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1:48 Spitfire Mk.IX - Rolf Arne Berg


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I wanted to portray a “different” Spitfire, during my research I came across a scheme flown by Wing Commander Rolf Arne Berg.

 

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I’ll be using an Eduard “weekend” kit as the base for this kit

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Along with the Montex mask set K48083* for the aircraft roundels and identification markings

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*this set is for the Hasegawa Spitfire however I’ll adjust them if necessary

The spinner will have three-colour bands (aka the Norwegian flag) which will be from the Eduard Mk.IX “Royal Class” that Tony Oliver very kindly sent me.

 

I’m going to display the aircraft “in-flight” so I needed a pilot…

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I’ll be using the PJ Productions resin “WWII RAF pilot seated” who immediately got christened “Rolf”

Since returning to the hobby I’ve only made one pilot, for a Tamiya F-16, so it’ll be interesting to see how he turns out.

 

For the “in-flight” stand I’ll be using an idea I found on the internet by Gary Wickham…

https://www.scalespot.com/reference/stands/stand.htm

Gary’s option describes mainly 1:72 aircraft however as the Spitfire is a small(ish) 1:48 kit I’m sure that his method will work.

 

 

First off I’ll be starting on the cockpit.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, recommendations or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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Wing Commander Rolf Arne Berg.

 

W/Cdr Rolf Arne Berg was not only the CO of No. 132 Norwegian wing, but also one of the most highly regarded officers among his peers. His career was closely tied with No. 331 Squadron, with which he served from the very beginning in July 1941. His personal tally counted 6 (according to some sources 5.5) enemy aircraft destroyed.

 

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As part of the 2nd Tactical Air Force, the No. 132 Norwegian wing participated in the Normandy Landings and moved to Caen, France in August 1944. From September onwards, the Norwegian squadrons participated in the liberation of Holland and took part in the crossing of the Rhine. Beside his commanding duties, Berg took very active part in operations; some said that he flew more sorties than anyone else in the entire 2nd TAF.

 

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As Wing Commander, Berg was entitled to carry personal markings on his aircraft. Indeed, his own initials were used instead of the regular squadron codes, but Berg went beyond the regulations. Added Norwegian national markings on the wings and rudder and matching three-colour bands at the spinner together with standard RAF fuselage roundel and lower fuselage D-Day stripes made for a very colourful aircraft. Interestingly, it is almost certain that Berg never got any official approval for replacing the RAF roundels on the wings.

 

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Berg’s PV181 was built by Vickers Armstrong at Castle Bromwich and was delivered to 33 Maintenance Unit on 5 September 1944. It was officially taken on strength by No. 66 Squadron on 5 October 1944. However, PV181 was never used operationally by that unit as was selected as Berg’s personal aircraft

 

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On Saturday, 3rd February 1945, Berg’s operational tour was completed and he was about to leave the unit, his briefcases packed. He decided to fly one more mission that day. It turned out to be his last.  Hit by Flak while attacking a Luftwaffe airfield at Eelde, Berg’s Spitfire was reported to have lost a wing and then went straight down without any form of control. It crashed into a farm house without exploding. W/Cdr Berg was killed in his aircraft.

 

(extract from spitfiresite.com)

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3 minutes ago, shortCummins said:

Interestingly, it is almost certain that Berg never got any official approval for replacing the RAF roundels on the wings.

It is not almost certain, it is certain - and he was ordered to remove the markings.  This scheme is in the Eduard Royal Class kit, and that states: "This aircraft was flown by the CO of No.132 (Norwegian) Wing W/Cdr Rolf Arne Berg. Berg ordered ground personel of his unit to paint the pre-war Norwegian national insignia on the wings and rudder in the fall of 1944 and asked RAF Supreme Command for permission to carry this marking. RAF Command deemed the marking as forbidden and Berg was forced to remove it in January 1945. Berg met his fate on February 3, 1945. At the very end of his combat tour he decided to fly one more combat mission. His Spitfire PV181 was hit by AA-fire over Eelde, the Netherlands. Wing damage led to a crash and Berg´s death. He scored 53  confirmed and 11 probable kills with 3  1/2  damaged. "

 

The reasoning was that as they were not a roundel, the aircraft was more difficult to identify as friendly (ie non-German).

