The Battle of Britain in real life and on film.

[zigster]

And so many times in the movie as well. Spits peeling off to the left, or He-111 going down into the drink (Help yourselves everybody, there's no escort...)

As well, as that reused He-111 pilot in several scenes 🙃

Yet it was great, they were trying to bring some authentic touch to the story. And it was sixties, after all, no wardbird movement, no computer thingis!

Reading a book about the production, they counted their blessings for securing Suzannah York, Michael Caine or Robert Shaw.

Look for Hurries in the first line, and Buchons in the second line of that famouus: "Repeat please..."

Btw, producer of BoB movie was an x pilot in Polish 306 Sqd.

Zig

 

[Eric Mc]

I see the OP is based in Farnborough. Is this Farnborough Hants? If it is maybe we should get together to compare note on 'Einkels" as I have just started building the Italeri kit.

 

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235093955-italeri-172-heinkel-he111/

 

[clive_t]

As yet another avid watcher/re-watcher/re-re-... etc-watcher of this iconic movie, I have belatedly arrived at the waypoint but I am now able to say: 'Tally-ho Yellow!'

[munnst]

Some work on the Einkel fuselage sections. Cleaned up and painted SwarzGrau which I guess is black grey or dark grey.
I will paint the remainder the same and pick out some of the instrument panels and dials in various dial like colours.
Revell old tool is at the bottom. Some of the windows on the Revell kit were replaced with clear plastic card to delete the side gunner positions which do not exist on the BoB film aircraft.

The Revell kit had some curious raised window detail which I sanded flush. I also added a hair for scale.

Starboard fuselage sides. Three of these aircraft will be Merlin engined with one retained as an actual WW2 aircraft.

Revell cockpit. Quite well detailed for the vintage except for some orrible ejection pin marks which I may fill if visible.

I'm going to add a crew most likely from the spares box. While the Airfix figures are `okay` they look more like RAF than Luftwaffer.
The Revell figures are beyond hope.

Thanks for looking.

Edited June 7, 2021 by munnst

[munnst]

Slow but steady progress on the `Einkels`.

Fuselages all closed up and initial cyano bead seam filler sanded flush.

Bomb bays constructed...

...and fitted to the the aircraft.

The Revell kit while basic scrubs up well. I'm leaving the wings off so I can fit the Merlins. For the Airfix kits the Merlins will have to be fitted when wings are on.

Resin Beaufighter Merlins. Will need some work but otherwise a good compromise.

Wings on.

(duplicates removed) Thanks for looking.

 

Edited September 4, 2021 by munnst

[Hook]

Lovely work so far! Will you be adding a SH Bouchon as well?

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[munnst]

42 minutes ago, Hook said:

Lovely work so far! Will you be adding a SH Bouchon as well?

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

 

I have two Buchons. One will be painted in Spanish markings the other a BoB film star.

I also have a B25 and markings for the Tallmanz Psychedelic Monster.

[munnst]

It has been a lot more challenging to mate the engines to the Revell airframe than was originally anticipated.
I started buy dremelling out the underside rad flap and repositioning using plasticard. The CASA Heinkel flap is more forward than the resin engine. I also replicated the raised engine surround using fly tying wire. This will eventually be sanded flat. I'm also going to shorten the raised area as the Heinkel looks to have had a shorter exhaust. I chopped the original engine off leaving sufficient plastic to be able to adjust the position of the new engine which I glued in place. I then used putty to merge the two together. The underside fairing was also replicated by making a balsa plug which I crudely shaped and then applied filler over. Once sanded to shape I added a plasticard trim to the rear. While not perfect I think it looks acceptable.

Balsa plug with plasticard trim and the newly positioned engine flap.

While not perfect I think it looks okay.

I've added a slight outward (clockwise / anticlockwise) twist to the engine when looked at head on. Looking at the real aircraft the engines appear to have a twist to them.
The Revell aircraft will be painted to represent a silver and blue Spanish example.
Thanks for looking.

[ColinChipmunkfan]

So many marvelous quotes "Spring chicken to shitehawk in one easy lesson"  Following this with great interest - as a schoolboy saw the aeroplanes up from Duxford when they made the film,  Are you intending to model Section Officer Harvey?

