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Black Friday Pt1 & 2 - Mustang III HB836 & Fw190A-8 Wn.732183


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Pre-pre-amble:

I know I have other things on the go. I don't care. I'm fed up with them and want something easy. I've been working loads recently and even any modelling time has been hijacked with work, the latest being a pair of Bf109s to go on the table at the Scottish Nationals at Perth next weekend as part of a general drive to show what the paints look like on the models. I'm not enjoying these. There's nothing wrong with the little Airfix kits, but it's not my scale and I don't like making models to deadlines (I sprint from one deadline to the next in real life and don't need any more at home). They're almost done, but they're a chore.

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The project:

I wanted to start this little project months ago but I don't get the time to do much for myself, or at least I don't get much time when I'm not also burned out and sat like a zombie or sat answering emails at 10:30pm.

I grew up and still live in the north east of Scotland. It's home and I like it here. I like how unpopulated it is, how quiet and technical rural roads can be and I like little reminders dotted around of the past, something largely bulldozed and redeveloped long since further south.

I live roughly equidistant from most of the military airfields from WW2 in the area; Dyce, Peterhead, Dallachy, Banff, Crimmond, with Lossiemouth and Kinloss not that much further. But for a few subtle memorials dotted around it's generally not that well known that the Banff Strike Wing existed at all here, nor how prolific they were at the time.

 

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I decided to build a few aircraft that took part in what is now known as "Black Friday" - the 9th of February 1945, a raid on Germany destroyer Z33 in a Norwegian fjord which to be honest was probably the worst day of the war for the wing and indeed they racked up the worst losses of any Coastal Command wing during the whole war.

 

First up is the sole Mustang lost during the raid. This was a Mustang III from 65 Squadron, temporarily based at Dallachy I understand at this point (RAF Peterhead where 65Sqn and 19Sqn Mustangs were usually based was having runway work done for around 2 months). The aircraft was HB836 and carried squadron codes YT-N. The pilot, W/O Cecil Claude Caesar, was assisting a 404 Sqn Beaufighter when he was shot down by Unteroffizier Heinz Orlowski in Fw190F-8 "White 1". Caesar was reportedly hit but kept on the offensive before crashing in to a pine forest on the side of a mountain. Two teenage Norwegian boys climbed the mountain hoping to rescue Caesar but he was dead when they reached him. Some German military arrived and had the boys extract Caesar's body from the wreckage and take him down the mountain on a sleigh to be buried. Orlowski himself was hit and forced to bail out by then too low, but was tangled on the way out and hit the ground hard with a partially opened parachute, causing an avalanche in the snow and somehow igniting the flare pistol in his pocket badly burning him.

 

The model:

For this I am returning to my preferred scale of 1/48, and will use the Tamiya kit:

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To help me along with minimal effort, I'm using some Ultracast resin bits:

New propeller

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New seat

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New wheels

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I will get new exhausts for it too. Probably.

 

Last night I sprayed a base coat of Colourcoats ACUS09 ANA611 Interior Green on the cockpit, some ACUS24 Dull Dark Green on the seat and cockpit combing and aluminium in various places. I am trying to confirm the colour of the fuselage fuel tank. I've found no photographs yet but black would seem an educated assumption if it's a self-sealing tank. If anyone can contribute here I'd appreciate that!

 

I was about to spray the wheel wells aluminium with yellow zinc chromate spars but concluded that I couldn't live with the kit inaccuracy here despite my desire for a quick and easy build, and late last night ordered a resin wheel well insert by Vector via the nice man at Neomega. I received an email notification this morning saying it was dispatched, which is excellent.

http://www.neomega-resin.com/p-51b-wheel-wells-469-p.asp

 

In addition to this, I have already got some Xtradecal RAF squadron code letters in Sky and another set of registration code letters in black.

 

To end the first post, if anyone has an actual photograph of HB836 I'd love to see it now rather than after I've built it with some assumptions based on typical aircraft I've found :)

 

 

 

 

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It's sad sometimes when we loose sight of the fact this is our hobby that is supposed to bring us joy, peace and happiness. I realize most builds involve some frustration somewhere along the way, but too often, we, as modelers, put some sort of deadline or standard that must be achieved that interferes with our enjoyment of just playing with plastic, paint and decals.  Your Bf 109 project sounds like the non-fun type of build. This one sounds like the type of build this hobby is intended to be; a subject/livery that has peaked our interest and a build we look anxiously to start!  Good luck with this project and enjoy!

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29 minutes ago, georgeusa said:

It's sad sometimes when we loose sight of the fact this is our hobby that is supposed to bring us joy, peace and happiness. I realize most builds involve some frustration somewhere along the way, but too often, we, as modelers, put some sort of deadline or standard that must be achieved that interferes with our enjoyment of just playing with plastic, paint and decals.  Your Bf 109 project sounds like the non-fun type of build. This one sounds like the type of build this hobby is intended to be; a subject/livery that has peaked our interest and a build we look anxiously to start!  Good luck with this project and enjoy!

