PeterB Posted September 12, 2021 Share Posted September 12, 2021 I really enjoyed the Nordic GB last year - so much so that I built all the Swedish planes in my stash - Tunnan, Lansen,Draken,Viggen and Gripen. I thought I had nothing left for this GB but then I remembered this. I had two of these kits and was intending to build both of them in the 109 GB but this never got started, and as it has post war Finnish markings as an option I though I might enter it. It is not a bad kit externally but for some reason Airfix never quite got round to providing a proper cockpit, but that is easy enough to remedy, as I did in the other one earlier this year. It is a basic and rather simple kit but I should be able to slip it in between several rather more complicated builds I am thinking of doing in other GB. Pete 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted September 13, 2021 Share Posted September 13, 2021 Nice choice Pete, great to see one here, I think @vppelt68 would be interested in this, I think he may have built all of them that the Finnish airforce used, so he'll have lots of good info on them. Good luck with this build, glad you enjoy the last Nordic GB, you were unstoppable. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paramedic Posted September 13, 2021 Share Posted September 13, 2021 I did not know there was an Airfix-boxing with Finnish markings, cool! Seems like a nice project. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted September 13, 2021 Author Share Posted September 13, 2021 (edited) 9 hours ago, Paramedic said: I did not know there was an Airfix-boxing with Finnish markings, cool! Seems like a nice project. It is the 2009 "new tool" in its original boxing. They have re-released it twice since with new decs - first German and Swiss and now with 2 x German, but this one has German and Italian wartime markings and a Finnish one post war. Pete Edited September 13, 2021 by PeterB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted October 5, 2021 Author Share Posted October 5, 2021 Ok, this is the scheme Airfix suggest for the Finnish version. Hu 116 "US Dark Green" and Hu 33 Black uppers sounds about right though I might use a slightly more "olive" green and perhaps NATO Black. The underside looks blue as I expected but they suggest Hu 145 "Medium Grey" which does not sound quite right to me - anybody got any thoughts on the correct colours, including the cockpit interior? Cheers Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Headroom Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 Don’t know if this helps but I used this for my late war 109. I assume the colours would be the same from this book complete with stickies…. bought from an independent bargain book seller in Llandudno. Best fiver I ever spent! Trevor 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaCee26 Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 Hi Pete, Better to follow the book. Undersurface colour was changed from light blue to grey later. BTW Airfix upper surface camouflage is a mirror image. And shark mouth was painted into MT-422 only short time March 1948 several monts before the night fighter's bat and moon emblem was taken in use so they weren't in the aircraft at the same time. Which is a pity Cheers, AaCee 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted October 6, 2021 Author Share Posted October 6, 2021 (edited) Thanks guys. As it is supposedly in 1948 colours I guess the grey is right for the night fighter version, but I have done a bit more digging and found this. Apparently in 1947 it was still carrying the shark mouth as a day fighter and the spinner was green and white rather than the black and white shown by Airfix. Other profiles suggest that the night fighters were perhaps repainted in a grey camo scheme more like wartime Luftwaffe planes. Pete Edited October 6, 2021 by PeterB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted October 9, 2021 Author Share Posted October 9, 2021 As I mentioned earlier there is no cockpit other than a seat so I have tarted it up a bit. Basic, but better than nothing and not going to be visible anyway. Pete 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paramedic Posted October 9, 2021 Share Posted October 9, 2021 Yeah that wasn´t too busy.. But with that canpoy and shade of colour - I agree, won´t be very visible! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted October 11, 2021 Author Share Posted October 11, 2021 (edited) Well, that did not take long. The fit is pretty good though the lower wing to fuselage joint will need a little smear of filler. I have removed the mounting for the drop tank/bomb from the underside and re-shaped the bulges over the MG 131 breeches which were wrong though they need a bit more work. Although shown in the painting/decal instructions Airfix have provided neither the pitot tube or the D/F loop so I will have to supply them and the aerial (?) under the fuselage near the wing root and also the armoured glass behind the pilot. This really is a bit of a half-hearted update by Airfix for some reason! Time for paint I guess. Cheers Pete Edited October 11, 2021 by PeterB 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted October 23, 2021 Author Share Posted October 23, 2021 I was going to paint this in Hu116 on top, but as both my enamel and acrylic versions of the former had dried up I ended up with Tamiya XF61. Plain X1 Black was a bit dark and XF69 Nato black a bit too grey so I mixed the two. As for the underside I ended up with RLM76 so it is a grey blue. All 3 colours change with the lighting and this indoor shot under artificial light is not entirely representative. Until such time as the docs decide