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1/48th Tamiya Spitfire Mk.I, 222 Sqn, June 1940, flown by Flt. Lt. Douglas Bader over Dunkirk.


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Hiya Folks,

                  I don`t normally go in for aces aircraft, but Douglas Bader, the famous legless airman from WW2 was a larger than life character and I liked the markings of his 222 Sqn Spit, which I applied to this Tamiya kit using the decals from the recently released Eduard kit. As per my Eduard kit, I removed the upper level of varnish after the decals had `set' and although fiddly,... I had no trouble and it brought out the colours of the decals very well indeed,.... they looked much better than they did under the coat of film. 

The Tamiya kit is very nice,.... if a little `over thought' in places and had it not been for the release of the Eduard kit,.... it would be well up there in top spot alongside the Airfix kit! It does represent an early Mk.I and as such there is no armour provided for behind the pilots seat, so this was taken from the Eduard kit and the seat was modified to fit it, as was the back plate which needed to be cut down because the cockpit opening is much narrower. 

 

Bader lost both of his legs (one above the knee, one below) when he crashed at Reading Aero Club, Woodley Aerodrome while carrying out unofficial low level aerobatics in December 1931 while flying Bristol Bulldog Mk. IIA, K1676 of 23 Sqn. He was invalided out of the RAF but following the outbreak of WW2 he was determined to re join the service so despite his disability he convinced the authorities that he could fly just as well using his new metal legs. The newly re instated Pilot Officer Bader joined 19 Sqn flying Spitfire`s at Duxford in January 1940 but he was promoted to Flight Lieutenant and crossed the airfield to command a flight with 222 Sqn in May 1940, still flying Spitfire`s. With his new unit Bader was credited with his first kill, a Bf109E over Dunkirk on 1st June 1940, plus a Me110 damaged and during further patrols over Dunkirk he claimed both a He111 & Do.17 damaged before 222 Sqn was withdrawn back to Kirton in Lindsey in Lincolnshire. Soon afterwards, Bader was promoted again to Sqn. Ldr and posted back to Duxford to take over the battle hardened 242 Sqn, consisting of Canadian pilot`s and flying Hurricane`s which had just been pulled back from the fighting in France. From then on the Bader legend was born and during his relatively short combat career which ended on 9th August 1941, (flying Spitfire Mk VA, W3185, coded D-B) during an offensive patrol over the French coast when the tail of his aircraft was severed,..... he scored 22 kills, four shared,  six probable`s, one shared probable and 11 enemy aircraft damaged. Often described as a `difficult' man by friend and foe alike,.... he was still a national hero and he later became Sir Douglas Bader, he was heavily involved in charity work post war and the film `Reach For The Sky' starring Kenneth More told Bader`s story to a wider audience.. 

bader.jpg

 

And Bader with fellow pilots in front of his his 222 Sqn Spitfire as portrayed here,.... credited Dilip Sarkar;

dilip-sarkar-bader.jpg

 

 

The model,.... Brush Painted as usual;

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Cheers

           Tony

 

Edited by tonyot
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3 hours ago, 85sqn said:

Lovely Tony!

Thanks mate. 

 

2 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Gorgeous Mk1Tony, great work and back round info too.

A lovely model. 

Chris

 

 

Cheers Chris,.... glad you like it mate. 

 

2 hours ago, wellsprop said:

Stunning as always Tony! I really like the weathering :)

Cheers Bud,.... I didn`t want to over do it,... so glad you like it.

 

Thanks Fella`s,

                      Tony

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Very nicely done as always. Is the underside of the fuselage silver on this one? 

 

I met him when I was a kid, probably about 8-10, and much to the horror of my mother instead of asking him all the usual schoolboy questions he must have got I asked him why he wore socks! That earned me a clip round the ear from my mother but he took it in good humour and he told me it was so that his prosthetics didn't wear his shoes out too quickly.

 

Duncan B

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3 hours ago, Duncan B said:

Very nicely done as always. Is the underside of the fuselage silver on this one? 

 

I met him when I was a kid, probably about 8-10, and much to the horror of my mother instead of asking him all the usual schoolboy questions he must have got I asked him why he wore socks! That earned me a clip round the ear from my mother but he took it in good humour and he told me it was so that his prosthetics didn't wear his shoes out too quickly.

 

Duncan B

You were lucky to meet a real life hero! There's a lot written about him of course. He was difficult as a person, like Guy Gibson was said to be, but a man of supreme leadership qualities. He actually became good friends with his great adversary Adolf Galland post war and was often invited to Lufwaffe reunions. Whatever you think of the man he did so much for people with disability , selflessly and without expectation of reward. This is perhaps his enduring legacy, his wartime services aside. A great man indeed. 

