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Here's my build of the ESCI 1/48 Aermacchi MB-326K Impala in early SAAF colors. Despite it being an old kit from 1981, it has fine recessed panel lines and a good fit. The only shortcoming is the cockpit with no details and an inaccurate ejection seat, hence the use of the Neomega resin cockpit and Wolfpack MB MK6 ejection seat. Painting was done using Hataka lacquers and sealed with a coat of Alclad II Klear Kote Matte. Build pictures here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjB7tq8

Built for our Club's "Mig Killer" competition, here's my take on Mirage F1-CZ "213" of 3 Squadron, South African Air Force. On 6 November 1981, Major Johan Rankin shot down a MiG-21 of the Angolan Air Force whilst flying "213" Kittyhawk's Mirage F1 kit in 1/48 finished off with a variety of aftermarket bits and pieces, and some elbow grease. Master Pitot tube Yahu Instrument panel Ejection Seat Reskit R550 Magic missiles Reskit Wheel set (the wheels in the kit are too large) Reskit Exhaust Paint scheme was completed with an assortment of Mr Colour acrylics, A-stand metallics and Hataka Lacquers for the camouflage. Markings came from the Albatross Models Dark Mirages decal sheet, and a Coastal kits display base was used as a foundation for the presentation Standard walkaround... ,,,with four from the top Thanks for looking mike

Hello all, This is the first time I've posted a WIP to Britmodeller. I happen to have 3 copies of the 1/48 scale Revell Ventura kit, one being the early PV-1, the other two being the RAF Ventura II boxing. Originally, I wanted to build a South African Air Force Maritime patrol Ventura, but this soon mushroomed into the RAF Venturas, one of which would have a 4-gun Boulton – Paul turret. The desired outcome is one RAAF Ventura with a 4 -gun turret in the Temperate Land Scheme, a RAF special duties Ventura with Dark Earth / Light Stone / Night scheme, and a SAAF PV-1 in Dark Sea Grey / PR Blue or Sky paint, and Vokes filters. Differences between the versions: Type Operator Nose turret Engines Other Scheme PV-1 SAAF solid none Vokes Filters External racks DSG / Sky / PR Blue Ventura II RAAF glass 4-gun BP DE / DG /Sky grey Ventura II RAF glass 2-gun BP DE / LS / Night Project plan: Source new decal sheets (castle and springbok) for SAAF Ventura. Obtain an additional set of propellers to replace the incorrect ones in the PV-1 boxing. Swap PV-1 upper turret mount with one of the RAF Venturas, and blank this off for SAAF build. Convert the bomber versions to single pilot operation, add detail to the W/Op compartment on all three. Add details to the bomber version noses. Correct the engine nacelle fronts, add Vokes filters to the SAAF build nacelles. Install the Boulton – Paul turret in the PV-1 upper turret mount, add to the Aussie Ventura. Source an ADF football for the SAAF Ventura. Plunge mould some teardrop bubbles for the Bomber Venturas. First, an overview of the kit(s) Decals sourced from MAVdecal in South Africa. I don't necessarily adhere to the build process in the instructions. It's a man thing, so bear with me! I re-profiled the Nacelle fronts , just to see what they looked like! The one on the right has been re-worked.

