Milos Gazdic Posted June 9, 2022 Share Posted June 9, 2022 (edited) Hello fellow modellers, And especially those interested in French Air Force prior & during WWII. I have posted this same subject over on H/S but no replies received, hope I might be luckier here! I am wondering if anyone has a list of the improvements / corrections that would be welcome to D.520 1/48 kit from Tamiya in order to make a better, more realistic representation of the actual machine. I am building predominantly OOB, being lazy & having slightly weakened eyesight over last 8 years or so but I do like from time to time to improve a model as much as I can especially if those things are easy to do. I am preparing a small series of 4-5 initial builds of D.520 which if I manage would like to expand even more and I have been checking the kit, checked builds online to see what people have written... and compared it a bit with the available documents I have on hand, and these are the things I have compiled: Openings on the holes in the seat. Two in the upper corners of the seat (space between canvas & frame) and one in the centre where the seatbelts go through (both things are already marked in the moulding) Addition of the handlebar just aft of the gunsight, with it's padded leather protection in the middle Gunsight can be improved slightly by adding vertical spacer wires & angular reflector, but is of a correct shape for the majority of machines (few D.520 had a different gunsight used, especially later in the production & some in Italian use) The same applies to exhausts which can be drilled for more realism but are of correct shape & style of majority of production machines. Addition of the small handle bar on the upper side of the windshield used by the people on the entrance & exit. Wires & a few other details in the cockpit can be added Semi-circular bathtub style floor added connecting cockpit sides bellow the seat & leg rests Armor plate added in the headrest area (I am not 100% sure but it seems some machines lacked the armor plate?) Some of the wing panels and hatches have to be deleted & few of them need to be scribed in or altered in shape. There is a slight difference between panels on the starboard compared to port wing. [I will try to document this once I start building first of the kits & post the images here] A panel line to be removed on the top of the vertical stabilizer and a short horizontal panel line to be added connecting the slanted, long panel to the "kink" created by rudder's shape Small light added just aft of the radiator (naturally wing tip lights & tail lights can be replaced by transparent ones but it's up to the modeler. These are present on the kit molded into the wings & fuselage) Actuators of the radiator's exit "flap" to be added. Two vertical bars. Three small hatches added just in front of the cockpit [I will try to document this once I start building first of the kits & post the images here] Small oil coolant overflow tube added to the tip of the nose just aft of the spinner Panel line from mid of the windshield area on the fuselage sides moved to the front of the windshield. [I will try to document this once I start building first of the kits & post the images here] Uncertain about this but... On some machines I have seen a small tubular outpost just near those air outpost louvres on the port side, at the end of cowling, but not sure if it was there on all machines?! [Clarification needed] Oil filler hatch on the starboard side aft of the exhausts and slightly above. [I will try to document this once I start building first of the kits & post the images here] Step at the trailing edge of the root of the horizontal stabilizers (present on the tail / fuselage sides) to be filled or extended to remove that recess / kink [I will try to document this once I start building first of the kits & post the images here] Similar step seems to exist on the flaps that also have to be filled (have to compare to photos & drawings to confirm this. saw it in a build) Landing gear covers have to be cut, and bottom & top parts overlapped. Main landing gear legs shortened. Tailwheel based should not have that "leather sleeve" for machines before Nº450 Radiator seems to be of the wrong shape but I didn't dive into it much, although I've noticed a few discussions mentioning it and correction resin parts existing Props & Spinners been corrected by French made resin sets. Some of these resin sets include whole replacement noses, but I would have to really lay the parts on the drawings & see how much off they are. I would anyway love to put my hands on those French conversions & correction sets - so If anyone knows if they are available for sale anywhere - please let me know!! Appreciate it in advance. Panels behind the rear view windows is simplified in the kit. I think they could have done it much better! THIS will be a part of my main question bellow in this post. Please post the links to the builds you consider good (no matter the language) or any texts (even magazines) where this kit was build. Straight Out of the Box builds without any corrections are not necessary no matter how well the finished kit looks like Adding your suggestions & info to the list is more welcome! I will try to document some or most of these things once I start building first of the kits, but due to the lockdown situation in SH I am unable to work in my modeling room since it is converted into nanny's room, since poor lady got locked in with us for last 3 months. In addition to the 25 listed things above, there are things to be done to backdate the the earlier production models (creating openable air duct on the place of the lowest air outpost on the end of the cowling, adding other small details & so on...). I could dive into this & write it up as I go. This info is available here & there but quite scattered over many different builds & articles & it would also be nice to have it compiled in one place. Coming down to the main question, mentioned in the point #25 above, concave panels behind the rear view windows. There was so much discussion about the color of these panels but I have never seen anyone discussing the actual shape. I think some 1/72 scale kits might have them moulded integral to the fuselage sides which would be much better way to do it than Tamiya's plug approach. This approach does not allow for the edges of the concave panel to connect to window edge, not "closing the windows from inside" & they leave see through gap at the rear. Here are photos showing this area on the real aircraft's rear view window area: Judging by the above photo of the fuselage side one can notice that these panels were obviously an integral part of the fuselage subassembly and not of cockpit tub or headrest / head protection