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Hi @tonyot

 

Lovely work, the weathering is understated and looks spot on to my eye.
 

I am building exactly the same aircaft but with the Eduard kit. How did you manage to peel the decal carrier film? I’ve seen mixed results and was debating whether to try it on mine or just leave it on. 
 

TIA

 

Ash 

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12 hours ago, J Sherratt said:

Very nice - as a matter of interest, what paints have you used? John

Thanks mate,.... on this one I used Humbrol enamel Dark Earth,.... the last of my Polly Scale Dark Green acrylic,..... and for the undersides Tamiya rattle can Bare Metal Silver and White (because life is too short for brush painting those colours) plus brushed on acrylic Pactra Black. 

11 hours ago, F-32 said:

Love it, very very nice!

Cheers mate.

11 hours ago, Duncan B said:

Very nicely done as always. Is the underside of the fuselage silver on this one? 

 

I met him when I was a kid, probably about 8-10, and much to the horror of my mother instead of asking him all the usual schoolboy questions he must have got I asked him why he wore socks! That earned me a clip round the ear from my mother but he took it in good humour and he told me it was so that his prosthetics didn't wear his shoes out too quickly.

 

Duncan B

Thnks Duncan,.... Yeah a true hero and he would have loved your cheeky query! I have a friend who lost a leg in the Falklands and he loves having the mickey taken,.... proper forces black humour,..... are we still allowed to call it that 

10 hours ago, swralph said:

Great build Tony.😀

I have this slight feeling that you like Spitfires........

Thanks mate,...... really,..... is it that obvious?? LOL!! Believe it or not,... I`m more of a Hurricane fan,... but you have to love the old Spit too!

7 hours ago, Col Walter E Kurtz said:

You were lucky to meet a real life hero! There's a lot written about him of course. He was difficult as a person, like Guy Gibson was said to be, but a man of supreme leadership qualities. He actually became good friends with his great adversary Adolf Galland post war and was often invited to Lufwaffe reunions. Whatever you think of the man he did so much for people with disability , selflessly and without expectation of reward. This is perhaps his enduring legacy, his wartime services aside. A great man indeed. 

He sure did,..... he was awarded his knighthood for services to charity and disability issues if I remember correctly,.... a wonder role model.

7 hours ago, keith in the uk said:

Another beauty Tony :like: can i ask what paints you are using for the cameo ?  as the colours are spot on .

 Thanks Keith.... as above,.... I used Humbrol enamel Dark Earth,.... the last of my Polly Scale Dark Green acrylic,...both brush painted.. and for the undersides Tamiya rattle can Bare Metal Silver & White (because life is too short for brush painting those colours) plus brushed on acrylic Pactra Black . ..... Humbrol enamel varnish was brushed over the model for the decals and Polly Scale acrylic matt varnish was brushed over afterwards. 

4 hours ago, Doccur said:

Hi @tonyot

 

Lovely work, the weathering is understated and looks spot on to my eye.
 

I am building exactly the same aircaft but with the Eduard kit. How did you manage to peel the decal carrier film? I’ve seen mixed results and was debating whether to try it on mine or just leave it on. 
 

TIA

 

Ash 

Cheers Ash,.... much appreciated thanks mate.

For the Eduard decals I applied them as normal,..... then left them to set. Then I used a sharp knife to scrape away gently at the edge of the decal, which lifts the carrier film,..... it is quite elasticy and you can carefully lift it off the roundel/ code etc which remains on the model and looks like a rub on decal without any carrier film or silvering or anything,..... they also settle into every single panel line,..... they really are excellent and look painted on. I made a few mistakes on my Eduard kit,.... but managed to lift most of the film without problems,.... so I would practice with a few spare decals on an old kit first. I also applied the decals onto a smooth surface by applying gloss varnish first,.... and of course letting it dry.... before applying the decals.  I found that were I lifted a small section of the underlying decal,.... I just pressed it down again,.... left it for a while and tried again,

4 hours ago, junglierating said:

Looks fab Tony....ive got a mk Vb inboard which I will post but no where near as superlative as that

 

Cheers mate,.... I look forward to seeing your Mk.Vc,... I`m sure it will be up to your excellent standard.

 

Thanks Fella`s,

                    Tony 

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It's nice to see an aeroplane of an ace, that isn't typical. 

Bader was quite the character, you had to be come back from his accident and convince the RAF to take him back. His subsequent success proved his point. Even if he was difficult. But you need people like that in wartime. 

