Little Frenchies: 1/72 H-75 Hawk, MS 406, Dewoitine 520; Marcel Bloch 152 Republic of Vichy...and a French Bulldog.

[Massimo]

Good morning mates,

here is another project I started a while ago and never shared.

I never liked the 2nd WW French aircraft, but the Colours of those which flew for the Vichi Republic caught my attention (a bit different from the stealth concept which applies to modern aircraft!!!) . It probably happens to most modellers and there isn’t a particular reason for it, but one day you wake up and …YOU MUST  BUILD THAT AIRCRAFT YOU HAD NEVER CONSIDERED BEFORE!

It all started when I was seeking info to build my Loire Nieuport 401. I came up with pictures of every possible aircraft wearing Vichy colors, but the one I was looking for!!

RS box arts did the rest. When I saw them, surfing Hannant’s website, they captured my attention and I went for them. As soon as I got them I realized I may have opted for the Hobby 2000 Hasegawa reboxing for at least the Dewoitine 520 and the MS 406, but …never mind, at the end , once I opened the boxes, I was more than happy with what was inside and also I had planned to add some aftermarket.

Not much room for scratch here, they’re so small!!! But for sure flaps, ailerons , stabilizers and rudders will be angled. PE frets will do the rest, even because they’re the only ones which can represent some of these aircraft’s features as the gunsight and cockpit details.

After having bought for years just 1/48th kits, the Ark Royal project brought me back to 1/72nd and I had a lot of fun with the Buccaneer, Gannet and Wessex, so I decided I would have gone on with both scales.

I was also a little frustrated for the space that projects like the 1/48th Canberra required in terms of space and  wanted to concentrate on something small!!!

Enough talking for now, let’s see What I bought for this project.

 

First of all the Curtiss H75 Hawk by AZ Models. The camouflage I wanted to go for is the first one, featured by a shade of sand which makes it different from the other aircraft in this project. Info about this colour are quite different, as for many 2nd WW aircraft.

BTW the second one , with the yellow tail and engine covers is the other option I might go for.

 

The aftermarket for this kit:

PE fret by Marabu Design

 

Instrument panel by Yahuu. I think in this scale they’re perfect and cheap enough, a good compromise.

 

Peewit masks for canopy and wheels, to save time and because my sight isn’t the best in town.

 

 

Second in the list is the Morane Saulnier 406. I’ve chosen is the red tailed one. Not really an elegant silhouette, it reminds me a flying potato, but it isn’t the only ugly bird in my collection, so…it’ll be in good company!

 

The aftermarket for this kit:

PE fret by Brengun,

 

Instrument panel by Yahuu,

 

Peewit masks for canopy

 

Third in the list is the Dewoitine 520. In my opinion this one is the  most elegant of them all, even if it’s a little…short tailed! The third one is my favourite and responding to the project ‘s features, but there are many other schemes to choose from…we’ll see.

 

The aftermarket for this kit:

PE fret by Brengun,

 

Instrument panel by Yahuu,

 

Peewit masks for canopy.

 

Last but not least, the Marcel Bloch 152. To me his one’s got the opposite problem of the Dewoitine 520, it’s a bit…long tailed. (I mean the distance between the cockpit and the tail, not the tail itself!!!). What can I say then about the angled engine…..????

This brings to attention the different ways aircraft designers found to compensate the propeller torque on takeoffs.

Some, like the aermacchi 202 and 205 had a longer wing, others like the Hurricane had the tail slightly angled. I notice that some years ago on a Hurricane at Duxford. This one has the engine angled to one side…not my favourite.

 

The kit comes with a resin engine and cloche. Very nice!

 

The aftermarket for this kit:

PE fret by Brengun,

 

Instrument panel by Yahuu.

 

Canopy masks by Montex.

 

Decals are the downside of some of these kits, expecially the roundels’ colors and mainly blue, thus I decided to buy a decal sheet by Carpena, with a few interesting different options I, m taking in consideration.

 

Transparencies are quite thick on all kits, thus I purchased the vac.form set by Falcon, dedicated to French aircraft 2nd WW

 

Then I bought Camillo 1/1 scale. Not very elegant, whose nose reminds me the MB 152, but who’s helping a lot me nad family!!! He’s very patient

 

…not a very happy guy

 

Here some aftermarket:

 

These are the premises.

