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Finished! Brewster Type 239 Buffalo, 1/LeLV 24, Finland, winter 1943 (Classic Airframes 1/48)+scratch


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Hi comrades!

 

My next build is two Brewster Buffalos. In this thread it will be Finnish one. Famous "white seven" of the commander of 1/LeLV 24 in winter camouflage. 

Classic Airframe's kit is much more detailed than the old Tamiya's kit. I'll anyway add some scratch details to the cockpit and wheels-engine compartment. Model will be riveted. Only aftermarket is Montex Masks.

 

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Thanks for looking

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Excellent. I’ve just started on a Tamiya buffalo ( I’ve just painted the interior in aluminium) I will probably stick with one of the kit schemes. But will watch with interest.

Edited by Marklo
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6 minutes ago, Marklo said:

Excellent. I’ve just started on a Tamiya buffalo ( I’ve just painted the interior in aluminium) I will probably stick with one of the kit schemes. But will watch with interest.

You welcome! I will build Classic Airframes together with Tamiya F2A-2 in USN pre-war livery))

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Hi comrades!

 

The Classic Airframes kit is more detailed than the Tamiya, but still - some detail were deepened, unneeded landing light closed, rivets added. So far progress with the bottom part of wing.

 

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Thanks for looking

Edited by cema_ga
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi comrades!

 

I finished the wings riveting, add some wiring to the wind wheel wells and assembled the wings.

 

Structure detailing was added inside the belly.

 

"Lower cockpit" painted/weathered and ready to assembly.

 

Thanks for looking!

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5 minutes ago, John Masters said:

These'll be fun to watch come together!

The Classic Airframes kit needs patience, but all in all -yes, it's fun!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi comrades!

Assembling, scratch additions (not so extensive like in Tamiya). All painted and weathered. Classic Airframes is in grey plastic.

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Next - engine support and fuselage riveting

 

Thanks for looking!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi comrades!

 

Fuselage riveted, after engine compartment "stuffed", some wiring and oxygen bottle added in the cockpit.

 

Next - fuselage assembly and wing-to fuselage join.

 

Pilot seat will be corrected.

 

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Thanks for looking

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi comrades!

Now, the Classic Airframes Buffalo's main assembly completed. When I saw the kit instructions, I understand that my skills are insufficient to assemble the fuselage as recommended. So, I altered the order of assembly:

1) fuselage interior assembly completed (main instrument panel and pedals will be installed later)

2) fuselage halves joined, but glued only in tail and up sides! The join lines were sanded and rescribed.

3) Main instrument panel and pedals installed

4) Fuselage (still "opened" from bottom) joined with the wing

5) Engine firewall installed to "close" the forward part of the fuselage ("trenches" inside of fuselage halves were prepared before to make alignment simpler) 

6) Now it's time to glue all remaining fuselage joints and wing to fuselage. All lines sanded, panel lines rescribed.

7) Rivets added

 




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Next - Quickboost engine wiring and assembly. Seat OOB (bottom one) looks wrong for me, so I will modify the basic seat of F2A-2 with "armor" back and headrest+ additional seatbelts

 

Thanks for looking

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi comrades!

Engine (Quickboost intended for Tamiya) was slightly altered and some detailing added.

Everything assembled and riveted.

Pilot seat altered to be closer to Finland modification with proper seatbelts (Luftwaffe style).

Some details were added to prop

 

After enough dry-fitting, the final amount  of putty was minor

 

Now we are ready for primer

 

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Thanks for looking

 

 

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9 minutes ago, John_W said:

Very nice.

Always interesting how well it did in Finish service than it did in the hands of the British, Dutch and US against the Japanese

Thank You!