 

I was first introduced to Bader quite young, Reach for the Sky probably borrowed from the local library in Dublin. Amusingly although I understood he lost his legs. I nevertheless misunderstood the term which apparently the newspapers used at the time: 'legless leader'. I thought legless was an adjective as in without leege, meaning no one like him. Hey I was nine or ten and I definitely didn't know what an adjective was. 

 

But I was right, he was one of a kind. Legless is perhaps an adjective after all. 

 

It's no surprise that my first Spitfire model carried the codes D-B. 

 

Edited by noelh
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9 hours ago, noelh said:

It's nice to see an aeroplane of an ace, that isn't typical. 

Bader was quite the character, you had to be come back from his accident and convince the RAF to take him back. His subsequent success proved his point. Even if he was difficult. But you need people like that in wartime. 

 

I was first introduced to Bader quite young, Reach for the Sky probably borrowed from the local library in Dublin. Amusingly although I understood he lost his legs. I nevertheless misunderstood the term which apparently the newspapers used at the time: 'legless leader'. I thought legless was an adjective as in without leege, meaning no one like him. Hey I was nine or ten and I definitely didn't know what an adjective was. 

 

But I was right, he was one of a kind. Legless is perhaps an adjective after all. 

 

It's no surprise that my first Spitfire model carried the codes D-B. 

 

Love it Noel.. most candid! As children we all get the wrong end of the stick. Your story made me smile. Thank you!

 

DB was a hero.. who are we encouraged to see as 'heroes' these days? ...people from Strictly Come Dancing , Love Island  and other reality TV programmes?  Imagine putting DB , Roger Bushell, Leonard Cheshire and others in Love Island lol.. 😂 

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2 hours ago, Col Walter E Kurtz said:

 

DB was a hero.. who are we encouraged to see as 'heroes' these days? ...people from Strictly Come Dancing , Love Island  and other reality TV programmes?  Imagine putting DB , Roger Bushell, Leonard Cheshire and others in Love Island lol.. 😂 

Well being pilots the ratings would surely slump because as ever when pilots get together they only talk of one thing. The ladies would be ignored as a series of 'There I was' tales were recounted with a lot of hand flying. 👋🖖👌🤏😄

 

I once jokingly suggested to a room full of chattering pilots that we talk of something else besides flying. The unnerving silence that followed still haunts me. 🤐

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1 hour ago, noelh said:

Well being pilots the ratings would surely slump because as ever when pilots get together they only talk of one thing. The ladies would be ignored as a series of 'There I was' tales were recounted with a lot of hand flying. 👋🖖👌🤏😄

 

I once jokingly suggested to a room full of chattering pilots that we talk of something else besides flying. The unnerving silence that followed still haunts me. 🤐

Maybe you're right !  your suggestion sounds like a classic "Ill get me coat" 

 

I was thinking more of DB et all would actually give them some pointers about being 'real' people and doing something that's not about their own selfishness, image and how many 'likes' on social media they can get ... 😂

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11 hours ago, Doccur said:

Thanks @tonyot

 

Did you use any setting solution etc? 
 

As you say, probably best to try on a scrap model rather than ruin my Eduard one... although that’s likely anyway 😂😂

 

Ash

No Ash,... no setting solution.... just water,..... I would think that setting solution might just melt these decals,.... they don`t need any either. You won`t ruin it mate and if you don`t fancy peeling off the film, just leave them alone,.... however they do look 10 times better with the film lifted away.

 

7 hours ago, djos said:

Great looking spitfire with fantastic cover story

Well done

Regards

Djordje

Thanks Djordje,..... glad you like it mate.

 

20 hours ago, noelh said:

It's nice to see an aeroplane of an ace, that isn't typical. 

Bader was quite the character, you had to be come back from his accident and convince the RAF to take him back. His subsequent success proved his point. Even if he was difficult. But you need people like that in wartime. 

 

I was first introduced to Bader quite young, Reach for the Sky probably borrowed from the local library in Dublin. Amusingly although I understood he lost his legs. I nevertheless misunderstood the term which apparently the newspapers used at the time: 'legless leader'. I thought legless was an adjective as in without leege, meaning no one like him. Hey I was nine or ten and I definitely didn't know what an adjective was. 

 

But I was right, he was one of a kind. Legless is perhaps an adjective after all. 

 

It's no surprise that my first Spitfire model carried the codes D-B. 

 

Thanks Noel,.... yeah difficult people seem to thrive in wartime,.... look at SAS hero Paddy Mayne too,.... terrible in barracks,.... ferocious in battle!  You normally find that the best soldiers are not the best with aooficialdom,.... but shine where it counts.

 

6 hours ago, mick said:

great work

Thanks Mick.  

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