Ciao

Massimo

Edited February 1, 2023 by Massimo
Found a mistake

[giemme]

New scale (sort of), new kits (again, sort of), new dog.... wow, you're in for something!

 

 

 

Ciao

[Ventsislav Gramatski]

Good luck with the build, that really is a colorful and, well, odd bunch!

 

I can't comment on the other kits but you made the right choice by buying the PE fret for the D.520. The RSModels kit is actually very accurate and has some very fine panel line details, so with careful assembly (to attachment pins) to avoid sanding, it can turn into a great model. Were it not for the absolutely atrocious undercarriage, the parts for ehih are so thick they look like two stone pillars with tank armor slabs attached. Hopefully, the PE landing gear door should help with that, though the struts are still far too thick in my opinion.

 

By the way, I've never noticed the slanted nose of the MB.151 before.. it's almost unsettling!

[ModelingEdmontonian]

Love the concept. Will be watching. bon chance!

[2996 Victor]

Hi Massimo,

 

This is a great thread project: what's not to love about Vichy markings? You've got an excellent selection of subjects there.

 

The D.520 is probably my all-time favourite aircraft, and I've got the RS Models kit in my stash so it's good to know it's an accurate kit. I'll be watching your builds closely!

 

All the best,

Mark 

[Massimo]

Good evening mates,

As I said , these built were started some time ago, so I’ll try to remember as much as I can how things went.

The original plan was to proceed in parallel with all builds, so to compare step by step the progress on the each kit, but unfortunately the Marcel Bloch 152 wasn’t available at the same time, thus I started the other three and later I took care of it.

I started with the Hawk.

The interior is quite detailed, but a bit rough. Even those parts as the bulkhead and the floor are a bit…distorted and to get a good fit some filing is needed . Here I've cut the rudder off. I'll re-position it slightly angled to one side.

 

Marabu design PE fret provides some nice additions to the cockpit, like a bulkhead with relevant…headrest, the side electrical boxes, a nice seat , throttle box and levers. I won’t use the instrument panel as I’ve got the pre-painted one by Yahuu.

 

Once the fuselage halves are glued together, not much will be seen, thus to me it’s more than enough and next step will be painting.

 

The landing gears’ wells are really poor representation, some sort of….cups. In the picture below I’ve also cut the ailerons and glued them slightly offset.

 

Marabu Design PE fret provides main wheel-wells. The wings top halves are quite thick and two square recesses must be grinded on the interior, to house the photoetched wells.

 

Interior detail  for the  bulges housing the landing gears’ legs. Once painted they’ll look great…and will never be seen again!!!

 

Elevators were cut off the the tail planes. I’ll re-position them angled down (…or up!)

Due to the angled shape of the dividing line, in order to create the recesses for the hinges, I sacrificed the hinges and glued some plastic bits which I’ll shape to pair the recesses on the tail planes.

 

Next is the Morane Saulnier 406. I’ll deal with it in my next post.

Ciao

Massimo

Edited February 1, 2023 by Massimo
corrected a mistake

[Massimo]

Good morning mates,

As anticipated, it was now time to get started with the Moran Saulnier. I cut the rudder halves off abd gued them together.

 

The interior detail is quite poor, but I kept the side frames to hold the photo etched ones, which have the same shape. To fit the photoetched bulkhead, I had to engrave a vertical line on the inside of each fuselage half. I also glued some plastic bits to hold the sort of shelf at the back of the bulkhead.

 

In the picture below, I’ve fitted all the photo-etched parts to the fuselage halves. This fret , together with the one for the Hawk, is the one I like the most of them all: there’s a lot of parts and it’ll look good, once painted. The photo-etched seat will be added after painting. The lack of locating pins doesn’t help, but it’s a feature of short run kits so I added some plastic blocks to the fuselage halves. I glued them thicker and refined them once dry, test fitting until I was happy with the joint. 

