1/72nd Airfix Gladiator, 80 Sqn, Egypt 1939

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks and hope you are having a Very Merry Christmas!

I have been building this one for over a year,..... it is jinxed,...... beautiful kit by Airfix,...... but this one was cursed!! It has fallen off tables, broken into pieces, had parts go missing,.... the full works,...... but last night I got it over the line and I`ve taken some pics quickly before it has another mishap!

Since buying the photos seen below depicting 80 Sqn Gladiators in Egypt in 1939 before war broke out with Italy in 1940,..... I have wanted to build a model of one,.... especially with the change from silver finish to camouflage and the roundels roughly overpainted,... with some of the white ring still showing through;

 

 

 

Using this decal sheet;

 

And here is the model..... brush painted as usual,..... using Humbrol paints apart from the white underside half which was done using a rattle can and the A Type fuselage roundel was roughly converted to a B Type using a fine brush and White Ensign Roundel Blue (thanks Ben!), trying to keep the original small red dot visible!. Oh and yes,....I`ve rigged the tail wrong,...doh,....just realised,...thought it looked wrong,...... told you it was jinxed;

 

Cheers everybody and Merry Christmas again,... Airfix have produced another stunning little kit here,....... it would be brilliant in 1/48th too!

All the best,

                  Tony

 

 

 

Edited December 25, 2020 by tonyot

[swralph]

Very nice build Tony.😀

[John Masters]

Super build Tony.  And a Merry Christmas to you too!

[JWM]

Very nice looking Gladiator! 

Some African Gladiators have and some does not have shadow shading. Was any rule with it? 

Regards and Merry Christmas!

J-W

[Andy Dyck]

Very nice also in this camouflage sceme. One of my favorite British planes!

thx for sharing 

 

Cheers

 

Andy

[tonyot]

20 minutes ago, swralph said:

Very nice build Tony.😀

Cheers mate.

18 minutes ago, John Masters said:

Super build Tony.  And a Merry Christmas to you too!

Thanks John,..... have a good one,

15 minutes ago, JWM said:

Very nice looking Gladiator! 

Some African Gladiators have and some does not have shadow shading. Was any rule with it? 

Regards and Merry Christmas!

J-W

Thanks J-W,..... those repainted in the field at unit level by the RAF often had the basic 2 colour scheme,..... those done by MU`s had the official scheme. 80 Sqn in Egypt painted their own aircraft,....... they were probably not even aware of a 4 colour shadow scheme? Orders from group to re camouflage silver aircraft in Dark Earth and Dark Green would probably have been issued?   The SAAF received its Gladiator`s from RAF stocks and they came with whatever scheme was applied,..... some even had Sky rear fuselage bands! 

All the best mate,.. Merry Christmas

                                                       Tony

[tonyot]

9 minutes ago, Andy Dyck said:

Very nice also in this camouflage sceme. One of my favorite British planes!

thx for sharing 

 

Cheers

 

Andy

Thanks Andy,...... yeah a lovely aeroplane the old Glad. 

Cheers

           Tony

 

[cngaero]

Merry Christmas Tony, I hope all is well with you and yours 

That's a lovely looking Gladiator, as usual, mainting your superb standards of modelling. 

I haven't seen that sheet of markings before. I feel a hunt coming on! 

[bigbadbadge]

Another excellent model Tony, I have one of these to do, must get another too.  Great work fella and great perseverance to get this over the line too.

Hope you are having a very Merry and safe Christmas. 

Chris

[tonyot]

34 minutes ago, cngaero said:

Merry Christmas Tony, I hope all is well with you and yours 

That's a lovely looking Gladiator, as usual, mainting your superb standards of modelling. 

I haven't seen that sheet of markings before. I feel a hunt coming on! 

Merry Christmas Chris,..... yeah having a lovely day,.... full as a chip now though and fit to pop! 

Good luck finding the sheet,..... hope you get one,..... they have others on the early Hurricane and RAF over Greece too.

25 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Another excellent model Tony, I have one of these to do, must get another too.  Great work fella and great perseverance to get this over the line too.

Hope you are having a very Merry and safe Christmas. 

Chris

Thanks Chris and Merry Christmas to you too,.... yeah having a lovely day thanks, couldn`t ask for better in fact. The Airfix Gladiator is a little gem mate.  

[abat]

Lovely work. Your brush painting and weathering are spot on. 

[tonyot]

1 minute ago, abat said:

Lovely work. Your brush painting and weathering are spot on. 

Thanks mate,.... very kind of you. 

[abat]

Painting and weathering are the toughest part of any build for me. It’s great seeing it done so well, especially in 1/72 which I build exclusively. 

[bigbadbadge]

10 minutes ago, tonyot said:

Merry Christmas Chris,..... yeah having a lovely day,.... full as a chip now though and fit to pop! 

Good luck finding the sheet,..... hope you get one,..... they have others on the early Hurricane and RAF over Greece too.

Thanks fella, glad you'rehaving a good day.  I have the RAF over Greece sheet. Will have to dig out the kit and place it near the top of the stash now.  

Have a great evening Tony. 

Chris

 

[tonyot]

1 hour ago, abat said:

Painting and weathering are the toughest part of any build for me. It’s great seeing it done so well, especially in 1/72 which I build exclusively. 

Thanks mate,...... less is more I suppose,....... more thin coats rather than a few thicker ones,....... and I always apply as little paint as possible.With weathering look at the real thing first and see where the wear takes place,..... too many models look like they belong in a scrap heap! Just keep practicing and it will all come together,.... we are all learning!  

[tonyot]

1 hour ago, bigbadbadge said:

Thanks fella, glad you'rehaving a good day.  I have the RAF over Greece sheet. Will have to dig out the kit and place it near the top of the stash now.  

Have a great evening Tony. 

Chris

 

Nice one,..... yeah some good subjects on that. Yeah you too pal,...... I`m going to work off some of my dinner and have a snooze I think!!

Tony

[David Womby]

Lovely job on that one, Tony.

 

David

[112 Squadron]

A perfectly built Gladiator! I like your choice of the early war paint scheme. 👍

[RMCS]

Superb 

[tonyot]

3 hours ago, 112 Squadron said:

A perfectly built Gladiator! I like your choice of the early war paint scheme. 👍

Thanks mate,...... I wouldn`t say perfectly built,..... there are plenty of mistakes if you look closely!  I`ve got a few more planned but I just hate the rigging! 

3 hours ago, David Womby said:

Lovely job on that one, Tony.

 

David

Thanks David.

1 hour ago, RMCS said:

Superb 

Cheers mate. 

[Team Aer Lingus]

Another little gem Tony despite all the incidents she looks great 🥇

 

Thanks for sharing

 

regards

 

Eamonn

[Edge]

Nice one Tony. Unusual subject too.

 

Edge

 

[Viking]

Lovely job as usual Tony, I agree that some kits are cursed - I've had a few in my time!

Interesting to see this, I've just finished reading Roald Dahl's 'going solo', he was with 80 squadron flying Gladiators at the time, and was severely injured after crash landing in rock strewn desert. He recovered and rejoined 80 Sqn in Greece on Hurricanes. I'm forming an idea that these might make a nice pair of models.

 

Cheers

 

John

[Homer]

At least i know iam not the only one suffering from bad luck when trying to finish a kit.The carpet monster is my main problem .

Anyway you have to be congratulated on a fine model.

[AdrianMF]

Well to look at it, you wouldn’t know you’d had problems. Looks super and the camo suits it. 
 

Happy Boxing Day,

Adrian