opus999 Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 (edited) Spitfire Mk. IXe | 1/72 | Eduard flown by W/Cdr Rolf Arne Berg, CO of No. 132 Wing, Twente AB, the Netherlands, winter 1944 – 1945 I finished this on October 20, 2019. It is the Spitfire Mk. IXe from Eduard's "The longest day" dual combo with decals from Eduard's royal boxing of the Mk. IX kindly provided by @Procopius. Since I am roughly half Norwegian, I've wanted to make a collection of all the fighters the Royal Norwegian Air Force has flown. While Rolf Berg was a Norwegian in the RAF, I figured it was a good one to start my collection with because of the prominent Norwegian pre-war markings on the tail and wings. When I first saw Berg's spitfire a couple of years ago, I knew I had to make a model of it! From the instructions: "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 5 3⁄4 confirmed and 1 1⁄2 probable kills with 3 damaged." The instructions say he was killed "...at the end of his tour...", but the great article here (https://www.norwegianspitfire.com/rolf-arne-berg-the-legend/) said it was on the very day he was leaving service and that the mission was voluntary! Very sad, indeed. He sounded like a great pilot, and a gentleman. I built this at the same time as an Eduard Mk. XVI. WIP is here Finishing: Seams filled with CA (superglue) Paints: Mr. Surfacer 1500 black primer > Hataka Ocean Gray/Dark Green/Light Sea Gray/Sky > Mr. Surfacer 1500 black spray and Mr. Color Aircraft Gray for invasion stripes Decals: Eduard Royal Class boxing decals Weathering/Wear: Selected panel lines highlighted with 0.2 mm pencil > Tamiya weathering pastels (black) > sun fading with white oil paint > oil staining and dirt streaks with Black and Burnt Umber watercolor Paints > Chips with Testors Chrome enamel applied with a spotter brush Thanks for looking, I hope you enjoy. Constructive criticism, comments and questions welcome! Edited October 23, 2019 by opus999 Added link 42 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha Delta 210 Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 Absolutely beautiful! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 Great job, always nice to see a Norwegian Spit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 Excellent ! ... This is one on my to do list along with other Norwegian air force aircraft. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted October 23, 2019 Author Share Posted October 23, 2019 1 minute ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Excellent ! ... This is one on my to do list along with other Norwegian air force aircraft. Thank you sir! I am quite pleased. It was fun to have you along on the ride, too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhutchi Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 Awesome. I built that one and it is certainly striking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted October 24, 2019 Share Posted October 24, 2019 That's a beauty alright, love the markings and weathering. And it reminds me that it's been way too long since I've built a Spitfire. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchen Modeller Posted October 24, 2019 Share Posted October 24, 2019 Great work Opus - she came out lovely - the build and paintwork is top notch and I really like the weathering effects and chipping - subtle and just right It was a great WIP too which I really enjoyed following along. One suggestion for future builds would be to check out some of the products that can be used to recreate the oil spills you put on the underside - I use this stuff which can be tricky to learn how to use but can give you a pretty nice effect... You can also use oil paint which also works quite well. Looking forward to seeing the other spit in all her glory 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 24, 2019 Share Posted October 24, 2019 First rate! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme H Posted October 24, 2019 Share Posted October 24, 2019 Very nice indeed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted October 24, 2019 Share Posted October 24, 2019 Lovely work. Stuart. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vingtor Posted October 24, 2019 Share Posted October 24, 2019 Very nice model! There are some mistakes in Eduard's painting instructions though. Two are related to the id stripes ("invasion stripes"). PV181 did not have the underwing stripes at the time the Norwegian insignia were applied. For the fuselage, the aft-most white stripe was applied on the Sky fuselage band. Furthermore, the original roundels were painted over with both grey and green paint, and PV181 had four-spoke wheels. All issues can be seen on photos. Nils 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mig88 Posted October 24, 2019 Share Posted October 24, 2019 Great job! Lovely! Miguel 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted October 24, 2019 Share Posted October 24, 2019 A great build & a fine tribute to a brave man, such a poignant tale. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulaero Posted October 24, 2019 Share Posted October 24, 2019 Just come over from your Starfix build and this is a proper Spit. Fantastic fish and nice choice of colour scheme always nice to see some thing different. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted October 24, 2019 Author Share Posted October 24, 2019 16 hours ago, Kitchen Modeller said: I really like the weathering effects and chipping - subtle and just right I'm glad to hear that! I was a little concerned that I may have overdone the paint chipping after revisiting the reference photos I have. In the end I determined that it was on the extreme end of the scale for paint chips in European based Spitfires. So, I'm relieved it doesn't seem too outrageous to an objective eye! 16 hours ago, Kitchen Modeller said: It was a great WIP too which I really enjoyed following along. Glad to have you along! 16 hours ago, Kitchen Modeller said: check out some of the products that can be used to recreate the oil spills you put on the underside I'll have a look at the link you posted. I'm always looking for ways to improve. Or make life easier... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted October 24, 2019 Author Share Posted October 24, 2019 15 hours ago, John D.C. Masters said: First rate! 13 hours ago, Courageous said: Lovely work. Stuart. 10 hours ago, stevehnz said: A great build & a fine tribute to a brave man, such a poignant tale. Steve. Thanks guys, and thanks for looking in at the WIP -- I really appreciated the input. I got some new things to think about for future builds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted October 24, 2019 Author Share Posted October 24, 2019 (edited) 12 hours ago, Vingtor said: Very nice model! There are some mistakes in Eduard's painting instructions though. Two are related to the id stripes ("invasion stripes"). PV181 did not have the underwing stripes at the time the Norwegian insignia were applied. For the fuselage, the aft-most white stripe was applied on the Sky fuselage band. Furthermore, the original roundels were painted over with both grey and green paint, and PV181 had four-spoke wheels. All issues can be seen on photos. Nils Nils, thanks for the insights! I wish I'd known this during the build, but I also wish I was more observant, because I went back and looked at my reference photos and saw most of the issues you point out (I don't have any underside photos). Frankly, I was trusting too much in Eduard's apparent thoroughness and didn't do all of the homework I usually do. Did you ever (or do you plan to) make Berg's or Svein Hegelund's markings in decals? Edited October 24, 2019 by opus999 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vingtor Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 12 hours ago, opus999 said: Did you ever (or do you plan to) make Berg's or Svein Hegelund's markings in decals? Some of the earlier Vingtor sheets might have Spitfires that have been flown by Berg or Heglund. I cannot recall specificly at the moment of writing. On sheet 108 there is MJ462/RAB (Berg's first Spitfire with his initials), but this is in 1/48 and 1/32 scale only. Most 331/332 Sqn Spitfires have general markings which can be made by using generic letters and numbers. Doung decals for aircraft with any special markings is interesting though. Do you have anything in mind? Nils Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meatbox8 Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 A beautiful build and a fitting tribute to a very gallant Norwegian. Such a tragedy he was lost, especially under those circumstances. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted October 31, 2019 Author Share Posted October 31, 2019 On 10/25/2019 at 1:21 AM, Vingtor said: Do you have anything in mind? Not off the top of my head. I was just exploring what other aircraft Berg or Heglund might have flown -- Might be fun to build them too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobo Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 Fantastic build - love the Eduard Spitfires. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody37 Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 Can't believe this is 1/72, gorgeous 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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