Gloster Gladiator - 1/48th Pheon Decals

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Gloster Gladiator RAF & International decals

The last biplane fighter to serve in the RAF, and the first to be armed with more than two machine guns. The Gloster Gladiator was the pinnacle of British biplane fighter design and gave many a pilot a taste of the more advanced features such as landing flaps and enclosed cockpits they would soon experience in the soon to arrive monoplane fighters of the very late 1930s.

During the early years of WW2, the Gladiator served the RAF in the UK, France, Norway, Africa and the Mediterranean, where for lack of anything else it held the line before newer types were available. When faced with opposition of a similar performance, such as Italy's Fiat CR42, it fared well and was the first mount of Marmaduke "Pat" Pattle DFC & bar, the RAF's top scoring biplane ace with 15 kills on the type ( and quite possibly the RAF's top scoring ace full stop)

Perhaps most famous for its service ever Malta for many, the mythical story of the only 3 aircraft defending that beleaguered Isle, Faith Hope & Charity, though historically inaccurate, did at least secure the Gladiator's entry into the Pantheon of famous fighters.

The Gladiator was also widely exported in the late 30s to Belgium, China, Egypt, Finland, Greece, Iraq, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, South Africa and Sweden. And it was in China where the type score its first kills against the invading Japanese; while in Finnish service it racked up its last kill in 1943.

However - before the outbreak of the war, the Gladiator served from early 1937 onwards with several RAF squadrons, and wore the bright and gay markings of the period with aplomb.

Pheon decals are best known for their excellent Great War decals, but 'Monsieur Pheon', Rowan Broadbent, also has a love for things interwar, and has released 3 sheets in 1/48th scale for the Gladiator: Two covering silver RAF machines, and an international sheet with a variety of options.

Printed by Fantasy Workshop each sheet has a plethora of markings, and exhibit perfect register and sharp detail. The decals are thin but strong and go down well over a glossy surface. I use a touch of Micro Set to bed the decal, then apply a cloth dampened with very hot water- which snuggles them into any detail perfectly. Micro Sol will also work on them as a setting agent ( I tried this too), but Pheon caution against the stronger types of decal softener.

Each sheet comes with a plethora of stencils, all of which are fully legible and pin sharp. Full placement instructions are provided.

I have to say that these are some of the most logical and well thought out stencil instructions I've ever seen. The numbering of them and placement order is logical and well thought out, making it a doodle to get your Gladiator stencilled up.

A word of caution - apply the stencils before the main decals, as in some cases Squadron markings will cover small portions of stencil. So do like the RAF did - stencil your crate, then take delivery of her and apply the Squadron markings!

The RAF sheets have enough stencils for 3 complete machines, while the international sheet has 2 ( it's noted in the instructions that the stencils were probably overpainted when airforces camouflaged their machines - hence the reduction in numbers)

For those using the Roden kit- Pheon provided a useful plan to show how to correct the lower wing tip shape too.

So - onto the sheet options themselves:

48025 RAF Volume 1: 8 options. All painted overall aluminium. Price £10.50 plus P&P

1: K8027 87 Sqn October 1937. C flight Commanders aircraft

2: K7697 87 Sqn October 1937. A Flight

3: K8004 72 Sqn, 1938. A flight Commanders aircraft

4: K6130 72 Sqn, 1937. A flight Commanders aircraft

5: K7970 65 Sqn 1938. C Flight. Note this machine carries large red chevrons - a la 65 Sqn's Gauntlets. The instructions note this scheme as being unphotographed, and based on written evidence only. However it is a beauty, and is well worth having on the sheet. I used this scheme on my model.

6: K7943 65 Sqn 1937 C.O.'s aircraft. This is less gaudy but supported by photographic evidence.

7:L7612 33 Sqn A Flight 1938

8: K7903 80 Sqn A flight Commander 1938

Options 1-6 are all UK based, while 7 & 8 were Egyptian based

48026 RAF Volume 2: 9 options. All painted overall aluminium. Price £10.50 plus P&P

1: K6150 3 Sqn A Flight 1938

2: K7984 3 Sqn B Flight 1938

3: K6147 3 Sqn C Flight CO's aircraft 1938

4: K7960 3 Sqn 1938

These 4 aircraft show the variations in 3 Sqns Gladiator markings, with plenty of variation and lovely bright green markings. The set has an updated printing of the green items inserted as later research & info showed Pheon they needed to update this colour based on this new info.

5:K7918 54 Sqn A Flight CO's aircraft 1938

6: K7920 54 Sqn B flight - the sheet notes some conjecture about the yellow tailplane and colour of the blue.

