Brewster 339E Buffalo - 488 (NZ) Squadron - Circa late 1941

[LDSModeller]

7 minutes ago, 2996 Victor said:

Hi Alan,

 

re bolt heads, American model company Grandt Line used to make nut and bolt mouldings in various scales. They were intended for model railroading, but HO scale could be usable in 1/32. Might be worth looking into?

 

Hi Mark,

 

Thank you for that, I just checked the site, unfortunately for the foreseeable

future there won't be any mail from the US to NZ (shipping issues), so bummer

I do have some 1/35 bolt heads, but will have to check sizes

 

Thanks/regards

 

Alan

[LDSModeller]

4 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Do you have any pics of the car???

Hi Chris,

 

I don't have any with me, would have to check my Dads photos, to see whether he took any.

If I find any, I'll post them

 

Regards

 

Alan

[2996 Victor]

4 minutes ago, LDSModeller said:

 

Hi Mark,

 

Thank you for that, I just checked the site, unfortunately for the foreseeable

future there won't be any mail from the US to NZ (shipping issues), so bummer

I do have some 1/35 bolt heads, but will have to check sizes

 

Thanks/regards

 

Alan

Ah well! Hopefully your stock has some in a suitable size!

 

Cheers,

Mark

[Mark Cassidy]

On 02/10/2021 at 22:16, LDSModeller said:

Hi Butch,

 

With your RNZAF Fighter Fleet, I'm presuming RNZAF Aircraft in the Pacific campaign ?

Anyway I digress -

I'm not aware of any 488 Squadron Buffaloes being converted to "Night Fighters and painted all black"?

For one Night Fighting would require a Night Flying panel fitted which to my knowledge they were not.

Secondly 488 Squadron had some 21 Aircraft, 7 of which ( at least) were involved in prangs resulting in

write off's during the Squadron's work up to operational readiness October/November 1941.

 

Once the "Balloon" had gone up, 488 Squadron were in the thick of the fighting, with the ground crews carrying

out Titan efforts to keep the aircraft flying, and damaged ones repaired to continue the fight (not withstanding a steady

attrition rate/losses)

Can you provide any reference as to where the Night Fighter Buffaloes came from? _ I had a check through my references

and nothing (Two All Black Night Fighters" would have been certainly a topic worthy of mention )

I can check with the RNZAF Museum to see whether they may have any info on this?

 

Regards

 

Alan

 

 

 

Alan,

 

Apologies for the delay in my response real life has gotten in the way a wee bit, indeed your right, I  am thinking of indeed doing the RNZAF fighters of the SWPA campaigns, I have 2 to finish off the FAAs fighters of WW2 , so am kind of looking for a new theme, don't know what it is a weird like that lol. I don't have a P40 or Buffalo in my collection and the markings seem interesting so yeah I thought I would go for it, its 3 kits and I do like the Corsair, I've long thought the two or three tone colour schemes they carried are really nice.  I think it would be a far larger undertaking to try and do the fighters the kiwis used in the ETO lol

 

As other has referenced I was reading Phil Listermans - Squadrons Series The Brewster Buffalo , however the it is a direct reference from a bloody shambles as other posters mentioned.   In my quest to build something a bit out the ordinary I can see where I have gotten mixed up between the two squadrons , I think I will play safe and create a standard 488sqn in the day scheme, just to be on the safe side. 

 

But thanks for replying mate, I appreciate it 🙂

 

Regards Butch

 

[Mark Cassidy]

On 03/10/2021 at 03:18, jimmaas said:

I think this is a reference to 243 Squadron, rather than 488.  The following is a mashup of correspondence between me and Mark Haselden, who is very knowledgeable about night-fighting and PRU Brewsters.

 

From 'Bloody Shambles', Volume 1 pages 150 and 278.  Two Buffs of 243 squadron's 'A' flight were painted black - the source claims they were nicknamed 'Black Magic' and 'Black Bess',  there is some indication of the likely serials: W8143 and W8231.  Not covered in 'Bloody Shambles' is a similar nightfighter section of 67 Squadron in Burma - not black, but with the rear canopy overpainted.  In addition, the ever-popular Squadron Leader W. Harper of 453 Squadron developed a flash shroud for the Brewster's exhaust as had his own little night fighter section. 

