Prenton Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 I am now in with this little fella:- Purchased for 1 euro last November, which is about 82 pence. So well within the tenner allowance.... It is one of Matchbox's familiar creations, and gives two options for markings - a RNZAF bird in Singapore in October 1941, and a Dutch plane from the Militaire Luchvaat in the Dutch East Indies in December 1941. I plan to do the RNZAF version, as it is more interesting, especially with the dual colour underside.... It's a fairly simple kit, with only two sprues and a clear canopy:- As with many of the Matchbox kits, the plastic comes in two colours, but luckily in this case the two colours are dark green and brown, and not bright green like the Spitfire! The decals look to be usable too, which is nice given the age of the kit (the box says 1974 - so it's about 40 years old). If not, then I should be able to cobble together something from the spares tray (another reason not to opt for the Dutch version, as I have none of those....) However, I plan to paint the sky fuselage band, rather than risk it with that decal. I'll make a start next week. Thanks for looking! Philip 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hgbn Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Another walk at memory lane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Welcome Philip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smudge Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Cool, love the Matchbox Buffalo. Good choice. Shame the Dutch option doesn't have upper wing er......triangle-als. I would have to do it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paganpete Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Welcome to the GB, great bargain too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonners Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Great choice; I made one of these when I was about 13 and thought it was the best model I'd ever built, with what I thought at the time was a great paint job. With hindsight the colours were way off, the brown being a gloss chocolate and the grey a dark matt, and I hadn't even tried to fill or hide any of the joint lines. Happy days. Must do another one sometime! (With a better paint job, obviously....) Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Dapple Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Yeah nice to see this kit again Happy building Philip Cheers, Stew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 How is the build going Philip?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deacon Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 I'm really looking forward to this coming together. Great choice mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prenton Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 No worries guys, still here! Am working on my internet references to try to get enough info to do a bit of old fashioned scratchbuilding to provide a cockpit - there's nothing there in the kit other than an incorrect floor (there wasn't one in reality!), and a very poor seat. I have already removed the raised panel lines and rescribed the entire exterior. Will post up some photos at the weekend... Philip 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDSModeller Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 (edited) Philip Nice choice Depending on how accurate you want the cockpit, I can answer yours questions. I (still) have a 1/32 Brewster Buffalo that I have completed the fuselage section as a WIP as an 488 Squadron aircraft and can give you the low down on what the cockpit should look like. Just one note again depending what accuracy you want, the Matchbox serial is bogus for this 488 Squadron aircraft. I have to this date not been able to find what serial NF-N carried. W8142 served with RAF 243 Squadron WP-N and 453 (RAAF) Squadron TD-? Regards Alan Edited March 7, 2014 by LDSModeller 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prenton Posted March 7, 2014 Author Share Posted March 7, 2014 Thanks Alan - those photos are very helpful! I also found a very old mag (I think SAM or perhaps SAMI), from the 1990's, which had some drawings of the cockpit. Naturally, as this is a less than a tenner build, I will be scratchbuilding a little, but the actual size of the cockpit is rather small, so I'm not going into too much detail. No aftermarket here.... Your photos above do the job nicely - many thanks! That info re the markings is interesting....I may have to have a look in the spares box then, if the Matchbox decals are incorrect.... Thanks, Philip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDSModeller Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 (edited) Hi Philip, Glad the photos can give you some idea The model is the Special Hobby F2A-2 Buffalo (not the later RAF version) which I have converted either existing kit parts or scratach built - luckily I was able to obtain the RAF 339E pilots notes which had photos of the cockpit and a list of what was what -spent a year researching the RAF parts, finally got it all. If it's any help the RAF version had the "Square" backed seat as in this photo. The pilot is 488 Squadrons John "Hutch" Hutchinson sitting in his aircraft, note the Sutton Harness and the seat is natural Aluminium, the little object immediaetly to the right of top of the seat is the landing gear warning horn. There is a story of a an unfortunate 488 Squadron pilot who had the horn go of during a mission and he couldn't switch it off- poor guy was nearly deafened in his right ear by the time he got bak to Kallang As far as markings go the following may help you? Especially if you have 1/72 "8 inch" Black serials in your spares box, the codes are RAF Sky NF-X W81868 NF-V W8185 NF-T W8165 Look forward to your build progress Regards Alan Edited March 8, 2014 by LDSModeller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carts Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Excellent,you can say what you like about Matchbox kits,but they gave us some seriously under-represented aircraft kits back in the day. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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