7: K7985 73 Sqn C Flight 1937

8:K7991 56 Sqn A Flight 1938

9: K6147 56 Sqn A Flight 1938 - again this is slightly conjectural - but does give you the option of having the Firebird's famous red/white chequers on the fuselage side.

All these options are UK based

48021 Gloster Gladiator Mk 1 international: 6 options with mixture of overall aluminium paint, and camouflage. Price £9.50 plus P&P

1: G.30 1st Fighter Sqn, Belgian Airforce " Le Comete"

2: 2909 29th FS Chinese Airforce 1938 flown by Major John Won Pan-Yang - historically interesting as Won Pan-Yang was the first pilot to score kills in the Gladiator, ending up as a 13 victory ace ( though only 4 were scored with the Gladiator)

3: 423 Norwegian Army Air Service 1937. NB you'll need to paint the maroon areas of the Norwegian national stripe marking, but the blue & white centre strips are supplied to save a tedious masking job.

4: 121 1st Fighter Squadron, Latvian Aviation Regiment 1938, with an option for 166 of the 2nd Fighter squadron 1938

5: G-704 5 Eskadrilla II Nailintuva Grupe, Lithuanian Airforce 1938. Note - the blue areas behind the Lithuanian Cross of Lorraine markings.

6: 8-16 Flottilj 8 Swedish Airforce 1939

Overall these 3 sheets provide a wealth of marking options, and will make an excellent change from the Roden kit decals. What I like about Pheon is their research - they are not afraid to tell you when they don't know something too. They are also excellent value for money.

If you fancy a brightly coloured Gladiator or something a touch exotic - these are for you.

Decals are currently available via email to: [email protected] or [email protected]

Their new website should be up soon for direct sales.

If you want to get your hands on these - then Pheon will be at the RAF Hendon Model show tomorrow Sunday 19th May with a full range of their decals.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/whats-going-on/events/the-hendon-model-show/

Just to show you what you can do with these decals:

Jonners

[Iain Wyllie]

Is there a Pheon Decals web site? I would be interested in finding a 1/48 decal which gives stencil markings only.

I have Model Alliance decals for inter-war aircraft but there is nary a stencil marking in sight.

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Is there a Pheon Decals web site? I would be interested in finding a 1/48 decal which gives stencil markings only.

I have Model Alliance decals for inter-war aircraft but there is nary a stencil marking in sight.

Hi Iain - do contact Pheon direct - Im sure they might sell you a stencil set plus instructions. I'll ask Rowan tomorrow to this effect as well.

Jonners

[Iain Wyllie]

Hi Jon,

I'd be interested in buying stencil sets separately if this was possible, although I assume that these are type specific and therefore not strictly accurate - still, who reads the small print anyway!

Iain

[Matave]

The decals for the Swedish Gladiator looks terrible...

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

The decals for the Swedish Gladiator looks terrible...

Hi - please bear in mind they are photographed inside the bag with cover sheet on. Rowan is always grateful for info or feedback if you think there is a problem with the markings, so please send him an email at [email protected] and I'm sure he will be pleased to hear your comments.

Cheers

Jonners

[Nick Millman]

John Wong Pan-yang (sometimes recorded as Hwang Pei-Yang or John Pung-Yung Hwang) made his first Gladiator claim against a Ki-21 on 16 June 1938. He was an ace but not a Gladiator ace. It was Wong Sun-shui - "Buffalo Wong" - who was a Gladiator ace with claims for 5 destroyed and 2 damaged in that aircraft - who made the first Gladiator claims against IJN E8N floatplanes on 24 February 1938, a single destroyed shared with Lieutenants Huang Kwang-ching, Chou Ling-hsu and Huang Neng-rong and two damaged. Although no E8N was seen to go down during the combat two failed to return, corresponding to two crashed aircraft found later. Several E8N returned damaged with injured crew and one flown by the leader of the Notoro formation, Lt. Iwashiro Kunihiro who was wounded, crash landed with the observer/gunner dead and 138 hits to the airframe. This aircraft was presented for inspection to the Emperor at Kisarazu and later put on public display in Tokyo at Harajuku. Later still, it was moved to the Naval Academy at Eta Jima and preserved there until the end of the Second World War.

Additionally John Wong's Gladiator # 2909 had a personal marking of a white pointing hand marked on the aircraft's port side above the '2' and '9' of the number that does not seem to be included on the decal sheet?

Nick

[Spitfire31]

The decals for the Swedish Gladiator looks terrible...

They most certainly do. Baby blue base colour???

They should look pretty much like these:

http://www.rebell.com/svenskt/decals-masks/swedish-warriors-j8-j9-j11-and-j20.html?___store=default&___from_store=international

Kind regards,

Joachim

[Rowan Broadbent]

The decals for the Swedish Gladiator looks terrible...

