Scale Aviation Modeller International Vol.22 Iss. 06

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THE WORLD’S FAVOURITE AIRCRAFT MODELLING MAGAZINE

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LB DE O

S! LD UI Eduard’s 1/48th

“NEW TOOL” BF109G INSIDE

FIRST LOOK: 1/32nd Sea Hurricane

A LITTLE OWL 1/144th He-219 UHU

ITALY’S

COBRA Kittyhawk’s 1/32nd P-39

Westland Wessex

MODELLERS SHOWCASE 1/72nd Harrier GR.3

CLASSIC PLASTIC & REVIEWS 469-Cover-0616.indd 469

Airfix’ 1/48th

METEOR F.8

Revell’s 1/48th

AC-47 SPOOKY

Printed in UK

JUNE 2016

FLY’S 1/32nd

Vol 22 Issue 6

1/72nd AN-2 Cub

£4.50

CIVIL TIMES:

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470-Shesto-0616-WP_Layout 1 13/05/2016 15:18 Page 1

JUNE 2016

Contents

Scale Aviation Modeller International June 2016 • Volume 22 • Issue 6 REVIEWS

Quick BUILD

JUNE 2016

HIGH VIZ METEOR

REVIEWS

JUNE 2016

Quick BUILD

A quick build of Airfix’s new 1/48 scale Meteor F.8 by David Francis

Several different canopy versions are offered, although relatively few are used for the marking options included.

ast summer I was fortunate enough to visit the Airfix design office where I was shown an early test shot of the 1/48 scale Meteor. Even in this crude early form I was impressed and when I was fortunate enough to be at my local model shop when this kit arrived I just knew I would have to open my wallet and buy one. On opening the box, the contents far exceeded my expectations with very good engraved detail and a number of open panels to show off, both engines and nose gun bays and even a choice of large and small bore intakes, and I was very pleased to see that the early canopy was included though none of the kit markings needed it. Other parts not used include items for both an Australian F.8 and photoreconnaissance Meteor FR.10, pointers to things to come. In fact, the only thing that did not inspire me were the decal options though the kit’s sheet is well printed and has so many stencils most modellers would take a couple of days to apply them all. Then I was told by David Hannant that their three new sheets (seen elsewhere in this issue} were due very soon and I had no excuse not to start work straight away.

“ The contents far exceeded my expectations with very good engraved detail and a number of open panels to show off ”

CONSTRUCTION Of course we start with the cockpit and straight away the good feeling I had about this model provided accurate. The cockpit is a little gem and though mostly finished in shades of black all the main features are present. The instrument panel has raised detail which you can paint or use the supplied decals. I went with the latter and after a couple of coats of Micro Sol these settled down perfectly over the detail, and honestly looks as good as any etched brass version.

bay, though be aware that the gun feeds and magazine look very similar but are handed, something I did not realise at first. In a very short period of time I had the fuselage together though I had made a small mistake that would have consequences later. Placing the cockpit accurately is key when you add the nose cap at a later stage. I positioned it a couple of mm too far forward, leading to a bit of filling being needed later. In fact, the nose wheel bay bulkhead should be positioned so it is totally flush with the

MOSQUITO CHASER he Messerschmitt Bf 109 will need no introduction to anyone interested in model (or full sized) aircraft. Arguably the quintessential Luftwaffe fighter, with over 33,000 examples built, the 109 was stretched, extended, bulged, weighed down and added to in countless ways during its life, mostly to the detriment of its original concept which stretched back to the Bf 108 Taifun. The -G variant was effectively the last series production version, fitted with several evolutions of the DB605 engine and up-gunned with MG131 cowl machine guns,

The Eduard etched set is typical of a Zoom package

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Interior detail is adequate, and will be enhanced by the included photo-etched brass.

Quick build of Eduard’s all new Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 in 1/48 Scale by Huw Morgan

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either MK108 or MG151/20 enginemounted cannon and in some Rüstsatz field-fitted kits, additional MG151/20s in under-wing gondolas. By the later years of World War 2, the Bf 109 was obsolescent and increasingly disadvantaged in comparison to the Allied Spitfires, Mustangs and Thunderbolts in its Western European heartland, and by the swarms of Lavochkin, Yak and MiG fighters further East. Nevertheless, despite its age, it could still deliver a few surprises, particularly in the hands of the few Experten still around. Most of the Luftwaffe’s 100 aces with more than 100 kills scored the bulk of their

Very nice decals for five interesting subjects, and a separate sheet of stencils

victories in the 109. The -G version of the Bf 109 was built in the greatest number of any type, with over 12,000 completed in sub-variants G-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14. The -G represented the airframe at just past its peak, since in the attempt to increase speed to deal with the new generation of Allied fighters appearing over Europe, the 109 was up-engined and boosted to the general detriment of the handling qualities of a small airframe. Late versions of the -G and the -K variant might have been the fastest produced, but their handing qualities were generally inferior to their progenitor -F. The -G was built in versions with and without cockpit pressurisation, with DB605 engines with different superchargers and with both Methanol and Nitrous Oxide boosting, in fighter, fighter-bomber, reconnaissance, Rammjäger and trainer variants, and with a number of airframe changes to counteract the degraded handling. Given that the Bf 109 was built in several factories, using parts from a multitude of subcontractors, in an environment of desperation in the later war years, then unequivocally identifying a particular

MESSERSCHMITT BF 109G-6 (LATE)

KIT INFO

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representation of the engines. Though I built and painted both of these I actually chose to have my model all closed up. The engines look quite good for this scale and with a couple of washes the moulded engine grille really popped out. It was a similar story with the gun

MANUFACTURER Eduard SCALE 1/48 PRODUCT CODE 81112 PANEL LINES Recessed 187 plastic plus clear, and 44 NO OF PARTS 14 photo-etched parts plus masks TYPE Injection moulded plastic STATUS New Tool DECAL OPTIONS 5

configuration with a particular airframe is fraught with uncertainty.

THE KIT Eduard continue to be prolific in issuing popular new-tool kits. The -G has been reasonably well served in 1/48 in the past, notably by Hasegawa and Academy, and Eduard themselves issued a G-6 (Kit EDK8268) in 2014 with a shedload of Brassin add-ons to go with

The cannon and machine gun barrels are moulded hollow

“ The -G version of the Bf 109 was built in the greatest number of any type ” it, but there has been some controversy over its dimensional accuracy, the kit scaling at nearer 1/45, with Eduard reportedly abandoned the moulds for this issue. The kit reviewed here is a completely new tooling, although the parts breakdown is very similar to the 2014 offering and Editor Francis took a quick look at this kit in the May edition of SAMI, although a direct comparison between old and new wasn’t possible, since the earlier kit wasn’t to hand. In a relatively cursory examination, I concluded that this kit scales as precisely as my eyesight allows with the drawings in Modellers Data File 10 which was used as the primary reference for this build. The kit itself is typical of Eduard’s current ProfiPACK offerings: finelymoulded plastic parts, with all the bits there to allow for a future Weekend boxing, plus a modest photo-etched fret and masks - just enough to build an excellent model, but not treading on the

toes of those modellers who might want more detail, and at whom the Brassin range of add-ons is aimed. Clever marketing by Eduard. So, in the box there are 187 grey plastic parts on four sprues, 14 clear parts for the canopy options, masks for all the canopies and the tail wheel, 44 coloured and plain PE parts and decals for five schemes. The moulding is very clean and the exterior detail is excellent, the rivets being particularly fine and in danger of getting lost if too much paint is applied. About the only moulding quibble I had was that there was some minor shrinkage on the flap parts on my kit - I chose to fill it at the potential expense of eradicating the rivet detail. The instructions are Eduard’s typical coloured booklet (available for download at Eduard’s website) with paint callouts for Mr Hobby. Two of the sprues carry the majority of the smaller parts, and there are separate ones for the fuselage and wings. The number

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Basic cockpit tub built up and painted. Note the clever use of a clear part for the fuel line, making it easy to model the sight glass.

of “parts not for use” shows that this is intended to be the vanguard of a family of future Bf 109 kits: the main sprues are marked “109 F/G/K” and it’s clear that with a swap of the wing and/or fuselage sprues, some of the -F, most of the -G variants and possibly the -K could be done. I’m by no means an expert, but a few of the options I managed to spot were: • early spoked and later pressed steel wheels with early narrow and midlife smooth or ribbed tyres (not the wide -K tyres) • 2 types of centreline tank • standard and 3 tall wooden fin/ rudders with different trim tab layout for late -G or -K variants • 3 types of propeller • centreline cannon covers for MK108 or MG151/20 • one-piece pressed gun troughs or riveted trough inserts • steel or glass head armour • standard or Erla Haube canopies

• pressurised (with desiccant capsules) or unpressurised canopies • Large or small tail wheel, fixed, tall fixed or retractable for -K • small (-F) or larger supercharger intake • separate wheel well inserts for squared or circular (-F) wheel wells • Trop intake filter • ETC 50 rack (but only partial bombs – no fins) • ETC 500 rack (no bombs) • fuselage cannon bulges (-G) with or without additional bulge for (Trop) oil pump fairing • shallow (-F) or deeper (-G) oil cooler bath • MG17 or MG131 cowl guns • underwing MG151/20 cannon gondolas • optional Morane mast in plastic or PE • later cockpit rear bulkhead with battery cover for when the MW50 boost system was fitted. Phew !

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A quick build of Airfix’s new 1/48nd scale Meteor F.8 by David Francis

Quick build of Eduard’s all new Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 in 1/48nd Scale by Huw Morgan

High Viz Meteor

FEATURE

1/32 WESSEX HC.2

FEATURE

External detail is very fine, and well done, although there’s a danger that it’ll disappear under heavy coats of paint.

The fuselage and wing sprues are much more specific, but could be changed to allow alternative types

The ejection seat has alternative cushions with or without moulded seat belts, and even includes the pull handle. Even stencils for the head box are supplied on the decal sheet. As I have mentioned you get both detailed gun bays and a nice

1/48 AC-47D GUNSHIP

The main kit sprues which hold a significant number of unused parts for other versions

Mosquito Chaser

WESSEX HC.2

SPOOKY T

he venerable (I think it’s fair to call it that) Monogram C-47 kit from 1978 (apparently) has been reissued with additional bits to make the AC-47 Gunship version of the Dakota. The new parts include three mini guns, ammunition cans, flare racks, curtains to go between the guns, new paddlebladed props and on the clear sprue the pilot’s gunsight and upper tail beacon. The original props are still included so you could do a standard C-47 but as there’s none of the other cargo space interior parts it would seem a little pointless. In the (possibly a little over) large box there are four sprues

of medium grey plastic, a loose wing spar and a clear sprue. The plastic looks good, typical of the period with the majority of the detail supplied as raised detail, but pretty acceptable. The internal detail is present but (again quite typically) not eye popping, but when it’s all closed up there won’t be much to see anyway. There’s very little flash (remarkable considering the age of the moulds) and the representation of the fabric controls looks fine to me. The three original figures provided are well detailed but perhaps more in keeping with a WWII setup than a Vietnam era diorama. The instructions are the usual line drawings in an A4 booklet format, the decal sheet is

quite small and covers two aircraft: one of the aircraft that carried the “Spooky” nose art (I didn’t realise there was more than one so marked, to be honest, until I started looking into it) and a Florida based training aircraft. One thing I am aware of is that there were quite a variety of different gun installations during the AC-47’s period of use so it would pay to check some references, if available. I already had the book “Gunships: A Pictorial History of Spooky” by Larry Davis and on the basis of being given this kit to build I ordered “Gunships: The Story of Spooky, Shadow, Stinger and Spectre” by Wayne Mutza, both publications are worth having if you intend to do anything

Fly Models 1/32nd scale Westland Wessex HC.2 by Kev Shaw (KS Aviation)

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Monogram kits there’s quite a lot of detail in the cockpit area ”

more than just slap this together as per the instructions. As I had another example of this kit in the stash (Monogram 85-5615 which I got in 2008 when it was released then (though the instructions and the decals say Revell on them!)) I figured I would do a two-fer and make them with different armament setups. The box art for both is quite similar, but one interesting difference is that the new boxing shows the navigator’s little slit window ahead of the main windows, where the Monogram doesn’t. However in neither case has the mould been updated to represent this, though the new boxing supplies a black rectangle on the decal sheet to be a pretend window. Personally I don’t think

that’s very suitable, if you don’t know it’s supposed to be a window. I’ve got the long=out-ofproduction Cutting Edge Gunship Conversion set CEC48040, several sets of True Details wheels, a HiTech P&W R1830 Engine which I hope is suitable as I’ve had it for years with the intention of using it on a C-47, and a REALLY old Microscale sheet that covered AC130s and AC-47s that will hopefully give me some marking options. The CEC set has several uses besides providing the armament. It points out the lack of the navigator’s window and where to cut it out, and supplies the correct FM command homing antenna mounts for the nose, forward of the windscreen on the fuselage

sides. Both sets of instructions would have you fit the wrong style aerials just under the cockpit side windows, which I haven’t seen on any of the gunships, and which interestingly the Monogram box art doesn’t show but the Revell does. The new instructions do also point out that you need an FM whip antenna on top of the fuselage behind the cockpit and indicate stretched sprue and how long it should be, which is nice (though some aircraft had two, one each side, check your references!). The CEC set also provides a mount point for this antenna so that’s handy. Anyway, enough of this, let’s start building.

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had to rethink my plans quite drastically as you can imagine. I’d never made a 32nd scale kit of any sort up until this point, and the options given to me numbered four with the kit itself, so the selection process began: • Civilian red airframe out of Biggin Hill in 2009 (G-BYRC)? NO! • Camouflaged Newark example (XV728)? Possible • XR503 RAE Bedford 1989? Now that is nice but would be squeaky clean • XT680 from RAF Akrotiri in 2002? Yes, I could weather that, and it’s all one colour I had to go back to the overriding factor here, I’d never built a 1/32 scale model. The RAE

he chance to make a British helicopter in 1/32 scale was just too good an opportunity to pass up, and a Wessex at that! I don’t deny it, being a Fleet Air Arm specialist, I had already visualised the Green parrot topping my build shelf, folded blades and tail neatly tucked away. When the HC.2 arrived in the post, I

“ As with many of these older Revell/

Building Revell’s 1/48th scale AC-47D Gunship by Peter Marshall

CONSTRUCTION

To get the fuselage halves together on this kit there’s a lot that needs to be in place first: cockpit, navigator’s area, rear toilet and all the main hold interior, so there are a few sub-assemblies that need addressing. These are things like the ammo cans (the kit ones look a bit big, the CEC ones look a bit small), the seat, the flare storage, floor, cockpit areas etc. So let’s start with the cockpit, it’s sort of traditional. As with many of these older Revell/Monogram kits there’s quite a lot of detail in the cockpit area, much of which (most!) won’t be visible when the kit is together.

That doesn’t stop us putting it in there, does it? What it did stop me doing was spending any time adding details that wouldn’t be visible or improving on the stuff that was already there. I thought that was quite restrained of me, but I did add some pre-finished brass seat belts from a P-51 sheet I had, so they’re almost certainly not right but I can’t imagine the flight crew not having four-point belt belts as they did pylon turns and manoeuvred the aircraft under fire at night at relatively low level. I would want something to keep me tightly in my seat. The main instrument panel is represented by a decal in both

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machine was dropped due to the fact weathering would be at a minimum. The Camo machine was dropped due to a reason that also applied to the RAE example; the complexity of the paint job in this scale was something I honestly didn’t have the self-confidence to take on not having completed such a large project before. So, do I source the markings for a yellow peril and make a rescue cab? Nice and easy, one overall colour. However have you tried painting an overall yellow scheme? And how dirty would a rescue Wessex get? Not very as it happens, and there was my conundrum. I have always been a fan of weathering my models, and I know for a fact that there are lots in the same mindset as me, that’ll like seeing a worn end product. The flip side of the coin of course (as there always is) are those who won’t like this, will become extremely upset at the weathered result due to the reality of constant washing and polishing this airframe would have been subjected to in its life. With that in mind, this particular Wessex almost becomes a ‘what if’, and will become Marmite to readers, some will love, some will hate with a passion. For the record, the feedback I’ve had to date has been very good, people probably looking more to the techniques deployed rather than the reality of the situation. Be aware this isn’t meant to be two fingers in the air to those that used to maintain and operate the Cyprus Wessex, more an individual’s vision of a helicopter that I’ve seen many of the type stored over the years, so have completed in line with such visions. So my mind, and the accompanying visualisations of the final result, began to agree on XT680 from Akrotiri as my choice in its overall grey scheme with a light blue band around the fuselage.

“ As you’d expect in 1/32nd scale, the interior itself is a challenge ” BUILD

A 20-page instruction sheet, a full colour decal referencing sheet, 7 plastic frames, 2 clear part frames, 59 resin blocks containing parts (yes 59), a sheet of printed paper with pretty shapes and colours, 2 photo-etched metal part sheets, oh and a decal sheet, are all crammed into the box. There are no numbers on any frames, but all parts numbered on the instruction sheet instead. Now where do you start? At the beginning my friend, at the beginning. As you’d expect in 1/32nd scale, the interior itself is a challenge, and has to be completed to a reasonable standard as you can see it all. Nice detail is provided throughout though it just cries out for added detail, you could absolutely go to town on this if you wish. The build itself took me four months to complete, but you could spend a year without even thinking about it just on the interior on its own. There is so much space

in there, and if you model the kit with the door slid back, all that effort will be well rewarded. The internal ribbing, a noticeable part of a Wessex interior, comes as separate vertical ribs, and tests your ability from the start. The one-piece horizontal ribs have to be cut to fit between the vertical ones already in place. So, onto the internal passenger seats, and a combination of a plastic frame, paper seats that have to be cut and folded to the correct shape, and then attached over the plastic frames with etched metal buckles, all then topped with a generous helping of paper seatbelts with etched metal buckles. My other half has never heard some of the words I used during this stage, and probably never will again. Completing the seating was probably the most challenging part of the whole build and of course important in this scale as I intended to leave the model with the cabin door open. Seat belts from the paper sheet were also cut out for the cockpit seats, and again combined with etched buckles and clips to gave a really pleasing look. To add to this,

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small things like the addition of fire extinguishers in the cockpit and main cabin give a wonderful feel to the overall effect. I now added the main rotor head structure above the cabin, and it was finally time to close her up. Test fitting the huge fuselage showed that the back end didn’t line up with the front half. I suspect this was due to the fact the cabin and cockpit were already nestling in the port shell, and were not allowing the starboard shell to sit as it wanted to. Added to this the fact that there are no locating pins to aid the process, and I was starting to get a little concerned. In 72nd, my usual scale, such issues are ‘mere flesh wounds’, but in this scale, this size, this was a problem. Some trimming and repeated test fitting of the fuselage made things better, so despite my initial concerns all that was required was a little patience. I now added plastic cement before wrapping up the two halves with Tamiya tape and elastic bands, to be certain that everything was glued firmly I left it in that state for around four days. It worked, and no filler was required

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Building Revell’s 1/48th scale AC-47D Gunship by Peter Marshall

Fly Models 1/32nd scale Westland Wessex HC.2 by Kev Shaw (KS Aviation)

Spooky

Wessex HC.2

In association with

1/144 HEINKEL HE 219A-2

FEATURE

1/72 ANTONOV AN-2

CIVIL MATTERS

1/72 HARRIER GR.3

FEATURE

WINTER WARRIOR

RUSSIAN

WORKHORSE

CLASSIC PLASTIC

FEATURE

Classic Plastic

Detailing the 1/72 Hasegawa Harrier GR.3, during a NATO exercise in Norway by Kitti Tatsumaki

Most of the main sub-assemblies ready to go.

Edited by Paul Bradley

“ It looks neat in the display cabinet and I’m pleased with the way it finished ”

Building Italeri’s (ex-Bilek) 1/72nd scale Antonov An-2 by Bruce Leyland-Jones

n 1947, to assist the rebuilding of the devastated Soviet Union, Antonov created the An-2 “Annushka” or, in English, “Annie”. This was an extremely robust, easy-tomaintain and extremely strong aircraft, intended to support far flung communities as a transport amongst primitive airfields and, essentially, as an airborne tractor. Obviously an asset to the armed forces, (NATO called it “Colt”), this aircraft performed sterling work within both military and civil aviation and continues to do so to this day, after almost 70 years. Back in more recent history, 1996 to be exact, the Czech company Bilek produced a plastic kit of the An-2 that accurately reflected its chunky nature and, whilst not as refined as a Tamiya or Hasegawa kit, perfectly captured the rough and tumble characteristics of Antonov’s fine biplane. Italeri then issued this kit in 1997, and has produced a couple of boxings with new decals since then. As with the real thing, the kit has withstood the passage of time well and whilst there is some flash on the sprues (and more of that later) there are no unsightly sink marks or other moulding flaws, usually found on older kits. Surface

one of the finest night fighters of World War Two ”

The decals are also very nice supplying 3 German options in various camouflage configurations. As well as an example in RAF markings there is also a cardboard display base representing a concrete runway. The instructions suggest putting as much balance weight as possible in the fuselage, nose and engines due to “difficulty in balancing the model”. Failing that, they suggest gluing the model to the display base. So it looks like avoiding a tailsitter will be a real challenge!

A LITTLE OWL he Heinkel He 219 was reportedly one of the finest night fighters of World War Two. With two powerful DB-603 engines, and a heavy armament of cannon, it was the only German night fighter able to catch the Mosquito. Thankfully for the Allies, Heinkel was out of favour with the German RLM who commissioned all types for use by the Luftwaffe. The He 219 only served in small numbers as apparently Heinkel was told to focus on building bombers, not fighters!

blades look to be the wrong shape and need some re-shaping. Having said that, once the parts are cleaned up, the surface detail is very nice. The kit photo-etch is a real highlight. The radar and various antennae are provided for the exterior as well as aileron horn balances and enhancements to the

undercarriage. You also get a full interior - seats, seat belts, control panel and even the rudder pedals. It would be a real shame to hide that nice detail under the rather thick canopy! There is also a very delicate circular direction finding antenna which is intended to be installed flat on top of the fuselage behind the canopy

KIT INFO

Building the Mark I He 219A-2 in 1/144 scale by Mark Webster

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MANUFACTURER Mark One SCALE 1/144 PANEL LINES Recessed PARTS 22 plastic, 1 clear, 26 photo-etched TYPE Injection Moulded STATUS New Tool DECAL OPTIONS 3 German, 1 British

COCKPIT AREA

There were some huge ejector pins in the cockpit consoles, so I did my best to smooth these over and then installed the cockpit floor. I noticed that the cockpit arrangement was not that accurate. Mark I would have you install a photo-etch

bulkhead at the very end of the cockpit opening. However, it should be installed about half a millimeter further forward. I had to sand down part of the cockpit consoles to make this possible. I would recommend removing these entirely as they just cause trouble! I made the consoles wider by adding some plastic card but his caused issues later. Installing the bulkhead further forward also yields some valuable lead-stuffing space. I sealed off the extra space created with plastic card, and made some instrument consoles to give the impression of detail. The cockpit area was then painted Tamiya German Grey. I left seats and other cockpit details till later. I now jammed as much lead around the cockpit as I could before joining the fuselage halves.

detail is of refined engraving and there is a subtle difference in textures between the various metalled surfaces. Due to the nature of the beast, there is no real need for finely detailed parts, although some may wish to replace the aileron actuator arms with finer plasticard or photoetch. Bear in mind, though, that the real Annie is a solid girl. More ‘handsome’ and ‘homely’ than pretty. All that said, the aftermarket does provide, although be aware that most of this relates to the much-later Trumpeter kit, rereleased by Revell. For this build, I had a Pavla interior resin set I’d acquired and a set of masks. The latter was intended for the Trumpeter kit and the pattern of framing did not match my Italeri example, so this was put aside for another occasion. The decals are well worth a second mention, in that they are of good opacity and, although multi-coloured, are in perfect register. Previous releases also cover a multitude of operators, so a large and different collection of Colts is easily attainable to make an intresting collection. Most previous reviews of this kit mention issues with the kit-supplied transparencies, and due to the fact

that I’m a bit of a novice when it comes to vacform, I thought I’d try and manage those kit issues and find a usable solution.