Here's my depiction of a SAAF Mirage F1AZ of 1 Squadron during the 1980’s. The old ESCI kit from 1984 was used as a base and the following aftermarket sets were added: ScaleWorx (SW48-07) – Mirage F1AZ conversion kit L'Arsenal Aero (AC 48 46) - ALKAN 915 and 916 pylons for Mirage F1 Eduard (48799) - Mirage F.1B exterior Master (AM-48-030) - Dassault Mirage 3/5 Pitot tube Pavla Models (S48036) - MB.Mk 4-FIRM4 ejection seat ResKit (RSU48-0038) - Dassault Mirage F1 exhaust nozzle Rafalik (RS006) - Mirage F1 wheel wells and doors ResKit (RS48-0060) - Matra-155 Rocket launcher POD Eduard (648322) - Matra R-550 Magic ResKit (RS48-0035) - Dassault Mirage F1 wheels set Eagle Strike Productions decals (48254) - Mirage F1 Part 1 FFSMC Productions decals - SAAF 1/48 "SAAF Mirage F1AZ et F1CZ" Main Colors - Hataka Hobby (HTK-CS50) South African Air Force paint set vol. 1 Painting was done using Hataka lacquers from the South African Air Force paint set, the main colours are Deep Buff (C204), Olive Drab (C146) and the underside Light Admiralty Grey (C205). The whole aircraft was then finished with a coat of Tamiya semi-gloss varnish. Build photos here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAM3Xz

Mirage F.1 AZ/CZ South African Air Force (72435) 1:72 Special Hobby The Dassault Mirage F.1 has been a successful point defence fighter for over thirty years, and was developed initially as a private venture by Dassault as a replacement to their ageing Mirage III fighters. It is a single-engined, single-seat fighter aircraft with a high-mounted delta wing and capability of reaching mach 2.2 in short order. Power was provided by a single SNECMA Atar turbojet providing about 7 tonnes-force (69 kN; 15,000 lbf) of thrust. Dassault soon found an eager customer in the shape of the French Armée de l'air, who bought various versions over the years starting on 1974. The French retired the Mirage F.1 in 2014. The SAAF flew both the Mirage F1AZ ground-attack version as well as the radar-equipped Mirage F1CZ fighter. The F1AZ has a laser-based rangefinder and features an integrated ground-attack system. Both types we retired in the 1990s. Gabon had purchased 6 ex SAAF aircraft. The Kit This is a reworking of the superb new tool kit from Special Hobby. This boxing has extra parts for the AZ version. There is also some small resin parts for the "lumps & bump" and the engine shock cones. The parts are crisp with engraved panel lines deep enough not to disappear under a coat of paint, but not trench like. From the parts break down on the sprues it is evident more versions are on there way. Construction starts conventionally enough in the cockpit area. The instrument panel and coaming is built up and attached to the front of the cockpit, the rear bulkhead is attached, and the control stick added in. For some strange reason step 3 in the instructions has you placing the cockpit inside the fuselage and closing it up; and step 4 has you adding the front wheel well and exhaust into the fuselage. I would safely say that it's best to reverse these. On the subject of the exhaust, it is a three part affair and the quality of the kit parts is very good. Once the exhaust, front wheel bay, and cockpit are in the main fuselage can indeed be closed up. Once the main fuselage is together the correct nose can be added for your chose decal option. Various nose antenna are added along with the front airbrakes which are moulded in the closed position. The engine intakes are also added at this stage. New parts are provided for the shock cones in resin and some surgery is needed which will be tricky. Next the main wings are added which are of conventional upper/lower construction. Once these are on the rudder, tail planes, and ventral strakes are all added as well. Once the main aircraft is built it is time to switch to the landing gear. All three units are built up and added along with their respective doors. The undercarriage is quite detailed but has been moulded to be in as few parts as possible. The main legs along with their retraction struts are one part, with only a single small section needed for each of the mains. The wheels are one part each and have nice relief for painting. It is then a quick re-visit to the cockpit to build the ejection seat. For the scale this is quite detailed with 4 parts making up the seat. There is a choice of seat back/cushion however no indication of which to use for which option. It is suspected these options are time frame based, and the modeller should check their references. The penultimate step is to add the pylons. A single centre line pylon is added along with wing pylons, &chaff dispensers. Thankfully this time the instructions show which should be added for each decal option. The instructions show only fuel tanks to be attached, although the sprues do contain a nice selection of weapons to be deployed as the modeller sees fit,. Lastly the canopy and front screen are attached. Markings There are four decal options on a sheet from Cartograf so there will be no issues there. 1. F.1AZ 229 No.1 Sqn SAAF, Hoedspruit 1976-1997 (Buff & Green over grey) 2. F.1AZ 229 No.1 Sqn SAAF, Hoedspruit 1990s (Dark Earth & Green over grey) 3. F.1CZ 213 No.3 Sqn SAAF, Ondangwa. On 6th Nov 1981 Maj J Rankin shot down an Angolan MiG-21 in this aircraft. (Buff & Green over Grey) 4. F.1CZ 203 "Le Spectre" No.3 Sqn SAAF, Ondangwa. On 5th October 1982 Maj J Rankin shot down his second Angolan MiG-21 in this aircraft (Grey / blue grey over grey) 5. Slightly different later markings to the aircraft at 4, complete with Angolan Roundel below the cockpit. Conclusion It is great to see more versions of this new tool from Special Hobby becoming available. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hello everyone... I will be building the Hasegawa Mirage F.1C in the markings of the South African Air Force circa late 1970’s. This will be my first mirage since 1987, I built the Monogram Mirage 2000 in 1/48 then. The markings I have currently, But these decals from MAVDecals are on there way from South Africa. It all remains to be seen which I will use. Here with the sprue shots. Spare decals. I had considered and still am to some degree a Libyan version. The national markings are pretty simple with solid green roundels and flag on tail. Please feel free to ask questions, post comments or add thoughts. Dennis