Jimmaas 

 

Thank you for replying mate, I have clearly gotten mixed up between the two units , Doh!  Thanks though for the reply its appreciate greatly . I will stick to the standard day scheme I think for my build 🙂

 

 

Regards 

 

Butch

[Mark Cassidy]

On 08/10/2021 at 11:12, Graham Boak said:

Bloody Shambles, Vol.1 p255.  9/1/42  Bingham-Wallis took off in W8146/D with Pinckney acting as basic ground control.  No contacts were made.   A few days later Pinckney and Bargh were sent to Moulmein to attempt en-route interceptions, but the raids ceased.  Nothing more on night fighters that I can see in Vol.1, but there is a photo of W8245/D, presumably a replacement after the loss of W8146..  

Graham 

 

Thanks that's really interesting mate, am obliged to you for helping me out with this 🙂

 

 

[Mark Cassidy]

On 03/10/2021 at 02:17, Maginot said:

Who said Kiwis are flightless birds?

 

This is a terrific project. Particularly like your work on the engine. The manufacturer's plates are a nice touch and cleverly fabricated. Thanks so much for posting some of your research. It makes for interesting reading. Flt Lt John "Hutch" Hutchison looks like a right character.

 

From recent reading/viewing docos, it seems that the poor reputation assigned the barrel-like Buffalo is somewhat undeserved. Its poor performance in some theatres (e.g. Midway) is offset by brilliant performance in others (e.g. Finnish service). The Buffalo did well against Nakajima Ki-27 and Nakajima Ki-43 in the opening stages of the South-East Asian campaigns, but not so well against the Mitsubishi A6M (what did?). According to these sources, the little fighter's combat performance had much to do with training and morale of crews, scoreboard pressure (for want of a better term), overweight and quality of the opposition. All very interesting, but I'm sure you know far more than I.

 

Keep up the good work. Cheers.

Maginot 

 

One thing I found interesting was the realisation that the Buffalo was badly over weight and they were stripping out as much kit as they could to get the weight down and improve the performance. 

 

On a more general note its one of the draws of this hobby, its the research and the diving into the minutiae of the subject that your building, its thoroughly absorbing, and I am blown away by the depth of detail that people on these threads go to , to make authentic as possible models, its mind blowing.

 

 

 

 

[LDSModeller]

54 minutes ago, Mark Cassidy said:

I  am thinking of indeed doing the RNZAF fighters of the SWPA campaigns, I have 2 to finish off the FAAs fighters of WW2 , so am kind of looking for a new theme, don't know what it is a weird like that lol. I don't have a P40 or Buffalo in my collection and the markings seem interesting so yeah I thought I would go for it, its 3 kits and I do like the Corsair, I've long thought the two or three tone colour schemes they carried are really nice. 

Hi Butch,

 

Happy to help out

 

RNZAF Fighter Aircraft of WWII in the SWP area of Operations, has always been a big

favourite of mine

 

A few builds underway or done

 RNZAF P40E-1 (NZ3008 (HQ-B) and NZ3036 (HQ-Q)) as in this RNZAF Photo

(RNZAF Official - Air Force Museum of New Zealand - Used with Permissions)

 

NZ3008 - "Umslopogaas" - 1/32 Revell kit

 

NZ3036 - To be painted in (upper colours) RNZAF "Pacific Scheme" - 1/48 Promodeller kit

 

This is an RNZAF F4U-1 Repaint NZ5347 - 1/72 Frog Kit

 

RNZAF Corsair Line up NZ5360 "Struggle Buggy and NZ5347 far right (both Repaints)

(RNZAF Official - Air Force Museum of New Zealand - Used with Permissions)

 

NZ5347 - behind "49"

(RNZAF Official - Air Force Museum of New Zealand - Used with Permissions)

 

I have a few other as well such as a WWII RNZAF Sunderland Mk III

 

Regards

 

Alan

 

[LDSModeller]

1 hour ago, Flight Line Media said:

Beautiful project! Thanks for sharing us the details in building that project, Alan!