CONSTRUCTION

So construction began with the Pavla cockpit and I only used the steering columns from the kit. The instructions told me that pale grey was good for the interior, but many references I saw seemed to have the traditional Soviet-turquoise colour. To replicate this, I used Humbrol H65, with an overcoat of Humbrol Green Clearcoat. I used a fine, black, gel pen to fill in the instrument dials and, just for the heck of it, added a scratchbuilt fire extinguisher. Note that the Pavla set is intended for this kit, so fitting it was no problem whatsoever and the fuselage halves were joined

I

together with no fit issues at all. I now spent a happy half-hour with my minidrill, drilling out all the various intakes dotted about the Old Girl. Moving onto the large, lower wings, I found that fit was good, but the pieces needed to be clamped together for a while. My favourite, wooden clothes pegs assisted me with this. Fit of the lower wing to the fuselage was very poor and I had to file away a lot of the central portion of the wing but once I had done this the fit was adequate. The upper wing was a repeated exercise of clamping, but the fit of this to the fuselage was a less traumatic affair than with the lower wing. Unlike many biplanes, it is reasonably easy to attach both pairs of wings to the fuselage, without worrying about the struts

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just love the Harrier and this is Hasegawa’s 1:72 laser nosed GR.3 offering, and the kit went together with minimal fuss, no putty and very little sanding. The model was painted in the RAF’s typical cold weather camouflage as seen for NATO winter exercises, and featuring White covering the usual Green and over Dark Sea Grey, with both shades coming from Hobby Color. The cockpit was hand-painted, especially the ejector seat and instrument panels. And I also

“ This aircraft performed sterling work within both military and civil aviation and continues to do so to this day ”

between so these can be added later. During this stage of the build, the instruction sheet suggested adding the control surfaces and their many little hinges. This was easy enough to do, but on reflection, I wish that I’d left these off until much later in the build process. My problem was that I tend to hold a model between the leading and trailing edges of the wing. With the control surfaces in place, this wasn’t really a sensible option, as the linkages are quite fragile and I kept breaking them off.

THE KIT

Mark One has produced some nice 1/144 kits lately, and the He 219 is a good example. The plastic parts are definitely “short run” in feel. The plastic parts come in a single sprue. There are large sprue gates attaching the wings and these are tricky to remove and smooth over. Some parts are a touch over-size and require trimming - in particular the landing gear covers. Propeller 2 JUNE 2016 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

Sparse interior detail is provided, but you won’t be able to see most of it when the fuselage halves are joined.

Moving on to the engine the An-2 is powered by a supercharged radial engine and, whilst not of exquisite detail, the provided parts are good enough for Yours Truly, especially if a little dry-brushing is applied, to enhance the detail of the cylinders. (The instructions simply tell you to paint it all black). With both firmly wings secured, I turned my attention to the two large struts and was immediately concerned that the mould appeared to have badly slipped. If this happens to you do not panic, it is simply simple flash that is easily removed with a couple of scrapes of a new scalpel blade. At this point in the build, I had to decide which option I was going for, with a choice of skis or wheels in the box. I decided that I’d go for skis. The instructions could be a little clearer in the placement of

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the undercarriage struts, so I did my research and my photos show you what worked for me. Small pins stick out for the skis to sit on so I was able to dry-fit the skis and ensure that the tailskid was properly aligned, before cementing them firmly in to place. Unfortunately, soon after the tailskid had set in place, the pins holding the skis broke off and I would have to re-visit the fitting of these later on, so be warned. By this stage, I still hadn’t bothered with the canopy and I decided that I wasn’t happy with the large gap in front of the instrument panel. I’d seen many such aircraft with a canvas covering and so decided to suggest this with a piece of kitchen roll painted black, it now looks better than nothing, although some of you might decide to fill the gap with wires and cabling.

operations, and for this I used Hobby Color Engine Grey. After a matt coat, some oil washes followed, and for the exhaust stains

MANUFACTURER Hasegawa SCALE 1/72 KIT NUMBER HSGS0236 KIT TYPE Plastic Injection Moulded DECAL OPTIONS 3 ADDITIONAL Techmod decal ITEMS USED sheet TM48 020

I used Tamiya Smoke in various mixes. The ‘Remove Before Flight’ tags were homemade from my printer! To make the Harrier even more dynamic I decided to place it in a small maintenance scene

with groundcrew preparing it for another sortie. I used a Hasegawa US Pilot/ Ground Crew Set and the Maintenance Platform and the base was a piece of MDF, suitably

painted and weathered. The figures and ground equipment were painted with Vallejo colours. For the weapons load-out I added the ADEN gun packs, MATRA 155 Rocket Launchers, a 1,000lb bombs and BL 755 Cluster munitions.

“ I added the decals for an aircraft from No.4 Squadron, which looked particularly cool against the winter scheme. ”

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Building the Mark I He 219A-2 in 1/144th scale by Mark Webster

Building Italeri’s (ex-Bilek) 1/72nd scale Antonov An-2 by Bruce LeylandJones

Russian Workhorse

standard, but they will suffice. The wheels were assembled and sanded with a flat spot, and a large round fishing sinker super glued in the nose cone to avoid a tail sitter. Aerial wires were made from smoke coloured invisible mending thread and super glued in place. The aerial wire insulators were then added from drops of white glue applied with a toothpick then painted black. I used the kit-supplied decals, but due to their age I chose to spray them with a light coat of gloss varnish to help hold them together during application, just in case they decided to become their individual

F

irst up, apologies to Adam and Dale for the mix-up with the photos in the last classic plastic; the appropriate gremlin has be accosted and suitably censured, though we cannot rule out retaliation from his comrades. Secondly, please keep sending articles and photos of your classic kit builds – this column is nothing without the contributions from you, the readers! I hear from people all the time how much they enjoy the column, and I hope it will continue for a good time yet, but I do need help in keeping it going. Please drop me a line at [email protected] with your articles and ideas; I appreciate it! Now, on to the good stuff – a pair of Airfix classics!

atomic particles when dipped in water. They were then cut out with a sharp scalpel so that carrier film was minimal. After painting the airframe, everything was sprayed with Future/Klear, the decals applied and everything sealed in a second time. In the end, the kit decals snuggled down nicely onto the raised details and only a small amount of Gunze Mr. Decal Softer was used to soften them during application. Well, there we have it. I’ve found that my modelling skills appear to have ‘matured’ over the last 40 years and this kit came together a lot easier than I remember back in 1973. The kit itself is far from the standard of a latest 21st Century Tamigawa tooling, but it looks neat in the display cabinet and I’m pleased with the way it finished. Don’t discount some of these earlier kits by Airfix, Esci, Frog, Matchbox and the like as you may be pleasantly surprised when you give them a go. Now, where in my stash did I put some of those old 70’s Monogram kits?

DOUGLAS A-26B INVADER

SO ON TO THE CANOPY

534

Airfix 1/72 Douglas A-26B Invader by Dale Smith

F

irst tooled in the early seventies, all surface detail is of the raised variety. Looking at the kit parts during assembly it was hard to comprehend that all the dies and tooling used to produce kits back then were all hand cut by expert tradesman. There was no CNC machining or laser cutting, so having the parts fitting as well as they did was quite an achievement. There was still the 60’s and

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70’s standard ‘Airfix’ part mismatch of about 0.5 to 1.00mm in places, but by just cutting away the locating lugs and joining the parts by eye, I got a satisfactory result. Even the movable/poseable flying surfaces fitted well. Overall, the kit interior detail is acceptable but the cockpit and gunner positions are quite Spartan compared to a modern day offering. These areas can be painted as required or detailed with extra bits

and pieces, but most of the detail will be hidden later in construction, so it’s up the individual. The main canopies were masked with Tamiya tape cut to shape with a new No. 11 X-Acto blade. No colour instructions or decals are provided for these areas so the modeller will have to just wing it; interior green with black and a leather shade for the seats should suffice, with a light grey colour dry brushed over most areas to bring out a little of the sparse detail.

In an effort to save the raised surface detail after joining the main airframe parts, I used Gunze Mr. Surfacer 500 as the filler of choice so that after application no sanding should be required. Simply apply with a tooth pick, let the filler dry then take a cotton tip dipped in acetone and wipe it along the join. Work the joint a few times and you will have an acceptable surface join and no missing detail due to sanding. Easy. Some joints won’t be model competition winning

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538

540

Detailing the 1/72nd scale Hasegawa Harrier GR.3, during a NATO exercise in Norway by Kitti Tatsumaki

• Airfix 1/72nd Douglas A-26B Invader by Dale Smith • Airfix 1/72nd SR.53 by Andy Hazell

Winter Warrior

COVER FEATURE 474 Italian Cobra

After a gloss coat I added the decals for an aircraft from No.4 Squadron, which looked particularly cool against the winter scheme. I then added chipping and scratches all over the airframe as the white quickly peeled and discoloured during

The instructions tell you to assemble the whole thing as a subassembly and then to attach this to the model. From my reading, it appeared that getting this then to fit right had proved problematic on many occasions, so I thought I’d try a different approach… Having applied Tamiya-tape masking, I glued the main canopy pieces together with Bostik Serious Glue and left it overnight to fully cure. The following day, I turned the model upside-down and first attached the two, small, forward pieces to the main piece and, assisted by gravity, was able to manoeuvre these into position. Each side piece was then

528

A Little Owl

added 100gm of ballast in the middle of the fuselage to ensure some solid handling. I primed everything with Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500, and then I added a basecoat of White. Then I used a pencil to trace out the camouflage pattern and ran Blu Tack ‘sausages’ around the lines. I then added the Dark Sea Grey, and once dry removed the masks.

KIT INFO

I

“ The Heinkel He 219 was reportedly

Building Kitty Hawk’s 1/32nd Scale P-39Q/N Airacobra by Michael Chilestone

Classic Plastic

REGULARS 480 News 482 Czech Out 484 First Look 485 Creative Times 486 Accessories 492 Decals 494 Reviews 544 Books & Media

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EDITORIAL

Welcome to Scale Aviation Modeller International

JUNE 2016

Volume 22 • Issue 6 PRODUCED BY HOBBYZONE LIMITED UNDER LICENCE FROM SAM PUBLICATIONS 21 Kingsway, Bedford MK42 9BJ Telephone: +44 (0)1234 211245 Fax: +44 (0)1234 325927 Email: [email protected] Use the above address for back issue orders, subscriptions, enquiries or book orders. Note that we cannot undertake research into specific or general aviation queries and that there may be some delays in responses from the contributors, as they are not based at the editorial address. PUBLISHER SAM Publications GROUP EDITOR • Andy Evans [email protected] EDITOR • David Francis [email protected] ASSOCIATE EDITOR • Tim Upson-Smith [email protected] The editorial emails are ONLY to be used for editorial submissions. They are NOT for subscription payments or queries, back issues or Modellers Datafile orders. Please send all of these to the Media House address detailed at the top of this column. STUDIO MANAGER • Jonathan Phillips PAGE DESIGN & LAYOUT • Andy Folds PRE-PRESS PRODUCTION • HobbyZone Limited PRINT PRODUCTION • Stephens & George Ltd SAMI TEAM • Andy Renshaw • Paul Bradley • Andy Evans • Tim Upson Smith CONTRIBUTORS THIS MONTH • Huw Morgan • Carmel Attard • Peter Marshall • Mike Chilestone • Mark Webster • Adam Rehorn • Kevin Shaw ADVERTISING SALES • Mark Willey [email protected] DISTRIBUTION • COMAG Tavistock Road, West Drayton, Middlesex UB7 7QE Tel: 01895 433777 NORTH AMERICAN DISTRIBUTION • Disticor 695 Westney Rd South, Suite 14, Ajax, Ontario, Canada L1S 6M9 Tel: + 1 (905) 619 6565

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Scale Aviation Modeller International

W

hat is one of the most challenging parts of being in charge of Britain’s number one modelling magazine? Many would think it was trying to get it ready to go to press every four weeks to a deadline that cannot be moved, or having to attend shows all around the country, starting off very early in the mornings and getting home in the wee small hours. To be honest neither of these is an issue and in fact going to shows is one of the true pleasures of my job. My main struggle is trying to find modellers to write articles and reviews to fill it each month? As many of you may have noticed I put a little note at the end of the civil matters last month that I may have to stop running this section due to lack of suitable content. Now you would think finding contributors would be quite simple but if we break down what is involved you will see why it is so difficult. We start with the building. To members of the team I rarely give deadlines or chase articles because I strongly believe if you rush a model you will make errors and it is far better to take your time and enjoy the process as this will come through in the written word. Then there is fear that you will make a mistake, trust me we have all done it: upside down exhausts, using the wrong colours, or that seam that you thought had disappeared now showing up in all the photographs. I have managed all of these and far worse. And of course a fair few of my kits never make it due to various reasons, some totally my fault, and if this is so just tell me so I know. Then we have the the writing; though I have never had a major issue putting words on paper I know many people find this a bit daunting. My approach is just to write like I am talking to fellow modellers at a club night about how I built my latest model. To be honest the 500 words for a review or 2,000 words for an article never seem to be enough, and inevitably I will go through a number of rewrites before I am happy enough to send it in.

Finally we have what for me has always been the hardest part, photography. I have little to no interest in this black art and in the bad old days before digital cameras I used to expend massive amounts of film to get just a few usable shots. Thankfully the digital revolution has been my saviour and to be honest most of my photographs now are taken on a large piece of white card instead of a studio rig complete with specialist lighting. And instead of a really fancy camera with loads of buttons and dials that I have never understood, I just use my iPhone. Even our studio manager says he has noted an improvement in my photography once I stopped trying to be a photographer. So basically what I am always on the look out for are modellers who make nice models, like telling people about it and can take a decent photograph. You think this would be easy but no, remember those shows I go to? Quite often I will have a look around a show and if I see a model I like I will put my business card underneath asking the builder to drop me a line. Surprisingly this has led to a number of top class new writers coming on board over the last year. So now I am throwing the gauntlet down to the whole readership if you think we never cover your field of interest or just fancy showing your latest model to a wider audience. Or if you fancy joining our review team or are interested in writing articles, take some snaps of your latest project or build and write it up, as I am sure there are many hidden talents out there waiting to be discovered, so we can find writers who can carry on making this title the Nation’s favourite scale modelling magazine. Submissions can be sent via email to david@ sampublications.com or via snail mail to the editorial address.

David Francis

Editor [email protected]

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Next on sale 23rd June 2016

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Mastered-Adverts-AV-0616_AV-0606 13/05/2016 15:14 Page 473

Bf 109G-5 1/48 Cat. No. 82112

JUNE 2016

www.eduard.com

1/32 P-39Q/N AIRACOBRA

ITALIAN COBRA

Building Kitty Hawk’s 1/32nd Scale P-39Q/N Airacobra by Michael Chilestone

K

itty Hawk’s first foray into large-scale WWII fighters is a P-39 Airacobra, a subject which I think will be very welcome to fans of large-scale WWII American pursuit ships. It certainly is to this one as I’ve had a soft spot for this unusual design ever since building the Airfix 1:72 offering many years ago. The P-39 was designed around a large 37mm cannon. Along with the unusual mid-engine layout, all-electric (no hydraulics) functionality, and the (then) rare tricycle undercarriage, this made the P-39 a distinctive aircraft. Unfortunately, it did not live up to design expectations in many respects. The RAF found it unsuitable for combat in the European theatre, and whilst the USAAC used it extensively in the Pacific, North Africa and Italy, short range was often an issue. But it did find a very successful niche as a

fighter and ground-attack aircraft in Russia. Development progressed through a number of production variants which mostly differed in engine version and propeller type. The final two were the P-39N and the P-39Q, the main production versions, and more of the latter were built than all other variants combined.

instruction booklet with full-colour glossy colour scheme drawings. The P-39 could carry a bomb or a drop-tank on the centre-line, and both are provided. Closer inspection showed that some of the sprue attachment

points overlap onto mating surfaces. There were also large partial ejector-pin “towers” on the inside of some parts, and some ejector-pin marks here and there. Fortunately the first two issues are easy to deal with, just a little care

WHAT’S IN THE BOX?

On opening the sturdy box, first impressions are very good. It is packed with 8 sprues of grey plastic, 1 clear sprue and one etched fret. A nice touch, and one I understand is the norm for the brand, is that the clear sprue comes in its own box within the main box to minimize damage. The package is completed by a comprehensive decal sheet (plus a small supplement) covering five marking options, and an

box contents

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FEATURE

“ Kitty Hawk’s first foray into

large-scale WWII fighters is a P-39 Airacobra ”

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1/32 P-39Q/N AIRACOBRA

in-progress shots of cockpit

being required when cleaning up the parts, but some of the latter need filling as they would otherwise be visible when the model is complete. Marking options are supplied for four P-39Qs: 1 x USAAC, 1 x Armee de l’Air and 2 x Soviet AF, and one P-39N of the Italian CoBelligerent Air Force. The kit breakdown allows for various panels to be left open: the rear fuselage radio compartment; the engine cowlings; wing gun access panels; and the nose gun bay covers. I decided to close some panels and leave others open, allowing the internal detail to be shown, and to test the fit of the panels in the closed position. This has been a major problem on some other brands of kits in my experience, and I’m pleased to say this is not the case here, the fit of all panels is very good, with only minor adjustment being needed here and there. In addition, closing the rear fuselage compartment allowed the detail parts in this area to be omitted, which would slightly reduce the amount of nose weight needed to sit the aeroplane on its undercarriage.

Built-up nose compartment, removing bottom half of O2 bottles

FUSELAGE INTERIOR, COCKPIT AND ENGINE

Unusually construction starts not with the cockpit, but the engine. This builds into a reasonable replica of the Allison V-1710-85 from the box, although there is plenty of scope for the superdetailers to go to town. The big issue here, and the first real problem I had, was the exhausts. There are six exhaust outlets per side, two sides, two parts for each exhaust outlet. Confusingly, although these parts are not all identical they are all numbered “G25”. It is fairly evident which parts to pair up as there are locating pins, but the exhausts have to be fitted perpendicular to the aircraft’s vertical axis rather

than that of the cylinder block. To check the alignment I dry-fitted the engine to its mounting and then fitted that and the cowling to the fuselage. Only the rounded exhausts are provided, so if your particular subject had the alternative “fishtail” exhausts you’ll need to wait for suitable aftermarket which will undoubtedly become available sometime. Whilst the engine is drying, the cockpit is next. This is assembled onto part E25 which acts as a central fuselage keel, extending backwards to form the engine “bed” and forwards as the basis for the nose bay. Having built up some of the cockpit assembly, it was time for another decision – what colour? Colour call-outs in the instructions give Gunze Sangyo Mr Color references, however P-39 interior colours could vary. Unless you have definitive information for your particular subject, I would suggest a darkish interior green for the cockpit is probably a safe bet, with a black instrument panel. The kit instrument panel is

provided with blank dial detail, you then add six separate decals. These fitted well, and the end result looks quite convincing. Also convincing after careful painting is the etched seat harness provided by Kitty Hawk. Now it was time for a deviation from building this kit strictly from the box: I had decided on building the P-39N-1 option. This particular variant had armoured glass in the bulkhead behind the seat rather than the headrest provided, so I fabricated one from clear plastic stock. I believe the headrest is appropriate for the other variants in the box. Moving forward, the nose gun bay is built up. Here again detail is very acceptable out of the box, but with scope to super detail if you wish. Oxygen bottles, guns, ammunition containers and the cannon with its ammo feed are all provided. I was rather wary about the “belt” of cannon shells as you have to bend this part to fit, but it does actually work quite well. The nose wheel bay is then built up and added to this assembly. Like the rest of the build so far, fit is good provided if you take care to test-fit and adjust where necessary. I had some problems building up the propeller gearbox following the instructions. A bit of thought and hindsight gave me an alternative sequence which I’ll try if I do another one of these: • Fit the nose wheel bay to the main “keel” assembly • Fit the nose wheel leg • Cement D26 to D25, then

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FEATURE

Installation of weight to prevent tail sitting

cement this to the main assembly. • Now pass C1 (prop shaft) though D26 and fix it in place, gluing at the rear first • Then fix D29, then D24. I will also say don’t be tempted to leave the nose wheel assembly until after the airframe is complete, the cannon passes through part C11, between the retractable leg and the mounting, and is likely to be impossible to fit later. As suggested above, you need to pick the option you’re doing fairly early, and if you are not familiar with the Airacobra this is where research skills are needed.

The kit provides a number of options, but simply indicates them as “optional”; it doesn’t say which belong to which subject. Selecting which propeller spinner and cannon to use made me scratch my head a bit, in the end I went for D21 with D9 and cut the latter down to match photos and plans of an N model In building the main fuselage a ventral DF loop antenna aft of the wing is provided. This was a Soviet fit, so is only appropriate if you’re going to do one of the two red-starred examples provided. Unfortunately this is not a simply a case of omitting parts as there is a moulded fairing that needs to be removed if you are building any of the other three decal options. The plastic is, however, thick enough to allow the necessary reshaping of the underside.

WINGS

I now leapt ahead in the instructions and made a start on the wings. Here is another major variant decision. Both internal wing guns and underwing pods are provided, both are simply marked “optional”, and both are shown in place on all the colour diagrams. However on the real thing it was one or the other. The P-39N had the internal wing guns, so I simply

omitted the underwing gun pods. For the Q you’ll need to omit the internal guns, fill in their ports, ejector chutes and access panels, and then decide whether to fit the pods or not, as the Soviets often didn’t use them. Separate flaps are provided, but I mounted these up as I’ve not managed to find a single photo of a parked P-39 with flaps down. Separate ailerons (along with elevators and rudder) are also provided and I posed these slightly displaced, remembering of course to pose the flying controls in the cockpit appropriately. The root intakes are blanked off a fairly short way back, and some modellers may want to open these up and add some depth.

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1/32 P-39Q/N AIRACOBRA

BRINGING IT TOGETHER

Back to the fuselage, and it’s time to fit the nose panels. Thinking about where to put weight in the nose so that the model would not tail-sit, I used the self-adhesive lead ballast commonly used by the radiocontrol flying model fraternity. Removing the lower portion of the oxygen bottles (which would not be seen) the weights were attached to the side of the nose wheel bay. About 15g was needed plus a little extra for luck. Adding the wings to the fuselage was the last challenge. Rather than the now-traditional approach of a single-piece lower wing, two separate pieces are provided. Much care was needed to get the correct dihedral, and some filing down in places – in particular the inner edge of the main wheel bay needs thinning. As an added problem, the join above the wing starts on the curved panel line where the main wing panel meets the root leading edge, but instead of following this panel line, the joint just continues straight back. This means some careful work is needed to totally eliminate the seam. With the wings attached it was all downhill to painting, apart from the fact that neither a pitot nor

radio aerial are provided, despite being illustrated on the box art, however these can easily be made from scratch or by using your spares box.

PAINTING AND MARKINGS

Colour call-outs are given keyed to the Gunze Sangyo Mr Color range. However, some are questionable: undersides are all shown as “RLM 76 Light Blue”, whereas all schemes are basically Olive Drab over Neutral Grey. The decal sheet is very comprehensive and well packed, and as mentioned earlier I’d chosen

“ The completed model

captures the look and sit of the P-39 very well ”

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FEATURE the N model. For this option the decals provided markings for a machine of the Italian CoBelligerent Air Force. Generally they performed well and laid down using my customary Micro Sol/Set routine, although they do “grab” quickly, so I used plenty of water and/or Micro Sol solution so I could adjust the placement. The decals are commendably thin, but this did mean that I had to use a white backing circle (not provided in the kit) under the roundels, otherwise where they overlapped the yellow bands the white in the roundels contrasted with the sections over the OD. The white spiral for the spinner, however, did defeat me - in the end I masked and painted the spiral. This was no fault of the decal, just my clumsiness. One thing to note: if you are building the US option, the wellknown “Snooks 2nd” of the 82nd TRG, the nose art was only on the starboard side on the original aircraft; the kit would have you apply them to both sides, attractive but not accurate. After weathering and a final matt coat, the model was complete, and I’m relieved to say with my nose weights it does stand firmly on its undercarriage.

CONCLUSIONS

There has been some discussion as to whether this kit has a small error in the length. Personally I’m not convinced this is the case, but even if it is, in my opinion the completed model captures the look and sit of the P-39 very well. In summary, this kit is let down by some strange omissions (e.g. the pitot tube); the lack

of any indication as to which parts options are appropriate for which variant; the ejector pin marks; some questionable colour indications; and the design of the wing joint. On the positive side, with a little work here and there the fit is very good and the engine and other detail is comprehensive enough for most whilst giving a basis for super-detailers to work on. The transparencies are crystal-clear; and the

removable panels actually fit in the closed position. So whilst this kit is not perfect, I thoroughly enjoyed building it and I recommended it for anyone with some modelling experience. My thanks to Kitty Hawk for giving me the chance to build a large-scale Airacobra.