 

http://spitfiresite.com/2010/04/a-question-of-foreign-markings.html

 

HTH

 

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As this will be a “closed cockpit” with a pilot so very little detail will be seen, consequently I’ll not be adding extra detail to the cockpit.

 

I made as many subassemblies as practical and then as usual I gave everything a coat of my favourite primer UMP/Stynylrez black.

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I’ve removed part of the top of the cockpit to allow for the closed canopy

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I’ve glued the cockpit door in place as the cockpit will be closed

 

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both the port and starboard fuselage sides will have other controls, oxygen tanks etc. added after the ‘base’ colour

 

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the instrument panel will be dry-brushed to bring out the detail

 

 

Next I’ll be painting the cockpit colour and some detail painting.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, recommendations or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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On 12/2/2018 at 3:52 PM, MikeC said:

...  Wing damage led to a crash and Berg´s death. He scored 53  confirmed and 11 probable kills with 3  1/2  damaged. "

 

 

That would make him commenwealth ace no 1. Maybe it was his unit that scored the 53 kills under his leadership.

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On 12/2/2018 at 3:52 PM, MikeC said:

It is not almost certain, it is certain - and he was ordered to remove the markings.  This scheme is in the Eduard Royal Class kit, and that states: "This aircraft was flown by the CO of No.132 (Norwegian) Wing W/Cdr Rolf Arne Berg. Berg ordered ground personel of his unit to paint the pre-war Norwegian national insignia on the wings and rudder in the fall of 1944 and asked RAF Supreme Command for permission to carry this marking. RAF Command deemed the marking as forbidden and Berg was forced to remove it in January 1945. Berg met his fate on February 3, 1945. At the very end of his combat tour he decided to fly one more combat mission. His Spitfire PV181 was hit by AA-fire over Eelde, the Netherlands. Wing damage led to a crash and Berg´s death. He scored 53  confirmed and 11 probable kills with 3  1/2  damaged. "

 

The reasoning was that as they were not a roundel, the aircraft was more difficult to identify as friendly (ie non-German).

 

http://spitfiresite.com/2010/04/a-question-of-foreign-markings.html

 

HTH

 

The markings were very short-lived, just a few days before it was repainted with British roundels and fin flash. I have correspondence (found at TNA, Kew) between between the RNAF and 2nd TAF documenting this.

 

Note that Montex got the identification markings (invasion stripes) wrong. There were no stripes under the wings at this time, and the fuselage stripes should include the aft white part over the Sky fuselage band. Use Bjørnar Norås' drawings as a guide rather than Montex.

 

Nils

Edited by Vingtor
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2 hours ago, Vingtor said:

The markings were very short-lived, just a few days before it was repainted with British roundels and fin flash. I have correspondence (found at TNA, Kew) between between the RNAF and 2nd TAF documenting this.

 

Note that Montex got the identification markings (invasion stripes) wrong. There were no stripes under the wings at this time, and the fuselage stripes should include the aft white part over the Sky fuselage band. Use Bjørnar Norås' drawings as a guide rather than Montex.

 

Nils

Thanks for the tip Nils, I had a copy of Bjørnar Norås' drawings so i'll follow them as you've suggested.

 

In fairness to Montex I think they've made their mask set from Eduards "Royal Kit", here is Eduard's version...

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interestingly, the Montex mask is for a Hasegawa kit not the Eduard version? so maybe both Eduard and Montex were working from incorrect assumptions? 

 

for reference here's Bjørnar Norås' drawing

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Once the primer had fully cured, I left it overnight, I then gave everything a coat of Alkan BS:283 aircraft grey/green.

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Next some of the controls were picked out with Alkan black and/or vallejo 71.065 steel and the oxygen tanks were painted Hobby Color H324 light grey and attached to the fuselage side.

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The instrument panel was dry-brushed to bring out the dials.

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The seat was painted with a mix 70%-30% Tamiya XF-64 red brown, XF-7 red.

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Everything was given a coat or two of aqua gloss and then I used Tamiya panel line dark brown to simulate grime and shadows.

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Next I’ll be painting Rolf Arne.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, recommendations or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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The pilot is a JP productions RAF pilot, I’ve not used anything of theirs before and I must say that I’ve really impressed with what I’ve seen so far.

 

For ease of painting I left the figure on the pouring block and gave it a coat of UMP/Stynylrez black primer.