 

Exactly this George. People say you shouldn't mix business and pleasure and I agree with that. In general, despite how it could look from a distance there isn't too much overlap with the two usually. I only really feel some grudge at times like the above when I realise I could do with a pair of paint mules wearing RLM 71/02/65 and 74/75/76. There's no depth to it, it's just a case of slapping them together and painting them which isn't a big job but it's using my modelling time and equipment, and occupying the table.

 

I just realised typing a PM a moment a go that there may be an opportunity to delegate the RLM 74/75 painting out to someone coming to visit tomorrow :idea::lol:

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Hello SH,

Nice project, I really like the way you do.

More than building a plastic kit, IMHO it is a way to offer a tribute, deserved or not to the people who fought.

No matter the people involved, I use to say that they were people who did what they have to do at a given time.

A good kit with a story behind is really what I like.:yes:

So come on...

I'll follow if you don't mind, I've the same kit in my attic, will see how it unfold.

Why did you change the propeller, the Tamiya's one is wrong ?

Sincerely.

Corsaircorp.

PS must try that colourcoats paints..

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You press on with this Jamie, I'll take the 109 home and get that done for Perth :) 

 

All the colour pictures I could find are from models but they all have the fuel tank in blackish rubber colour, if that's any help...

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

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17 minutes ago, corsaircorp said:

Hello SH,

Nice project, I really like the way you do.

More than building a plastic kit, IMHO it is a way to offer a tribute, deserved or not to the people who fought.

No matter the people involved, I use to say that they were people who did what they have to do at a given time.

A good kit with a story behind is really what I like.:yes:

So come on...

I'll follow if you don't mind, I've the same kit in my attic, will see how it unfold.

Why did you change the propeller, the Tamiya's one is wrong ?

Sincerely.

Corsaircorp.

PS must try that colourcoats paints..

 

Thanks for looking in :)

 

The Tamiya prop isn't so bad really. It's a bit pinched where the blade cuffs end because the cuffs themselves are a bit too tapered in chord.

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I suspect many might not notice?

 

5 minutes ago, Stew Dapple said:

You press on with this Jamie, I'll take the 109 home and get that done for Perth :) 

 

All the colour pictures I could find are from models but they all have the fuel tank in blackish rubber colour, if that's any help...

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

I wasn't meaning so much as that mate, I was more thinking just blasting some grey on between tinning. I wouldn't want to impose an actual model completion on you in your own time!

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2 hours ago, SovereignHobbies said:

I just realised typing a PM a moment a go that there may be an opportunity to delegate the RLM 74/75 painting out to someone coming to visit tomorrow :idea::lol:

The mark of a good businessman, when in doubt delegate and shift responsibilities to someone else!  Well done.  Now just go model for fun!

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Sitrep:

 

The interior is basically painted. Once the instrument panel decal has dried I'll apply a wash and call the fuselage preparation done.

 

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When cutting out the instrument panel decal I noticed that all the Tamiya roundels and fin flashes are fit for the bin. There are large colour problems - the roundels have dark circles on the blue bordering the red and yellow and the fin flashes have dark outlines round the red. Useless. No matter though - I will cut masks out for these in due course.

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I was planning on using the most of it except the codes. It's fine though - I painted the markings on to the Hurricane I finished late last year and also on the F6F-3 I'm well on with. I quite enjoyed painting them on so it's not something I am unhappy about doing. The Tamiya stencils are still fine, it's just the big multi-coloured decals which are no up to standard. I don't recall this before with Tamiya decals. Normally they're ok as far as I recall.

 

Honestly no big deal though :)

 

The interior has come on quickly which is good.

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I'll be following this with interest.  Got the revell one to do at some point soon :)

 

btw which colour did youngo for with the fuel tank?

Edited by Lawzer
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In typical Tamiya fashion, the fuselage is now buttoned up. I shall leave the wings well alone until I receive the Vector wheel wells and can determine exactly what needs to be cut away.

 

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The cockpit has had a minimum effort approach. By that I mean it's OOB save for the seat and I just applied paint in places. The canopy will be closed on this anyway (I suspect that even were I to cut it open, the sliding canopy is probably too thick to pose open).

 

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4 hours ago, Cookenbacher said:

I really like the contrast of Dull Dark Green seat with the interior green cockpit. 

 

Wonderful project Jamie.

 

Thanks for looking in :) The two tone cockpit does add something interesting to look at. I suspect nothing much will happen with this today or indeed the rest of the coming week.

 

The Scottish National Scale Model Show is next weekend and we have a lot to do before then. Still, if the wheel wells turn up I shall endeavour to hack the wings up and get them painted and in - but we'll see.