• http://www.pacificwrecks.com/ aircraft/p-39/42-19995.html • http://www.uswarplanes.net/ p39p63.html • http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/ magazine/2004/02/stuff_eng_ interior_colours_us_part2.htm • http://www.britmodeller.com/ forums/index.php?/topic/69013airacobra-bell-green/

REFERENCES:

• Bell P-39 Airacobra, Artur Juszczak & Robert Peczkowski, MMP 2003 • Bell P-39 Airacobra, Robert F Dorr with Jerry C Scutts, Crowood 2000

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in association with www.spruebrothers.com

NEWS

June News

News and forthcoming products from around the world.

A

few new announcements this month but as I write this eyes are turned to the far east where the annual Shizouka show is taking place. Will Tamiya have new kits announced? What will be coming out of China later this year? Will Hasegawa actually manage any more new toolings to go with their delayed 1/32 scale Zero? All will be answered in a few weeks and will feature in our next issue.

This Month in Model Aircraft S ca

led Vi CAS Up pe Sca rs led Do wn

EXCLUSIVE - MIG MASTERCLASS

Super Detailed Super Bug Florent Welter details the 1:48 Hasegawa ‘Diamondbacks’ F/A-18F

Werner Wings I will start with Werner Wings who have given us the gossip on his latest project a major conversion for Monograms 1/32 AH-1G Cobra to a AH-1F. This will be a really multimedia project containing resin, etched brass and Vac Form canopy. It was also have an epic decal sheet based on one of Werner Wings early decal sheets with no less than 19 options. The downside it will not be cheap and is limited to between 100 and 150 examples but this is a labour of love and like many of Werner Wings special projects will sell out very quickly.

Kittyhawk gustav XXX

Delta Defender

XXX

IAI Kfir

Uncle Sam’s Bf 109G-6

Gerry Doyle builds the 1:48 Airfix Mk Vb as a Floatplane

The Grumman EA-6B, on deck and in scale

Mr Hurds, UK Mr Bass, UK Mr Isogonis, Belgium Entry to the monthly prize draw is FREE to all subscribers

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Prowling Around

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JUNE 2016 Vol 15 Iss 06 £4.50 Printed in UK

Stalin’s Night Witches

Le Bourget’s D.H.9 David Hardie gives a ‘museum finish’ to the 1:32 Wingnut Wings kit.

Arctic Viper Jersey Eisenhower gives a winter look to the F-16C ‘Aggressor’

Scaled Up and Scaled Down ‘Fast Attack Falcons’ - Andy Renshaw and Mario Serelle produce a double bill of 1:72 and 1:48 CAS A-16s

Following on from the announcement of the AH-1F from Werner Wings they have also been involved in one of Kittyhawks latest projects. Kittyhawk have announced that they will be releasing a range of OH-6 special operation variants. Starting with an AH-6 J followed by the MH-6j in due course. Early CADs show a lot of detail in all the areas that matters. This aircraft are involved anywhere US special forces operate so should be popular. Almost ready for release is Kittyhawk’s take on the Super Etendard this is as detailed as most Kittyhawk kit but in particular you get a very impressive amount of French armament options supplied on two sprues. The decal sheet looks very well printed and I do like the choice of subjects.

MODEL AIRCRAFT EXTRA The IAI Kfir - Part 3 – Israeli Service

Real to Replica The Grumman F6F Hellcat

MIG Masterclass Electronic SEAD Raider -Mario Serelle builds the 1:72 Revell Tornado ECR

Combat-Zone Stalin’s Night Witches - Anthony Tucker-Jones recounts the exploits of daring female Russian fighter pilots on the Eastern Front

Uncle Sam’s Italian ‘Gustav’ Mario Serelle produces a colourful Bf 109G-6

A Fighting ‘Flogger’ George Roidis adds some colorful camouflage to the 1:48 Trumpeter MiG-23ML

‘Testing Tornado’ Andy White builds the 1:48 Italeri F.3 of No.41(R) Squadron, the FJWOEU 480 JUNE 2016 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

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Lukgraph We do not feature this Polish manufacturer often but they have produced a nice range of inter war biplanes. Now they have released their most mainstream kit to date in the shape of a 1/32 Focke Wulf FW58 Stosser, with over a 1000 aircraft produced it is not surprising that this aircraft comes with a number of options and I will say you could not have asked for a more esoteric mix. The obvious Luftwaffe choices make up only 3 of the nine options which also includes Hungary, Dutch, Spanish and Austria.

Hasegawa This manufacturer seem to fill its new release schedules with re-boxings or slight variation but this month it was the addition of two Japanese egg planes that caught my eye the attractive T-4 trainer and their upgraded F-16 the F-2. How sad is that!

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Hobbyboss Hobbyboss certainly get the best from their moulds and a surprise 1/48 scale release due soon is the most unusual Focke Wulf Fw190 the V-18, a type that until now has only been modelled in resin or as a complicated conversion.

Trumpeter Two announcements had slipped under my radar from Trumpeter. The first is the very vicious looking attack helicopter the CAIC Z-10 in 1/72 scale which is designed for air to ground but with a secondary air to air capacity. Slightly more mainstream in 1/48 scale is a Mig-29 but one of the more obscure versions the SMT that had a number of upgrades the most obvious feature was the swollen spine containing extra fuel tanks.

13/05/2016 15:40

in association with www.specialhobby.eu

NEWS

Czech Out

Our Monthly look at News from the Czech Republic by Tim Upson-Smith

W

e have some real stand-out news this month from Fly, if Hurricanes are your thing. Not content with the 1/32 scale Hurricane IIc’s they have now announced a Hurricane IId and a Mk

I as well! So lots there to look forward to for fans of the Hurricane. In fact, this month is good for Hawker fans generally with the imminent arrival of the 1/32 scale Special Hobby 1/32 scale Tempests. If Hawker’s products are not your thing, as usual the Czech companies have been busy providing us with many other goodies, so without further ado here is the latest news as we have it. If your company or product is not featured and you would like it to be, please contact us at the editorial email address.

Kovozavody Prostejov (KP) As mentioned last month, the new KP 1/72 scale Piper 18 is getting nearer, it is just a case now of deciding on the civil markings, as there are rather a lot to choose from! The range of 1/72 scale Spitfires is growing with the imminent release of a Tropical Mk V and the Mk IX in Post War markings, including the Czech Police, which will sit nicely with the earlier release of the Avia S199 in Czech Police markings. KP also have advised that very soon we can look forward to a Lavochkin La-5 to accompany the already released La-5FN. As a teaser KP have announced a new First World War subject in 1/72 scale, but as yet no clues as to what it is… As soon as we know, we will let you know! www.kovozavody.cz

Fly As I mentioned in my introduction to this month’s news, Fly have announced some more Hurricanes! A IId and a Mk I, so lots more to look forward to. In the meantime, Fly have very kindly sent us a sample of the brand new Sea Hurricane IIc which is previewed elsewhere in this month’s issue, and is now progressing quite nicely on my bench, alongside their new 1/48 Grunau Baby. Both will be the subjects of full builds in a future issue.

AZ Model Coming soon in 1/72 scale from AZ will be the new Bf 109F, which I am sure will be as popular as their Bf 109G! This month also sees a couple of re-releases, the first two being the 1/72 scale Breguet Bre 14A and Bre 14B. Both kits have three markings options including French and Post War Polish schemes. In 1/144 scale the DC-9 makes a reappearance in the livery of Aero Republica Columbia. A surprise release from AZ is two boxings in 1/72 scale of the Morane 406C1. Each box has three markings options, the first boxing has markings for the air forces of The Independent State of Croatia, Finland and Vichy French. The second boxing has markings for two French Battle of France machines and a Polish one.

Brengun Brengun have just updated their profile picture with the box art of the forthcoming 1/72 Yak 1, hopefully an indication of imminent arrival? As always there will also a nice selection of photo-etch sets and accessories so keep an eye on www.brengun.cz for all the latest releases.

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Special Hobby Special Hobby have been releasing more images of the forthcoming 1/32 scale Tempest V, and very nice it looks too. News has reached us that there will be a High Tech version of the kit, to feature more resin parts, photo-etch and HGW fabric seat harness. Meanwhile, coming this month we have the new 1/72 scale Mirage F1B/BE. Also a new concept from Special Hobby, Simple Sets, where you just get the plastic and instructions, no decals are included, the first release will be available later this month in the shape of the Mirage F1. Combat decals and Syart already have decal sheets available to add some very interesting markings to this kit. Special Hobby have also released box art images of their forthcoming 1/32 scale Yak-3, which is a bit further down the line behind the Tempests, but certainly one to look forward to! www.specialhobby.eu .

Eduard Huw Morgan has been a very busy chap over the last month building the new-tooled 1/48 scale Bf 109G-6, see elsewhere in this issue to see what he thinks! The limited edition boxing celebrating the MiG-21 MF and M in Czech and Slovak service will be out by the time you read this, but be quick if you want one as it is limited to only 1,500 pieces worldwide. Other news from Eduard for June is the release in the Weekend line of the 1/72 scale Fw 190A-8R2; as has become standard now with the weekend editions two markings options will be included. In 1/48 scale we have the ProfiPACK release of the all new Bf 109G-5, which has five markings options, colour photo-etch and paint masks. In the Limited Edition line we have an upgraded 1/48 scale SAAB Draken, the plastic is by Hasegawa, with Eduard goodies in the form of colour photo-etch, masks, Brassin wheels and seat, plus decals for the four options by Cartograph. Not such a busy month for kits this month, but as usual there is some super photo-etch and Brassin goodies to look forward to. To keep up to date with all of the accessories released by Eduard visit their webpage at www.Eduard. com.

HpH Models HpH continue to tease with new images of the new 1/18 scale 109, this month we have images of the clear resin canopy.

RS Models The Avro Rotas in 1/72 scale have now landed here in the UK and from the almost complete one on my bench I can happily say I like it! A build should appear in the next issue! WWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • JUNE 2016 483

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FIRST LOOK

HAWKER SEA HURRICANE MK IIC

KIT INFO

Previews

MANUFACTURER Fly SCALE 1/32 PRODUCT CODE 32014 82, over 4 sprues Clear parts: 13 NO OF PARTS Resin parts: 27 Film: 7 Photoetched brass TYPE Injection moulded plastic DECAL OPTIONS 4 Vacformed canopy arta 002 Alternative arta ALSO cannons 001 Canopy mask, New Ware masks NWAM0027

SEA HURRICANE MK IIC T Fly 1/32 Scale Hawker Sea Hurricane Mk IIc by Tim Upson-Smith

his is a new release, and one that I have been looking forward to! Before I even start to describe what you get in the box let me mention the box art; this has to be one of the best box art pictures I have seen for a very long time, showing as it does a Sea Hurricane with its undercarriage partially retracted climbing away from its carrier under an incredibly atmospheric moody, misty sky, superb stuff! Inside the box you will find 4 sprues of light brown/tan injection moulded plastic with a total of 82 parts, several of which will end up in your spares box. Bagged separately is the clear sprue with the beautifully moulded two-part canopy and navigation lights etc. Also bagged separately are the resin parts, which are contained in two bags, one with the common parts for the three versions of the Hurricane Fly have so far released,

and the other containing the specific Sea Hurricane parts, an arrester hook, catapult spools and an insert for the lower rear fuselage for the arrester hook. The photo-etched parts are spread over two frets and are bagged with the film for the instrument panel. The two-part decal sheet and instruction booklet are contained with in the final bag. As a bonus for our review sample, we were sent the optional vacformed canopy, alternative cannon barrels with the round recoil springs as opposed to the flat springs offered in the kit, and a mask set for the canopy and wheels. The plastic is very well moulded with the detail being raised and recessed as appropriate. This model does feature some of the best raised rivet detail I have seen and the recessed Dzus fasteners around the cowling are also very well represented. The fabric effect on the fuselage, ailerons, elevators and rudder is also well done with none of the starved cow effect

seen on some kits! The resin parts are cast by Artillery, a subsidiary of Fly, and look very good with no bubbles visible on our sample. The photo-etch is by Hauler and as you would expect is also very good. As you would expect from a short-run kit there is a little flash present in places as well as a slight hint of mould misalignment that will require clean-up, but that said I have also seen this on new mainstream kits! The ailerons are moulded as part of the wings, as are the flaps, this is due to limitations in the short-run technology, the elevators and rudder however are separate and it is these surfaces that photos show more often deflected. The instructions are presented as an A5 glossy colour printed booklet and cover all the versions of the Hurricane so far released by Fly, so will require a careful study to see which parts apply to your particular variant. The painting guide for the interior gives colour names, but for the camouflage colours reference numbers are given using the Humbrol and AK paint ranges. There are 4 colour schemes you can choose from: • 1: Sea Hurricane IIc No.824 Squadron

FAA HMS Striker 1944 flown by Sub-Lt P A Clark in three-colour camouflage • 2: Sea Hurricane IIc No.835 Squadron FAA HMS Niarana 1944 flown by Sub-Lt A Burghama in overall white • 3: Sea Hurricane IIc No.835 Squadron FAA HMS Niarana 1944 in overall white with camouflaged top cowling • 4: Sea Hurricane IIc No.825 Squadron FAA HMS Striker 1944 in three-colour camouflage

CONCLUSION All in all this is an impressive looking kit, an initial test fit of parts bodes very well and a start has been made on my workbench! If you are a little short of reference material on the Hawker Hurricane then look no further than the SAM Publications Datafile 22, available online from their SAM Shop! My thanks to Jiri from Fly models for supplying the review sample with all the added extras www.fly814.cz

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Sposored by Creative Models www.creativemodels.co.uk

JUNE 2016

Creative Times A Selection of new releases now available from Creative Models

F8-F1/2 Bearcat USS Tarawa

Messerschmitt Me262 A-2a/ U2

Messerschmitt Bf109G-6 Late

Messerschmitt Bf109-G10

MANUFACTURER Academy

SCALE 1/48 KIT NO. HBB80377

SCALE 1/48

PRICE £17.99

KIT NO. ACA1231

DECAL OPTIONS 2

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MANUFACTURER Eduard SCALE 1/48 KIT NO. EDK82111 PRICE £26.99 DECAL OPTIONS 4 STATUS New Tool

MESSERSCHMITT BF109-G10

INFO

MANUFACTURER Hobbyboss

INFO

INFO

F8-F1/2 BEARCAT USS TARAWA

INFO

MESSERSCHMITT BF109G-6 LATE MESSERSCHMITT ME262 A-2A/U2

MANUFACTURER Revell SCALE 1/48 KIT NO. RV03958 PRICE £9.99 DECAL OPTIONS 2 STATUS Reissue

STATUS Revised Tool

DECAL OPTIONS 2 STATUS Reissue

Avia B534 III Serie

Chinese J-11B

SCALE 1/48 KIT NO. HBB81715

AVIA B534 III SERIE

INFO

INFO

CHINESE J-11B MANUFACTURER Hobbyboss

PRICE £44.99

MANUFACTURER Eduard SCALE 1/48 KIT NO. EDK4452 PRICE £14.99

DECAL OPTIONS 2

DECAL OPTIONS 4

STATUS Revised Tool

STATUS Reissue

LA-7

Boeing 777-300ER

Deluxe Materials as featured in the pages of Scale Aviation Modeller International is now available to order from www.sampublications.com

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MANUFACTURER Eduard SCALE 1/72 KIT NO. ED7066 PRICE £13.99 DECAL OPTIONS 4 STATUS Reissue

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MANUFACTURER Revell SCALE 1/144 KIT NO. RV0495 PRICE £19.99 DECAL OPTIONS 1 STATUS Ex Zvezda

Receive a 10% DISCOUNT off your full order by entering Code ‘Deluxe10’ at the checkout. *Terms and conditions apply

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ACCESSORIES

Accessories

Coastal Kits Display Bases Founded in 2011, Coastal Kits is a family run business based in Blackpool, Lancashire UK and originally retailed plastic model kits and associated hobby supplies.   During the latter end of 2012/early 2013 they introduced to market their own range of display bases, encouraged by a successful launch at Scale ModelWorld Telford where they were well received. All of the display bases are constructed from durable, hard wearing 3mm Foamex board, a rigid, weatherproof plastic. These are then HD printed and laminated to produce a matt finish. They are currently developing the display base range for larger scale models and have already made a start with the recent releases of 1:32 scale Grass display base and 1:32 scale German Frigate Helipad, with more to follow. Also in the planning stage is a selection of display bases for Civil Airliner models in various scales. Coastal Kits also offer a custom display base service to provide bespoke designs to customers and model clubs. The full range of products can be seen at www.coastalkits.com and in North America the range is exclusively stocked by Desktop Display Dioramas (desktopdioramas.com)

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Scale Aircraft Conversions This month SAC are concentrating their efforts on recent releases in 1/72 and 1/48 scale. Most are just heavy-duty replacements for the kits’ existing legs, but the one designed for the HobbyBoss AMX family also includes a new nose bay so the retraction arms will actually attach to the bay.

1/72 SCALE Sukhoi Su 24 Fencer Undercarriage Legs Product No: 72125 Designed for: Trumpeter

BAe Hawk T.1 Undercarriage Legs Product No: 72126 Designed for: Airfix (2015)

Avro Shackleton Undercarriage Legs Product No: 72127 Designed for: Airfix

1/48 SCALE AMX/AMX-T Undercarriage Legs Product No: 48305 Designed for: Kinetic

Yahu Models This Polish company launched last year with a large range of pre-coloured and in most cases assembled instrument panels that are a simple and inexpensive upgrade to your model. This month we have examples from all of the major scales including a set for the Hurricane in 1/32 scale which is previewed elsewhere in this issue. We also have one set in their detail range which are normally coded YMS, and in this month’s case supplies the louvers seen on the nose of the P-51D/K Mustang in 1/72 scale.

YMA4816 P-47 Thunderbolt (Late) Designed for: Tamiya

YMA4829 Beaufighter Mk VI Designed for: Tamiya

1/72 SCALE

YMA2406 A6M2 Zero (Nakajima green)

CONCLUSION

Designed for: Airfix (New Tool)

These are simple sets that are easy to clean up and add that little bit of strength to the legs that I certainly appreciate when I am taking my models to shows. These samples were provided by Scale Aircraft Conversions and will be available to purchase in the UK from Hannants, www.oxonianplasticfantastic.co.uk,, SAC have their own website at www.scaleaircraftconversions. com. Our thanks to Ross McMillan for supplying the review samples.

Designed for: Airfix (New Tool)

YMA7282 LaGG-3/La-5 Early Designed for: AML

Designed for: Trumpeter

YMS7205 P-51D/K Louvers YMA2406 A6M2 Zero (Mitsubishi green)

Product No: 48306 Designed for: HobbyBoss

YMA7240 Lancaster

YMA7275 Junkers Ju 87B-1

1/24 SCALE

SAAAB J 32 Lansen Undercarriage Legs

Designed for: Tamiya

Designed for: Trumpeter

1/32 SCALE YMA3206 Hawker Hurricane Mk II Designed for: Fly

YMA3211 Messerschmitt Me 262 Designed for: Trumpeter

1/48 SCALE YMA4808 Caudron CR.714

CONCLUSION I have said it before, but these sets are really easy to use and look amazing, especially when compared to my efforts of hand painted dials. They are also very competitively priced with the most expensive being the 1/24 scale sets which are still under £7.00, and some of the 1/72 scale sets are priced as little as £2.00. In the UK these sets are being stocked by www.storymodels.com and Hannants, and we thank Urzula Bargiel of Yahu Models for supplying the review samples.

Designed for: RS Models

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ACCESSORIES

Eduard This month I am just concentrating on Eduard’s releases aimed at their new Messerschmitt Bf 109G in 1/48 scale. The reason for this is that Eduard have released no less than 12. different items from all of their accessory ranges to enhance this new kit.

Eduard Brassin

The most releases are in the Eduard Brassin multi-media range and two of these sets in my view are must-haves. I will start with the underwing cannon pods: Eduard have produced these in the open position, something I have never seen before and they certainly add that little something to your model. And I would suggest using one open pod with one of the kit’s closed pods to really add value by detailing two models. The next set supplies a really nice set of exhaust pipes with etched brass deflectors of scale thickness that with careful painting will really look the business. Next we have a fully detailed cockpit which certainly adds a lot of detail compared to the kit version, which in itself is still very good. If you want to build a rocket armed interceptor Eduard have produced the WGr.21 Rocket system which supplies the pods and associated mounting plates. A real nice touch is that Eduard have supplied an etched brass jig to enable you to get all the angles of the mounting legs at the correct angles. Finally, we have a really nice set to detail the rear fuselage, this is the only item I would rate as a luxury, as it is like all Brassin sets perfectly realised, but once added will be almost completely invisible through the small fuselage hatch. In my view to make the most of this set you will have to produce a cut-away model or display it outside the model.

Eduard Brass

There are three sets in the etched brass range, the first two sets for seat belts; the first of these is in the FABRIC range,

which come with the webbing in a fabric material and the buckles and details in etched brass. Good eyesight and dexterity with tweezers are handy to make what are probably the most accurate looking belts on the market. The other set is designed for modellers who like me lack the skills to use the FABRIC range. The SUPERFABRIC belts are prefinished and are produced with a three-dimensional effect and are very easy to add to your model. The final etched set is a general detail set to add that little bit extra to your model, with most of the parts aimed at the undercarriage area.

Eduard Mask

As the current boxing includes a full set of canopy masks you may ask why you would need these? The first set supplies masks to paint the spiral often seen on the spinner of 109s, and this would save you from trying to apply the spiral decals, something I, for one, am always awful at. The final three sheets provide masks to accurately reproduce the different splinter camouflage schemes applied to the wings and tailplanes for the three major producers of the 109G.

Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 Seatbelts FABRIC Product No: 49093

Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 Seatbelts SUPERFABRIC Product No: 49094

1/48 SCALE BRASSIN RANGE

EDUARD MASK RANGE

Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 Cockpit

Messerschmitt Bf 109G Spinner Spirals

Product No: 648-240

Product No: EX512

Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 Radio Compartment

Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 Camouflage Scheme Mtt

Product No: 648-239

Product No: EX509

WGr.21Rocket System for Bf 109

Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 Camouflage Scheme Erla

Product No: 648-245

Product No: EX510

Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 Cannon Pods (Pair) Product No:648-246

Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 Camouflage Scheme WNF Product No: EX511

Messerschmitt Bf 109 Exhaust Stacks Product No:648-247

EDUARD ETCHED BRASS RANGE Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 Product No: 48885

CONCLUSION I am sure the Eduard Bf 109G will be the kit of choice for many modellers over the next few years, and I’m also sure that many will be upgraded with items from this manufacturer to enhance the kit to an all-new level. I am also sure we will see more sets released over the next few months including a detailed engine and maybe another set of seatbelts in their new super thin metal range, about which I am hearing nothing but good things. Our thanks to Eduard for the review samples which are available from LSA Models and both branches of Hannants.

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Master Models This is a big month for Master Models as we have the first of a whole range of turned brass barrels in 1/144 scale. These offer the same level of detail as their bigger brothers, just a whole lot smaller. We also have a number of new sets in the larger scale and in last year’s releases we saw the introduction of 3D resin printing. Now we are seeing this process used to good effect to reproduce the complicated vanes at the end of Russian pitot tubes.

1/32 SCALE AM-32-089 BAe Hawk 100 Series Pitot Tube Designed for: Revell

1/144 SCALE

AM-48-116 BAe Hawk 100 Series Pitot Tube

AM-144-001 Supermarine Spitfire B Wing

Designed for: Airfix

Hispano 20mm Cannons in fairings Designed for: Various

AM-48-117 TS-11 Iskra Pitot Tubes, Gun Barrel, Undercarriage position indicators Designed for: Avant Garde

AM-48-123 Sukhoi Su 24M (Fencer D) Pitot Tube Designed for: Trumpeter

AM-144-002 Supermarine Spitfire C Wing Hispano 20mm Cannons in fairings Designed for: Various

AM-144-003 Supermarine Spitfire E Wing

Designed for: Various

Early version conical fairings, Hispano 20mm Cannon & Browning .50 Cal Designed for: Various

1/72 SCALE

AM-144-004 Supermarine Spitfire E Wing

AM-72-100 BAe Hawk 100 Series Pitot Tube

Early version Roundel fairings, Hispano 20mm Cannon & Browning .50 Cal Designed for: Various

AM-48-124 Sukhoi Su 25 Frogfoot

Designed for: Various

AM-72-101 TS-11 Iskra Pitot Tubes, Gun Barrel, Undercarriage position indicators Designed for: Avant Garde

AM-48-107 Sukhoi Su 24M (Fencer D) Pitot Tube Designed for: Trumpeter

AM-72-108 Sukhoi Su 25 Frogfoot Designed for: Various

CONCLUSION Master have always offered exceptional value for money and the improvement that they offer compared to plastic is obvious. The addition of the resin components means that hard-to-assemble Russian pitot tubes will be a thing of the past, and I am sure that many small scale modellers will welcome the 1/144 scale barrels though they

may need to invest in some very good magnifiers and tweezers. The full Master range can be viewed on their website at www. master-model.pl and in the UK the range will be stocked by Hannants.