what exactly is wrong with me and how to treat it, at the moment I am totally lacking in energy so progress on this is very slow. Next up I need to finish off the painting of the u/c wells and wheels. Airfix say that the wells and wheel centres should be Hu 72 Khaki Drill - this may be correct for the wells as I guess it is meant to be the colour of the canvas coves fitted inside them but it sounds wrong for the wheel hubs - any thoughts? Pete 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted October 23, 2021 Share Posted October 23, 2021 Hi Pete I hope you'll get better soon! There was a canvas liner around the wheel well. Wheel well base - or top? - was the other side of the wing panel, thus painted metal only (in RLM 02 originally - repainted planes may have that changed to wing underside color). With RLM 76 lowers, RLM 02 is quite safe bet for the wheelwells and gear leg throughs. Wheel hubs were painted black, but became rather dusty due to our unpaved airfields, so weather them accordingly. V-P 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted October 23, 2021 Author Share Posted October 23, 2021 (edited) Thanks - that is what I was thinking of doing! Any thoughts on the spinner colour - Airfix say black/white but one drawing I have says green/white? Pete Edited October 23, 2021 by PeterB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted October 23, 2021 Share Posted October 23, 2021 1 hour ago, PeterB said: Thanks - that is what I was thinking of doing! Any thoughts on the spinner colour - Airfix say black/white but one drawing I have says green/white? Pete Oh, you better read this, it's one of my several embarrassing failures 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted October 23, 2021 Author Share Posted October 23, 2021 Thanks. So maybe not the Shark Mouth version then - I wonder if it was the same colour when it presumably had the Bat? Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted October 27, 2021 Author Share Posted October 27, 2021 (edited) I have tidied it up, got the wheels and underwing gun pods on, and made and fitted the armoured headrest. Of course it should really be mounted at the rear of the opening part of the canopy but I have cheated - it should look the same with the canopy fitted and it saves the risk of getting glue smears on the transparent part! As it had the older style canopy rather than the "Erla Haube" I am assuming it did not have the armoured glass "Galland Panzer". Since taking this pic the canopy has been fitted and I will now give it a coat of gloss varnish ready for decs. As for the actual camo pattern I have seen 3 totally different versions so it is almost certainly wrong - oh well. Pete Edited October 28, 2021 by PeterB 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted October 29, 2021 Share Posted October 29, 2021 Looking good Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted November 1, 2021 Author Share Posted November 1, 2021 I have put the basic markings on - 6 roundels and two serials though they don't stand out that well. Airfix provide both a shark mouth and eyes, and also a bat insignia which I believed was used on night fighters. According to @vppelt68 the shark mouth was used on this actual machine but only for a very short time as the CO did not approve apparently. I have no idea if and when the bat insignia was used - anybody know? Of course I could just leave it as it is now and just add the aerials, d/f loop and pitot together with the prop and call it done. Pete 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 I'll check my references later tonight, if that's fine with you. V-P Edit: Browsing through my references, that surprisingly concentrate on the Continuation War, not the post-war period use of the MT:s, I found no specific dates for the bat and moon- insignia being used by the night fighter flight of fighter squadron 31... but several captions indicate they were added by summer of 1948 and lasted, at least in several planes, until autumn of 1949. What I have read *somewhere* is that MT-422 did NOT carry both the sharkmouth and the night fighter insignias simultaneously. Hope this helps. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted November 1, 2021 Author Share Posted November 1, 2021 Thanks - it does. So if I am reading this correctly it had no insignia initially, then a shark mouth for about 2 weeks, and maybe the owl/moon sometime after that probably. As the shark mouth looks like it could be a pian I will use the owl. Cheers Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 10 hours ago, PeterB said: ...I will use the owl. Actually, it's a bat. V-P 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted November 2, 2021 Author Share Posted November 2, 2021 My mind is wandering - just been watching owls on TV! Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 I found these pics I already had at Flickr And V-P 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaCee26 Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 (edited) Hi Peter, This aircraft has been discussed a lot here in BM. Just search MT-422. Mr Hielm did 1970 decals for Finnsh G-6s including his nount with the shark mouth. He gioves colours of the spinner black with white front part. As V-P says shark mouth was there a few days in Feb/March 1948 and the bat-emblem (inspired by an emblem used in Luftwaffe Ju 88s?) was taken in use later. When this aircraft was modified to night fighter configuration it was painted according to then valid war-scheme with light blue undersurfaces. Cheers, AaCee Edited November 6, 2021 by AaCee26 Typo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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