optional position undercarriages as these would be glued in the down position, display stands or Limited Run certificates. My Lysander came in one of these economy blister packs. It came in Western Desert camouflage scheme. I decided to take it apart and add detail to the cockpit and paint the interior. It became the most difficult dismantle job I had attempted on any diecasts, the challenge was removing the main wing assembly which was supported by the cockpit canopy and had the lower fuselage, struts and undercarriage permanently attached, it became a bit of a Chinese puzzle to take apart, and my worry was that I would struggle to get it back together again later. So here we have the main components laid out. It has a very nicely detailed instrument panel wth the rear of the instruments included which you can see through the very clear canopy. I have added some wing supporting structure to the cockpit. It looks like I may have replaced the pilot's head with an Airfix one, this was quite a few years ago now. The canopy is very thin so must take care with that when trying to force wing/undercarriage/lower fuselage structure into position during reassembly. I did eventually get it back together, and then I repainted it in European Theatre camouflage colours and found some suitable decals in my spares. And here she is. This economy model did not have the external ordnance-carrying stub wings so I added these from my spares, I think they came from the old Matchbox Lysander, and also added a suitable bomb load. Corgi usually add some working features to their models and on this one the variable-incidence tailplane is pivoted and moves. I lost the cockpit gunsight during my battle to reassemble it, and there was no way I was going back in there ................ so the pilot will just have to point the aircraft in the direction of the enemy and spray away. Nicely detailed Bristol Perseus XII engine. The propeller spins freely. Exercises with the army on Salisbury Plain. Variable-incidence tailplane in engine start-up position. Airfix AEC Matador truck in background Somewhere in France in 1940, preparing to set off on an armed reconnaissance of the front line. That has been my Corgi Lysander, hope you like it. regards, adey

Hi, In this volume: With plenty of photos of airplanes and wrecks left after 1940 campaign on French airfields there is photo of an airplane (biplane), which is not know event to the authors of the book Anybody recognize what it is? Regards J-W

Hi, Spanish Cierva C 30 was an Autogyro - a kind of precursor of modern helicopters. It was produced under licence in UK by Avro as Rota and in France by LeO C30. The model I made from Azur kit (1/72) required replace of engine and propeller to be a LeO C30 No 32. So this was small conversion, howver later I notice that such like mine version was also issued as limited edition by Azur. Things like that happens.. The engine consists of more than 40 pieces The markings are from French Campaign in May-June 1940. Regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Here is my greek Fairey Battle, the last model I've made. I hope the chipping hasn't been too excessive! I think it is the most realistic 1/72 aircraft I've completed. I started this model by Christmas, but lack of paints delayed it's finishing until very recently. More pics and a full review here; http://toysoldierchest.blogspot.com/2013/09/airfix-fairey-battle-172-ao3032-raf.html