Our thanks to Piotr Czerkasow for supplying us with the review samples.

Fairey Firefly HURRY!

Low Stock MDF Scaled Down #3 In this new MDF Scaled Down book, author Paul Bradley looks at the history and development of this famous British carrier-borne aircraft, and its operational use from World War II to the Korean War and beyond. Variants, Squadrons and Operators Walk Arounds Colour Side Views Model Builds and Kitography £9.99 Order from the SAM Shop

www.sampublications.com +44 (0)1234 211245

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ACCESSORIES SHESTO – exclusive suppliers to Europe

PRODUCT OF THE MONTH

POP1800

Flexible Neck Magnifier I think that it is fair to say that I have been resisting getting a desk magnifier as I try to convince myself that my eyesight is still fine… I have tried them in the past, but never really got on with them as I could never get them close enough to where I was working. This product from Shesto with its flexible neck means that it stays where you place it and can be moved easily as required. The weighted base means that it stays put with no fear of it toppling over and the tray on the base is added bonus, being just the right size for small pieces of etched brass or smaller sub-assemblies, in my case at the moment the rudder bars for my Fly 1/32 Sea Hurricane. The lens is not too big either so it does not get in the way of jobs that do not need magnification, which makes it far more convenient than taking my glasses on and off and waiting for my eyes to adjust… So if like me you and have been resisting a magnifier, this product could be for you!

FEATURES & BENEFITS: •  Handy glass magnifier 115mm/4.5” (1.75 x mag) •  3 dioptre •  Flexible neck-easy to position •  Heavy base with inbuilt storage tray •  Neck length – 270mm (approx.) •  Portable

For more information on this and other products go to the Shesto website

www.shesto.com

or contact them directly via email at [email protected] or telephone

0208 451 6188

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Mastered-Adverts-AV-0616_AV-0606 13/05/2016 15:14 Page 491

One-stop shopping for modellers Order online at www.hannants.co.uk

Kits of the Month

No.1 for Mail Order

Bronco Models CB35210 AB3577 AB3578 AB3579 GB7003

1:35 A17 Vickers Tetrarch Mk.I/MkICS Light Tank...........................................................£36.99 1:35 German Infrared Night-Vision Devices Infrarot-Scheinwefer.......................................£6.50 1:35 WWII German Rubber Raft x 2 sets ..........................................................................£4.99 1:35 Universal Fuel Tank Trailer ........................................................................................£6.99 1:72 Blohm & Voss Bv P 178 Torpedo Jet Bomber with LTF5b Torpedo ..........................£23.99

We stock the largest ranges of plastic, resin and vacform kits, accessories and conversions, photo-etch sets, paints, airbrushes, tools ands books. Everything under one roof from Academy to Zvezda. We specialise in decals and stock ALL available sheets from just about every manufacturer in existence. We carry over 50,000 items from all over the world.

UK Distributors for MPM, Eduard, IBG, Bronco, Kittyhawk, Kinetic and many more. If it’s advertised or reviewed in this magazine try us first. We probably have it in stock now. Mail Order: (all major credit cards accepted)

Harbour Road, Oulton Broad, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR32 3LZ England UK local rate number: 0845 130 72 48 Tel: 01502 517444 (8 lines), Fax: 01502 500521

Hannants London: Unit 2, Hurricane Industrial Estate, Grahame Park Way, Colindale, London NW9 5NQ Next to the RAF Museum, Hendon Tel: 020 8205 6697 Email: [email protected] www.hannants.co.uk

DECALS

Decals Iliad Decals This month we have one sheet in 1/72 scale and one in 1/48 scale. I will start with the 1/48 scale which is for the Stearman PT-17. This is very topical for European modellers as the Revell USA kit has just been issued by Revell Europe. This sheet supplied a wide selection of schemes from the familiar high-viz US examples to a more warlike camouflage scheme, and an interesting example from the RCAF in overall yellow with roundels instead of the familiar stars and bars. Moving down to 1/72 scale we have a sheet covering the C-47 Dakota’s of the Berlin airlift. This set supplies markings for one of the most battered C-47s I have ever seen, Fassberg Flyer has multiple shades of olive drab and aluminium as well as areas of OD chipped off to reveal a metal finish. But you also get one slightly less battered USAAF example and a third in a postwar natural metal finish. Finally, the icing on the cake is an example from BOAC with the famous Speedbird on the nose that made 21 flights in to Berlin.

1/72 SCALE IL72-016 Berlin Airlift C-47s •  Douglas C-47 “The Fassberg Flyer” SN315203 79th Troop Carrier Squadron. •  Douglas C-47 Yellow 52 SN315672. •  Douglas C-47 EATS “European Air Transport Service” SN293708. •  Douglas C-47 G-AGIZ, British Overseas Airways Corporation.

1/48 SCALE IL48-030 Boeing Stearman OT-17 •  Stearman PT-17 used by 4BFTS (British Flight Training School) at Mesa, Arizona, early 1940s. •  Stearman PT-17, 216546, Kunming, China, 1943. •  Stearman PT-17, N2S-3 (US Navy designation for PT-17), 39123, ca 1944. •  Stearman PT-17, N2S, 29950, Groselle Ile, Michigan, Oct 1943. •  Stearman PT-27 (RCAF version of the PT-17), FJ888, of 36 EFTS, Pearce, Alberta, Summer 1942.

CONCLUSION I have said before that I never know what to expect on opening a package from Iliad, they always seem to take a popular subject and then put a twist on it, and this month yet again they have picked some wonderful subjects that just scream “build me”. So visit www.iliad-design.com to see the full range which can be ordered from the site. Alternatively, in the UK they can be purchased from Hannants. Our thanks to Iliad for supplying the review samples

Print Scale Models The latest sheets from Print Scale are both in 1/72 scale and cover the Messerschmitt Bf 110 night fighters and the Mitsubishi A6M Zeros. One thing I really like about Print Scale is their choice of subjects and this well illustrated by these two sheets. Both cover well known types that I thought I knew well but they have still managed to find schemes that I have never seen before. A Bf 110 with 121 kill markings(!) or a late-mark Zero with a deep blue engine cowling are the stand-outs for me.

1/72 SCALE PS 72-068 Mitsubishi A6M “Zero” •  A6M2 Zero of Boatswain H. Toyoshima from Hiryu aircraft carrier. The aircraft was lost on February 19, 1942. •  A6M2 Type 0 Model 21, third Kokutai No. X-108Pilot – Tamotsu Yokoyama. Takao, Formosa, 19. •  A6M2-type 0, Model 21-“Zerp” IJN Carrier Akagi Pilot: PO Sueyoshi Osanai. •  A6M5- Hay Type 0 Model 52 Hay, Tsukuba Kokutai No. Tsu-46. The air base in Oita, Japan Islands Defence, February 1945. •  A6M2 Type 0 Model 21. Tainan Kokutai No. V-103. Pilot – Petty Officer Saburo Sakai, Bali, Indonesia, in February 1942. •  A6M2 Type 0 Model 21. Third Kokutai No. X-183. Pilot Petty Officer 2nd Class Yoshiro Hashiguchi, Kendari Air Base, March 1942. •  A6M2 of P/O 1-st Cl. Simakawa Masaaki front Tainan Kokutai. End of 1941. •  A6M5-Hay Type 0 Model 52 Hay. 303rd Hikotai, 203rd Kokutai No. 03-09. Pilot – Petty Officer Takeo Tanimitsu. Navy airbase Kagoshima, Japan, June 1945. •  A6M2 Type 0 Model 21, Tainan Kokutai No. V-141, 439. Pilot – Petty Officer 1st Class Yoshisuke Arita, February 1942. •  A6M2 model 11 Aircraft captured army of Chiang Kai-shek. •  A6M5 Technical Air Intelligence Centre No. TAIC-8. Technical Centre of Military Intelligence – Technical Air Intelligence Centre (TAIC).

•  A6M2 Tainan Kokutai. V-172 No. 26, 1941 made an emergency landing in China, and was captured by Chinese nationalists.

PS 72-169 Messerschmitt Bf 110 Nightfighter and Interceptor Aces •  Bf 110C (no Radar) II.NJG 1, ArnhemDeelen/Holland, October 1940. CO Walter Ehle. •  Bf 110C (no Radar) I./NJG 1, Venlo/Holland, March 1941. CO Werner Streib. •  Bf 110C (no Radar) 7./NJG 4, Mainz-Finthen/ Germany. Reinhard Kollak. •  Bf 110C (no Radar) 8./NJG 3, Luneburg/ Germany, Winter 1941/1942. CO Water Borchers. •  Bf 110F (no Radar) 7./NJG 4, Mainz-Finthen/ Germany, Summer 1942. CO Hans-Karl Kamp. •  Bf 110G-4 (with Lichtenstein FUG 202 B.C). II./NJG 5, Gutersloh/Germany, January 1944. CO Leopold Fellerer. •  Bf 1100G-4 (with Lichtenstein FUG 220/ SN2-b). 2./NJG 4, Florrenes/Belgium, Summer 1944. CO Martin Becker. •  Bf 110G-4 (with Lichtenstein FUG 220/ SN2-c or SN2-d). IV./NJG 1, St. Trond/ Belgium, October 1944. CO Heinz-Wolfgag Schnaufer. •  Bf 110G-2 (no Radar) 4./ZG 76, Ansbach/ Germany, March 1944. CO Helmut Haugk. •  Bf 110G-2 (no Radar) 7./ZG 26, KonigsbergNeumark/Germany, Winter 1943/44. CO Johannes Kiel.

CONCLUSION One thing that I forgot to mention at the start were the full colour instructions. There is only one thumbnail photo on the Zero sheet showing the location of the propeller markings but the 110 has four showing the aircraft and crews that inspired this sheet, and this is on top of the full colour profiles and historical information. You can view the full range and a list of dealers at www.printscale.com.ua and we thank Print Scale for supplying the review samples.

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CONCLUSION I am really blown away by these sheets and if it was not for the price of the Airfix kit I am sure more than just a couple of the more attractive options would be on my build list. I am also pleased to see that Xtradecal have taken the opportunity to supply markings for the unused parts in the kit like the early style canopy. You can visit Hannants’ website to see the full range as well as ordering details.

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•  Gloster Meteor F.8, WK681, ‘H’ of 65 Squadron’s Aerobatics Team, Royal Air Force, RAF Duxford, December 1953. •  Gloster Meteor F.8, WH456, ‘L’ of 616 Squadron, Royal Auxillary Air Force, RAF Finningley, 1950’s. •  Gloster Meteor F.8, WA962, ‘D’ of 41 Squadron, Royal Air Force, RAF Biggin Hill, mid-1950’s. •  Gloster Meteor F.8, WH476, ‘T’ of 89 Squadron, Royal Air Force, RAF Stradishall, 1956. •  Gloster Meteor F.8, VZ494, of 501 Squadron, Royal Auxilllary Air Force, RAF Filton, 3 February 1957. •  Gloster Meteor F.8, WH464, ‘F’ of 504 Squadron, Royal Auxillary Air Force, RAF Wymeswold, 6 June 1953. •  Gloster Meteor F.8, WK815, ‘R’ of Target Towing Squadron, Royal Air Force, Armament Practice Station, RAF Sylt, Germany, 1959.



X48159 Gloster Meteor F.8 Collection Pt 2

•  Gloster Meteor F.8, WK784 of 604 (County of Middlesex) Squadron, Royal Air Force, based at RAF North Weald 1953. •  Gloster Meteor F.8, EG-47 ‘MS.G’ of 13th Day Fighter Wing, Belgian Air Force, based at Koksujde/Brustem, mid 1950’s. •  Gloster Meteor F.8, WF677, ‘MS’ flown by Wing Commander Maurice Shaw. Wing Leader of 19, 72 & 85 Squadrons, Royal Air Force, RAF Aldergrove 1957. •  Gloster Meteor F.8, VZ495 ‘ZD.K’ of 222 Squadron, Royal Air Force, RAF Leuchars, early 1950’s. •  Gloster Meteor F.8, VZ482, ‘C’ of 610 Squadron, Royal Air Force, RAF Hooten Park 1950s. •  Gloster Meteor F.8, A77-316, ‘The Korean Kid’ flown by Sergeant James C. Kichenside of 77 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Kimpo, South Korea 1952.

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This month Xtradecal’s new sheets concentrate on the new Airfix Meteor F.8. This new release is a stunning kit but the decal options are not the most inspiring from the wide selection out there. But Xtradecal have gone out of the way to address this by supplying some stunning options on two sheets that include fifteen RAF examples, most with squadron bars on each side of the fuselage roundels. One example though actually has three different squadron markings in one bar as it is flown by a Wing Commander. Foreign operators have not been forgotten as you also have aircraft from Syria and Belgium. But if that is not enough for you Xtradecal have also provided a sheet of Dayglo stripes that adorned many Meteors in later life including one of the kit marking options, which does not mention this as in its current museum form these have been removed! All of the sheets as normal are well printed, while the instructions provide all you need to successfully complete your model.

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Reviews

Messerschmitt Bf 108B/D Taifun ‘2 in1’ by Paul Bradley he Messerschmitt Bf 108 Taifun was a single-engine sport and touring aircraft developed by Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (Bavarian Aircraft Works) - aka Messerschmitt - in the 1930s and used by the Luftwaffe and assorted air forces around the world as a liaison and light transport. Many are still airworthy, sometimes masquerading as its more combative brother, the Bf 109, in TV and movies. Fly Model, from the Czech Republic, first released their Bf 108 kit in 2013, and this re-issue features two outstanding qualities – two models in the box, and a decal sheet that gives a choice of 16 (yes, SIXTEEN!) different aircraft. More on that later. The kits come in a very flimsy and eminently crushable end-opening box – luckily, the sprues are secure in a

plastic bag. Each kit is contained on two medium grey sprues, along with a clear sprue for the canopy and sidelights, a bag of resin parts and that decal sheet. The plastic is standard Czech Republic limited-run style – nice detail on the main parts, iffy detail on the detail parts with flash on the edges and no locating pins; clean-up is a given with this sort of kit. A nice bag of resin parts that exhibit excellent detail rounds off the package; no PE is included. The instructions are also typical of those you see in Czech kits – they must have the same guys do them all. The markings guide for those 16 decal options is a single full-colour sheet, also repeated on the back of the box. This being so, each option is depicted as a very small profile, and absolutely no details are given for the colours used for each scheme – you have to work it out for yourself or

guess. The options include German, RAF, American, Japanese, Hungarian, Croatian, Romanian, Spanish and many others – it was very hard to choose one for this review. Alternative parts are given for two types of rudder and three types of propeller, though there is no hint as to which is applicable for each option – research or ‘best guess’ are your options… I built one kit out of the box for this review and I have now acquired the Brengun etched metal set and Kora decals for the second kit in due course. I decidedthe pre-War Austrian civilian scheme of overall deep blue was simple, yet very classy.

CONSTRUCTION Construction begins with the cabin interior; the parts are a mix of plastic and resin, and exhibit good but

KIT INFO

BF 108B/D TAIFUN T

MESSERSCHMITT BF 108B/D TAIFUN MANUFACTURER Fly Model SCALE 1/72 PRODUCT CODE 72032 IM, 3 clear, NO OF PARTS 35 8 resin TYPE Injection Moulded STATUS New Tool DECAL OPTIONS 16

not outstanding detail. Fit of the parts, especially the plastic ones, is problematic which is typical for limitedrun kits and requires some trimming and sanding to get a reasonable fit. This is going to be a recurring theme for this build. After dry-fitting, I disregarded the instructions and glued the sidewalls directly to the fuselage sides, then fitted the rest of the tub from below after the fuselage halves were glued together. Assembling things this way I found I achieved a better fit. The clear rear cabin quarterlights need quite a bit of trimming for a good fit, the main canopy is also a little wider than the fuselage, so needed a little trimming along the bottom edge as

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“ With two kits and 16 decal

options in the box, it does represent very good value ”

well. Clarity of these parts is pretty good but all received a Future/Klear bath prior to fitting. The engine front is a separate part, which also needed trimming. Behind the engine front, the builder is supposed to fit a resin part representing the front cylinders of the engine, but the instructions are very unclear as to how this is supposed to fit and I couldn’t make it work until I cut off the overhang above the cylinders. As mentioned, Fly include three propellers, but no clues as to which is used. As I don’t have a book about the ‘108 in my library, and the internet was of little help, I elected to use the spinner with the wind-driven generator on the front simply because it looks cool. The wings are a simple a one-piece lower and two uppers; fit is so-so and filler was needed even after trimming. Two rudders are included, but again, no clues as to which is necessary for any particular option. Various details under the wings and fuselage complete the main construction, however these smaller plastic detail parts need a lot of clean-up before use. The undercarriage looks a bit short to my eyes; this is the only accuracy error with this kit that I can see, otherwise shapes and dimensions seem to be very good.

My chosen scheme was one of the simplest – an overall dark blue with a white registration. This is likely RLM 24 Dunkelblau, for which I used ModelMaster Acryl Insignia Blue, slightly lightened. Two coats of this, followed by a coat of Future/Klear gave a deep, rich colour ready for decals. Incidentally, many photos show that the canopy frames of some aircraft were left in bare metal, while others were painted in accordance with the main colour scheme. Again, Fly provide no details as to what to do for any of the options. The decals were excellent, thin but very opaque – not a hint of blue shows through the white. In fact, they might be too thin, as it was hard to stop them curling upon themselves when moving them from the backing paper to the model. I recommend using the Future/

Klear puddle technique, as this is very good at preventing silvering. Once set, the decals were given another Future/ Klear coat to seal them in. And with that, the my model was complete.

CONCLUSION

This is a competent package – the plastic is OK, the resin is very good and the decals are outstanding, but it is let down by poor instructions, in particular, the lack of direction regarding whch propeller and rudder options and, most importantly, the colours you are supposed to paint each option in, leaving you on your own and at the mercy of your references. This will not deter those who really want a ‘108 in their collection,

but may be off-putting to the rest of us. The kit is a quantum leap ahead of the Heller kit, in terms of detail and accuracy at least, and with two kits and 16 decal options in the box, it does represent very good value. My thanks to Fly Models for giving me the opportunity to build this model.

PAINTING AND DECALS As mentioned, the colours and markings sheet doesn’t give any hints about actual colours, only a colour profile of the different options.

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LETOV S.328 T

KIT INFO

LETOV S.328

comparable designs from abroad. In spite of the lack of overseas orders, in 1934 the Letov Company had to rely on substantial confirmed domestic orders by the Czechoslovak Army, to become known as the S.328 MNO. The type was modified to include a Skoda Su-32 type machine gun mounted in the rear cockpit, which led to a shift in the centre of gravity causing lateral stability problems and it also effected the aircraft’s behaviour in the spin. The Czech Air Force took delivery of the 61 S.328/1 aircraft in 1935 and continuous production was maintained at Letov’s Prague-Lethnany factory by a succession of orders for production

SCALE 1/72 PRODUCT CODE SH72326 grey plastic, NO OF PARTS 76 8 clear parts TYPE New Tool

Special Hobby’s 1/72nd scale Letov S.328 by Carmel J.Attard he Letov S.328 was a twoseat, single-engine biplane regarded as a robust generalpurpose type of aircraft that continued to be involved during extensive operations well into the Second World War. It had an all-metal structure with wings and fuselage fabric covered, and the type has outlived many more modern successors. Development of the S.328 commenced in the early thirties. The first prototype S.328 made its maiden flight on 19th July 1933. Minor modifications were carried out and the type proved competitive with

MANUFACTURER Special Hobby

series I-IV with some modifications mainly to the upper deck of the biplane. In March 1939 German troops occupied Bohemia and Moravia and the S.328 was still on the assembly lines into 1940, when a total of 406 S.328s had been completed. A small series of a floatplane version was also produced, capable of target towing. The first series of the S.328 was fitted with a Walter-built Bristol Pegasus 11-M-2 offering 635 h.p. at sea level. Simultaneously there was development of the S.328M with a Vr 36 in-line engine, and from this version were evolved the S.428 and later a more powerful S.528 with a Walter-built Gnome-Rhome

DECAL OPTIONS 3

Mistral Major 14-cylinder radial engine developing 800 h.p.at 5,000m altitude. Immediately after the occupation of the Czech Republic S.328 multi-purpose aircraft were pressed into service with

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ŽŶŶĞĐƚŽʹĂŶĂŵĂnjŝŶŐƉƌŽĚƵĐƚ LJŽƵĐĂŶŶŽǁĐƌĞĂƚĞϯƐŚĂƉĞƐĨƌŽŵůďŝŽŶůůŽLJƐŵŝĐƌŽ ƚƵďĞƐ͘tŽƌŬƐǁŝƚŚŽƵƌďƌĂƐƐ͕ĂůƵŵŝŶŝƵŵĂŶĚŶŝĐŬĞůƐŝůǀĞƌ ƚƵďĞʹĨƌŽŵϬ͘ϰŵŵŽ͘Ě͘ƚŽϭ͘ϰŵŵƚƵďĞƐŝnjĞƐ

“ Special Hobby released a completely new kit with all the detail to produce an S.328 with a leval of detail never seen before ”

the Luftwaffe, while others were passed to the newly created Slovak Air Force and were used for bombing, reconnaissance, attack sorties and in a heavy fighter role against enemy aircraft. The Luftwaffe used them in training units, glidertowing units and also in the liaison role with a number of combat units. The S.328 was also used in the German invasion of Poland and in 1941-42 they also fought against the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front where they proved effective against Soviet Partisans. Surviving S.328s went on to be

flown in rebel hands during the Slovak National Uprising in 1944, flying bombing sorties especially against enemy convoys in the mountains. The S.328 also saw service with the Bulgarian Air Force nicknamed Vrana, or Crow. They were used in anti-insurgent missions and even for maritime surveillance where one is reported to have sunk a Soviet submarine. Following a pre-soviet coup in 1944 the Bulgarian S.328s were used against their Axis allies until they ended their service at the end of the war.

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hƐĐŚŝǀĂŶĚĞƌZŽƐƚĞŶ ŶŝŶƐƉŝƌĞĚĂŶĚŝŶƐƉŝƌŝŶŐƌĂŶŐĞŽĨŵŽĚĞůůŝŶŐĂŝĚƐ͕ĚĞĐĂůƐĂŶĚĚŝŽƌĂŵĂ ĂĐĐĞƐƐŽƌŝĞƐ͘tŚĂƚƐƚĂƌƚĞĚŽĨĨĂƐĂƐŵĂůůƐĞůĞĐƚŝŽŶŽĨǁŽŽĚŐƌĂŝŶĚĞĐĂůƐŚĂƐ ŐƌŽǁŶŝŶƚŽĂůŝƐƚŽĨŵƵƐƚŚĂǀĞŝƚĞŵƐĨŽƌƚŚĞŬĞĞŶŵŽĚĞůůĞƌ͘ZŝŐŐŝŶŐƚŚƌĞĂĚƐ͕ ŽŝůƉĂŝŶƚĚƌLJŝŶŐĂĐĐĞůĞƌĂƚŽƌ͕ƐĐĞŶŝĐĚŝƉůĂLJƐĂŶĚŵƵĐŚŵŽƌĞ͘

For details of your nearest dealer/stockist/distributor please contact: email: [email protected] website: www.albionhobbies.com tel: 01202 511232 Dealer enquiries welcome WWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • JUNE 2016 497

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REVIEWS

THE KIT Every so often it is fun to branch out from a routine theme and build something completely different, and the Letov S.328 was a case in point as I forget when I last built a biplane. The Letov S.328 had been produced before by the Czech company KP in 1/72 scale and the kit was typical of the era 20 years ago. Recently Special Hobby released a completely new kit with all the detail to produce an S.328 with a leval of detail never seen before. The Special Hobby kit comes moulded in medium grey plastic with many detail parts, particularly comprising the complete tubular structural interior, detailed radial engine and the twin machine gun assembly. As normal with SH kits one finds parts which are not for use but are a good indication that they will go for a future issue of the kit but in a different version. The indication in this kit is that there are parts for a floatplane as there is a set of struts that hold the floats.