 

Thank you for looking in - Glad you like my posts

Regards

 

Alan

[Maginot]

Well @LDSModeller, you've inspired me to order one of these portly little fighters; a Special Hobby model 239 in 1/48. I'll endeavour to fashion an RAAF F2A of No. 1 Photo Reconnaissance Unit, which formed at a local aerodrome (Laverton) in 1942. This will require me to draw and print the decals, which will be a first for me. Cheers.

[LDSModeller]

2 hours ago, Maginot said:

you've inspired me to order one of these portly little fighters; a Special Hobby model 239 in 1/48. I'll endeavour to fashion an RAAF F2A of No. 1 Photo Reconnaissance Unit, which formed at a local aerodrome (Laverton) in 1942. This will require me to draw and print the decals, which will be a first for me

 

Nice

 

Hope you will do a WIP  along with showing us your decal engineering?

When I lived in Aussie, I lived, pretty much across the road from RAAF Laverton

 

Thanks/regards

 

Alan

[crobinsonh]

Hi Alan,

Any updates on your build? I notice that all you great WIP work has also disappeared.

 

 

[k5054nz]

I hope all's well, Alan.

[LDSModeller]

5 hours ago, crobinsonh said:

Hi Alan,

Any updates on your build? I notice that all you great WIP work has also disappeared.

 

1 hour ago, k5054nz said:

I hope all's well, Alan.

Hi Guys,

 

Well, I'm alive and kicking

 

Sorry about being some what MIA, this years has been abysmal for Model building,

family health issues, Covid, and other stuff that's happened , I've really only just

got back to the model bench.

 

Given I have Christmas leave coming up hopefully some updates

 

Thanks for looking in on me, this is what I really appreciate about Britmodeller

 

More building and photos/discussion soon

 

Regards

 

Alan

[k5054nz]

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles Alan but am very glad to hear from you!

[bigbadbadge]

Hi Alan

Glad to hear you're back at the bench, hopefully the new yrear will be much kinder. It'll be great to see this progress  too.

Chris

[jimmaas]

Hope things are on the mend!

 

[Biggles87]

Me too!

[LDSModeller]

7 hours ago, k5054nz said:

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles Alan but am very glad to hear from you!

 

7 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Hi Alan

Glad to hear you're back at the bench, hopefully the new yrear will be much kinder. It'll be great to see this progress  too.

 

4 hours ago, jimmaas said:

Hope things are on the mend!

 

57 minutes ago, Biggles87 said:

Me too!

 

Thanks Guys 

Summer is supposed to be here in the Antipodes, but I can count the number of actual sunny clear skies

here in Auckland on one hand

 

Lots of rain , but all going well, I'll get more done on the Buffalo, Sunderland and

my 1950's RNZAF Target towing tugs builds.

 

Thanks/regards

 

Alan

[2996 Victor]

Sorry to hear about your troubles, but as everyone else has said, I really hope they're all resolved now!

 

Looking forward to seeing your progress in due course.

 

All the best,

Mark

[LDSModeller]

16 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

Sorry to hear about your troubles, but as everyone else has said, I really hope they're all resolved now!

 

Looking forward to seeing your progress in due course.

Thanks Mark,

 

Hopefully progress reports not too far away

 

Regards

 

Alan

[AliGauld]

I'm glad to hear you're OK and hope that everything is on the mend.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[LDSModeller]

2 hours ago, AliGauld said:

I'm glad to hear you're OK and hope that everything is on the mend.

 

Thanks Alistair

 

Regards

 

Alan

[Anthony in NZ]

Glad you have things pointing in the right direction again!  Love this build and taking notes for my one!

 

Look after yourself buddy

Anthony

[LDSModeller]

4 hours ago, Anthony in NZ said:

Glad you have things pointing in the right direction again!  Love this build and taking notes for my one!

 

Look after yourself buddy

Thanks Anthony - Hope the weather is nicer for you,

than here in Auckland rain, rain and more rain

Regards

 

Alan