1/48 Tamiya De Havilland Mosquito FB Mk VI 487 Sqn RNZAF

Depicted as an aircraft from 487 Squadron RNZAF that, on the 18th February 1944, flew on " Operation Jericho". In it Mosquitoes of No's 21  , 464 (RAAF) and 487 (RNZAF) Squadrons bombed the Amiens prison to free French resistance fighters being held by the Gestapo.

The Build

This was my first Tamiya kit and WOW, what a joy to build, it went together with virtually no problems (the wingtips being the exception). The instructions are good and the detail in the cockpit and bomb bay is good. If this is representative of other Tamiya kits then I can see why the are around $40 AUD. But I think it is well worth the money. I bought an after market tail wheel and crew door, although only the crew door was really required.

Painting and Finishing

For the paints I used Gunze 309 for the green and Tamiya XF54 (Dark Sea grey) for the upper surfaces and XF 19 )for the underside. To me these colours look pretty good  representations of the the WW 2 RAF colours Dark Green, Ocean Gray and Medium Sea Grey. As I have at least 3 other RAF WW2 fighters to build I think I'll be sticking with them.

The kit was dusted in Tamiya smoke and a final coat of Gunze Flat clear and I'm very happy with the final result. I rate this my best effort yet.

The Photos

1/48 Academy Republic P-47D-25 Thunderbolt - 84th Fighter Squadron 78th Fighter Group 1944

 

Depicted as an aircraft flown by the 84th Fighter Squadron 78th Fighter Group England Autumn 1944.

I've always loved the P-47D, a big beautiful beast of a plane, Sadly and wrongly underrated when compared to the P-51D. IMHO the P-47D Bubbletop just looks cooler. The Thunderbolt destroyed more aircraft in air to air combat than the P-51D and despite it's size was very manoeuvrable.  But it's forte was ground attack, and along with the Hawker Typhoon it rates as may favourite single seater of WW2.

The Build

This kit is fairly good, although I had some trouble with the Decals (more on that later). Also the joints between the wing and fuselage on the underside were huge and required allot of filler. Still I paid $15 for this kit so I can't complain. 

I used a true details cockpit for this build.

I choose the unusual scheme of RAF dark Green and Sky. I had a picture of a 84 th Fighter squadron aircraft in a book that mention they were in this scheme.

As usual I agonized over the paints and ended up using Humbrol Enamels (149 for the green) and 64 for the underside. 

The Decals

I used the kit decals but completely screwed up the checkerboard decal on the nose, so much so that it was not salvageable . After much swearing and many attempts to paint the checks I put out a request on the Fine Scale Modelling Forums. A guy (thanks Daniel) replied saying that he would send me the decals for the kit. After e-mailing him my postal address we discover he lives 5 minutes away from me. Small world, anyway he also provided me with some valuable modelling tips when he dropped around. 

The kit was dusted in Tamiya smoke and a final coat of Gunze Flat clear and I'm pretty happy with the final result.

The Photos

Now it's been added to my Collection of WW 2 aircraft, which is slowly taking up all the spare shelf space in the house.

1/48 Revell Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress - Man-O-War II"/"Horsepower Ltd."

 

Depicted as "Man-O-War II"/"Horsepower Ltd." (LG-V). B-17G-25-DL Flying Fortress S/N 42-38083 from the 322nd Bomber Sqn, 91st Bomb Group 8th United Stated Army Airforce 

The aircraft was lost on November 2,1944 on a mission to Merseburg, Germany after being attacked by Fw-190's near the target and catching fire. 5 KIA, 4 POW. (Info from here)

The Build

This kit took me a long time as I was busy with real life stuff. The kit is a bit of a pain to build with all the clear parts and the huge gap between the lower wing and the Fuselage.  The ball turret also took me 3 tries, and I'm still not that happy with it.

The kit has a lot of detail on the inside so a skilled modeller (unlike me) may be able to do a cut away.

The Photos