These should not be thrown away as they make good replacements for the KP kit ones, if you have that kit to build, as this vintage kit contained a lot of flash which was hard to clean up. The SH kit plastic parts come on three runners comprising fuselage halves, tailplanes, rudder and propeller on one fret, another has the two mainplanes, and the third fret has all the interior detail, wing and wheel struts, wheels, and machine guns and engine parts. Then there is a separate fret for the clear parts comprising three very clear rectangular windows, two circular clear parts for wing lights, three tiny lights and the windscreen. The fuselage parts contain good fabric covering to its dorsal sections, and overall realistic representation of the fabric detail. The kit decal sheet originates from Italy’s Cartograf. The 12page instruction comes in colour. My kit has three S.328 liveries, two of which have yellow recognition segments typical for Eastern Front operations.

These markings are in addition to the upper olive green and silver under surfaces. There is one machine from the 3rd or 4th production series which comes with a somewhat large but accurate and original national markings for the Slovak state, and in addition also has German markings for when the aircraft was involved in the Polish campaign. The German crosses were to serve to protect Slovak machines from being targeted by Luftwaffe fighters or Wehrmacht AA fire. Another machine represents yet another 3rd and 4th production series of the 3rd Squadron Slovak Air Force based at Skvirana airfield, Ukraine, Eastern front summer 1941.

CONSTRUCTION There are 9 stages of construction and care is needed to preserve the fine engraved lines and fabric surface

texture. No moulding pins are present which can often be a bonus in ensuring alignment of the major parts with some care from the builder. The fuselage halves and wing parts were carefully separated from their runners using an X-acto saw, and the flash which was minimal and more often nonexistent was trimmed off and the areas smoothened with fine sanding paper. The cockpit interior detail with a complete tubular interior structure that goes all the way inside the fuselage, is a sub-assembly by itself. This carries two floor sections that are fixed at an inclined angle to conform to the kinked tube structure. Other details attached to these are crew seats, compass, small gadgets, camera, side consoles, machine gun stand and pivot mounting and two instrument panels, control stick, rudder pedal bar, etc, which all add to the finely detailed interior on the fuselage sides. The interior is all aluminium finishes with a grey instrument panel and other details in black and white. Before cementing the subassembly interior structure to one side of the fuselage, there are two clear side windows that fit precisely and need only be secured with brush-application of Future, and by doing so this will preserve the neat clear parts themselves. The complete fuselage assembly was then glued and the fuselage halves closed and glued together. The tailplanes are added, and also the crew windscreen since this might prove difficult to fix when the upper wing is in place. On a model with an open cockpit, detail such as the gun assembly is added at a later stage which will help in making the masking easier. The twin machine gun assembly iwas assembled and painted, to be added at the final stage.

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JUNE 2016 The next stage involved planning the rigging for the wings. These were drilled using a pin drill of 0.4mm diameter and no less than 8 drilled holes were made to each side of the wings.. The exact location of these holes was first marked with respect to the position of the wing struts. The holes go right through the wing section and were time consuming to avoid breaking the delicate drill. The lower wing was then assembled to the fuselage and checked for correct alignment in relation to the tailplanes, which were already in place, by viewing from the front elevation. At some stage I also located a crew figure from my spares to use as pilot, and a standing crew figure was also located so that I could add a crewman to the gun position area when taking pictures of the model in ‘in flight’ configuration. My appeal to manufacturers is that accurate crew figures should be included with the kit for those who like them. The engine’s Townend ring is split in two parts and these were now joined together before adding the assembled radial engine. These parts were painted in grey, black and silver in accordance with the instructions. Two small engine exhaust pipes protrude to the outside of the ring at the lower section and I drilled the end of these open. Very little filler was needed for the ‘wing to fuselage’ joint. The Slovak machine that I chose had Luftwaffe Dunkelgrün 71 upper and silver under surfaces with Gelb 04 yellow forward ring and yellow wing tips and fuselage band. These areas were first given an

undercoat of white followed by Model Master yellow 15146. Upon drying well these areas were masked. At this stage only the upper fuselage area that is covered by the upper wing was painted in Dunkelgrün 71. Before airbrushing this area both the cockpit and gunner areas were masked with tissue paper that covered the already painted interior and instruments. The three windows, one at the bottom and two at the fuselage sides were also covered with Tamiya tape cut to the exact shape of the clear part. The nest stage was to add wing struts and the upper wing to the model. But before doing so and in order to avoid too much stress on the model, the small rigging holes were drilled to the top wing too. The wings were then glued to the struts ensuring correct alignment. The assembly was then allowed to dry overnight. Arrangement for the undercarriage struts could have benefited if parts D48, D1 and D2 were moulded in one piece rather than as rather fragile separate parts. I also added two machine guns to the leading edge. The kit only supplied the underwing gun fairing. Two drain holes were added to the rear fuselage and also the wheels hubs had two such drain holes deepened. Rigging was now added using invisible mending thread fed through the upper wing holes. I prefer this method to using metal wires as there was double rigging at 4 places and it was easier using thread for the best parallel rigging results. Each thread was tensioned and a knot made, a tiny amount of super glue was added

to each hole and there the thread in tension was secured. The surface areas at the drilled holes’ locations were smoothed using needle files and smooth sandpaper. The remaining job was to continue with the rest of the paintwork, applying the underside silver before masking, and applying the upper green Dunkelgrün 71 etc. One should point out that both the footstep at the port fuselage side and the stepped antenna on the leading edge of the starboard wing were replaced with items made from metal wire. The model was given an overall coat of Future applied by hand brush. The decals which were of fine quality were applied to the kit. After allowing time to dry a light sheen coat of Alclad 2 Klear Kote was applied to the kit and all masking was then removed. The matt-painted wheels were added to the wheel struts, and the machine guns put

in place retaining the swivel feature of the gun arrangement. In parallel with this build I also built a KP Letov S.328, making additional changes wherever it was possible. This was completed in Bulgarian AF markings. And despite its age this kit made a good but less detailed companion to the SH Slovak machine, and made a pleasant view photographing them together.

CONCLUSION

To sum up, the assembly went smoothly despite it being a long time since I last built a biplane, and I easily added another piece of history to my military model collection I would like to thank Special Hobby for supplying the kit for me to review.

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REVIEWS

KIT INFO

SAAB 210-1 LIL DRAKEN

SAAB 210-1

Planet Models 1/72nd scale Saab 210-1 Lil Draken (Initial Configuration) by Carmel Attard

W

ay back in 1949 the Swedish Saab Company was considering several new design configurations for future fighter aircraft. Studying captured advanced data from Germany at the end of WWII their eventual choice fell on a double-delta wing design. Unlike previous occasions when prop-driven test aircraft were used, this time a whole new jet powered test aircraft was used. This was 30% smaller than the real-size aircraft which became the Draken. It was powered by a Bristol Armstrong Siddeley Adder ASA.1 jet engine. The Saab 210-1 double-delta shaped test aircraft first flew during January 1952 with test pilot Bengt Olow at the controls. Some stability problems were encountered which made it necessary to enlarge the fin and redesign the nose section. In this improved form the machine became known as the Saab 210-2 and continued to fly until it was retired in 1956. All the data and experience gained from this little test aircraft had a major impact in the development of the full sized Saab Draken J 35 jet fighter.

THE KIT The 1/72 scale model of the Saab 210-1 is made by the Czech Republic Company Planet Models. The major parts are cast in a light brown resin, and it also has

white metal undercarriage legs and integral wheels, two clear vacform canopies, one being a spare, and comes with one decal option. Parts are sealed in separate bags, all contained in a sturdy box having a coloured side view of the aircraft on the lid.

MANUFACTURER Planet Models SCALE 1/72 PRODUCT CODE PLA26372 Resin kit with metal TYPE white undercarriage, vacform canopy DECAL OPTIONS 1

The A4 size instructions consist of 4 pages. These contain a bi-lingual history of the aircraft as well as a parts plan, which basically shows the one solid wing, two separate air intake ducts, an ejection seat, control stick, tail fin and rudder unit, a nose wheel bay,

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two nose sections and a few other small details like the instrument panel and coaming. Clear line drawings are shown in the self-explanitory six stages of construction depicted on pages 2 and 3. On page 4 there is a good four-view colour drawing showing the exact decal placement on the aluminium finished model with a black anti-glare panel and edges. This is the same aircraft flown by test pilot Bengt Olow in Sweden back in 1952. An initial careful study of the instructions with respect to the kit parts will make construction easier. Surface detail on the wing parts

“ The resin parts indicated a smooth is evenly engraved and distributed on both sides. Examination of the resin parts indicated a smooth finish free

finish free from air porosity bubbles, sink marks or warping, making this kit of the highest quality ”

from air porosity bubbles, sink marks or warping, making this kit of the highest quality. The instructions do still contain a small note that in the event of distortion due to temperature changes or due to material ageing, this can be straightened or restored to the original shape by hot water or hot air jet.

CONSTRUCTION Degreasing is recommended before starting the kit. The first step in construction is to cut the thick risers/ feeders off the components. This is carefully done using an X-Acto saw which easily cuts through the soft resin. Any excess resin adjacent to the cut part is then smoothed with a fine file or removed by careful sanding to conform to the shape of adjacent parts.. When the nose halves are prepared these are checked by putting them together and insuring they fit exactly between the wing parts.

The front fuselage is assembled by first inserting the nose wheel well and adding 10-grams of weight, which is secured in place with white glue. Next I detailed the small cockpit space by adding the resin seat and control stick, the instrument panel and coaming. Again test fit to insure that the vacformed canopy will remain clear of the parts when attached in place. The cockpit is now painted black with white and grey instruments. The completed front fuselage was now fitted in between the one-piece wing before any areas requiring filler were attended to. The next step is to fix the fin and rudder unit. The Lil Draken has no undercarriage doors, as the wheels themselves remain semi-retracted. I improved the sit of the model by lengthening the front wheel leg by 2mm. I also improved the torque links of the main wheel legs by making a larger set shaped from stretched sprue.

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REVIEWS PAINTING AND FINISHING The assembled kit was sprayed overall with a coat of Humbrol Aluminium Metal Cote from a spray can. This was allowed to dry before I masked the black anti-glare panel using Humbrol black, which was then coated with a semi-matt lacquer A narrow black decal was now added to the leading edges. The kit decals were added to their respective positions making reference to page 4 of the instructions. Finally the rest of the model was airbrushed with a coat of semi-gloss sheen lacquer.

CONCLUSION

Although this is a resin model the general assembly went with rather plain sailing, and there I had a small prototype model of the double-delta type test aircraft that contributed a great deal towards the full size jet fighter, the Draken. This will join my current fleet of Saab J 29s. My thanks to Planet Models for providing the review sample which in the UK is available ftrom Hannants.

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REVIEWS

Quick BUILD

HIGH VIZ METEOR A quick build of Airfix’s new 1/48nd scale Meteor F.8 by David Francis

L

ast summer I was fortunate enough to visit the Airfix design office where I was shown an early test shot of the 1/48 scale Meteor. Even in this crude early form I was impressed and when I was fortunate enough to be at my local model shop when this kit arrived I just knew I would have to open my wallet and buy one. On opening the box, the contents far exceeded my expectations with very good engraved detail and a number of open panels to show off, both engines and nose gun bays and even a choice of large and small bore intakes, and I was very pleased to see that the early canopy was included though none of the kit markings needed it. Other parts not used include items for both an Australian F.8 and photoreconnaissance Meteor FR.10, pointers to things to come. In fact, the only thing that did not inspire me were the decal options though the kit’s sheet is well printed and has so many stencils most modellers would take a couple of days to apply them all. Then I was told by David Hannant that their three new sheets (seen elsewhere in this issue} were due very soon and I had no excuse not to start work straight away.

CONSTRUCTION Of course we start with the cockpit and straight away the good feeling I had about this model provided accurate. The cockpit is a little gem and though mostly finished in shades of black all the main features are present. The instrument panel has raised detail which you can paint or use the supplied decals. I went with the latter and after a couple of coats of Micro Sol these settled down perfectly over the detail, and honestly looks as good as any etched brass version.

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The ejection seat has alternative cushions with or without moulded seat belts, and even includes the pull handle. Even stencils for the head box are supplied on the decal sheet. As I have mentioned you get both detailed gun bays and a nice

representation of the engines. Though I built and painted both of these I actually chose to have my model all closed up. The engines look quite good for this scale and with a couple of washes the moulded engine grille really popped out. It was a similar story with the gun

“ The contents far exceeded my expectations with

very good engraved detail and a number of open panels to show off ”

bay, though be aware that the gun feeds and magazine look very similar but are handed, something I did not realise at first. In a very short period of time I had the fuselage together though I had made a small mistake that would have consequences later. Placing the cockpit accurately is key when you add the nose cap at a later stage. I positioned it a couple of mm too far forward, leading to a bit of filling being needed later. In fact, the nose wheel bay bulkhead should be positioned so it is totally flush with the

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REVIEWS

fuselage; you have been warned. By and large this model goes together very well with only small dabs of filler on the wing-to-fuselage joint and on the upper spine. I decided that it would be easier to fill this seam if I removed the two raised fuel tank caps, later replacing them later with circular discs cut from the thinnest plastic card I had in stock. I will say this joint turned into the one from hell because I later decided to paint the airframe in an overall airspeed silver finish, and I ended up filling,

sanding and filling a number of times before it was eradicated. Though now as I look at the model I can just make out a faint line; I HATE silver finishes! The only area on this model that I

struggled with was adding the engine accessory pack to the front of the engine. This has to be done after the engines are fitted inside the wing and I found no matter how much I squeezed I could not get them in. As they are clearly visible through the intake you do need to add them so I just trimmed a small amount off the rear of the wing spar to get them to fit. Moving on to the undercarriage components, these are a thing of beauty especially the nose one which looks really good as it supplies not only

the visible leg but also the associated mounting structure which is a main feature if you look inside the nose bay. The only tricky thing is painting the wheels and tyres and then assembling the undercarriage legs and mudguards without damaging the finish. A nice touch is that the wheels are slightly weighted and the mounting point for the wheel hub is rectangular rather than circular ensuring the weighted surface is in the correct place. In under a week I had this model together and ready for paint and it is

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“ For the overall airspeed silver paint finish,

I used Humbrol’s Metalcote 27002 Polished Aluminium Aerosol ”

the first model in a long time that had me heading straight up to my workshop after a 12-hour shift in the day job.

PAINTING AND DECALING Once I saw the attractive schemes that Xtradecal had produced I was spoilt for choice, but then looking at the profiles in the Meteor Datafile (sadly out of print) I realised that I would after all build one of the kit options. The markings Airfix supply are a camouflaged example from 111 Squadron with black squadron bars with a pin stripe of yellow. The vertical tail is painted in yellow with a black pinstripe. The second option is from

number 85 Squadron in an overall painted silver finish with red and black check roundel bars. This is as the aircraft was in 1968 though in the Datafile this aircraft is shown as also having a full selection of Day Glo striping. Fortunately, one of the decal sheets supplies a full set of Day Glo and includes a number of different

variations so you can easily model any Meteor with the stripes. For the overall airspeed silver paint finish, I used Humbrol’s Metalcote 27002 Polished Aluminium Aerosol. This dried to a nice finish and I have to say I was very impressed with the finish achieved. Next came the Day Glo striping

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“ I thoroughly enjoyed the Airfix Meteor and the level of detail supplied is easily up there with manufacturers from the Far East ”

from Xtradecal sheet 48160. These went on well though I was grateful for the extra stripes as by cutting these up I managed to patch a number of small areas on the wing leading edges where the stripes had not joined together. Next I added the Airfix decals, I found these were very slow to release unless you used quite warm water, but other than that they performed well. I must confess to missing off 70% of the stencils due to magazine deadlines. Well, that’s my excuse, and while I am at confession I will also say that my Meteor features the larger bore intake which is actually incorrect for this example. This was down to my original intention to produce a camouflaged example before discovering the profile with the stripes.

CONCLUSION

I thoroughly enjoyed the Airfix Meteor and the level of detail supplied is easily up there with manufacturers from the Far East, and about as far away from Airfix kits I built in my youth as is possible. The only downside is that the price is also far away from those that I paid in the 1970s, in this case just over £30. But so saying the price of a pint in my local Pub has gone up by a similar amount. Like many Airfix kits aimed at modellers rather than general sales I fully expect this kit to become quite rare, like the Airfix Valiant or TSR.2, so this may be a reason like the best wines to lay down a case for latter consumption. My thanks to my wallet and patient wife for allowing me to purchase this model.

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REVIEWS

Quick BUILD

MOSQUITO CHASER Quick build of Eduard’s all new Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 in 1/48nd Scale by Huw Morgan

The Eduard etched set is typical of a Zoom package

either MK108 or MG151/20 enginemounted cannon and in some Rüstsatz field-fitted kits, additional MG151/20s in under-wing gondolas. By the later years of World War 2, the Bf 109 was obsolescent and increasingly disadvantaged in comparison to the Allied Spitfires, Mustangs and Thunderbolts in its Western European heartland, and by the swarms of Lavochkin, Yak and MiG fighters further East. Nevertheless, despite its age, it could still deliver a few surprises, particularly in the hands of the few Experten still around. Most of the Luftwaffe’s 100 aces with more than 100 kills scored the bulk of their

Very nice decals for five interesting subjects, and a separate sheet of stencils

victories in the 109. The -G version of the Bf 109 was built in the greatest number of any type, with over 12,000 completed in sub-variants G-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14. The -G represented the airframe at just past its peak, since in the attempt to increase speed to deal with the new generation of Allied fighters appearing over Europe, the 109 was up-engined and boosted to the general detriment of the handling qualities of a small airframe. Late versions of the -G and the -K variant might have been the fastest produced, but their handing qualities were generally inferior to their progenitor -F. The -G was built in versions with and without cockpit pressurisation, with DB605 engines with different superchargers and with both Methanol and Nitrous Oxide boosting, in fighter, fighter-bomber, reconnaissance, Rammjäger and trainer variants, and with a number of airframe changes to counteract the degraded handling. Given that the Bf 109 was built in several factories, using parts from a multitude of subcontractors, in an environment of desperation in the later war years, then unequivocally identifying a particular

MESSERSCHMITT BF 109G-6 (LATE)

KIT INFO

T

he Messerschmitt Bf 109 will need no introduction to anyone interested in model (or full sized) aircraft. Arguably the quintessential Luftwaffe fighter, with over 33,000 examples built, the 109 was stretched, extended, bulged, weighed down and added to in countless ways during its life, mostly to the detriment of its original concept which stretched back to the Bf 108 Taifun. The -G variant was effectively the last series production version, fitted with several evolutions of the DB605 engine and up-gunned with MG131 cowl machine guns,

MANUFACTURER Eduard SCALE 1/48 PRODUCT CODE 81112 PANEL LINES Recessed 187 plastic plus clear, and 44 NO OF PARTS 14 photo-etched parts plus masks TYPE Injection moulded plastic STATUS New Tool DECAL OPTIONS 5

configuration with a particular airframe is fraught with uncertainty.

THE KIT Eduard continue to be prolific in issuing popular new-tool kits. The -G has been reasonably well served in 1/48 in the past, notably by Hasegawa and Academy, and Eduard themselves issued a G-6 (Kit EDK8268) in 2014 with a shedload of Brassin add-ons to go with

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Several different canopy versions are offered, although relatively few are used for the marking options included.

The main kit sprues which hold a significant number of unused parts for other versions

External detail is very fine, and well done, although there’s a danger that it’ll disappear under heavy coats of paint.

The fuselage and wing sprues are much more specific, but could be changed to allow alternative types

Interior detail is adequate, and will be enhanced by the included photo-etched brass.

The cannon and machine gun barrels are moulded hollow

“ The -G version of the Bf 109

was built in the greatest number of any type ” it, but there has been some controversy over its dimensional accuracy, the kit scaling at nearer 1/45, with Eduard abandoning the moulds and starting from scratch. So the kit reviewed here is a completely new tooling, although the parts breakdown is very similar to the 2014 offering and Editor Francis took a quick look at this kit in the May edition of SAMI, although a direct comparison between old and new wasn’t possible since the earlier kit wasn’t to hand. In a relatively cursory examination, I concluded that this kit scales as precisely as my eyesight allows with the drawings in Modellers Data File 10 which was used as the primary reference for this build. The kit itself is typical of Eduard’s current ProfiPACK offerings: finelymoulded plastic parts, with all the bits there to allow for a future Weekend boxing, plus a modest photo-etched fret and masks - just enough to build an excellent model, but not treading on the

toes of those modellers who might want more detail, and at whom the Brassin range of add-ons is aimed. Clever marketing by Eduard. So, in the box there are 187 grey plastic parts on four sprues, 14 clear parts for the canopy options, masks for all the canopies and the tail wheel, 44 coloured and plain PE parts and decals for five schemes. The moulding is very clean and the exterior detail is excellent, the rivets being particularly fine and in danger of getting lost if too much paint is applied. About the only moulding quibble I had was that there was some minor shrinkage on the flap parts on my kit - I chose to fill it at the potential expense of eradicating the rivet detail. The instructions are Eduard’s typical coloured booklet (available for download at Eduard’s website) with paint callouts for Mr Hobby. Two of the sprues carry the majority of the smaller parts, and there are separate ones for the fuselage and wings. The number

Basic cockpit tub built up and painted. Note the clever use of a clear part for the fuel line, making it easy to model the sight glass.

of “parts not for use” shows that this is intended to be the vanguard of a family of future Bf 109 kits: the main sprues are marked “109 F/G/K” and it’s clear that with a swap of the wing and/or fuselage sprues, some of the -F, most of the -G variants and possibly the -K could be done. I’m by no means an expert, but a few of the options I managed to spot were: • early spoked and later pressed steel wheels with early narrow and midlife smooth or ribbed tyres (not the wide -K tyres) • 2 types of centreline tank • standard and 3 tall wooden fin/ rudders with different trim tab layout for late -G or -K variants • 3 types of propeller • centreline cannon covers for MK108 or MG151/20 • one-piece pressed gun troughs or riveted trough inserts • steel or glass head armour • standard or Erla Haube canopies

• pressurised (with desiccant capsules) or unpressurised canopies • Large or small tail wheel, fixed, tall fixed or retractable for -K • small (-F) or larger supercharger intake • separate wheel well inserts for squared or circular (-F) wheel wells • Trop intake filter • ETC 50 rack (but only partial bombs – no fins) • ETC 500 rack (no bombs) • fuselage cannon bulges (-G) with or without additional bulge for (Trop) oil pump fairing • shallow (-F) or deeper (-G) oil cooler bath • MG17 or MG131 cowl guns • underwing MG151/20 cannon gondolas • optional Morane mast in plastic or PE • later cockpit rear bulkhead with battery cover for when the MW50 boost system was fitted. Phew !

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REVIEWS The cockpit tub and sidewalls prior to assembly. Eduard’s belts make all the difference

The cockpit floor fits tidily into the fuselage halves

“ Construction is pretty

conventional, starting with the cockpit and fuselage halves ” The kit tantalises with the prospect of being able to model almost any specific airframe of the mid- to late-war period given the appropriate fuselage and wing mouldings, although for the purists, some heavy-duty research will be needed. In terms of some of the other airframe details, all the control surfaces are separate, although they’re engineered with attachment tabs which give a neutral positioning but some minor easing allows them to be posed in a more dynamic way. The characteristic split flaps at the coolant radiator outlets are moulded so as to be posed part open with no closed option, and opened leading edge slats are offered, but trimming the locating tabs would allow them to be fixed closed. Oh, and the machine gun and cannon barrels are moulded hollow! Five marking schemes cover a relatively narrow time frame of November 1943 to May 1945 and specific schemes are: • W.Nr. 160303, White 20. Hptm. Friedrich Eberle, III./JG 1, November 1943 • W.Nr. 15729, Obstlt. Hermann Graf, Stab./JG 11, early 1944

• W.Nr. 411960, Hptm. Franz Dorr, III./ JG 5, May 1945 • W.Nr. ? Red 8. Oblt. Kurt Gabler, 8./ JG300 July 1944 • W.Nr. 165350, Black 1. Lt. Anton Hafner, 8./JG 51, August 1944 Most of these are typical RLM 74/75/76 with some yellow theatre markings, but I couldn’t resist the 8./ JG300 machine of Kurt Gabler which had its fuselage stripped of paint and sanded to a smooth finish to lighten it and reduce parasitic drag, and which apparently had single-colour RLM 76 undersides and RLM 75 topsides to the wings. While CO of III./JG 300, Gabler was something of a specialist Mosquito-chaser (although of his 17 victories, only one was a Mossie) and the stripped-down look without wing guns was a consequence of trying to increase speed to be able to catch them. Clearly, the airframe was not produced

The wheel well inserts are perhaps unnecessarily complicated - obviously intended to allow for other options, including the round well aperture

in a natural metal finish at the factory, starting life conventionally camouflaged and subsequently polished back. As such, traces of paint and primer will have been evident in a number of places, and the “metal” areas were unlikely to be highly polished.

