alt-92 Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 (edited) Part two of the lifecycle for MJ271. Delivered to 132 Sqn in october 1943, MJ271 served an uneventful career up until a Cat.B wheels-up landing at RAF Ford in may 1944. After repairs and post-op shakedown, it was only in November 1944 that she appeared again on strength with 401 Sqn RCAF - as part of 126 Wing, 2TAF. During that time, the Squadron was based in the liberated South of the Netherlands. First at B.84 De Rips, a forward improvised airstrip or ALG, near Helmond, but over a week (and 568 operational flights btw) the low-lying former farmland proved too soaked and the Wing moved temporarily to B-80 Volkel (still an active AB today) and after work was finished in December to B-88 near Heesch south of the river Meuse. Quote Dutch workmen dig drainage channels at B88/Heesch, Holland, while Supermarine Spitfire Mark IXs, MJ275 'VZ-J' and MJ452 'VZ-L', of No. 412 Squadron RCAF, loaded with 250-lb bombs, rest on pierced steel planking (PSP) in their disperal. In the distance are parked other Spitfires of No. 401 Squadron RCAF. - source: https://www.tracesofwar.nl/sights/104127/Vliegveld-Heesch-B88.htm Today, streetnames serve as reminder to the presence of the Canadians: 126 Wing weg, Vliegveldweg. The pin is the approx. location of the former airfield, now the A50 Motorway between 's Hertogenbosch and Nijmegen. All very familiar locations, as my family originates from that area. Back to MJ271. As part of 2TAF, 401 Sqn was tasked with missions where the Spitfire was not particularly well-suited for: Rail transport interdiction by dive-bombing. Loadout for 126 Wing Spits varied, but mostly consisted of either 2x 250lbs bombs under the wings, or a single 500lbs bomb on the centerline - occasionally combined for a total 1000lbs bomb load. It was one of those missions that proved to be the end of the war for our airframe. On a sortie in mid-December during bad (or 'typical Dutch') weather, MJ271 probably pulled too many G's and suffered overstressed wings as a result. She was shuffled off to a repair & service unit and would not see active RAF service again. Edited April 23, 2020 by alt-92 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted April 23, 2020 Author Share Posted April 23, 2020 plastic: Eduard 1/72 Spitfire Overtrees: And the other bits. The decal sheet is for a Mk.V but will serve as basis for the codes. I have not been able to find any indication of a specific one, but perusing the 126 Wing history and other 401 pictures, YO-P seems a good candidate. Some PE and a spare Vacform canopy, and a single 500lbs bomb to represent a standard load. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janneman36 Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 Great project you have , looking forward in seeing these finished👍👍👍 cheers, Jan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeyboy76 Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 A great bit of history here, looking forward to your build. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted May 17, 2020 Author Share Posted May 17, 2020 (edited) Well, that personal connection appears to be closer than expected It appears my grandfather (although not in the photo) was one of those local workers involved in digging the drainage on B.88 ! That's enough reason to restore the mojo - working from home sucks up a disproportionate amount of energy. Cockpit bits started. No big sets, just a little bit of PE & copper wire - yes that compass holder is tiny. More soon. Edited May 17, 2020 by alt-92 clarification 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Livingston Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 What a fabulous connection... I'm looking forward to this, too. Great start on the cockpit and thats a great photo... I haven't seen that before. Thank you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted May 30, 2020 Author Share Posted May 30, 2020 Life gets in the way sometimes. Anywoo: Some of the engineering choices of Eduard are imho unnecessarily complex. The radiators in 1/72 are three parts - other manufacturers can do it in one, but well... One trick you can use to ensure non-wonky joins is to fit the parts in their supposed location when assembling (but not to the wing yet). This also allows proper clearance on the PE and you can paint the interior of the housings separately. Another one of those engineering choices. The cowling. You can guess what I think of that. Full props to the cockpit design though. Easy build, completely separate from the fuse. That has been soldered up as well, and the seam on the fuel tank fixed. The Vokes Aerovee housing is another two-piece part with an unseemly join tackled (with PE shutter in interior green as it should be) I've stuck the bottom wing parts on, top wing parts to follow. Now for the other three... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted June 13, 2020 Author Share Posted June 13, 2020 Wings complete, cowling added, all smoothed out and gaps filled & sanded. Canopy is being masked, and some Master barrels are waiting to be plugged in. Did some mention PE? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnson Posted June 13, 2020 Share Posted June 13, 2020 Great stuff, I've signed up for Part 2 of this modelling opera. (does one eat popcorn at the opera - I suspect not!) Anyway, quite a difference between the Airfix and Eduard kits! Love the cockpit. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted June 19, 2020 Author Share Posted June 19, 2020 Paintwork started. I've done a light pre-shading, a light uneven coat of vallejo MSG (which is too dark anyway), followed by another light uneven coat of Tamiya MSG. It just breaks up the monotone, barely visible in the pic but it's not that flat even grey. The wash will do the rest. Also forgot to do the yellow, but that's fixable - it's there on the topside. Canopy masking and topside Ocean grey to follow with the same approach - two different OGs. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted June 21, 2020 Author Share Posted June 21, 2020 Minor mishap, near disaster averted. Wasn't quite happy with the gun barrels, so drilled out the ports to fit the Master barrels when-SNAP! The drill broke deep within the last fitting 😱 And no way to get it out. Or going back to the kit stuff... Nearly decided to bin it, split the fuse and rescue the cockpit but with some careful bending along the wingroot, and gently prising the winghalves apart managed to get the broken remnant out. Crisis averted! Reamed the ports with a small round diamond file, and the Master barrels are now in. Sorry, no pics - I was more focused on recovery! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Livingston Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 Oh dear...! Well, although its no consolation, its good that good modellers have disasters too... Makes the rest of us feel we are not totally inadequate! I'm sure no-one will know anyway... and those Master Barrels are pretty special. I used them on my MkIX build and would certainly use them again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 1 hour ago, alt-92 said: Nearly decided to bin it, split the fuse and rescue the cockpit but with some careful bending along the wingroot, and gently prising the winghalves apart managed to get the broken remnant out. Crisis averted! Reamed the ports with a small round diamond file, and the Master barrels are now in. Good on the recovery sorry to hear it happened but at least its fixed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted July 1, 2020 Author Share Posted July 1, 2020 Base layer Ocean grey on and masked yellow L/E. I've used both Tamiya Ocean Grey and Vallejo Ocean Grey. They differ very slightly, but it's barely visible. May add something, not sure yet - maybe a drop of Medium grey in the mix... Dark Green is standing by pre-mixed. This one will have it's standard 2TAF fighter bomber load, hence the 500lb. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted July 12, 2020 Author Share Posted July 12, 2020 Ze greens added. Minor touch-ups needed, and some modulation on the green. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted July 17, 2020 Author Share Posted July 17, 2020 Ok, mahoosive update, sprint to the finishline. I actually forgot to do the tailband that was still carried in November/December, so did that. Now, in some pictures, the remains of the underside invasion stripes are visible - but the underwing stripes are already gone. So.. Yes, intentionally scuffed. And the underside phase one: The 500lbs bomb done - some grey splashes from the clay were added afterwards. L/E stripes unmasked - these are also a bit roughened as the bad weather would have worn the paint on it. The invasion stripe remnants have received a light, thinned coat of MSG to blend them further. Together with season one: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted July 19, 2020 Author Share Posted July 19, 2020 I don't like Eduard stencils. They make me break antennas - I'll fix that later. And the whole club (sans G-IRTY) It's been fun. But I wish I could have spent more time in the beginning on these. On the other hand, I should be happy that I'm fortunate enough to have full-time work these days... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnson Posted July 20, 2020 Share Posted July 20, 2020 A wonderful Group Build within a Group Build! Well done! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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