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Brewster B-339C Buffalo - ML-KNIL


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Here is the other of my first kits of the year, finished during this week simultaneously with the Airfix Buffalo. I had hoped to finish both before year's end but I didn't make it.
It's F-toys 1:144 Brewster B-339C Buffalo finished as B-3110 flown by Kapt van Helsdingen of 2 Vliegtuig Groep V, Netherlands East Indies Army Air Corps (ML-KNIL), Singapore, in January 1942.

 

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It is basically a repaint and rebuild of a pre-painted Gashapon snap-fit kit  with a few improvements. The partially-assembled parts were taken apart and all of the main parts were left in alcohol for a while after which removing the paint was quite easy.

 

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I made some modifications in the cockpit. Dutch B-339s didn't have a headrest so I cut it off. There was a gap between the seat and the rear cockpit decking (for the canopy tabs). I filled the space with scrap resin leaving space for the canopy tabs on the sides. I scratchbuilt a roll bar from stretched sprue.

The propeller was completely replaced from spare parts from Mark I Models kits and is a great improvement over the F-toys part which has seriously undersized blades. Another missing detail I added was the small mast on the tail fin. The Dutch aircraft had a different radio wire arrangement with the middle wire in front of the cockpit rather than behind.

The colours of the F-toys kit were awful and way off. From various sources, it seems these machines were painted with US colours so I painted the kit with US Medium Green 42 and US Olive Drab 41 (Aircraft Colors range). I really like this scheme! The kit was fully brush painted and varnished.

 

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I'll be repeating this scheme on a captured IJAAF B-339D from one of the Mark I Models boxing I'll be starting this weekend.

 

Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome.
Miguel

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23 hours ago, Roberto said:

Amazing work, I really like it.

 

 

22 hours ago, Wulfman said:

Beautiful Buffalo, nice work !

 

Wulfman

 

20 hours ago, Andy Young said:

Lovely Buffalo Miguel. Nice to see this in 1/144 and I expect painting the cockpit canopy and underside windows was a bit of a challenge!

 

Very nice model.

 

Cheers, Andy

In this case not so much Andy, as they were well defined. Obviously, I use magnifying glasses and any mistakes I deal with by gently scraping off with a toothpick.

 

17 hours ago, opus999 said:

That's incredible! It looks like 1/72!  Nice paint scheme too -- I like rarely seen paint schemes.

Me too!!

 

Thank you very much to all!

Miguel

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