CONSTRUCTION Construction is pretty conventional, starting with the cockpit and fuselage halves. I primed these and painted them Tamiya XF-63 German Grey for the RLM 66 and added the Eduard colour etched parts to the seat, consoles and instrument panel. Eduard have included a neat touch for the in-cockpit fuel line, moulding it in clear, so it’s easy to mask and paint yellow and black to reveal the clear sight glass which is so prominent. The etched parts add a bit of colour, but some dots of red and white were added on various knobs and controls, and leather brown was used for the straps on the engine gun cover and rudder pedals. The whole lot was given a thin

wash of Burnt Umber oil paint. With the etched detail added to the sidewalls, the cockpit tub and instrument panel can be fitted to the starboard and port fuselage halves respectively; the instrument panel has a well-engineered attachment of two stubs which locate in recesses in the port fuselage, making alignment easy. There’s a choice of approach to the exhausts to be made - either the full plastic versions with the moulded intake deflector, or a combination of plastic and PE. I chose the latter for the added finesse, but found it easier to glue the unbent PE deflector to the exhaust aperture before adding the stubs from the inside, then carefully bending the deflector down. The fuselage halves go together neatly although interestingly, there are no location pips - the cockpit and front bulkhead provide pretty good register, but some care is needed to get the rear section to align. From this point on it’s important to have a clear idea of the marking option one wants to finish with,

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JUNE 2016

Wing root-to-fuselage fit is excellent and didn’t need filler

The oil cooler panel and lower wing fit can’t be faulted

Tape was used to apply a small amount of compression to the wing joint while the glue set

The radiator exhaust/split flaps can only easily be posed in one position.

Spot the difference. The kit’s plastic radiator faces (top) are pretty good, especially after some dry brushing. The etched options (bottom) are perhaps marginally better, but buried in the wing you’d not see them.

as airframe changes and optional parts proliferate. First up is a choice of gun trough panel, with either pressed or riveted troughs, and the MG131 breech bulges with either the plain, or extended starboard bulge over the enlarged oil pump. The gun trough panel fitted superbly, although I couldn’t resist running some Mr Hobby Mr Cement S into the joint from the underside. Horizontal stabilisers and fin go on next, with a choice of standard or tall fin and wooden rudder. Eduard’s engineering is to be commended in

all of this; if some care is taken to align the halves of the flying surfaces, the fit is first-class, the locating tabs allowing a press-fit in most cases. I didn’t need to shave the tabs to be able to pose the elevators slightly drooped, and I left the rudder off to allow simpler painting and decalling. With the fuselage largely complete, the wings are next, the one-piece lower half getting the rather complex wheel well liners fitted – 4 parts for each side, presumably to allow for alternative models with the round well aperture. The upper wing parts fit very well (not

forgetting to open up the holes for the centreline rack and the gun gondolas if they are to be used) although I needed to thin down the mating faces right at the tip, so there was no step between the tip moulded into the upper half and the lower wing part. Fit of the assembled wing to the fuselage was excellent and no filler was needed at the crucial root joint. The kit offers the standard configuration of extended leading edge slats, although these could be fitted closed if the attachment lugs were shortened. I was happy with them extended, so painted

the recesses Mr Hobby H70 (for RLM 02) and masked them for the slats to be fitted later. Ailerons were a push fit and needed no glue. The three radiator assemblies on the underside of the wing and fuselage are essentially similar in construction; they all have well-done plastic parts to represent the radiator faces with the option of etched-metal add-ons, although to be honest, after painting and careful dry-brushing I was hard put to distinguish between them, and I ended up going with the plastic and saving the PE for the spares box. Again the fit of the oil radiator bath in particular was exemplary. At the trailing edge, the kit only offers the option of posing the flaps fully down, and the split flaps/radiator outlets down and open. No doubt with some minor surgery they could be re-set into closed and neutral positions, but it seems a bit narrow of Eduard to ignore the option. If the flaps and radiator outlets are fitted early in the build, they are vulnerable to handling damage! Before painting, a few of the final

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REVIEWS

Applying the paint thinly meant that the rivet detail is still visible First stages of painting with the wingtips in white and the JG300 red Defence of the Reich band.

sub-assemblies can be completed and set aside. The undercarriage legs looked to fit very positively using large square lugs and they were painted Mr Hobby H70, Bare-Metal Foil Chrome applied to the oleos and brake lines added using lead wire. The wheels are made up of separate tyres and hubs, radically simplifying painting; matt black was used for the hubs, Tamiya XF-85 Rubber black for the tyres and the wheels were weathered with some brown pastel chalks. The canopies have some internal detail to fit, including

the Galland glass armour and the release handles. The kit masks were applied to the outside, although I think Eduard continue to miss a trick in not providing masks for the inner surfaces - a particular issue when the canopies are designed to be shown open, since even if the framing is painted the inside colour first, it leaves it looking unnaturally gloss through the plastic. Having applied the exterior masks, I made up my own internal ones for the visible framing using Tamiya tape, painting the frames RLM 66 before any

Undercarriage parts

top coat. The VDM prop was painted RLM 70 (Mr Hobby H65) and the spinner Tamiya X-18 semi-gloss Black with RLM 70 and white segments for the back plate. The drop tank was painted and weathered separately, using Tamiya XF-23 Blue as a base coat for a bit of

tonal variety, and applying a speculative streaky oil leak to the front using thin X-18 sprayed at relatively high pressure to make it run.

These are most of the bits left over excluding the canopies, you can see the alternative rudders, wheels, and guns

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JUNE 2016 FINISHING BITS With the airframe painted and decalled there’s not much to add; the prefinished drop tank, the pre-assembled undercarriage, aileron balance weights and a couple of antennas. The opening section of the canopy is the last piece. Wing tip navigation lights were painted clear red and green over the white base, although it’s disappointing that Eduard didn’t provide these on the clear sprue.

CONCLUSION

“ This is an excellent kit,

having all the usual Eduard out-of-the-box attributes ” PAINTING AND DECALS The fineness of the kit’s surface detail meant that I wanted to be circumspect about how much paint I ended up using, so some thought was given to the painting sequence. I decided on the following: a thin coat of Halfords grey primer on wings and tail; Mr Hobby H11 White on wing tips and as a base for the red fuselage Defence of the Reich band; some light H68 pre-shading in the corners and primary seams; Red H414 darkened with about 10% brown for the tail band; mask all that, then H417 for the RLM 76 underside, and H69 for the RLM 75 upper wing surfaces. With the colour done on the wings, it was time for the fuselage - references suggest that the actual final finish was very variable, emphasis being on smoothness, rather than a purely polished clean metal surface, and it’s likely therefore that the surface varied from exposed aluminium, to smooth primer, and would be patchy at best. After polishing with 3000 Micromesh, and masking the camouflaged panels, I sprayed a few sections of skin using Vallejo gloss black primer (74.660) diluted 30% with Vallejo Flow Improver. Over this and the unpainted panels I applied

thin coats of Mr Hobby metal 218 Aluminium, with some added 213 Stainless for variation on some panels. Wonderful stuff this, since once dry, it can be buffed to varying degrees of polish although it can be delicate and it goes on so thin that it’s easy to go right through to the primer. Contemporary photographs show the gun trough panel and some other hatches in a darker colour - possibly the original camouflage which wasn’t removed with the rest; these were sprayed H69 (RLM 75) and H68(RLM 74). Experiments on a scrap airframe had shown the metallic paint to be very susceptible to damage, particularly from the sort of solvents used to clean up oil or enamel washes, so before going any further, I sealed the paint with a thin coat of Citadel Purity Seal before decals and weathering. The stripped finish of Gabler’s aircraft suggests that not many of the factory stencils would have survived, so despite Eduard’s extremely

comprehensive set, I only used the ones most likely to be important for dayto-day use. Otherwise, markings are pretty simple, although the Balkenkreuz on the wing under surface are rather speculative. Typical of Eduard the decals behaved pretty well although they are delicate once removed from the backing, and the larger ones can wrinkle easily. Use lots of water to place them, then Micro Sol to help them settle, I sealed them with another thin coat of Citadel Purity Seal. With the decals on, I wanted to bring out the surface detail, which is impressive, but didn’t want to make a working machine look too toy-like, so painted Flory Models’s clay-based dirt wash into the crevices and rivet lines, removing the excess with dry and damp cotton buds while still wet. I finished the airframe by spraying a 25%/75% mix of Mr Hobby Gloss Clear/Flat on the flying surfaces, and reversed the proportions for the fuselage, to leave some shine to the metal.

Eduard have emphatically regained the lead in the Bf 109 stakes! This is an excellent kit, having all the usual Eduard outof-the-box attributes of great fit, good detail and interesting markings. Clearly, Eduard expect to expand the range, not just in types, but also in the level of aftermarket detailing through the Brassin range, although what’s included here will build into a very credible model. Surface detail is particularly fine and repays careful painting although the absence of location pips on the fuselage, and the moulding gates which encroach on the mating faces need care in assembly. A fully loaded Brassin edition will be mind-boggling. Many thanks to Eduard for the pre-issue sample.

REFERENCES • The Messerschmitt Bf 109 Part 2. Lynn Ritger. Modellers Data File 10. SAM Publications: ISBN 0-95518581-5 • Messerschmitt Bf 109 in action, Aircraft No. 57. John R Beaman Jr. Squadron/Signal Publications: ISBN 0-89747-138-5 • Bf 109 Late Versions, Camouflage and Markings. Krzysztof Wotowski. Mushroom Model Publications: ISBN 978-83-61421-13-9

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1/48 AC-47D GUNSHIP

SPOOKY

Building Revell’s 1/48th scale AC-47D Gunship by Peter Marshall

T

he venerable (I think it’s fair to call it that) Monogram C-47 kit from 1978 (apparently) has been reissued with additional bits to make the AC-47 Gunship version of the Dakota. The new parts include three mini guns, ammunition cans, flare racks, curtains to go between the guns, new paddlebladed props and on the clear sprue the pilot’s gunsight and upper tail beacon. The original props are still included so you could do a standard C-47 but as there’s none of the other cargo space interior parts it would seem a little pointless. In the (possibly a little over) large box there are four sprues

of medium grey plastic, a loose wing spar and a clear sprue. The plastic looks good, typical of the period with the majority of the detail supplied as raised detail, but pretty acceptable. The internal detail is present but (again quite typically) not eye popping, but when it’s all closed up there won’t be much to see anyway. There’s very little flash (remarkable considering the age of the moulds) and the representation of the fabric controls looks fine to me. The three original figures provided are well detailed but perhaps more in keeping with a WWII setup than a Vietnam era diorama. The instructions are the usual line drawings in an A4 booklet format, the decal sheet is

quite small and covers two aircraft: one of the aircraft that carried the “Spooky” nose art (I didn’t realise there was more than one so marked, to be honest, until I started looking into it) and a Florida based training aircraft. One thing I am aware of is that there were quite a variety of different gun installations during the AC-47’s period of use so it would pay to check some references, if available. I already had the book “Gunships: A Pictorial History of Spooky” by Larry Davis and on the basis of being given this kit to build I ordered “Gunships: The Story of Spooky, Shadow, Stinger and Spectre” by Wayne Mutza, both publications are worth having if you intend to do anything

more than just slap this together as per the instructions. As I had another example of this kit in the stash (Monogram 85-5615 which I got in 2008 when it was released then (though the instructions and the decals say Revell on them!)) I figured I would do a two-fer and make them with different armament setups. The box art for both is quite similar, but one interesting difference is that the new boxing shows the navigator’s little slit window ahead of the main windows, where the Monogram doesn’t. However in neither case has the mould been updated to represent this, though the new boxing supplies a black rectangle on the decal sheet to be a pretend window. Personally I don’t think

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FEATURE

“ As with many of these older Revell/ Monogram kits there’s quite a lot of detail in the cockpit area ”

that’s very suitable, if you don’t know it’s supposed to be a window. I’ve got the long out-ofproduction Cutting Edge Gunship Conversion set CEC48040, several sets of True Details wheels, a HiTech P&W R1830 Engine which I hope is suitable as I’ve had it for years with the intention of using it on a C-47, and a REALLY old Microscale sheet that covered AC130s and AC-47s that will hopefully give me some marking options. The CEC set has several uses besides providing the armament. It points out the lack of the navigator’s window and where to cut it out, and supplies the correct FM command homing antenna mounts for the nose, forward of the windscreen on the fuselage

sides. Both sets of instructions would have you fit the wrong style aerials just under the cockpit side windows, which I haven’t seen on any of the gunships, and which interestingly the Monogram box art doesn’t show but the Revell does. The new instructions do also point out that you need an FM whip antenna on top of the fuselage behind the cockpit and indicate stretched sprue and how long it should be, which is nice (though some aircraft had two, one each side, check your references!). The CEC set also provides a mount point for this antenna so that’s handy. Anyway, enough of this, let’s start building.

CONSTRUCTION

To get the fuselage halves together on this kit there’s a lot that needs to be in place first: cockpit, navigator’s area, rear toilet and all the main hold interior, so there are a few sub-assemblies that need addressing. These are things like the ammo cans (the kit ones look a bit big, the CEC ones look a bit small), the seat, the flare storage, floor, cockpit areas etc. So let’s start with the cockpit, it’s sort of traditional. As with many of these older Revell/Monogram kits there’s quite a lot of detail in the cockpit area, much of which (most!) won’t be visible when the kit is together.

That doesn’t stop us putting it in there, does it? What it did stop me doing was spending any time adding details that wouldn’t be visible or improving on the stuff that was already there. I thought that was quite restrained of me, but I did add some decal seat belts from a P-51 sheet I had, so they’re almost certainly not right but I can’t imagine the flight crew not having four-point belts as they did pylon turns and manoeuvred the aircraft under fire at night at relatively low level. I would want something to keep me tightly in my seat. The main instrument panel is represented by a decal in both

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1/48 AC-47D GUNSHIP

releases of this kit, but the new one behaved a lot better than the old one, at least in my case. Everything in this area was painted interior green and light grey with black details and browns for the leather seats. The detail in the navigator’s area that I did paint was quite frankly wasted as you really can’t see anything, even with the forward door cut and posed open. So for most, probably best to treat the detailing here even more lightly than I did. In the cargo area I added strip styrene to the inside of the rear fuselage to accentuate the detail that was already there, this would be visible through the open rear door. I also used some mesh painted red to represent cargo netting on one side of the fuselage and foil painted light grey to

represent ballistic curtains on the other side; one problem I have is making the inside of these aircraft look suitably busy. When I did my AC-130 years ago I spent a lot of time going through pictures and adding as much stuff as I could (structure, boxes, containers, wires and cables etc) and it still doesn’t look as stuffed as the real thing. With very few pictures of the insides of the AC-47s I used the webbing and curtains idea to limit how much you could see through the windows, very difficult to see through them anyway, even harder after I added my bits. On the subject of the windows the CEC set points out that the little circle in the middle of each window should be removed, it was apparently a gun port for the C-47s when they

were a troop transport and these were replaced with plain ones after WWII. I polished them out and used Future floor polish to restore the shine before cuting them into smaller sections to attach them to the fuselage. The mini gun modules provided by the kit are the later XMU-470 with the ammo drum under the gun, while the CEC set has the earlier SUU-11 gun pods on their welded frame mounts; the difference it makes to the available space in the cargo bay is striking. For the example I was building using the CEC set I didn’t need to cut the rearmost window open for the third mini gun as the last SUU-11 pod was placed in the open doorway (restricting space quite substantially) but for the basic

kit build it needs opening up as instructed. Unfortunately I just cut out the moulded recessed space as a whole, in fact the extra “window” should be the same depth as all the others, the recess provided is for the whole clear strip so I ended up with a much deeper opening than I should have done. Duh! Just something else I had to fix, but learn from my mistake… Now with the full interior assembled the fuselage halves were joined together, Mr Surfacer was applied on the joints, everything sanded down and the (very fine raised) detail I removed replaced by finely scored lines using a sharp scalpel.

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FEATURE

“ I like the interlocking internal tail

parts as it makes it very hard to get them at the wrong angle ”

Next the wings and tail surfaces went together well, I like the interlocking internal tail parts as it makes it very hard to get them at the wrong angle, and the internal spar for the wings making part of the wheel bay is clever too. Again I used Mr Surfacer on the joints, the wing and lower fuselage section’s fit on both kits was the worst part of the whole build and much filler and sanding was required to get a decent finish. The engines as supplied are a little basic, the Hi-Tech one looks a lot better but is a LOT of work, especially making your own push rod tubes, piping, wiring etc. There are almost certainly better resin options out there these days (Quickboost QB48081, Ed), as I said I’ve had these for more years than I care to think about. The fit of the cowling over the engines to the engine mounting part is a little sloppy but not the end of the world,

I’ve had worse, though it’s fair to say this area could be better. There are no firm locating aids for the engine assemblies to the wings or the filter parts on top either, both could do with something, really. It was at this point that I realised that to get both of these kits finished together, especially if I was going to detail the Hi-Tech engine and mount it as I wanted, was a little ambitious, so I decided to focus on just completing the basic Revell kit for this article. So I fitted some aerials (including the CEC mounts and some others not mentioned by the kit but gleaned from other sources) before adding the main cockpit window part .

This is easier than it sounds as it’s thick (about three scale inches) and needed some work with a sanding stick (it might be easier to cut this into sections) before masking them and the cabin windows. Finally it it was time to decide on markings so I could get onto painting. The two kits’ decal sheets between them provide four options and I had the old Microscale sheet as well. One of the options on the Microscale sheet was out as it was for one of the aircraft fitted with ten

.303 machine guns, while another option I had given away some years ago which was REALLY annoying as it was for “Puff” with the SUU-11 pods which would have been great for the second kit. Your editor has been teasing me with talk of of Caracal’s new AC-47 decal sheet, so maybe I’ll be able to get “Puff” again and hopefully you’ll see it when it’s finished. The final option was a duplicate of one supplied in the Monogram kit AC-47, 43-49010. However, pictures show that both

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1/48 AC-47D GUNSHIP

“ It is good to see Revell reissuing this classic kit and even better that they upgraded the decals ”

the Microscale and the Monogram decals are wrong in different ways: the Monogram tail marking OS is the wrong shape and on the Microscale sheet the year code AF43 is the wrong colour. Don’t you hate too many references? Actually, a moments’ digression is called for. References. The reason the Microscale sheet is wrong is because they’ve used a colour profile which is in “Gunships: A Pictorial History of Spooky” by Larry Davis. The decals are more or less a straight copy from the profile with white AF43 as part of the tail code and the “Spooky” on the port side of the nose leading with his lantern with the lightning bolt to the rear. There is a picture of this aircraft in the book that I assume is the one the profile was based on, it clearly shows that the AF43 was in black and the “Spooky” on the port side of the nose leads with the lightning bolt with his lantern to the rear. And they’ve guessed that Spooky on the other side would be identical and have provided two the same so the starboard side one would be pointing backwards. Oddly they’ve got the shape of the OS on the tail code more like the picture than the profile. The Monogram decals are wrong in that while they’ve correctly got the AF43 in black, they seem to have copied the (wrongly shaped)

OS from the profile rather than the picture. Their Spookies are interesting in that they’ve gone with the wrong port side, as per the profile, but have somehow guessed the other side should be facing forward and so have him leading with the lightning bolt, and while this one is a bit blobby, it’s more or less right. Having found pictures of twelve different aircraft with a recognisable Spooky on the nose, all of them lead with the lightning bolt with the lantern to the rear. Ten of these are port side and two are starboard (most pictures seem to taken from the port side) and they all seem to be to a very similar pattern, so we can’t in all honesty use the Spookies from either the Microscale or the Monogram sheets. Revell to the rescue! Their Spooky markings look almost identical to one of the few good pictures I found on the web, the one on 45-1117 (with “SWEET PEE” stencilled above it), right down to the stencilled “SPOOKY” across the ghost and the red eyes. So as AF43 010 has the added interest of kill markings by the cargo door I decided to use a mixture of all three sheets to get the most accurate markings I could for that aircraft. So to paint! The older Monogram instructions (labelled, as discussed, “Revell”) seem to

have a straight copy of the upper surface scheme taken from the TO 1-1-4 paint guide, though unfortunately they neglected to include side views, just providing two identical copies of the upper and lower surfaces. The newer instructions have two slightly different schemes, both subtle variations on the TO 1-1-4 which is reasonable, no two aircraft look exactly the same. But if they’ve REALLY managed to get an accurate three-side scheme for two different a/c they’re doing better than I am! The two schemes have the same upper SEA colours but the in-theatre a/c has black undersides while the Florida based example has light grey. We were doing the black undersides as I do feel that the classic gunship scheme is SEA over black, like the AC-130 I did years ago. So first things first, I pre-shaded the upper surface panel lines in black and then applied the tan, using Xtracolor X102 FS10219.

That was followed by X116 FS14102 green and the model was starting to look like a proper Vietnam scheme and quite exciting, it’s been quite a while since I had a scheme to do that wasn’t mostly shades of grey. And doing it freehand made a pleasant change from all that masking… X110 FS 14079 Forest Green was the last of the upper surface colours, and then a coat of black for the under surfaces; I’ve been using Alclad “Gloss Black Base” for my blacks for a while now, it covers well with a good finish. So on to the decals! As I said, I used a combination of decals from three different sheets. As I was applying the left hand OS from the Microscale sheet, using the

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FEATURE photographs I had as a reference, I noticed that the O and the S were much more widely spaced than the decals provide, something Monogram picked up correctly on their sheet. Fortunately I noticed this before they dried and was able to cut down the rudder line and spread them out. Unfortunately it also made me realise I hadn’t done that good a job on the camo demarcations, there should have been quite a bit more dark green under the S. I should have fixed it. I didn’t. Considering the age of the Microscale decals (I’m pretty sure I bought them in the 1980s) they behaved impeccably being thin, strong and flexible. The new ones were pretty good too but as they’re printed in Italy I assume they’re by Cartograf and so should be good. Even the old Monogram decals went down well, which was a relief after the way the instrument panel decal behaved, especially as I noticed that the 010 on the Monogram sheet was a better shape than the Microscale numbers. The only marking I couldn’t source from the three sheets was the “Armament” panel, it wasn’t often seen on the AC-47s but it is present on 010. However the pictures show it as a very subdued, lo-vis panel rather than the bright white panel provided on all three sheets, I’m guessing to make it less of a target in the dark. I waded through my decals and eventually found a red “Armament” panel with a clear interior (the pictures don’t look like it has a black outline, which I found LOTS of) and a block of some mid-grey colour to go behind it and went with that. It’s possibly slightly small and a bit light (if indeed it should even be grey!) but I’m not likely to find a decent colour picture to disprove my assumptions! I also had to cut the AA/truck kill marking into three parts to more accurately reflect reality, neither the Monogram nor the Microscale

decals were close enough. And that raised the question of why did the crew of this aircraft lo-vis the panel but then paint big white blotches next to it? Who can say? I added the wing walkways with some black Micro Scale decal strip cut to size; I thought it might have been easier masking and painting for a while as the decal didn’t initially conform to the small lumps (vents?) in this area but with some Micro Sol they went down really well. And that was the decals, not much stencilling to be had, it would seem. And with all the decals applied and a light dusting of brown in places to represent dust (on the wing behind the props, that sort of thing) it was time for a varnish to seal it all in. I like the Xtracolor Semi-Gloss/Satin varnish, a straight matt finish just looks too overdone in my opinion, so that was applied and it was time to remove the masking and fit the undercarriage and the remaining bits. Double Disaster! Removing the cockpit masking I found that my inability to pay attention had resulted in the inside of the cockpit glazing having

a fine coating of green paint, I REALLY should have blocked off the astrodome! This probably wouldn’t have been a problem if I had left the cockpit door closed… And there were also a couple of places on the outside where glue had leaked through the masking and marred the plastic. I managed to get a cotton bud through the astrodome and the open door and cleaned and Futured the inside, the outside I mitigated with some Future which isn’t perfect but the alternative of removing the clear part, polishing it back, repainting it and refitting it wasn’t tempting. So the aerials, landing lights, undercarriage, astrodome, propellers etc were all fitted, the tail beacon painted clear red, wingtip lights added, the navigator’s slit window cut from some of the leftover kit clear parts and it was done (sounds real easy if you say it quickly!).

CONCLUSION

I have to say I really enjoyed this build, and I really hope the editor is right and some suitable decals appear so I can do the SUU-11 armed example and get that finished too, but in the meantime it’s great to have something that isn’t grey on the table. It is good to see Revell reissuing this classic kit and even better that they upgraded the decals over the original Monogram issue. My thanks to Revell for supplying the review sample which can be purchased from any Revell stockist in Europe, and their full range can be seen on their website.