As the title says Im Looking for generic codes to do a Hurricane IIc from 336 squadron of the D.A.F. They look like this. As an alternative does anyone make decals for this IIc from a South African AF squadron ? Trying to find options for current Hurricane build. Thanks in advance ? Dennis

I am after when the South African Air Force P-40 Kittyhawks arrived in South Africa, either that or to let people have a good idea when most of them arrived. This is the list I am working from, RAF / SAAF / USAAF serials. Ia (P-40E-1) EV151 / 5001 / 41-36405 EV153 / 5002 / 41-36407 EV154 / 5003 / 41-36408 EV155 / 5004 / 41-36409 EV157 / 5005 / 41-36411 EV163 / 5006 / 41-36417 EV164 / 5007 / 41-36418 EV165 / 5008 / 41-36419 ET759 / 5009 / 41-36113 ET772 / 5010 / 41-36126 ET774 / 5011 / 41-36128 ET753 / 5012 / 41-36107 ET760 / 5013 / 41-36114 ET758 / 5014 / 41-36112 ET761 / 5015 / 41-36115 ET762 / 5016 / 41-36116 EV343 / 5017 / 41-36597 EV353 / 5018 / 41-36607 EV341 / 5019 / 41-36595 EV354 / 5020 / 41-36608 EV357 / 5021 / 41-36611 EV358 / 5022 / 41-36612 III P-40K-10 / FR426 / 5023 / 42-9958 P-40K-10 / FR427 / 5024 / 42-9959 P-40K-10 / FR428 / 5025 / 42-9960 P-40K-10 / FR431 / 5026 / 42-9967 P-40K-10 / FR432 / 5027 / 42-10053 IV 15 lost at sea, SAAF 5028 to 5042 P-40N-1 / FT898 / 42-104805 P-40N-1 / FT899 / 42-104806 P-40N-1 / FT900 / 42-104807 P-40N-1 / FT901 / 42-104809 P-40N-1 / FT902 / 42-104810 P-40N-1 / FT903 / 42-104811 P-40N-1 / FT904 / 42-104812 P-40N-5 / FT907 / 42-104869 P-40N-5 / FT908 / 42-104870 P-40N-5 / FT909 / 42-104871 P-40N-5 / FT911 / 42-104873 P-40N-5 / FT912 / 42-104874 P-40N-5 / FT913 / 42-104875 P-40N-5 / FT914 / 42-104876 P-40N-5 / FT916 / 42-104878 P-40N-5 / FT905 / 5043 / 42-104866 P-40N-5 / FT906 / 5044 / 42-104867 P-40N-1 / FT895 / 5045 / 42-104802 P-40N-1 / FT888 / 5046 / 42-104795 P-40N-1 / FT897 / 5047 / 42-104804 P-40N-1 / FT891 / 5048 / 42-104798 P-40N-1 / FT892 / 5049 / 42-104799 P-40N-1 / FT893 / 5050 / 42-104800 P-40N-1 / FT887 / 5051 / 42-104794 P-40N-1 / FT890 / 5052 / 42-104797 P-40N-1 / FT883 / 5053 / 42-104790 P-40N-1 / FT884 / 5054 / 42-104791 P-40N-1 / FT894 / 5055 / 42-104801 P-40N-1 / FT896 / 5056 / 42-104803 P-40N-1 / FT889 / 5057 / 42-104796 P-40N-1 / FT885 / 5058 / 42-104792 P-40N-1 / FT886 / 5059 / 42-104793 P-40N-5 / FT917 / 5060 / 42-104879 P-40N-5 / FT910 / 5061 / 42-104872 P-40N-5 / FT918 / 5062 / 42-104880 P-40N-5 / FT915 / 5063 / 42-104877 P-40N-5 / FX507 / 5064 / 42-105076 P-40N-5 / FX498 / 5065 / 42-105065 P-40N-5 / FX506 / 5066 / 42-105075 P-40N-5 / FX503 / 5067 / 42-105071 P-40N-5 / FX504 / 5068 / 42-105072 P-40N-5 / FX502 / 5069 / 42-105070 P-40N-5 / FX505 / 5070 / 42-105074 P-40N-5 / FX501 / 5071 / 42-105069 P-40N-5 / FX500 / 5072 / 42-105067 P-40N-5 / FX499 / 5073 / 42-105066 P-40N-5 / FX519 / 5074 / 42-105184 P-40N-5 / FX520 / 5075 / 42-105185 P-40N-5 / FX518 / 5076 / 42-105183 P-40N-5 / FX521 / 5077 / 42-105186 P-40N-5 / FX525 / 5078 / 42-105190 P-40N-5 / FX522 / 5079 / 42-105187 P-40N-5 / FX523 / 5080 / 42-105188 P-40N-5 / FX527 / 5081 / 42-105198 P-40N-5 / FX524 / 5082 or 3 / 42-105189 P-40N-5 / FX526 / 5082 or 3 / 