I guess that English isn't your first language but could you be more helpful if you are going to post such a negative comment?

It may be that I have missed the colour of the Swedish national insignia by quite some margin. I'd like to know by how much so that I might have the opportunity of correcting these decals. I have never attempted Swedish markings before and I thought that I was on the right track from the limited references I had to hand.

I hope that the Latvian contingent are happy with the maroon shade I used - a bit better than the usual bright red that we often see, I think.

Can you supply any clear colour references that I can rely on? Not your opinion, something authoritative if possible, please.

I see that "Spitfire 51" recommends decals from Rebell Hobby - I was unaware of these. If they are the right shade of blue, then best you buy them rather than my ones. They look very comprehensive if you are particularly after Swedish Gladiator markings. Flying Ccolours seem to be using two blue shades - lighter for the earlier markings, which I was aiming for as well. Is that correct?

Many thanks for any positive help that can be offered by either of the posters - or anybody else, of course.

Nick Millman, thanks very much for the additional very interesting information - from one of Alex Crawford's books? would be good to know the source. Any photographs available of the hand insignia? I certainly wasn't aware from the references I have.

Rowan

[Nick Millman]

Hello Rowan

Please follow the links included in my post # 19 on 31 May in the thread linked below and you will find the various sources for Chinese Gladiators cited by Håkan on his excellent website pages, including Alex Crawford:-

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234940692-172-airfix-gloster-gladiator-sprue-pictures-from-wonderland-models/?p=1322168

My own modest contributions are kindly acknowledged by Håkan and by Alex in his Gladiator book.

On C W Lam's fascinating website you will find most of the known photos of Chinese Gladiators including John Wong's # 2909 from the 'Gypsy squadron'/Guerilla period with the pointing hand marking just visible. This marking and a similar marking on # 2806 were included in the Kora 1/72nd scale decal sheet for Chinese Gladiators # 7250. An additional previously unpublished photo of a Chinese Gladiator appears in Andrew Thomas' superb 'Gladiator Aces' book for Osprey.

I'll also be posting some further details about Chinese Gladiator pilots and colour schemes on my blog in due course.

Regardless of the details thank you for representing a Chinese Gladiator pilot on your decal sheet.

Regards

Nick

[Rowan Broadbent]

Hello Rowan

Please follow the links included in my post # 19 on 31 May in the thread linked below and you will find the various sources for Chinese Gladiators cited by Håkan on his excellent website pages, including Alex Crawford:-

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234940692-172-airfix-gloster-gladiator-sprue-pictures-from-wonderland-models/?p=1322168

My own modest contributions are kindly acknowledged by Håkan and by Alex in his Gladiator book.

On C W Lam's fascinating website you will find most of the known photos of Chinese Gladiators including John Wong's # 2909 from the 'Gypsy squadron'/Guerilla period with the pointing hand marking just visible. This marking and a similar marking on # 2806 were included in the Kora 1/72nd scale decal sheet for Chinese Gladiators # 7250. An additional previously unpublished photo of a Chinese Gladiator appears in Andrew Thomas' superb 'Gladiator Aces' book for Osprey.

I'll also be posting some further details about Chinese Gladiator pilots and colour schemes on my blog in due course.

Regardless of the details thank you for representing a Chinese Gladiator pilot on your decal sheet.

Regards

Nick

Thanks very much for the additional info and the sources - really helpful. I am planning to release decals for the new 72nd Gladiator kit from Airfix (a little cracker by all accounts). If I can't run to earth "correct" colours for the Swedish versions then I could well ditch them in 72nd scale and use the space to give extended coverage of other Chinese Gladiators in the smaller scale international set. If you can help with some more specifics perhaps you might drop me an email at [email protected]?

Hope to hear from you.

Rowan

[Spitfire31]

Rowan,

I'd suggest that you contact IPMS Sweden for assistance with the correct colour shades of Swedish Gladiator insignia.

One contact worth approaching might be Lars Befring, who is well connected in the IPMS. He's a member of Britmodeller – you can just search for his name and PM him.

Another Swedish guy, a decal manufacturer (but I don't think he's into Gladiators at all) would be Robert Bergwall, robert (underscore without spaces) bergwall (at same provider as you but with dot.com at the end). Robert is very knowledgeable and would surely be able to point you in the right directions. Btw, you shouldn't post your email address in the clear – it's yummee stuff for roving spam bots. ;-)

Kind regards,

Joachim

[marty_hopkirk]

The decals for the Swedish Gladiator looks terrible...

Agreed, something not quite right.

Marty...