armor. This photo shows the (kind of complex) concave shape of the panel observed from the front with the head protection armor removed. I believe Aires resin cockpit has an insert that corrects this, but my copy still didn't arrive from Hannants (again due to the lockdown) but I would try to avoid adding resin sets of this price to each of my planned D.520 builds. Wonder if shaping it from some thin metal sheet would work? I am not so skilled scratch-builder but could try. Has anyone done anything to address this issue? Have you seen it being mentioned anywhere? French modeller forums or?? Anyway, I hope this might help those seeking to do nice D.520 in 1/48 down the line... if all the info we have is compiled together. Best, Milos Edited June 9, 2022 by Milos Gazdic 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonlanceHR Posted June 9, 2022 Share Posted June 9, 2022 (edited) Re: 24) Waroff (i.e. bs_W) made the sets with properly bent nose, new radiator and two options of props and spinners. I managed to get a couple of props and radiators from him ages ago but the nose mould was gone by that time. Maybe he could be persuaded to make a new set of moulds. Edited June 9, 2022 by dragonlanceHR Typo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milos Gazdic Posted June 9, 2022 Author Share Posted June 9, 2022 I am in contact with @BS_w already, awaiting the confirmation. I am still hoping that in some case some of them could be laying around for grabs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonlanceHR Posted June 9, 2022 Share Posted June 9, 2022 He made great stuff, I'm still sad to have missed his correct nose glazing for 1/48 Azur Potez 63/11 😭 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milos Gazdic Posted June 9, 2022 Author Share Posted June 9, 2022 Yes. These things look nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonlanceHR Posted June 10, 2022 Share Posted June 10, 2022 Wait, is this a new photo? He confirmed that he makes the noses again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigster Posted June 10, 2022 Share Posted June 10, 2022 That D-520 with "M" was a mount of Mieczyslaw Mumler. http://aircrewremembered.com/mumler-mieczyslaw.html Just a bit off topic info, there are several pix of this downed plane. zig 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDriskill Posted June 10, 2022 Share Posted June 10, 2022 (edited) Milos, this excellent post is already consigned to my reference files! Thanks for your careful research, and presentation here. I have no idea how many of your points this touches, but this 2019 post from the Czech "Modelforum" site is the most impressive build of the Tamiya kit I have seen: https://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=128227 Edited June 10, 2022 by MDriskill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milos Gazdic Posted June 10, 2022 Author Share Posted June 10, 2022 (edited) Absolutely incredible details!! this is real modeling, not what I do Off topic: I know that Nº48 "White II" from GC I/3 looks so low contrast in the photos published (prep & take off sequence of 3-4 shots) but I sincerely doubt it was painted in only two upper surface colors (Edit - I just realized he painted the nose brown, making it a three color camo), although I have seen at a few profiles & artworks showing it from port side in two colors camo. I never seen or missed the photo showing that side, but I never dived into this airframe. Still wondering which forum would be the best for going into details of discussing the camouflage of many of the D.520s Edited June 10, 2022 by Milos Gazdic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GiampieroSilvestri Posted June 10, 2022 Share Posted June 10, 2022 Here is a article from a french modelling page found doing an internet search. https://master194.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=112242&hilit=dewoitine+d520 Saluti Giampiero 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonlanceHR Posted June 11, 2022 Share Posted June 11, 2022 23 hours ago, GiampieroSilvestri said: Here is a article from a french modelling page found doing an internet search. https://master194.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=112242&hilit=dewoitine+d520 Saluti Giampiero Thank you Giampiero! Page 3 has the best photo of the asymmetric tail I have ever seen. Plus the plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milos Gazdic Posted June 12, 2022 Author Share Posted June 12, 2022 Hello @GiampieroSilvestri INCREDIBLE build so far... I am on page #4... reading every post (even those "amazing work" posts & studying the photos. Such a pity that some of the photos are missing Do you by any chance have all of them saved from the time of posting? is Quenting maybe member of Britmodeler too? there are members with handles "Quentin" & "Quentin.neal"... would be amazing to be able to discuss things with such a modeler. Continuing to read... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GiampieroSilvestri Posted June 12, 2022 Share Posted June 12, 2022 Unfortunately I do not have the pictures.I am sorry! Saluti Giampiero Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zigomar Posted June 12, 2022 Share Posted June 12, 2022 Here are some pics of my D-520 using Waroff (we are fro the same hometown)correction set. The Tamiya kit has a lot of wrong details considering its age. I did post this topic on Britmodeler already, I hope it will give you an idea. Good luck with your search. B754AB99-8241-4DB8-A31C-FC4C67A621F6_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr D2D115B1-1FA9-4472-8990-37AC522256AE_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0004 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0002 by jean Barby, sur Flickr 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milos Gazdic Posted June 12, 2022 Author Share Posted June 12, 2022 Hello Jean! Thanks for your post & share of the images of Nº70 "Blue 5". Looks very nice. I will try to find your post here on Britmodeler & check it. It seems I have missed it, although I've thought I've checked whole Britmodeler for D.520 posts... Quote Unfortunately I do not have the pictures.I am sorry! No worries, Giampiero. Thank you very much. Somehow all the images have disappeared from that topic when I check it in my browser. Best, Milos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zigomar Posted June 12, 2022 Share Posted June 12, 2022 Here you are: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted June 13, 2022 Share Posted June 13, 2022 Great information, for the files in case I build anothern kit, thanks Cheers Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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