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1/32 WESSEX HC.2

WESSEX HC.2

Fly Models 1/32nd scale Westland Wessex HC.2 by Kev Shaw (KS Aviation)

T

he chance to make a British helicopter in 1/32 scale was just too good an opportunity to pass up, and a Wessex at that! I don’t deny it, being a Fleet Air Arm specialist, I had already visualised the Green parrot topping my build shelf, folded blades and tail neatly tucked away. When the HC.2 arrived in the post, I had to rethink my

plans quite drastically as you can imagine. I’d never made a 32nd scale kit of any sort up until this point, and the options given to me numbered four with the kit itself, so the selection process began: • Civilian red airframe out of Biggin Hill in 2009 (G-BYRC)? NO! • Camouflaged Newark example (XV728)? Possible • XR503 RAE Bedford 1989? Now that is nice but would be squeaky clean • XT680 from RAF Akrotiri in 2002? Yes, I could weather that, and it’s all one colour I had to go back to the overriding factor here, I’d never built a 1/32 scale model. The RAE machine was dropped due to the

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FEATURE

fact weathering would be at a minimum. The Camo machine was dropped due to a reason that also applied to the RAE example; the complexity of the paint job in this scale was something I honestly didn’t have the self-confidence to take on not having completed such a large project before. So, do I source the markings for a yellow peril and make a rescue cab? Nice and easy, one overall colour. However have you tried painting an overall yellow scheme? And how dirty would a rescue Wessex get? Not very as it happens, and there was my conundrum. I have always been a fan of weathering my models, and I know for a fact that there are lots in the same mindset as me, that’ll like seeing a worn end product. The flip side of the coin of course (as there always is) are those who won’t like this, will become extremely upset at the weathered result due to the reality of constant washing and polishing this airframe would have been subjected to in its life. With that in mind, this particular Wessex almost becomes a ‘what if’, and will become Marmite to readers, some will love, some will hate with a passion. For the record, the feedback I’ve had to date has been very good, people probably looking more to the techniques deployed rather than the reality of the situation. Be aware this isn’t meant to be two fingers in the air to those that used to maintain and operate the Cyprus Wessex, more an individual’s vision of a helicopter that I’ve seen many of the type stored over the years, so have completed in line with such visions. So my mind, and the accompanying visualisations of the final result, began to agree on XT680 from Akrotiri as my choice in its overall grey scheme with a light blue band around the fuselage.

“ As you’d expect in 1/32nd scale, the interior itself is a challenge ” BUILD

A 20-page instruction sheet, a full colour decal referencing sheet, 7 plastic frames, 2 clear part frames, 59 resin blocks containing parts (yes 59), a sheet of printed paper with pretty shapes and colours, 2 photo-etched metal part sheets, oh and a decal sheet, are all crammed into the box. There are no numbers on any frames, but all parts numbered on the instruction sheet instead. Now where do you start? At the beginning my friend, at the beginning. As you’d expect in 1/32nd scale, the interior itself is a challenge, and has to be completed to a reasonable standard as you can see it all. Nice detail is provided throughout though it just cries out for added detail, you could absolutely go to town on this if you wish. The build itself took me four months to complete, but you could spend a year without even thinking about it just on the interior on its own. There is so much space

in there, and if you model the kit with the door slid back, all that effort will be well rewarded. The internal ribbing, a noticeable part of a Wessex interior, comes as separate vertical ribs, and tests your ability from the start. The one-piece horizontal ribs have to be cut to fit between the vertical ones already in place. So, onto the internal passenger seats, and a combination of a plastic frame, paper seats that have to be cut and folded to the correct shape, and then attached over the plastic frames with etched metal buckles, all then topped with a generous helping of paper seatbelts with etched metal buckles. My other half has never heard some of the words I used during this stage, and probably never will again. Completing the seating was probably the most challenging part of the whole build and of course important in this scale as I intended to leave the model with the cabin door open. Seat belts from the paper sheet were also cut out for the cockpit seats, and again combined with etched buckles and clips to gave a really pleasing look. To add to this,

small things like the addition of fire extinguishers in the cockpit and main cabin give a wonderful feel to the overall effect. I now added the main rotor head structure above the cabin, and it was finally time to close her up. Test fitting the huge fuselage showed that the back end didn’t line up with the front half. I suspect this was due to the fact the cabin and cockpit were already nestling in the port shell, and were not allowing the starboard shell to sit as it wanted to. Added to this the fact that there are no locating pins to aid the process, and I was starting to get a little concerned. In 72nd, my usual scale, such issues are ‘mere flesh wounds’, but in this scale, this size, this was a problem. Some trimming and repeated test fitting of the fuselage made things better, so despite my initial concerns all that was required was a little patience. I now added plastic cement before wrapping up the two halves with Tamiya tape and elastic bands, to be certain that everything was glued firmly I left it in that state for around four days. It worked, and no filler was required

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1/32 WESSEX HC.2

here, amazing really considering the size, and the absolute ‘plethora’ of resin and metal parts contained inside. I now added the numerous lumps and bumps to the fuselage and in my view once these were added an all-British Westland product emerged. I had already chosen to fold the tail unit (mainly for space saving) and this was an easy option with the detailed tail fold interior already included in the kit itself. It was at this point that the Ed sent across the Scalewarship rotor blade fold set. This uses etched brass and 3D printed rotor ‘knuckles’, as well as a resin rotor head. This set isn’t for the faint hearted and good reference pictures are required especially for the saddle that fits over the rear fuselage. Luckily I had taken some that are reproduced here when I built that 1/72 model back in 2003, which was handy. You also need to follow the comprehensive instructions, especially the guidelines for the cuts, which are down to the mm lengths and turned out to be spot on. By folding the rotors and folding the tail you will turn a large model that takes up quite a lot of space

into a still large but far easier model to display on the shelf. Now I was on the final stages and after adding the undercarriage and other small details I was ready to start the decaling and finishing process.

DECALS AND FINISHING

In my model I was going to use some artistic licence that would allow weathering (as reference pictures of the actual helicopter show quite a clean airframe); in my mind any airframe in such a sunny climate would undoubtedly begin to bleach over time. I was suddenly eager to move forward and started by applying a coat of overall Humbrol 64 Grey for a weathered effect before adding a Sky Blue band around the back of the cabin (Humbrol 47). A splash of colour can also be found in the one blade painted in trainer yellow. Now on to the decals, these are well produced, and come off the carrier in a very quick time. They also work well with Humbrol Decalfix, but will attach themselves to you rather than the aircraft so be warned when handling the

“ It looks like a British Wessex, from

all angles, and to get that right in this large scale is tremendous ” model it as you work along the length of the fuselage to add all the stencilling. I found it was easy to handle the model then leave yourself wondering where the decal you put on 10 minutes ago has gone, only to find it stuck to your hand. An overall coat of matt varnish (Humbrol 49) to scale everything down was followed by soot, snow, and rust from Tamiya’s weathering kit (87080) to simulate grime and grey colour sun bleaching. I was then ready to attach the car sized main wheels, the tail in its folded position, and blade saddle. Once everything was firmly attached I slid the blades through the saddle supports before attaching them to the knuckles at the rotor head end. Finally I used grey cotton thread for the starboard aerials, as well as a length of fuse wire for the two vertical aerials on the nose to finish the model.

CONCLUSION

There have been a few comments made to me about this kit in the last couple of months. Some are justified, but as with all model kits, your experience and capability are what often makes the difference. I had a great deal of frustration as I tried to get the fuselage halves together that delayed this project quite badly. But what you have to remember is this is a Wessex, a British Westland Wessex, and until now I have not found any manufacturer getting it right in any scale. It must be a very difficult subject to get right judging by that factor alone, so what Fly have done here is brave and ‘New Frontier’, and I for one am amazed at what they’ve produced. It looks like a British Wessex, from all angles, and to get that right in this large scale is tremendous. Huge thanks goes to Fly (and their partners in this venture) for supplying this review sample, and to Scalewarship for the provision of the blade folding set with blade saddle, it saved me the hangar costs at Lee-onSolent airfield!

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1/144 HEINKEL HE 219A-2

A LITTLE OWL T

he Heinkel He 219 was reportedly one of the finest night fighters of World War Two. With two powerful DB-603 engines, and a heavy armament of cannon, it was the only German night fighter able to catch the Mosquito. Thankfully for the Allies, Heinkel was out of favour with the German RLM who commissioned all types for use by the Luftwaffe. The He 219 only served in small numbers as apparently Heinkel was told to focus on building bombers, not fighters!

propeller blades need some reshaping. Having said that, once the parts are cleaned up, the surface detail is very nice. The kit photo-etch is a real highlight. The radar and various antennae are provided for the exterior as well as aileron horn balances and enhancements to the undercarriage. You also

get a full interior - seats, seat belts, control panel and even the rudder pedals. It would be a real shame to hide that nice detail under the rather thick canopy! There is also a very delicate circular direction finding antenna which is intended to be installed flat on top of the fuselage behind the canopy

KIT INFO

Building the Mark I He 219A-2 in 1/144th scale by Mark Webster MANUFACTURER Mark One SCALE 1/144 PANEL LINES Recessed plastic, 1 clear, PARTS 22 26 photo-etched TYPE Injection Moulded STATUS New Tool DECAL OPTIONS 3 German, 1 British

THE KIT

Mark One has produced some nice 1/144 kits lately, and the He 219 is a good example. The plastic parts are definitely “short run” in feel. The plastic parts come in a single sprue. There are large sprue gates attaching the wings and these are tricky to remove and smooth over. Some parts are a touch over-size and require trimming - in particular the landing gear covers and the 528 JUNE 2016 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

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FEATURE

“ The Heinkel He 219 was reportedly one of the finest night fighters of World War Two ”

The decals are also very nice supplying 3 German options in various camouflage configurations. As well as an example in RAF markings there is also a cardboard display base representing a concrete runway. The instructions suggest putting as much balance weight as possible in the fuselage, nose and engines due to “difficulty in balancing the model”. Failing that, they suggest gluing the model to the display base. So it looks like avoiding a tailsitter will be a real challenge!

COCKPIT AREA

There were some huge ejector pins in the cockpit consoles, so I did my best to smooth these over and then installed the cockpit floor. I noticed that the cockpit arrangement was not that accurate. Mark I would have you install a photo-

etch bulkhead at the very end of the cockpit opening. However, it should be installed about .5 millimeter further forward. I had to sand down part of the cockpit consoles to make this possible. I would recommend removing these entirely as they just cause trouble! I made the consoles wider by adding some plastic card but his caused issues later. Installing the bulkhead further forward also yields some valuable lead-stuffing space. I sealed off the extra space created with plastic card, and made some instrument consoles to give the impression of detail. The cockpit area was then painted Tamiya German Grey. I left seats and other cockpit details till later. I now jammed as much lead around the cockpit as I could before joining the fuselage halves.

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1/144 HEINKEL HE 219A-2

ENGINES AND WINGS

The engine nacelles were now installed on the wings and to be honest the fit there was horrendous! I filled the gaps as best I could using plastic card. It was also noticeable that the engine nacelles were far from round in cross section - I ground the undersides of these down a significant amount. If I had my

time over, I would also grind the mating surfaces of the nacelles down so that the nice detail on the undersides is not lost. I delayed installing the wing to the fuselage till a little later to make sanding the nacelles easier. At this stage I also jammed lead into every spare space of the engine nacelles. I decided that installing the DF antenna was going to look terrible glued flat on top of the wing centre

section. I chain drilled a circle of holes at the location of the antenna, then packed out the hole with plastic card so that the antenna would fit flush with the top of the fuselage. A test fit showed that this looked a lot better then just sitting on top of the fuselage. Whilst I had the drill out, I also

drilled out the cannon ports in the fuselage underside and wing roots. I also opened up the supercharger intakes in the wings. There are also smaller intakes further out on the He 219 wings - however these are so small in 1/144 that they are very difficult to drill out. I now installed the wing to the

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FEATURE

“ For my model I chose the option

with one wing underside black and the other RLM 76 ”

fuselage which required a fair bit of trimming and re-trimming to get a good fit. The tailplanes and rudders were installed without too much drama and only a little filler. I sanded down the propeller blades to a more accurate shape and I also took the opportunity to trim the main undercarriage doors as they are too long, while the main nose gear door is too wide. These tasks didn’t take too long but make a big difference to the overall look of the model.

FINISHING THE COCKPIT The seats are provided as photoetch so I carefully bent these to shape but now I hit a problem. Remember the consoles I’d added to the fuselage sides, well now these meant that the seats didn’t fit! I had no choice but to trim the seats slightly to fit using a jeweller’s file. The location of the seats is not that well defined so I scaled down a side profile from the 1/48 Tamiya kit to check the locations. Seat cushions are also provided on the photo-etch, which were painted

brown before being added. There are two control sticks included - one in plastic and one in photo-etch which looks a bit two-dimensional. I painted the plastic one black and installed it, however the location hole is in entirely the wrong place so I had to drill a new one. At the same time I installed the rudder pedals, which was tricky as the parts are tiny! There is also a photo-etch control panel, which has holes for the instruments. I toyed with the idea of providing a backing with instrument details or glazing the holes but decided in the end that it was going to be almost impossible to see this. Photo-etch seat belts were now added and these are very noticeable features in the cockpit. I added a gunsight made from plastic card to the front cockpit panel, as this is also quite a prominent feature. Having created all this cockpit

detail, I was reluctant to conceal it all under the thick canopy that Mark 1 have supplied, so I made a balsa master and smash moulded one out of thin plastic. This was tacked to the fuselage and masked. I outlined the clear areas using very thin strips of Tamiya tape, and filled the inside areas with Maskol. This allowed me to move the masking quite easily - and I ended up making a few adjustments before spraying the canopy with the cockpit inside-colour.

PAINTING

Wheel wells and landing gear were painted RLM 02 Grey/Green and the wheel wells masked off. The propeller blades were painted RLM 71 Black Green and masked. For my model I chose the option with one wing underside black and the other RLM 76. I first applied black, and then masked the wing

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1/144 HEINKEL HE 219A-2

“ The level of detail Mark I provides and nacelle undersides with tape and Maskol. I also masked off the shell ejector chutes on the fuselage underside, as well as the landing lights and small wing intakes. Once done, I sprayed RLM 76 light blue grey, which took a few coats to properly cover the black. Next came the true make or break of the He 219 - the mottling. The instructions suggested that all the aircraft had small round spots of RLM 75 Grey - all the same size - over RLM 76. I had a look on the Internet and couldn’t find a single aircraft with this type of camouflage! The aircraft I saw had larger, irregular, dark splotches. I believe that this was because a solid coat of darker RLM 75 was over-painted with lighter RLM 76 to create the irregular mottle patterns. I scaled down the Tamiya 1/48 kit plans to 1/144 as the mottles on this looked good to me and I tried to emulate the style of these using the plan. I now spent an enjoyable evening applying the mottle with a newly acquired 0 size brush and was pleased with the result. The contrast looked a touch too stark so I misted on highly thinned RLM 76 and this toned things down nicely. Once dry, I brushed on some Long Life (Australian equivalent of Future) to seal the paint and prepare for decals. Decaling was very quick with only a few to apply and they settled down nicely with a bit of Mr Mark Setter, I then applied an overall coat of Vallejo matt varnish. The box art suggested that the aircraft I was modelling had a white spiral on the spinners. I had earlier painted the spinners black and now attempted to apply the white spirals supplied by Mark I. No luck at all! The spinners are so small that the decals just wouldn’t settle on the contours. I gave up and masked the spirals and sprayed them white. A lot better! There seemed to be

a white disc in the centre of the spinner and masking made this easier to represent also.

FINAL DETAILS

The next step was to install the landing gear, the main legs installed quite nicely, but when installing the nose gear strut, it became obvious that this was too long and would make it impossible to avoid the dreaded tail sitter! So I trimmed the strut slightly to restore the correct balance. I now drilled out the engine exhausts and noticed that these had three ribs on the exterior. I recreated these by rolling them under a knife blade, for some reason this gives the appearance of raised ribs. I now painted these rust-brown and installed them using Kristal Klear. I now decided to display the canopy open - so I cut my smashmoulded canopy using a small

in the box is nothing short of stunning ”

pair of scissors. Hair-raising but relatively successful! The open canopy was then installed with odourless super glue. Now I drilled the holes wherever a photo-etch antenna had to be installed - and there were a lot of them! To attach them into place I applied the super glue first to the drilled hole using an applicator carved out of a toothpick. The photo-etch was then placed by using a holder made out of a plastic tube from a cotton bud with tiny blobs of Blu Tack on the end to hold the part until it was attached. The radar antennae were left to the very last to avoid accidental damage. They all need to be bent prior to installation. I used some plastic card to keep the bulk of the antenna completely flat, then

used a knife blade to bend just the support arm to the correct angle. I noticed from photos that the radar dipoles were usually black and sometimes had red and white stripes on the lower ones. Out came the 0 sized brush one more time, and once this had been added my He 219 was done.

CONCLUSION

A challenging but very satisfying build. The level of detail Mark I provides in the box is nothing short of stunning, but there’s a fair bit of polishing required to make this diamond really shine. My thanks to Mark One for supplying me with the opportunity to build their little owl.

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1/72 ANTONOV AN-2

RUSSIAN

WORKHORSE

Building Italeri’s (ex-Bilek) 1/72nd scale Antonov An-2 by Bruce Leyland-Jones

I

n 1947, to assist the rebuilding of the devastated Soviet Union, Antonov created the An-2 “Annushka” or, in English, “Annie”. This was an extremely robust, easy-tomaintain and extremely strong aircraft, intended to support far flung communities as a transport amongst primitive airfields and, essentially, as an airborne tractor. Obviously an asset to the armed forces, (NATO called it “Colt”), this aircraft performed sterling work within both military and civil aviation and continues to do so to this day, after almost 70 years. Back in more recent history, 1996 to be exact, the Czech company Bilek produced a plastic kit of the An-2 that accurately reflected its chunky nature and, whilst not as refined as a Tamiya or Hasegawa kit, perfectly captured the rough and tumble characteristics of Antonov’s fine biplane. Italeri then issued this kit in 1997, and has produced a couple of boxings with new decals since then. As with the real thing, the kit has withstood the passage of time well and whilst there is some flash on the sprues (and more of that later) there are no unsightly sink marks or other moulding flaws, usually found on older kits. Surface

detail is of refined engraving and there is a subtle difference in textures between the various metalled surfaces. Due to the nature of the beast, there is no real need for finely detailed parts, although some may wish to replace the aileron actuator arms with finer plasticard or photoetch. Bear in mind, though, that the real Annie is a solid girl. More ‘handsome’ and ‘homely’ than pretty. All that said, the aftermarket does provide, although be aware that most of this relates to the much-later Trumpeter kit, rereleased by Revell. For this build, I had a Pavla interior resin set I’d acquired and a set of masks. The latter was intended for the Trumpeter kit and the pattern of framing did not match my Italeri example, so this was put aside for another occasion. The decals are well worth a second mention, in that they are of good opacity and, although multi-coloured, are in perfect register. Previous releases also cover a multitude of operators, so a large and different collection of Colts is easily attainable to make an intresting collection. Most previous reviews of this kit mention issues with the kit-supplied transparencies, and due to the fact

that I’m a bit of a novice when it comes to vacform, I thought I’d try and manage those kit issues and find a usable solution.

CONSTRUCTION

So construction began with the Pavla cockpit and I only used the steering columns from the kit. The instructions told me that pale grey was good for the interior, but many references I saw seemed to have the traditional Soviet-turquoise colour. To replicate this, I used Humbrol H65, with an overcoat of Humbrol Green Clearcoat. I used a fine, black, gel pen to fill in the instrument dials and, just for the heck of it, added a scratchbuilt fire extinguisher. Note that the Pavla set is intended for this kit, so fitting it was no problem whatsoever and the fuselage halves were joined

together with no fit issues at all. I now spent a happy half-hour with my minidrill, drilling out all the various intakes dotted about the Old Girl. Moving onto the large, lower wings, I found that fit was good, but the pieces needed to be clamped together for a while. My favourite, wooden clothes pegs assisted me with this. Fit of the lower wing to the fuselage was very poor and I had to file away a lot of the central portion of the wing but once I had done this the fit was adequate. The upper wing was a repeated exercise of clamping, but the fit of this to the fuselage was a less traumatic affair than with the lower wing. Unlike many biplanes, it is reasonably easy to attach both pairs of wings to the fuselage, without worrying about the struts

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CIVIL MATTERS

“ This aircraft performed sterling work within both military and civil aviation and continues to do so to this day ”

between so these can be added later. During this stage of the build, the instruction sheet suggested adding the control surfaces and their many little hinges. This was easy enough to do, but on reflection, I wish that I’d left these off until much later in the build process. My problem was that I tend to hold a model between the leading and trailing edges of the wing. With the control surfaces in place, this wasn’t really a sensible option, as the linkages are quite fragile and I kept breaking them off.

Moving on to the engine the An-2 is powered by a supercharged radial engine and, whilst not of exquisite detail, the provided parts are good enough for Yours Truly, especially if a little dry-brushing is applied, to enhance the detail of the cylinders. (The instructions simply tell you to paint it all black). With both firmly wings secured, I turned my attention to the two large struts and was immediately concerned that the mould appeared to have badly slipped. If this happens to you do not panic, it is simply simple flash that is easily removed with a couple of scrapes of a new scalpel blade. At this point in the build, I had to decide which option I was going for, with a choice of skis or wheels in the box. I decided that I’d go for skis. The instructions could be a little clearer in the placement of

the undercarriage struts, so I did my research and my photos show you what worked for me. Small pins stick out for the skis to sit on so I was able to dry-fit the skis and ensure that the tailskid was properly aligned, before cementing them firmly in to place. Unfortunately, soon after the tailskid had set in place, the pins holding the skis broke off and I would have to re-visit the fitting of these later on, so be warned. By this stage, I still hadn’t bothered with the canopy and I decided that I wasn’t happy with the large gap in front of the instrument panel. I’d seen many such aircraft with a canvas covering and so decided to suggest this with a piece of kitchen roll painted black, it now looks better than nothing, although some of you might decide to fill the gap with wires and cabling.

SO ON TO THE CANOPY

The instructions tell you to assemble the whole thing as a subassembly and then to attach this to the model. From my reading, it appeared that getting this then to fit right had proved problematic on many occasions, so I thought I’d try a different approach… Having applied Tamiya-tape masking, I glued the main canopy pieces together with Bostik Serious Glue and left it overnight to fully cure. The following day, I turned the model upside-down and first attached the two, small, forward pieces to the main piece and, assisted by gravity, was able to manoeuvre these into position. Each side piece was then

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1/72 ANTONOV AN-2

attached to the main piece and, again with use of gravity, I was able to manoeuvre these also into place. Job done. Again, the Serious Glue was left overnight, to fully set before I handled the model again. In the meantime, I turned my attention to the skis and their fragile pins, which had broken off. This tiime I drilled out the holes in the skis and used short lengths of thick, copper wire, from some old electric cable, to make stronger pins. I then used short lengths of plastic tubing, of a suitable gauge, to give something for the skis’ pins to push into. Besides providing a

more secure fitment for the skis, this arrangement allows the skis to move, as they would on the real thing. Super-Dooper…a Working Feature, when did I last build one of them?!

PAINTING AND DECALING

The instructions told me to use a gloss orange, but that tends to have awful coverage. Instead, I went for a couple of coats of Humbrol number 82, which is a matt, but I did apply a clearcote later to get a gloss finish, prior to decaling. Ah

yes…decaling. No problem with the decals, whatsoever, apart from the large polar patch on the port side. This sits atop a couple of intakes and took quite a bit of Micro Sol persuasion to settle down tightly over these. After doing a little touching up of the paintwork, I applied one coat of Johnson’s Klear, which gave the model a satisfactory satin finish. (I find a gloss coat too glossy and, to my jaundiced eye, makes a model a little too toy-like). With the painting all done, all that was left to do was a little rigging. As usual, I used superglue gel and accelerator to affix lengths of fine knitting elastic.This is similar to the renowned EZ Line, but is substantially cheaper and doesn’t

deteriorate in direct sunlight and that was it, job done and I now have a colourful and sturdy, aircraft on my shelves.

CONCLUSION

Whilst not for the complete new modeller, because of the wingfuselage fit issues and difficulties with tricky transparencies, I’d happily recommend this kit to anyone who likes the type. I now have another in The Stash which I’ll definitely build, as opposed to selling off and, if I had the the room, would be happy to acquire a couple more. Definitely a charismatic, and it comes in a plethora of different colours and schemes to choose from.