42-105197 P-40N-20 / FX651 / 5084 / 43-22870 P-40N-20 / FX655 / 5085 / 43-22881 P-40N-20 / FX657 / 5086 / 43-22884 P-40N-20 / FX649 / 5087 / 43-22867 P-40N-20 / FX653 / 5088 / 43-22873 P-40N-20 / FX650 / 5089 / 43-22868 P-40N-20 / FX654 / 5090 / 43-22878 P-40N-20 / FX656 / 5091 / 43-22883 P-40N-20 / FX648 / 5092 / 43-22865 P-40N-20 / FX652 / 5093 / 43-22871 P-40N-15 / FX603 / 5094 / 42-106111 P-40N-15 / FX632 / 5095 / 42-106231 P-40N-15 / FX633 / 5096 / 42-106233 P-40N-15 / FX641 / 5097 / 42-106245 P-40N-15 / FX645 / 5098 / 42-106254 P-40N-20 / FX675 / 5099 / 43-22923 P-40N-20 / FX686 / 5100 / 43-22941 P-40N-20 / FX823 / 5101 / 43-23919 P-40N-20 / FX824 / 5102 / 43-23920 P-40N-20 / FX825 / 5103 / 43-23921 P-40N-20 / FX826 / 5104 / 43-23922 P-40N-15 / FX615 / 5105 / 42-106127 P-40N-20 / FX696 / 5106 / 43-22957 P-40N-20 / FX681 / 5107 / 43-22934 P-40N-15 / FX647 / 5108 / 42-106257 P-40N-15 / FX605 / 5109 / 42-106114 P-40N-15 / FX604 / 5110 / 42-106113 P-40N-20 / FX720 / 5111 / 43-23175 P-40N-15 / FX618 / 5112 / 42-106212 The mark II were P-40K and M, the mark IV P-40N. The report on Imports from North America says South Africa received 16 mark Ia in June 1942 and 6 in July. Imports cease until 9 in July 1943, then 27 in August, 10 in September, 10 in December and 4 in March 1944. For a total of 22 Ia, 4 III and 56 IV. The monthly figures do not give mark numbers but the summary states all imports September 1943 onwards were mark IV. Mark IV production began in April 1943. The first contradiction is the list has 1 more mark III than the import report, worse is the mark III are P-40K which went out of production in December 1942 and the serials actually indicate they were produced in early November 1942. To make up for the 15 mark IV lost at sea another 15 were diverted from shipments to North Africa, something the import report has missed, looking at the delivery logs the diversions seem to be SAAF 5094 to 5100 (7) and 5105 to 5112 (8). P-40 production for the RAF and SAAF ceased in December 1943, the agreement seems to have been 50 per month on average from August 1942 onwards (52.3 average for the 17 months), RAF and SAAF imports in 1944 were, January to April, 75, 14, 1, 4. It is tempting to assume the February and March 1944 imports were South African, joining the April ones, but no proof of this so far. Allow the assumption the entries in the import report are correct except for the mark IV diversions and it gives, July/August 1943 the 5 mark III and 46 mark IV 5028 to 5073, less 15 lost at sea 5028 to 5042, total 31 IV, in August SAAF 5074 to 5083, in December SAAF 5084 to 5093, in April 1944 SAAF 5101 to 5104. The import report covers all mark I and Ia for The British Empire/Commonwealth, then mark II onwards for the RAF and SAAF. Of the 2,143 P-40 accepted in the US 2,061 arrived. Looking at the published references and the delivery logs, 78 are confirmed as lost at sea, leaving a difference of 3. Mark I AL100 was lost at sea, another mark I and another 2 mark IV on top of the 15 listed above need to be lost at sea/lost in transit to agree with the import report total.

