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All things Malta


philp

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Hi all,

I have plans for several builds/dioramas around Malta during WWII.

 

I have a 35th scale 40mm Bofors that needs a crew in the Kahki Drill uniforms.  The troops I have are better suited for early war based in England.  Anyone seen anything?

 

Also plans for a Universal Carrier or Matilda towing bombs at an airfield.  I have a pic of the carrier but I know I saw one with a Matilda at some time.  Or maybe it was towing a bomber.

 

Did find this pic at worldwarphotos and wonder what type of tanker trucks these are?  Also any idea why they are not in the Malta rock wall camo?

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Also plans for Gladiators, Hurricanes, Spitfires, Beauforts and Beaufighters based there with the multitude of schemes that entails.

 

If anyone has info to share, your own builds, stories or anything Malta related, please post here.

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The rock wall camo would make no difference in the middle or environs of an airfield, and might in fact make the truck stand out more.  The aircraft camo certainly stands out when on the ground.  I didn't realise that Marylands had operated from Malta but I discover that the first unit to be equipped with the type was at Malta.  So this photo may well be Luqa airfield. 

 

The trucks are almost certainly US origin but I can't place them exactly.  The headlights in the fronts of the fenders suggest Ford, but the door not coming all the way to the bottom of the cab side doesn't.  However, the RAF were supplied with over 500 civilian-pattern Ford trucks through Ford Egypt in Alexandria in 1940-41.  So a Ford does look like a strong possibility.  As for which one, there was a confusing variety of models and cab types.  US G8T or Canadian FC60 are strong favourites but there are detail cab differences with the photo like the door length and side mouldings, although they changed regularly and differered from country to country.  Even enlarged, a lot of details are still unclear.

 

For the figures, could you do something with the Bronco 17pdr "Pheasant" crew or some of the desert Miniart sets?  Some plastic surgery will be required.

 

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15 minutes ago, Das Abteilung said:

I didn't realise that Marylands had operated from Malta but I discover that the first unit to be equipped with the type was at Malta.  

 

Those aircraft are not Marylands. They're Baltimores.

 

 

 

 

Chris

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Thanks,

The pick is of Baltimores at Luqa.  They belonged to No. 223 Squadron RAF Detachment according to the pic.

 

The Pheasant crew has possibilities.  I have the old Tamiya 25ldr with crew and was thinking of trying to use them but kneeling guys aren't much help.

The Jeep crew could also supply some parts.  

 

 

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I suspect the lack of "wall" camouflage is because this is well after the 1941 siege, and that camouflage wasn't universal.  I would accept that photos of RAF ground support vehicles during the siege are not exactly common.

 

The photo I recall of a Matilda in airfield use, it is not exactly towing but dragging a belly-landed Beaufort.

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9 hours ago, dogsbody said:

Those aircraft are not Marylands. They're Baltimores.

These are not the Marylands you're looking for, they can go about their business.................  Now you know why I do tanks!

 

But the Wellington is the little-seen Merlin-engined MkII.  In that photo there's a Morris Quad in the background, all of which suggests a reasonably close degree of Army-RAF co-operation.  I don't imagine the RAF had anything powerful enough to haul the crash-landed Beaufort out of the way.  And it's clear how boggy the outfield could get when it rained.

 

I thought some of the Miniart sitting figures might be adaptable to the Bofors layer and trainer. I guess it depends what you want your crew doing.  In action or stood-to, after-action maintenance and clearing away the empties or stood down having a well-earned brew and bully beef sarnie.  Adapting the figures to be in the act of manning the gun at stand-to would be very dynamic.

 

 

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Those are the pics I have saved but still remember one of a Matilda towing the bomb trailers but could have been my confusion.

 

 I am planning to have the Bofors crew in action so do need 2 sitting.  Figure conversion is not one of my current skills so will be interesting if I have to resort to that.

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The photo of the Wellington II is one from 104 squadron which had a detachment based at Luqa, Malta from 18/10/41 until Jan 1942.

 

223 squadron had a detachment of Baltimores at Luqa, Malta between 20 July and 10 Aug 1943 before moving on to Sicily. I read the serial of the first aircraft as FA463 which makes it a Baltimore IV, which the squadron had started to receive in June that year.

 

 

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I see Airfix is releasing that version of the Wellington this year.  Not my preferred but did they have the desert camo while they were on the island or standard Bomber Command scheme?

 

There is lots of stuff out there on the interwebs and in books and my library continues to grow.

 

Found this link with lots of pics featuring shipping, Hurricanes and Albacores along with a few others.

https://www.asisbiz.com/il2/Hurricane/Malta.html

 

 

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2 hours ago, philp said:

I see Airfix is releasing that version of the Wellington this year.  Not my preferred but did they have the desert camo while they were on the island or standard Bomber Command scheme?

 

 

 

Night scheme as the Middle East Wellington force was for strategic night bombing and later night anti-shipping.

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57 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

That wouldn't stop them having Desert Scheme on top.  It is what Wimpeys carried elsewhere in the Med.   For shipping strikes they should have been in TSS, but I'll bet they weren't.

 

Yes, that's what I meant but didn't make clear at all. 

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