1/48 Tamiya Supermarine Spitfire VB - Flt Lt J.A. Gibson - No 457 Sqn RAF December 1941

 This aircraft was flown by Flt Lt J.A. Gibson (no relation) who was member of the RNZAF whilst posted to a RAAF Sqn in 1941.

He was a pretty interesting guy being the only fighter pilot to have flown combat sorties in the Battle of France (flying Hurricanes), Battle of Britain (again Hurricanes) , the Pacific (2 tours flying Kittyhawks, and 1 flying Corsairs in the Solomons) and the European Theatre (no 80 Sqn flying Tempests) .

He is credited with 15 kills, 14 German and 1 Japanese. His post war life seems pretty interesting as well (Wikipedia link).

Another bonus is that this Spitfire has a nice bit of Donald Duck nose art

The Kit

• 1/48 Tamiya VB Spitfire

The Decals

• Red Roo The Away Team Part II

Aftermarket

• Seat - Ultracast
• Exhausts - Ultracast

Paints

• Mr Color for the base coat.  
• Various Tamiya and Gunze greens and greys for various shading and details (airbrushed). 
• Vallejo for any detail painting done with a brush.

Weathering

• Windsor and Newtons Paynes Grey for the wash and filters
• Various Artists Pastel chalks for shading and  streaking

The Photos

F-2A vs F-16C

For those interested in the difference in size and configuration between the F-2A and F-16C here's a photo I took of my recently finished 1/48 F-2A and 1/48 Tamiya F-16

Apologies for backdrop.

Turning Japanese - 1/48 Hasegawa F-2A in the Cabinet

Well, it's as done as its going to be. As usual I'm not entirely happy with the result but it looks good in the cabinet so it'll have to do.

Typically just before I typed this I found a web site, linked from the IPMS USA site of all places,  with quite a few shots of this actual jet, and it was quite a bit more weathered than I'd thought. For those building any of these jets have a look here

Some details:

Kit: 1/48 Hasegawa F-2A

Decals: Afterburner Decals

Wheels: Royale resin

Wheelwell: Aires

PE: Eduard

Seat: Quickboost

Pitot & AOA probes: Master Model

AS-2 Missiles: Hasegawa JASDF Weapons Set

Paint: Dark Blue  - AS-6 for Dark Blue, Light Blue is a mix of Tamiya Dark Blue, Skyblue and Gunze Intermediate Blue

Clear: Tamiya Gloss with Mr Color Thinners

Flat: Dullcoate.

Wash: Promodeller dark.

Complete Build thread is Here

Thanks for looking.