These are some pics of the Airfix Hurricane Mk.I Trop. I built this one together with my daughter, whose favourite WW2 fighter is the Hurricane, since we visited Old Warden in May 2019.. I think the Hurricane looks more impressive with 4 cannon, so I bought some Master cannon to make it look like a MK.IIC. Actually, the topside of the wing would have to be changed as well, but I decided to let that be... The markings are form Xtradecal set X48149, a Hurricane MK.IIC of 1 sqn, SAAF, September 1942. For painting I used Vallejo Acrylics, mainly dark earth, middle stone and azure blue. Hope you like the pics. Gerben

Here's my latest completion, started just before lockdown but finished the other day. It's the KP Vc "Aces" boxing, but the kit comes with all the parts for "going troppo" so I added a bomb from Eduard spares and the decals from the old Airfix Vc to build the SAAF 4-cannon version. As always, the KP (like the related AZ) model went together fine if not click-together like Eduard. I painted in Gunze upper surfaces with xtracrylics for the Azure Blue (which seems completely different in my photos to on the model!). I also used some Xtracrylics Dark Earth on the cannon covers, but the contrast wasn't as strong as I hoped or I've achieved before - on the famous line astern photo of the squadron you can see the cannon covers are clearly much darker than the rest of the dark camouflage areas. I also dulled down the whole plane with a Humbrol enamel sand wash to give a dusty desert feel. That worked but I had a bit of a trauma with the rear view mirror, in the end it was fixed with an Eduard spare but the repairs cascaded into having to rub down and polish the canopy and touch up the fuselage roundels. I also had to respray the front areas of the fuselage several times after the exhaust ended up looking like a catastrophic oil leak. It's still been run a lot richer than I'd like to see, perhaps the fitter will be on a charge? As a result of fixing these cock-ups (none the fault of the kit) the canopy has a weird crazed area in certain lights or angles, hopefully disguised in my pictures! So its not my best effort to date but there's still fifty or so Spitfires in the stash; so each mistake can lead us to a higher plane of enlightenment, perhaps... Here's my version of the famous head on shot, though not in flight and without the pilot gurning at the camera! As you can see the contrast on the cannon covers is a bit lacking, maybe as they're a bit glossier than the rest of the airframe in the original photo. I also thought a DAF fighter would avoid the annoyance of the usual yellow leading edge stripes but instead they wrapped the Azure Blue round, admittedly slightly easier to achieve. The original photo shows lighter tape over the redundant 303 ports so these are some painted decals. They definitely aren't red in the original, but whether dirty white, band-aid pink or a poor match of blue is probably lost to history now. Back to the Eduard VIII in the STGB now... Cheers Will