Colin

[Yankymodeler]

On 5/19/2021 at 4:56 AM, munnst said:

In the film some of the Spanish roundals can be seen beneath the German splinter camo. Something I'm toying with replicating on the models.

I noted the roundels as well, had to try and replicate that when I built my CASA "Movie Star" years ago.

 

Eric aka The Yankymodeler

 

[munnst]

17 hours ago, ColinChipmunkfan said:

So many marvelous quotes "Spring chicken to shitehawk in one easy lesson"  Following this with great interest - as a schoolboy saw the aeroplanes up from Duxford when they made the film,  Are you intending to model Section Officer Harvey?

Colin

If only!

16 hours ago, Yankymodeler said:

I noted the roundels as well, had to try and replicate that when I built my CASA "Movie Star" years ago.

 

Eric aka The Yankymodeler

 

Great build. What scale is it?

[Yankymodeler]

2 hours ago, munnst said:

If only!

Great build. What scale is it?

Thank you!  Based on a Monogram 1/48, the build had its moments.  If you're interested here is a link to the WIP:

 

BoB Movie Stars CASA 2.111 WIP

[AdrianMF]

Looks like your Revell kit is the repop of the 1972 FROG kit, which was basic but a massive step up from the 1962 Airfix kit. Revell later reboxed the Hasegawa kit at a fraction of its original price.

 

I’m looking forward to your one man group build!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[JosephLalor]

On 5/19/2021 at 3:16 PM, Michou said:

Yes, and several other films.  Check the Wikipedia "Battle of Britain (film)" for all the details.

 

Mike

I saw one of them at the Irish Film Institute in the early 2000s: Dark Blue World, from Kolya's director, Jan Svěrák.

Edited October 18, 2021 by JosephLalor

[munnst]

18 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Looks like your Revell kit is the repop of the 1972 FROG kit, which was basic but a massive step up from the 1962 Airfix kit. Revell later reboxed the Hasegawa kit at a fraction of its original price.

 

I’m looking forward to your one man group build!

 

Regards,

Adrian

1972 Frog kit. Well I never. It's actually a pretty good kit. When I build these old kits it occurs to me that while the new kits have a lot more internal detail, as most of it cannot be seen it's kindof academic.

These old kits often (not always) go together quite well and their simplicity would be a good subject for youngsters (as I was when I built them originally). I can see the more technical modern kits could be a turnoff for beginners.

Thanks for the positive comments.

"This is only the beginning, they won't stop now".

[munnst]

Has it been 7 months already, yikes.

Constructing, fitting and blending the Merlin engines onto each airframe, wing has been a lot more time consuming than I thought it would be.

I was surprised at the fit which was pretty much spot on for the width of the engine. The time consuming part was constructing the exhaust areas and blending the engine nacell to the underside.

I think I got there in the end?

 

The three converted aircraft. First is Airfix fitted with Airfix Lancaster inner engines. Second is Revell fitted with Freight Dog resin Beaufighter Merlin engines. Third is Airfix fitted with Lancaster outer engines.

The Inner and Outer engines from the Airfix Lanc are slightly different widths and both taper. Not sure if that is correct for the Lancaster. It's not perfect for a CASA but as I had no others would have to do.

The Resin conversion looked better but I couldn't justify purchasing another two sets (at about £20 a pop) just for the engines.

 

The Resin engines look a lot chunkier. Lost a bit of detail during sanding which needs to be rectified before prep work and painting.

 

Because the resin engine radiator flaps were too far aft I removed them with a dremel and made some new ones from plasticard. Not perfect but looks a lot better when viewed from the side.

 

One of the Lancaster engined conversions. I dry brushed the cockpit with some light grey to pick out the detail but didn't go overboard. You won't see much once the crew and canopies go on.

 

To blend the engine into the undercarriage doors I pack out the hole with balsa and applied four or five thin coats of Squadron Grey Putty. Once sanded to shape I filled with perfect putty to fill all the small holes.

 

Looking at pictures of CASA Henkels on the web the engines show a distinct outwards cant. For the Revell aircraft I canted the engines to correspond to these images. It looked a bit too much so for the remaining two aircraft I reduced the cant. I'm not sure which is correct but it looks better than having the engines straight down.