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Tamiya XF-15 - face

Tamiya XF-55 - seatbelt harness

vallejo 71.065 steel - harness buckles

Alkan BS:450 - flying helmet & gloves

Alkan RLM:04 - life jacket

Alkan 5-N Navy blue - uniform

Alkan Black-Grey - shoes & oxygen mask

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He was then given a coat or two of aqua gloss and then I used Tamiya panel line dark brown to simulate grime and shadows.

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Once I had cleaned up the panel liner I dry-brushed Rolf Arne’s uniform with Alkan FS:35164

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The torso and legs were then joined, I’ll attach the arms once he’s in his seat.

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…and gave hime a coat of vallejo matt acrylic varnish.

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Next I’ll be sitting Rolf Arne in his seat and joining the fuselage and adding the wings.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, recommendations or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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6 hours ago, NPL said:

I guess, not your first figure. Nonbelievers can see for themselves how important the base colour is to small figures. Very well done.

ha ha, believe it or not this is only my 2nd figure

 

he came out far better than I thought he would

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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The pilot in his seat, arms will be attached later.

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Port and starboard fuselage joined.

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Wings assembled and fitted to the fuselage.

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the only part of the kit that needs serious(?) filling.

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Engine cowling and exhausts fitted.

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another slight gap that’ll need some attention

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I’ve painted the exhaust with vallejo metal color 77.723 exhaust manifold, I wanted to try this colour, I’m fully expecting to have to paint them again as they’ll get over-sprayed with either primer or camo but I do quite like the colour.

 

Wing tips and ailerons.

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I’ve left off the rudder as I’m going to paint it with the Norwegian flag and I think it’ll be easier to mask ‘off the aircraft’

 

There are still a couple of things to add to the cockpit, gun sight and harness, before I can add the canopy, once I’ve done that I’ll be adding the fixing for the ‘in-flight’ stand.

 

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, recommendations or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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29 minutes ago, Biggles87 said:

Going together really well. If you're not planning to already, you will find it easier to build the radiators up on the wings ( a tip I got from @Christer A ) rather than following the instructions.

 

John

 

 

thanks for the tip John, that sounds like good advice 

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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Now that the fuselage has been nailed together its time to add the “stand” fixture*.

*if you want to read a decent “how to” follow this link for Gary Wickham’s feature…

https://www.scalespot.com/reference/stands/stand.htm

 

The evergreen square tube was just a bit too small to allow the brass square to fit so I cut two sections…

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…and glued them back together using the brass as a template.

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I marked the position for the “hole” that will receive the stand.

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Then the scary bit drilling holes in a perfectly good model.

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I then used a knife to make a square(ish) hole.

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which I tidied up to allow the evergreen square to fit.

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The evergreen square was then glued in place, I’m hoping that the aircraft will be slightly pointing up and to the right.

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The square was cut flush and sanded to shape.

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Next the gaps were filled with squadron green putty.

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Next I’ll be preparing for paint.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, recommendations or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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4 hours ago, Christer A said:

That's a big gap between the under wing and the fuselage. I've never seen that on my Spitfire VIII, but they share no major components plastic-wise with this one.

You did good with the cockpit!

it is strange, I've built a few of these previously and not had this, it must be something I've done?

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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Before I can add the canopy I have to add the gunsight and harness. The harness was made from the foil off of a wine bottle cut to shape and painted.

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I broke out a new blade* to make a mask for the canopy from Tamiya tape.

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*I’ve found using a new blade essential as I want to cut the tape to shape, using a dull blade tends to rip the tape rather than cut it.

 

This is the first time that I‘ve used the ‘closed canopy’ and I’m a little disappointed with the fit, there are small gaps to the rear which I’ve used ‘spru-goo’ to fill.

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This is the 3rd or 4th time that I’ve built this kit and for some reason this one has the most ‘fit issues’ that I’ve come across, I don’t understand why? I all honesty the gaps are small and can be easily fixed I just expected better and I’m sure that I’ve done something wrong as pervious versions haven’t had the same problems?

 

There are a couple of areas that always need a little attention on Eduard Spitfires, firstly the top cowling always needs some work and the lower engine cover will always need a little attention.

For these and the fuselage seams I’ve used ‘spru-goo’ to fill these, very small, gaps.

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I’ll leave the ‘spru-goo’ overnight to fully cure and then I’ll sand it and re-scribe where necessary before giving it a coat of UMP/Stynylrez black primer.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, recommendations or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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