South African Air Force in East Africa WWII Vol.1 (D72036) 1:72 SBS Model This set is for the Gloster Gladiator and Curtis Mohawk Mk IV used by the SAAF in East Africa during WWII. There are decals for two Mohawks and two Gladiators. There are enough markings on the sheet to build all 4 schemes, Mohawk Mk IV 2522 "Northern Transvaal", 4 Sqn Kenya 1941 Mohawk Mk IV 2524, 3 Sqn 1941 Gladiator Mk II, N2287 / E, 3 Sqn Gladiator Mk II, N5813 Kenya 1940 Conclusion This is a good sheet with unusual aircraft used in East Africa by the SAAF. The decals look to be in register, colour dense and should pose no problems. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of Insert other media

I started this one as part of the Maritime Patrol and Coastal Command Group Build earlier this year, but was unable to finish in time due to lack of enough free time. I did however push on to eventually finish it. The WIP thread is here. Cheers Jimmy

I'd like to join this GB with this kit. I intend to build a WWII SAAF Ventura with it. I have only done about 45 mins of research so far, but I think that I should be able build a SAAF Ventura from this kit, with relatively minor modifications. I do believe it was used for maritime patrol, so should fit nicely into the criteria of this GB. I'll post the mandatory sprue shots as well as some reference photos later. Cheers Jimmy

Hi, A second Ju-86 of my shelf. Together with high altitude recce version (Ju 86 R1, which I posted recently) I did also much smaller conversion of civil Z-2 into Z-7 converted then into bomber in South Africa. Depicted "647" was one of such machines. She served in 12 Sq of SAAF, Ethiopia 1941 acting against Italians, I guess. There are discrepencies in sources on top wing roundls ("A1" or "B" - I have chosen A1 roundels, since on some poor quality photos those marks has some bright fragments which can be interpreted as sight of white form A1 mark. Now there is a conversion by Kora, but I did it in 2002, and those days I did not know if there was any ready conversion, so it own work. The nose symbol is hand painting on decal, other decals are from a drawer. Brush painting. Please enjoy and comments are welcome Regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Hello guys, Here is my attempt at he Eduard Spitfire Mk.IX, in the colours of the n°40 Squadron SAAF. Sicily, 1944. She's missing her serial, MK151, will add it later. The Eduard kit builds nicely and easy, except that I somewhat screwd the pouch with landing gear well parts and had an issue with the legs fixture parts. The port side angled camera is scratchbuild. Paints used are Gunze acryls and Xtracrylics for the Azure blue undersides. Hope you'll like her, crits and comments most welcome. Cheers,, stef (#6) (Click images to enlarge)