I believe, its because much higher skills of Finnish pilots (because they were experienced fighters after the Winter War with Soviets). American, British and Dutch pilots were brave, but unexperienced. Also the maintenance capabilities at Far East depots was inferior... And Japanese pilots and planes were far superior to Soviets. .It's just my understanding, IMHO

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Excellent work cema_ga! I'm eagerly waiting for more😉

 

It is true what you said about the skill of the Finnish pilots. "Father of Finnish Fighter Aviation" col. Richard Lorentz wrote a completely new set of fighter tactics for the Finnish Air Force. On the other hand the Soviets relied on old and cumbersome tactics (although they must have learned one or two tricks from the Germans during the Spanish Civil War). During the Continuation War captain Hans Wind revised the work of Lorentz. We were still reading captain Wind's air combat tactics at the Air Force in early 1990s (and there were also some basic laws written by Boelcke; WWI German fighter ace!).

 

Lt. (USN) Robert A. Winston was appointed as chief test pilot at Brewster Company and he ferried Buffaloes to Finland. He writes in his memoirs about one ferry flight in a snow storm over the Baltic Sea from Sweden to Finland. Light was fading out when Jorma Karhunen (a well known Finnish Buffalo ace) led the formation to the sea. Before take-off Karhunen had told to Winston that he had a total flying time of around 400 hours and several aerial victories. Winston writes that he was more than nervous; he had a four digit figure in his own flying log book and he hasn't seen combat yet. Lt Winston also mentions how quick he realized that Karhunen knew exactly what he was doing and they landed at Säkylä ice base in good order.

 

Many Japanese pilots had flown combat missions over China since 1938 so they were experienced during the battle of Singapore early 1941. And they were quick learners too.

 

Cheers,

Antti

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20 hours ago, Antti_K said:

Excellent work cema_ga! I'm eagerly waiting for more😉

 

It is true what you said about the skill of the Finnish pilots. "Father of Finnish Fighter Aviation" col. Richard Lorentz wrote a completely new set of fighter tactics for the Finnish Air Force. On the other hand the Soviets relied on old and cumbersome tactics (although they must have learned one or two tricks from the Germans during the Spanish Civil War). During the Continuation War captain Hans Wind revised the work of Lorentz. We were still reading captain Wind's air combat tactics at the Air Force in early 1990s (and there were also some basic laws written by Boelcke; WWI German fighter ace!).

 

Lt. (USN) Robert A. Winston was appointed as chief test pilot at Brewster Company and he ferried Buffaloes to Finland. He writes in his memoirs about one ferry flight in a snow storm over the Baltic Sea from Sweden to Finland. Light was fading out when Jorma Karhunen (a well known Finnish Buffalo ace) led the formation to the sea. Before take-off Karhunen had told to Winston that he had a total flying time of around 400 hours and several aerial victories. Winston writes that he was more than nervous; he had a four digit figure in his own flying log book and he hasn't seen combat yet. Lt Winston also mentions how quick he realized that Karhunen knew exactly what he was doing and they landed at Säkylä ice base in good order.

 

Many Japanese pilots had flown combat missions over China since 1938 so they were experienced during the battle of Singapore early 1941. And they were quick learners too.

 

Cheers,

Antti

Thank You, Antti! I love the Buffalo, and especially his Finnish service record!

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  • 1 month later...

I really like what you have done with both of these, the extra details, riveting are fantastic. I have built the Special Hobby 32nd scale mk1 which was very enjoyable.  With what you are doing with these, imagine what you could do with that one. Wow.

Great work 

Chris

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9 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

I really like what you have done with both of these, the extra details, riveting are fantastic. I have built the Special Hobby 32nd scale mk1 which was very enjoyable.  With what you are doing with these, imagine what you could do with that one. Wow.

Great work 

Chris

Thank You so much! Hope not to ruin this project with the painting))

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Hi comrades!

 

The Buffalo was primed, cockpit finished and closed.

Painting done with Montex masks' help in two stages - standard camouflage was done and chipped. After this - winter pattern was added and chipped. All remaining decals added, undercarriage installed.

 

Next-panel lines highlighting ,weathering and final assembly.

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Thanks for looking

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  • cema_ga changed the title to Finished! Brewster Type 239 Buffalo, 1/LeLV 24, Finland, winter 1943 (Classic Airframes 1/48)+scratch

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