 

Wings were next. I cut the flaps from the lower half and filed the square housing for the photo-etched retractable radiator (…at least I believe it’s retractable!!!). The top halves have been chosen from a couple of option supplied with the kit for different variants. The ailerons have been cut off and re-positioned slightly offset. Detail for the interior of the flaps will be added later.

 

Before painting the interior, I had to test fit the pre-painted instrument panel by Yahuu.

To do this , I had to bend it first. This operation is quite tricky as, being pre painted, I didn’t want to scratch it. In the last picture can be seen the back shelf’s holding frame made of sprue I mentioned earlier.

 

So here we are , with the Morane Saulnier 406 at the same stage as the H75 Hawk, both ready for some paint to the interior.

 

That’s it for now. Thanks for watching!

Ciao

Massimo

Edited February 2, 2023 by Massimo

[AdrianMF]

Nice work! They are going to look gorgeous with all that extra detailing and vac canopies so you can actually see it in the finished model.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[giemme]

Impressive work on those interiors, Massimo!    

 

Ciao

[Massimo]

Hallo mates,

A quick update.

Once detailed the cockpits on the H75 Hawk and the M.S. 406, I couldn’t wait and went for some painting on both.

Starting with the Hawk , I sprayed some black as a base , followed by Interior green , sprayed from the top and quite soft, to create a shade effect.

 

Same process for the MS 406. I used a blue shade I had mixed myself when I had built the Loire Nieuport 411.

 

Next was a coat of Future , to make them gloss, in order to  give them a wash with Tamiya panel accent line brown.

 

The cockpit details were brush painted and a coat Xtracrilic matt varnish ,completed the interiors’painting process. Here is the H-75 Hawk….

 

…and the MS406.

 

Not much will be seen once the fuselage halves are glued together and these kits are so small…so I went for a heavy drybrushing.

One last family picture and then the fuselage halves were glued together.

 

This is it for now.

Thanks for watching.

Ciao

Massimo

[2996 Victor]

Lovely progress on the Hawk and the MS.406, Massimo, the etched Marabu and Brengun details look nice and you've used them to great effect (I have a love-hate relationship with etch!). Interior colours look good and the detail painting is exceptional. Fantastic!

 

Cheers,

Mark

[giemme]

With paint on, you work on the interiors looks even more impressive!  

 

Ciao

[Brandy]

Your usual attention to detail I see. Nice choice of aircraft, I'm looking forward to watching these come together.

 

Ian

[Massimo]

Good evening mates,

It was now time to start working on the Dewoitine 520 and bring it to the same point as the other two.

I started by glueing the kit floor and front bulkhead. A piece of sprue was glued at the back to strengthen its fit, as internal parts’ edges aren’t that precise and need some…help!!!

I added the back bulkhead, pedals, several levers and  trim wheel from the PE fret by Brengun.

The seat provided with the kit is quite good and with the addition of the photo-etched seat belts ans proper painting it looks really convincing. By the way it’ll be added once the cockpit is painted.

 

Painting starts with the usual black coat, followed by my own blue, sprayed at an angle to create a shadow effect. A coat of Future , followed by a brown wash and we’re ready for brush painting some details.

 

 

Once the cockpit interior is painted and dry-brushed  to enlighten the details, the instrument panel and seat can be glued into place. Here is the final effect.

 

Last , but not least the Marcel Bloch 152. After a few months wait, eventually this kit arrived and I could collect it and add it to the multiple build.

As for the other ones, I cut the rudder off.

 

The PE fret by Brengun doesn’t provide many parts for the interior, but I decided to fit the lower console , to be used as a support for the Yahuu painted panel. The resin control stick supplied with the kit is a real gem.

 

 

It is soon time for some paint . Same process as for the other three.

 

Here below the cockpit’s been painted and dry-brushed and it’s ready for the instrument panel by Yahuu and the painted seat to be fitted.

 

At the end this is what the finished cockpit looks like:

 

Once the painting of the interior was done, the fuselage halves could be glued together.

 

From now on , I'll do my best to carry on with the four builds as evenly as possible.

 

That’s it for now. Time to go to sleep!

 

Thanks for watching and goodnight!

 

Ciao

Massimo

Edited February 5, 2023 by Massimo
Removed double picture

[heloman1]

Neat trio Massimo, the French aircraft had some 'bright' camo schemes. Those PE AM part sets look amazing.