 

Aircraft with less of a turn on the engines.

 

I wanted to add crew to the nose of each flying aircraft (The Revell aircraft has undercart down) so I dug around in the spares box and made up some crew. Mostly Revell RAF and Luftwaffer Pilots with some Airfix pilot spares.

 

I added some lifejackets and oxygen masks to each figure. Very crudely formed using green stuff. I think once fitted to the aircraft the imperfections will not be seen.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Ted.

 

 

 

Edited January 1, 2022 by munnst

[k5054nz]

I'm very keen to build the then-Confederate Air Force's sadly ill-fated 2.111 in 1/72 one day so this is a fantastic piece of inspiration. Great work so far!

 

"Nah, they're Messerschmitts!"

[Icedtea]

On 5/15/2021 at 5:14 AM, Paws4thot said:

"Dorniers!"

Well them Einkels aint Revell they'm Hasegawa innit! 😉

[munnst]

17 hours ago, k5054nz said:

I'm very keen to build the then-Confederate Air Force's sadly ill-fated 2.111 in 1/72 one day so this is a fantastic piece of inspiration. Great work so far!

 

"Nah, they're Messerschmitts!"

I would say go for it. Not hard to do just time consuming. Lots of filling and sanding.

[Johnson]

A while since I looked in. Great progress Ted. Keep going!

[Head in the clouds.]

Shut up! Silence - in Polish!....🤣

 

I am and watching with interest.

 

Coming along nicely @munnst and some fine modification and scratch building.

[munnst]

Has it really been a year since I started these!

The mammoth task of masking all the canopies is completed. I don't like these Airfix Heinkel canopies.

They seem way over scale and have many fitment issues? After a few days of fettling they sort of fit. Replaced the side windows with clear plasticard covered with Canopy Glue.

I had to make concession as the film aircraft nose glazing's did not have the machine gun ring and are more faired in.

I just noticed a mistake with the side windows masks. Need to make port holes for the front two. I'll fix that later.

 

The Citadel paint pot (I'm a slave to trends) makes a nice aircraft stand while drying.

 

Now into the paint booth for a coat of Vallejo Matt Grey Primer. This primer was going on a little speckled but drying nice and flat.

I made the mistake of leaving the pressure at 30 psi after blowing the dust off when spraying the next one and the paint went on perfect.

So dialled it back to 25psi. I guess these primers need a bit more umpf.

 

 

This next picture reminds me of the line in the film "Help your selves everybody there's no fighter escort".

 

 

Next stage will be a quick sand back and then camo, or silver for the Spaniard.

Thanks for looking.

Edited May 10, 2022 by munnst

[munnst]

I've been busy in the garden. No bomb craters but someone did give me the bloody shovel!

Finally got some paint on the Einkels and I don't think they look too bad considering (my lack of skill).

I do like these new Tamiya Lacquers and Mr Color Aqueous Paints (after failing yet again to apply Vallejo Metal) . They lay down rather nicely. Lacquer thinned with levelling thinner and some thinner and retarder (Daler and Rowney) added to the acrylic.

I find it prevents clogging to retard a little.

I sprayed several coats of Mr Color Gloss and then a coat of Humbrol Gloss (I do like Humbrol gloss). I rather like her in this striking Silver Blue and feel the Merlins look okay to my wonky eyes.

 

Makes a striking comparison to the German Heinkel.

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by munnst

[81-er]

They're looking good with the paint going on. I'm assuming the Spaniard is replicating the finish on this one? http://walkarounds.scalemodels.ru/v/walkarounds/avia/before_1950/he-111_munchen/?g2_page=1 (which I quite agree is a cracking scheme).

 

James

[munnst]

3 hours ago, 81-er said:

They're looking good with the paint going on. I'm assuming the Spaniard is replicating the finish on this one? http://walkarounds.scalemodels.ru/v/walkarounds/avia/before_1950/he-111_munchen/?g2_page=1 (which I quite agree is a cracking scheme).

 

James

That's the one. The blue I am told is incorrect. It should be dull and matt but I like it.