“ I’d happily

recommend this kit to anyone who likes the type ”

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17/01/2016 22 08

1/72 HARRIER GR.3

WINTER WARRIOR Detailing the 1/72 Hasegawa Harrier GR.3, during a NATO exercise in Norway by Kitti Tatsumaki

I

just love the Harrier and this is Hasegawa’s 1:72 laser nosed GR.3 offering, and the kit went together with minimal fuss, no putty and very little sanding. The model was painted in the RAF’s typical cold weather camouflage as seen for NATO winter exercises, and featuring White covering the usual Green and over Dark Sea Grey, with both shades coming from Hobby Color. The cockpit was hand-painted, especially the ejector seat and instrument panels. And I also

added 100gm of ballast in the middle of the fuselage to ensure some solid handling. I primed everything with Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500, and then I added a basecoat of White. Then I used a pencil to trace out the camouflage pattern and ran Blu Tack ‘sausages’ around the lines. I then added the Dark Sea Grey, and once dry removed the masks.

After a gloss coat I added the decals for an aircraft from No.4 Squadron, which looked particularly cool against the winter scheme. I then added chipping and scratches all over the airframe as the white quickly peeled and discoloured during

operations, and for this I used Hobby Color Engine Grey. After a matt coat, some oil washes followed, and for the exhaust stains

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KIT INFO

FEATURE

MANUFACTURER Hasegawa SCALE 1/72 KIT NUMBER HSGS0236 Injection KIT TYPE Plastic Moulded DECAL OPTIONS 3 ADDITIONAL Techmod decal ITEMS USED sheet TM48 020

I used Tamiya Smoke in various mixes. The ‘Remove Before Flight’ tags were homemade from my printer! To make the Harrier even more dynamic I decided to place it in a small maintenance scene

with groundcrew preparing it for another sortie. I used a Hasegawa US Pilot/ Ground Crew Set and the Maintenance Platform and the base was a piece of MDF, suitably

painted and weathered. The figures and ground equipment were painted with Vallejo colours. For the weapons load-out I added the ADEN gun packs, MATRA 155 Rocket Launchers, a 1,000lb bombs and BL 755 Cluster munitions.

“ I added the decals for an aircraft from

No.4 Squadron, which looked particularly cool against the winter scheme. ”

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In association with

CLASSIC PLASTIC

Classic Plastic Edited by Paul Bradley

F

irst up, apologies to Adam and Dale for the mix-up with the photos in the last classic plastic; the appropriate gremlin has be accosted and suitably censured, though we cannot rule out retaliation from his comrades. Secondly, please keep sending articles and photos of your classic kit builds – this column is nothing without the contributions from you, the readers! I hear from people all the time how much they enjoy the column, and I hope it will continue for a good time yet, but I do need help in keeping it going. Please drop me a line at [email protected] with your articles and ideas; I appreciate it! Now, on to the good stuff – a pair of Airfix classics!

DOUGLAS A-26B INVADER Airfix 1/72nd scale Douglas A-26B Invader by Dale Smith

F

irst tooled in the early seventies, all surface detail is of the raised variety. Looking at the kit parts during assembly it was hard to comprehend that all the dies and tooling used to produce kits back then were all hand cut by expert tradesman. There was no CNC machining or laser cutting, so having the parts fitting as well as they did was quite an achievement. There was still the 60’s and

70’s standard ‘Airfix’ part mismatch of about 0.5 to 1.00mm in places, but by just cutting away the locating lugs and joining the parts by eye, I got a satisfactory result. Even the movable/poseable flying surfaces fitted well. Overall, the kit interior detail is acceptable but the cockpit and gunner positions are quite Spartan compared to a modern day offering. These areas can be painted as required or detailed with extra bits

and pieces, but most of the detail will be hidden later in construction, so it’s up the individual. The main canopies were masked with Tamiya tape cut to shape with a new No. 11 X-Acto blade. No colour instructions or decals are provided for these areas so the modeller will have to just wing it; interior green with black and a leather shade for the seats should suffice, with a light grey colour dry brushed over most areas to bring out a little of the sparse detail.

In an effort to save the raised surface detail after joining the main airframe parts, I used Gunze Mr. Surfacer 500 as the filler of choice so that after application no sanding should be required. Simply apply with a tooth pick, let the filler dry then take a cotton tip dipped in acetone and wipe it along the join. Work the joint a few times and you will have an acceptable surface join and no missing detail due to sanding. Easy. Some joints won’t be model competition winning

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FEATURE Most of the main sub-assemblies ready to go.

“ It looks neat in the display cabinet and I’m pleased with the way it finished ”

Sparse interior detail is provided, but you won’t be able to see most of it when the fuselage halves are joined.

standard, but they will suffice. The wheels were assembled and sanded with a flat spot, and a large round fishing sinker super glued in the nose cone to avoid a tail sitter. Aerial wires were made from smoke coloured invisible mending thread and super glued in place. The aerial wire insulators were then added from drops of white glue applied with a toothpick then painted black. I used the kit-supplied decals, but due to their age I chose to spray them with a light coat of gloss varnish to help hold them together during application, just in case they decided to become their individual

atomic particles when dipped in water. They were then cut out with a sharp scalpel so that carrier film was minimal. After painting the airframe, everything was sprayed with Future/Klear, the decals applied and everything sealed in a second time. In the end, the kit decals snuggled down nicely onto the raised details and only a small amount of Gunze Mr. Decal Softer was used to soften them during application. Well, there we have it. I’ve found that my modelling skills appear to have ‘matured’ over the last 40 years and this kit came together a lot easier than I remember back in 1973. The kit itself is far from the standard of a latest 21st Century Tamigawa tooling, but it looks neat in the display cabinet and I’m pleased with the way it finished. Don’t discount some of these earlier kits by Airfix, Esci, Frog, Matchbox and the like as you may be pleasantly surprised when you give them a go. Now, where in my stash did I put some of those old 70’s Monogram kits?

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In association with

CLASSIC PLASTIC

KIT OF THE MONTH T Airfix 1/72 Saunders-Roe SR.53 he Isle of Wight-firm of Saunders Roe was famous for its marine engineering, with a distinctly aeronautical flavor. Their prewar flying boats served both military and civilian needs and, post-war, the SRA.1 flying boat fighter and giant Princess passenger flying boat kept up the tradition. In later years, the company pioneered the nascent technology of hovercraft, bringing us the SR.N-1, the first practical hovercraft – and also an example of an Airfix classic kit. Occasionally, the company ventured into traditional landbased aviation, and in the late 1950’s, the SR.53 was one of these rare aircraft. Not that there was much conventionality

to the SR.53 – it was a shortrange, delta-winged, combined jet- and rocket-powered point interceptor, a ‘manned missile’ as was in vogue during that period. Airfix first released their SR.53 kit in 1958; a simple Series 1 bagged kit, it was later issued as a blister pack in the early 1970’s and made its final appearance in a Series 2 box in 1975. As far as I know, it hasn’t been released since

then and has become a collectors’ item, commanding prices of up to £75 in online auctions. Rumour has it that the moulds are lost, so it is unlikely we will see this one in Airfix’s ongoing re-release programme. The kit was also pirated in Eastern Europe in the late 70s and these are now also quite rare, but can be somewhat less expensive. A very simple kit with only around 30 parts, it builds into an

provenance to prove it was indeed an original Airfix item and not one of the “pirated” Eastern European versions produced in the 1980’s, I decided that building it would not actually cause any substantial threat to my future financial security or indeed legacy? So how was the model building experience equivalent of drinking a bottle of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild 1869? In short, an absolute guilty pleasure. The fit of the parts was surprisingly good, indicating it was indeed an early original Airfix moulding, especially as the plastic was that hard brilliant white plastic favoured by the company in the 1960’s. The only filler required was around the lower fuselage joint. The sole aftermarket upgrade I chose to add was an Aeroclub Martin Baker

ejector seat. Firstly, to improve the cockpit area, but also to add nose weight; additional lead fishing weights also went in, just to be sure no tail sitters wanted here… My standard approach to cockpit canopies was followed two coats of Johnson’s Klear to improve the clarity and prevent fogging when spotted into position with superglue gel. Then, PVA glue was then used to fill any joint gaps before the application of homemade Tamiya tape masks. The base colour scheme was easily applied with a couple of coats of Halford’s Appliance White over a base of white plastic primer from the same source, both used straight from the rattle can, followed by a few light coats of Klear as a base for the decals. Ah, decals - there weren’t any! The spares box quickly provided some suitable roundels, tailfin flashes and warning signs, all from an old Frog sheet, possible a Lightning or Meteor. The serials numbers were created from the appropriated Xtradecal set. Once applied with the assistance of Micro Sol, they were sealed with another couple of light coats of Klear. The matt black anti-glare panel was airbrushed using my ancient Aztec airbrush. Seriously, I cannot recommended these highly

Airfix’s original artwork

Box art for the Ursus copy of the SR.53 kit

accurate, if lightly detailed, replica of the real thing. It can also be used as the basis for imaginative ‘what if’ models galore – SR.53 in 111 Sqn markings, anyone?

You Seriously Built It!? – Airfix 1/72 SR.53 by Andy Hazell

M

y confession - guilty as charged, M’lud. Yep, I actually built the ultra-rare and, as identified by Classic Plastic’s editor Paul Bradley, potentially very valuable, Airfix SR.53! Now serious collectors may think this sacrilege is the equivalent of cutting the horn off a unicorn and that I should suffer all the legendary misfortunes that are supposed to follow such an act of cruel premeditated vandalism. Well let me qualify this decision. Readers of Classic Plastic will no doubt recall my constant references to my mythical bin bag of kits bought at a car boot sale for £20. Well included was an SR.53, however, there was no packaging, decals or instructions, just a few bits of plastic rattling around in a freezer bag, fastened with a paperclip. So with no

The sparse parts of the Airfix SR.53

enough, I have owned mine for nearly 20 years and it is still giving sterling service. The interior detail surfaces of the undercarriage bays and airbrake recesses were picked out in interior green and that was pretty much it. There we have it, one SR.53. So have I destroyed a piece of Airfix history? Well, Classic Plastic is most definitely my chosen medium, but I try to work with damaged, incomplete or shop worn examples. Re-issues also provide an unlimited supply of source material. I will admit to having a Revell 1/32nd Mitsubishi Raiden - yes the rare one - which I will not be building anytime soon. So my slightly hypocritical approach is to build old kits that are in effect worthless and preserve the expensive ones as an investment. Double standards or common sense, it can be argued either way…

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BOOKS AND MEDIA

Books & Media

INFO

This A4 softback book is a showcase for the work of master modeller Aitor Azkue. Looking at just one diorama in this book makes me think there is a lifetime’s work involved, but there are numerous examples of his work in this book! Each diorama has a short step-bystep guide as to how the work was AUTHOR Aitor Azkue created and I can only look on in awe YEAR 2015 Second Edition and daydream that PUBLISHER AK Interactive one day my models WEBSITE www.ak-interactive.com will come anywhere FORMAT 288pp Softback as near as good as those in this book. There is a mix of aircraft and armour dioramas to show off the author’s talent. A stand-out aspect for me is the skill involved in the buildings in the book, they are superb representations! So if you are looking for inspiration, or just want to look at wonderful work, then look no further than this book, highly recommended. My thanks to AK Interactive for supplying the review copy.

SR-71 Blackbird

INFO

This new title on the SR71 from Osprey is in what I think of as their gift book range of AUTHOR Paul F Crickmore small, compact hardback YEAR 2016 books. If you are PUBLISHER Osprey Publishing looking for a wellISBN 978-1-4728-1315-2 illustrated general FORMAT 160pp Hardback background to the Blackbird then this book provides a good starting point. The book is rounded off with a section looking at museum airframes with a brief history of each; all bar one are in the USA, but of course if you live in the UK you can see the Duxford based SR-71 in the newly revamped American Air Force Hanger. I must make a visit myself, it has been a while…. My thanks to Osprey Publishing for supplying the review copy.

Douglas SBD Dauntless Detail and Scale: Digital Volume 5 I have built a number of models of the Douglas Dauntless for this title over the last 15 years, and my constant companion had always been a dog-eared copy of the original Detail and Scale on the Slow But Deadly. I honestly never thought I would ever replace this on my workbench until I downloaded the new and fully updated digital volume. As is normal with D+S digital downloads we start with a quick introduction on how to use a digital book Kinzey and Rock and it is one of these features that for me is invaluable. AUTHOR Bert Roszak If you see an image you want to look at in more detail YEAR 2016 just tap it and it will expand to fill your screen, then if using a touch screen just spread your fingers apart to WEBSITE www.detailandscale.com expand the image by up to 200%. ISBN 978-0-9860677-5-4 This makes checking details a breeze from FORMAT Digital Book clarifying exhaust patterns and weathering on the side of the fuselage to checking out switch colours in the cockpit section. So onto the book which in many ways is just like the original paper version in layout, it starts with a full historical summary of the SBD before moving on to a detailed description of the six Dauntless versions as well as the US Army’s A-24 Banshee, before finishing with a nice set of plans. I found this section fascinating as it is well illustrated with a number of images that I had never seen before. For modellers the next section is an absolute gold mine as it supplies over 149 photographs and illustrations from technical manuals which would enable you to add detail to every viable area of the Dauntless as well as many areas that you normally do not see. We now move on to a chapter that covers the various colour schemes applied to the Dauntless from the colourful prewar schemes applied to the SBD-1 through to the final tri-colour scheme, all illustrated with colour profiles and period photographs. Now that you are inspired to build your Dauntless kit we have a section that reviews all the Dauntless kits produced to date from the tiny 1/144 scale up to the massive 1/18 scale Merit example which was the last SBD I built. Finally we have fourteen pages listing all the various decals and accessories that have been produced to take your model to the next level. I honestly cannot recommend this title highly enough and would recommend it to everyone who likes US Navy subjects or is interested in the Pacific campaign during World War 2. The next title to be released is a two-part volume on the McDonnell Douglas F2H Banshee and should appear just in time for the release of the new Kitty Hawk kit. And I for one am really hoping that we get a similar upgraded title on the TBM Avenger as a Trumpeter kit keeps calling to me from the to-do pile. Our thanks to Bert Kinzey and Rock Roszak for allowing me the opportunity to review this title which can be ordered direct from www.detailandscale.com in both Kindle and i-book formats.

INFO

Armour and Aviation Dioramas by Aitor Azkue

Diaerama The Quarterly Publication for Aviation Themed Diorama Modellers

INFO

The Eagle has Landed

AUTHOR Tony Clayton YEAR 2016

The latest edition of this quarterly magazine on CD is WEBSITE www.diaeramafeature packed with news, articles and reviews. The magazine.com big article this quarter is part one of Hans Fehrnstrom’s ISSUE 30 Spring 2016 Swedish Mobile Hawk Missile Unit Deployment FORMAT CD-ROM diorama, which promises to be very impressive when completed. The editor Tony Clayton brings us the next part of his scratch build of a QRA hanger. The adverts and new-to-you section in this CD are a real eye opener as to what is available in terms of vehicles and accessories, so if you fancy adding a little extra to your aircraft builds this quarterly publication is an ideal starting point for inspiration and information of how to go about it. My thanks to Tony Clayton for supplying us with the review copy of the latest issue.

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JUNE 2016

A History of RAF Chivenor 1932-1995

INFO

This is a book that does just what it says on the cover. It’s a history of RAF Chivenor from its opening, until its closure as an RAF station and its subsequent takeover by the Royal Marines. From the airfield’s opening as the Barnstaple and North Devon Airport the author traces the history of Chivenor as a flying station. Requisitioned on the outbreak of World War II, it housed Coastal Command units, and started its long association with training as the home of No.3, then No.5, Coastal OTU, as well as operational Coastal Command units. Moving into the post-war era, the focus is almost entirely training, with search and rescue added. Apart from a period of closure in the late 1970s, it has been one of the RAF’s busiest, most active airfields until the mid-90s, when it finally AUTHOR David Watkins closed as RAF Chivenor. The text is well-written and extremely readable, YEAR 2015 and contains direct quotations from many sources, PUBLISHER Fonthill Media which give first-hand accounts of life on the station ISBN 978-1-78155-449-4 and its units. There are also plenty of photographs FORMAT 240pp Softback of the many aircraft flown from Chivenor; fans of the Hawk and Hunter, in particular, will find plenty of inspiration, but there are also great shots of Spitfire XVIs in Luftwaffe markings (for the 1950 Farnborough display); 1930s civil types like the Handley Page Clive or Short Scion; SAR Sycamores and Whirlwinds; and Coastal Wellingtons, Whitleys and Beauforts. Chapters 8 and 9 are basically lists, covering U-Boat Claims November 1941-December 1944; and flying accidents 1938-2008 respectively. After a final chapter of interviews entitled From the Cockpit, the two appendices cover Station Commanding Officers and units. In summary, this is not a book specifically for the modeller, but nevertheless of great interest, providing as it does some historical background (an absolute “must” for me) and a great deal of inspiration for those Hunters, Hawks, Sabres, Meteors, and many others. I enjoyed it. Recommended. Thanks to Fonthill Media for the review copy.

Book Review by Michael Chilestone

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Airframe Album 9

The Arado Ar 234 A Detailed Guide to the Luftwaffe’s Jet Bomber This is now the ninth title in this series and is essential reading if you have any of the available kits in your stash or on your work bench! The book is profusely illustrated throughout with contemporary black and white images, extracts from original technical manuals, detailed AUTHOR Richard A Franks colour images of the example preserved YEAR 2016 at NASM in the USA, Wings PUBLISHER Valiant four pages of colour Publishing profiles and isometric ISBN 978-0-9935345-0-8 views showing the FORMAT 112pp A4 Softback differences between the many variants. I must confess I did not realise that the type varied quite as much as it did! The book is rounded off with two specially commissioned kit builds, the Dragon 1/72 scale Ar 234B-2 by Libor Jekl and the Hasegawa 1/48 scale Ar 234B-2 Blitz by Steve Evans. The builds are followed by a comprehensive list of the available kits, accessories and books of the type. As I say, if you have a kit of one of these in your stash, you need this book! Highly recommended, my thanks to Mark Peacock of Valiant Wings for supplying the review copy.

INFO

The Perfect Aerodrome

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BOOKS AND MEDIA

INFO

This book is very much background history for those interested in the RAF in WWII. The concept is that the author has picked thirteen individuals, and by reference to their flying log books and other sources tells the story of their service. The other common factor is that the subjects were engaged on lesserknown, but vital, types of operations. The AUTHOR Colin Pateman author explains in the preface: “... YEAR 2015 the term [‘Special PUBLISHER Fonthill Media Duties’] has been ISBN 978-1-78155-304-6 interpreted to FORMAT 224pp Hardback apply to operations that, for reasons explained in each chapter, were in some ways extraordinary.” And extraordinary they were. There are some you might reasonably expect, such as ops in support of SOE, but there are also, for example, an artillery spotter pilot, an air despatcher (who was never officially “aircrew”, but managed over 250 hours on Dakota operations in SEAC), a Pathfinder Mosquito pilot, and a wireless operator who went from Harrows and Stirlings in Bomber Command to Avro Yorks in the Berlin Airlift via VIP transport in Liberators. The text flows well, and is illustrated with appropriate photographs. Whilst these are not what some would call useful modelling reference, given that they don’t illustrate close-up details of aircraft, they do provide inspiration for subjects, and maybe even the odd diorama – Hamilcar glider on tow, anyone? I learnt a fair bit from this as well. Ever heard of “siren raids”? A lone Mosquito would fly over a target (often Berlin) with the sole aim of setting off the sirens, and disrupting the sleep of those on the ground. A bomb load was carried, and deposited on a suitable target as well. Or one of the perks of being in 139 (Jamaica) Sqn? As well as paying for the naming of the squadron, the deal with Jamaica also included the supply of a tot of rum for crews returning from an op. Or which VIP (an accomplished pilot) often flew himself, and was often accompanied by his dog, which had its own small parachute? Readable and interesting, recommended. Thanks to Fonthill Media for the review copy. Book Review by Michael Chilestone

USAF Collection No 9

INFO

This disc has 153 images of 32 different aircraft types, taking you SERIES Military on a whistle-stop tour of the USAF YEAR 2016 inventory, from small PUBLISHER Aero Research Co. prop jobs to the CAT NO. 1061 mighty B-52 and FORMAT CD-ROM just about everything in between! If you are a fan of USAF types and are looking for inspiration for your builds, this latest disc may be just what you are looking for! My thanks to Jay Sherlock of Aero Research for sending us this latest disc for review.

Francis Blackadder of 607 Squadron Yes, I wondered too when I saw the subtitle. No, this is not a work of fiction involving maybe Air Marshal Melchett, Flt Lt Darling and AC2 Baldrick, and there are no cunning plans. Instead, it is an interesting work based on the diary of a very real pilot who went to war in 1939 in a biplane. Francis Blackadder was born in Scotland in 1913, went to school in Edinburgh, then up to university at Edinburgh and subsequently Cambridge. After graduating he took employment with the Runciman shipping line in Newcastle upon Tyne. Here he met Lesley Runciman, who was also CO of 607 (County of Durham) Sqn, RAuxAF, and joined up in 1936. With AUTHOR Robert Dixon war came mobilisation and a move to France with Gladiators, later converting to Hurricanes. YEAR 2015 It is the Battle of France that is the main focus of PUBLISHER Fonthill Media Ltd the book. After the introduction and scene-setting, ISBN 978-1-78155-310-7 the author summarises the diary, essentially telling the FORMAT 158pp Hardback story using it as a source (clearly among other sources). This is followed by two chapters reproducing the diary verbatim. This gives a real insight into life on a squadron during the “Phoney War”: flying patrols; a visit to a French unit; day-to-day routine; and the frustration of wondering which rumour concerning the unit’s forthcoming conversion to Hurricanes could be believed. The book is completed by a further section outlining Blackadder’s career after France, and his postwar life until his death in 1997. The text is illustrated throughout with photographs; not all will be useful as modelling reference, but all are well-chosen to complement the text. I found this an interesting book. I spotted a couple of mistakes: on P154 the abbreviation “ATC” is expanded as “Air Traffic Control”, when in the context the author appears to be referring to the Air Training Corps. And on P63, a photograph of a Master is captioned as a “Magister”. But these are minor issues, and do not detract from the book. I learned a lot about not only the Battle of France, but also life on a peacetime (just!) prewar Auxiliary Squadron, and about a hitherto unsung warrior who was, as it states on his headstone, “One of the Few in the Battle of Britain 1940”. Thanks to Fonthill Media for the review copy.

INFO

Unique Sorties of the Second World War

The Diary of a Hurricane Pilot in the Battle of France

Book Review by Michael Chilestone

Mustang Thoroughbred Stallion of the Air The foreword to this book, by Walter J Boyne, poses the question: “Why another book on the Mustang?” Whilst acknowledging it as a legitimate question, he provides two answers, and I’d like to offer this review as a third. This volume covers the developmental history, service history and the technical details of the different variants, the whole illustrated by plenty of contemporary and period photographs. The main text starts with a historic overview, AUTHOR Steve Pace setting out the history of the North American Aviation Company, and identifying how the seeds of the YEAR 2012 Mustang were first sown in 1935. It then moves on PUBLISHER Fonthill Media to a summary of the developmental highlights from ISBN 978-1-78155-051-9 1940-45, service history, and details on the variants. FORMAT 224pp, hardback The next few sections are the main focus, covering US fighter variants; the A-36; RAF and RAAF variants; reconnaissance variants; the lightweight Mustangs (P-51H et al); postwar Mustangs; operations in the Korean War; USAF Reserve and ANG use; the Twin Mustang; and two-seat and other developments. The book then moves on to systems and technical detail – mostly by means of reproductions of period technical manuals – before covering “foreign” (i.e. not US, British or Commonwealth) and civilian use. Finally, there are some first-hand accounts, consisting of an interview with Lee Attwood, an extract from Captain Eric “Winkle” Brown’s account of the aircraft, and combat reports from a number of 8th Air Force pilots; and appendices giving production lists, and the various aircraft used by each user. The many photographs, some familiar, many more not, cover service aircraft and current “warbirds”, and there are plenty of views which provide good detail for the modeller. This is a very good “one-stop shop” for Mustang information, and if you only want to buy one book on the Mustang, this is highly recommended. It wraps up the type’s history, technical development, and service history in one neat package, and as a bonus is extremely readable. Thanks to Fonthill Media for the review copy.

INFO

RAF Special Duties

Book Review by Michael Chilestone

546 JUNE 2016 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

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