 

On the subject of colours, I have found images of 65Sqn Mustangs in 1944 based down south with black spinners. It seems by mid 1945 and Mustang IVs they had white? bands around the nose and spinners in white and red.

 

The period I want is February 1945, 2-3 weeks after 65Sqn was stationed at RAF Peterhead which I can find very little of that is conclusive. However, 19Sqn and 315Sqn also flew Mustang IIIs for the Banff Strike Wing and they are somewhat better photographed. Both show white? bands around the nose and with same colour spinners in numerous images from Banff Strike Wing days.

 

My question to the learned reader is "would these identification marks be applied at Wing level, thus making it a safe assumption that 65Sqn had their noses painted white? when they arrived here in the north east like the other two Mustang squadrons?"

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I don't know if you've read it but banff strike wing at war is a good read and some good photos (you can get it from inverurie library although i have it out at the minute or i think a few other  shire libraries).

 

anyway i had a look in the book and as you say no pics of 655sq but the other mustang pics all show the white band so thers a fair chance all mustangs flying out of peterhead/dallachy/banff had them.....would make sense as with the number of aircraft flying around the fjords late in the war a "standard" identification would make sense.

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28 minutes ago, Lawzer said:

I don't know if you've read it but banff strike wing at war is a good read and some good photos (you can get it from inverurie library although i have it out at the minute or i think a few other  shire libraries).

 

anyway i had a look in the book and as you say no pics of 655sq but the other mustang pics all show the white band so thers a fair chance all mustangs flying out of peterhead/dallachy/banff had them.....would make sense as with the number of aircraft flying around the fjords late in the war a "standard" identification would make sense.

 

Thanks, I have a copy of that book. Curiously the comprehensive list of strike wing losses has no entries at all for 9th February 1945. I assume that was an editing error rather than lack of awareness!

 

Unless I hear otherwise I'll go with white noses.

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Jamie,

 

The white nose markings were an ID feature along with chord wise bands on the wings to mitigate against friendly fire incidents. They evolved over a period of time, but I don't have the exact details to hand. By the time 19 Sqdn were flying Mustang IV's out of Peterhead, they had yellow and black spinners with a yellow band immediately behind the spinner on the front of the nose. I'll try and see what I can turn up for 65 sqdn, but they weren't overly well photographed whilst up in our neck of the woods!

 

Mark.

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Jamie,

 

Sadly I'll be missing out on Perth at the weekend, was too slow booking my hols for this year and one of my colleagues has snaffled this weekend. I have found an undated image of a 65 Sqdn Mustang III here, larger format here. Despite being undated, it seems to be late 1944 as there are no white ID markings, a dark spinner and what seems to be overpainted stripes on the lower fuselage. The info from the pilot's family, if correct, would also point towards a post D-Day date too. The lack of Type 'C' roundels on the wing would suggest a pre Jan '45 date, but never say never.

 

Now, the dark spinner raises a question, red or black? I'm pretty sure the same order specifying the change to Type 'C' roundels on the wings called for spinners to be painted black. Other sources seem to be pretty consistent depicting 65's Mustang III's with red spinners (admittedly mostly profiles, usual caveat about not trusting a profile without a pic etc.) Looking at the picture (more caveats about interpreting BW images etc.!), a red spinner could be a possibility. Would be interesting to read what the Luftwaffe combat reports have to say about this encounter, if they exist anywhere, and see if they make any mention of the markings carried by the opposing aircraft.

 

Hopefully some food for thought here,

 

Mark.

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I really didn't have time, but I've done it anyway. It just means I'll be up late putting decals on that remaining Bf109 which will commence directly after I have finished avoiding it on Britmodeller.

 

The kit wing

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The kit wing ruined

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A substantial amount of thinning is required, of the resin itself and the upper and lower wing parts.

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e.g. this was nowhere near enough. In addition, the protrusions under the cockpit floor must be removed. It's easier to do that before assembling the cockpit, but too late for me.

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Still over 1mm gap at the leading edge!

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Drastic thinning

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Close enough

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It looks sooo much better having done it, but given the different operations needed to remove the kit plastic in different ways, I'd personally say this was an intermediate level modification to make. It's much more involved than simply sawing a piece off a kit with a straight saw cut and blending in a resin part with glue, filler and sand paper. Still, the results are well worth the effort.

 

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On 21/04/2017 at 1:42 PM, SovereignHobbies said:

 

I suspect many might not notice?

 Notice what?! 

 

Outside the hobby, the blizzard at the top of Bennachie on Easter Monday was fun! I don’t get back to the NE from Hampshire very often...  

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Ha! I was up there last month on an absolutely glorious day. I could see where my house was - mostly by bsck bearing and interpolation of larger land marks! My 7 year old daughter practically ran up. The 5 year old wasn't far behind. We had a barbeque when we got home. Smashing day actually! (apart from DoE impromtu guide taking us down the wrong way and me having to walk another 2.something km to get the cars...)

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