Hi peeps, Here's my latest completion for the year; High Planes 1/72 Atlas Cheetah two-seater kit completed as "860", a Cheetah B built from a Nesher T airframe obtained from Israel. The HPM kit isn't all that bad, the plastic parts are easy to work with although my kit is one of the older issues with the overly wide panel lines. The resin parts were also easy to use although the biggest challenge was the LERX extensions as they're not a great fit to the wing after you've cut-out the corresponding areas so plenty of filler and elbow grease is needed to get a good appearance! I also declined to use the provided resin tail fin and ejector seats. For the former I used the plastic part so the panel lines matched the rest of the airframe as those on the resin tail are quite fine and looked out of place and for the ejector seats I used two modified MB Mk 10's from a Special Hobby Mirage F-1C kit I had in stock. I used the kit decals although I substituted Springbok roundels from Xtradecal's Mirage F-1 single seater decal sheet for the later Eagle ones supplied with the kit. Paints were Humbrol throughout with 125 Gunship Grey as the main colour. WIP shot which I've already posted in another thread: Completed shots: Comments welcome! Mike.

Has anyone ever re-visited a build from years ago, and decided to make some amendments? I built and shared here on Britmodeller a SAAF T-6 Harvard back in 2015. It had a tiny version related error on the rudder, which I back then decided to live with. However recently I've decided to correct the mistake, as well as make a new diorama for the Harvard. And with the Photobucket debacle (what I'm calling it) the original thread does not show the photos anymore, so I've decided to share some new photos of the amended build. And this is the real life subject photographed back then Cheers Jimmy

First I have ever seen with a Malcolm Hood Also see she carries louvres over the breather plates https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154982663535025&set=gm.1950113208573917&type=3&theater

Fancy that ! I was so busy thinking about what to build next that I missed the start of the GB - doesn't bode well........ I'm going to have a go at building a Cheetah C using the Heller Mirage C/B as a base with the Spinners Scaleworx resin conversion, and topped with the markings for "Spotty". Here are the components : For those of you who want to know what's inside the Heller Mirage III C/B box, feel free to have a look at my previous build of the Cheetah D Contents of the Resin Conversion kit : ...and the pretty comprehensive decal sheet from MAV Decals : (What the hell have I let myself in for !?) mike

Started this one also

Hi Here is my last build with this Special Hobby Northrop Nomad. This is one of the long family of all metal aircraft designed by Jack Northrop and known as A-17 or DB 8. I chose to build this SAAF trainer of the 42nd Air School based at South End, Port Elisabeth, South Africa in 1941. Thanks to Tonyot who gave me a picture of her I could add the gun stubs and the Venturi. Sadly I made a beginner fault with some super thin glue in front of the canopy thus the white layer at the junction with the fuselage. Anyway it was a fun build and there are many other DB 8 in my stash to build other exotic roundels. About roundels I have to say that those with white are really too thin and to compensate I used twice of them. Actually when visiting Special Hobby factory last month I asked a new decal sheet and they kindly gave me one. It could be easy to make a white undercoat before putting the decals. Patrick

Hey everyone, seeing that I'm South African and there is no South African Mustang yet, I'd like to contribute a 2 Squadron SAAF Korean War one. Not sure what scheme yet, because "Joy" 387 is not on my MAV decal sheet and that is the bird I wanted to build. So maybe going for another one but it won't be "Sherdanor" 395 or "Miss Maranouchi" 361...Probably do "Marie" 393 or "Bonnie-Pam" 385...looking forward to it. This will be my first ever GB and what a plane to loose my GB virginity to. Used with permission from Piet van Schalkwyk https://www.facebook.com/SAColours/ <a href="http://s252.photobucket.com/user/keeto_photos/media/IMG_4834.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh37/keeto_photos/IMG_4834.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_4834.jpg"/></a>

Hi everyone, What a great amount of participation this group build has drawn! Because of that, I decided to do another build myself. I'm still busy with the Maryland, but will start with this one in a couple of weeks. And this is what I will be building. Coincidently I have two decals sheets for this subject, and will see which one looks the best. And sprue shots Decals Instructions I'm planning to do it 100% OOB, and not any detail in order for it to be a quicker build than the Maryland. Like I said, I'll start in a few weeks, probably when I'm at the main painting stage of the Maryland which will leave some spare time for this. Cheers Jimmy

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