 

Colin

[Massimo]

6 hours ago, heloman1 said:

Neat trio Massimo, the French aircraft had some 'bright' camo schemes. Those PE AM part sets look amazing.

 

Colin

Hi Colin,

I think bright is the right word for this topic!!!🤪

P.S.

...THEY' RE FOUR!!!!!🤣🤣🤣

Ciao

Massimo

Edited February 5, 2023 by Massimo

[Zoran Srb]

Good luck ! Go fort, and kick bottom!!

[2996 Victor]

Lovely work, Massimo, those cockpits all look very nice indeed! Looking forward to your next update.

 

Cheers,

Mark

[Massimo]

Thank you all for the nice words,

I'll be back soon with an update.😉

Ciao

Massimo

[giemme]

Mass-production of ridiculously small - and amazing - aircraft interiors, that's got to be a new branch in modelling!    

 

Ciao

[Massimo]

Good morning mates,

In my last post I had glued the fuselage halves on all kits.

Starting whit the H-75 Hawk, once they were glued together, I glued the wings’  halves, from which I had previously removed the flaps and ailerons. The last ones were glued back slightly offset.

 

The tail planes were glued to the fuselage too with the stabilizers angled down.

 

To allow an easier painting, the rudder will be added at the end, here is just held by a bit of Tamiya tape.

 

Having cut the flaps from the wings, I had to fill the gaps at the lower sides of the fuselage with plasticard. Later I’ll add details and ribs.

 

Glueing the wings brought up a problem as the wings were just straight. This aircraft is feature by a positive dihedral and thus , to create it, I filed the edge of the top wing halves to removed some material and create a gap. This gap allowed me to pull the wings up and glue them in the correct position. No filler was needed.

 

Before finishing the fuselage assembly, I had to fit the engine. This was full of plastic flash, which I removed and then the engine was painted black. Later I dry-brushed the engine’s cylinders with Gunze aluminium, and the front grey. A coat of future followed by black wash was next and the engine could be glued in place.

 

The engine  cowling’s front ring was glued into place. This fit is far from perfect and had to be filled and sanded down before an accettable fit was achieved.

 

Finally , this is what can be seen of the cockpit once the kit was assembled.

 

This is it for now.

Thanks for watching

Ciao

Massimo

[giemme]

Coming along very well - top job in reproducing the correct dihedral!  

 

Ciao

[2996 Victor]

Great progress on the Hawk. Interesting about the lack of dihedral until you fixed it - good work there! - something I need to remember when I build my RAF Mohawk and ML-KNIL Hawk 75.

 

Looking forward to seeing your next post.

 

Cheers,

Mark

[Massimo]

Good evening mates,

First of all , thanks for the nice comments, then back to work for another update.

Next to be dealt with was the Morane Saulnier 406.

The procedure was the same as for thew Hawk: I glued the wings’ halves, from which I had previously removed the flaps and ailerons, which were glued back slightly offset.

The junction between the fuselage halves was helped by the plastic bits I had glued to both, particularly in the area over the engine.

 

Not a radial engine here, thus things were easier. I added the photo-etched grills to the side intakes and the retractable radiator at the bottom. This one is only dry fitted. The grill in the centre of the nose and the panel lines in that area will have to be rescribed to restore what was erased by the sanding process.

 

The tail planes were glued to the fuselage too with the stabilizers angled down. Here the rudder is held by a bit of Tamiya tape and  will be added at the end, to allow an easier painting.

 

As for the Hawk, I filled with plasticard the gaps opposite to the flaps. Later I’ll add details and ribs.

 

A few pictures of the cockpit from outside.

 

And finally a picture which gives the idea of the kit’s dimensions, quite different from other projects I’ve got under way, as  the 1/48th Canberra PR9.

 

This is it for now.

Thanks for watching and good night!

Ciao

Massimo

Edited February 6, 2023 by Massimo

[giemme]

10 hours ago, Massimo said:

quite different from other projects I’ve got under way, as  the 1/48th Canberra PR9.

Indeed! But you are producing some little gems here  

 

Ciao