SEARCH FINESCALE.COM

Enter keywords or a search phrase below:

Fokker D.XXI, 1939 Finnish - PM Models 1/72 - Complete

10401 views
21 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    January 2016
Fokker D.XXI, 1939 Finnish - PM Models 1/72 - Complete
Posted by suomi39 on Thursday, January 7, 2016 11:01 PM

Hey all. First build post here -- been away from the modeling desk for about 15 years but I collect Finnish WWII stuff and recently started accumulating a stash of related 1/72 aircraft and poring over posts here. This week I picked what looked to be a simple one to get my feet wet. I actually ended up with a pair of these PM D21s so I'll do one Winter War green/grey with skis, and the other Continuation War with black/green camo, light blue underside, yellow invasion (?) markings, and wheels.

Box and sprues... not a complicated assembly here, eh?

Not sure how these will work, as they look pretty old - and for some reason two of the wing roundells are missing their white background. In any case I have a set of Techmod Finnish decals coming in the mail.

I primed the whole thing light grey while still on the sprues. Kind wish I hadn't as I spent a lot of time scraping primer off during assembly. There's literally zero cockpit detail in this kit - just a floor and a seat. Going to leave it like that but wanted to reduce visibility, so I painted the inside of the fuselage black and the seat and floor grey. Also painted the Mercury radial black. Assembled the wings, which fit pretty good after cutting the locating tabs off.

The panel lines on this model are raised and generally only sorta suggest where the actual lines should be. The wings are okay, though, and I scribed them with a pin in a pin vise. Wish I hadn't done the aileron ribs but oh well. Wet sanded which really smoothed out the scribes and my so-so priming job.

I used the back of a knife blade to try to flatten some 'facets' onto the rear fuselage, where the actual plane is fabric/stringer construction. It looks a little better -- I know I don't have the right number of ribs but dang, this is tough on such a small plane! Hope it looks good with paint over it.

Now I'm onto working on the cowling, which is completely smooth and unfeatured. Gotta scribe some access panel lines and add the little “bumps” that go around the circumference, whatever they are...

 

 

  • Member since
    January 2016
Posted by suomi39 on Friday, January 8, 2016 11:10 AM

A little more reading today -- the little "bumps" on the cowling are rocker arm bulges, of course. 

GAF
  • Member since
    June 2012
  • From: Anniston, AL
Posted by GAF on Friday, January 8, 2016 11:42 AM

Welcome, Suomi39!  Interesting technique on the stringers for the fuselage. Making a note of that.

This kit may look simple, but those simple kits are the ones that can give you the most headaches.  Smile

Good luck!

Gary

  • Member since
    September 2007
  • From: Finland funland
Posted by Trabi on Friday, January 8, 2016 11:43 AM

Hi!

 

Nice start! Those facets really gives the touch of fabric to this kit.

Though details of this kit doesn´t reach "todays standards" it´s nice one to build. Molds of this kit are made by Frogg and dates dack to 1963: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/137330-frog-156p-fokker-d21-fighter

T

"Space may be the final frontier, but it´s made in Hollywood basement." RHCP, Californication

  • Member since
    January 2016
Posted by suomi39 on Monday, January 11, 2016 12:42 PM
Sorry for slow updates, all!!
 
GAF
Welcome, Suomi39!  Interesting technique on the stringers for the fuselage. Making a note of that.
This kit may look simple, but those simple kits are the ones that can give you the most headaches.  Smile
Good luck!
Gary
 
Gary, thanks… you’re very right that a “simple” kit like this does not necessarily lead to an “easy” build. In fact I’m learning a ton but wondering if there’s a limit to how far down the rabbit hole I can go making this kit more accurate. I think I’ll do a modern Airfix kit next just to see the other end of the spectrum.
 
Trabi
Hi!
Nice start! Those facets really gives the touch of fabric to this kit.
Though details of this kit doesn´t reach "todays standards" it´s nice one to build. Molds of this kit are made by Frogg and dates dack to 1963: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/137330-frog-156p-fokker-d21-fighter
T
 
 
Thanks Trabi! I hope it looks as good under paint. Also thanks for the kit pedigree page. It looks like this kit was based on the early Dutch D.XXIs, as it seems to perfectly match the example in the walkaround found here: http://aircraftwalkaround.hobbyvista.com/fokkerxxi/fokkerxxi.htm
 
Compared to the Finnish-built D.XXIs (which FR-98 is), there are several immediately-noticed differences: the rocker arm bulges on the cowling; the “rear window” behind pilot; the stbd-wing-mounted landing (?) strobe light; wingtip nav lights and ground-crew handles; MG locations.  My references for these details are the Wikimedia pics of FR-110 at the Aviation Museum of Central Finland and period photos snagged from the web and the FDF’s WWII archive, SA-Kuva, found here: http://sa-kuva.fi/webneologineng.html.Also of course using the photos and color drawings in two Osprey books: Finnish Aces of WWII and Fokker D.XXI Aces of WWII.
 
The period photos are obviously best but few are from the Winter War period, which is the scheme I’m building FR-98 in, so I have to use all the sources together to form a best guess in some cases.
 
Anyhow, got some good bench time this weekend. I cut out the rear window and cut off the elevators and rudder with a jeweler’s saw.
 
 
The Wikipedia page for the D.XXI has a great vector drawing of the plane (Dutch version), so I printed one off at 1/72 scale and measured/calculated the appropriate dihedral, and then taped the model in place and wicked some cement into the seams. Having the plan to lay the model out on was cool but not really necessary. It is nice to note that the overall wing and fuselage shape is very close to the drawing.
 
 
Nice fitment of the wings on the bottom here… top wasn’t much better.
 
 
Filled and flap/panel lines scribed. Also filled in one extra MG port on each wing.
 
 
Rudder and elevators re-installed. I saw several photos of the D.XXI parked with the elevators depressed, and thought it looked neat (check out that cool airfield camouflage – treetops suspended above the plane!).
 
 
Horizontal stabilizer struts had to be fabbed out of styrene rod after both the brittle kit parts broke during sanding. Worked out better, actually, as the kit parts were too short. Measuring the new ones was easy as I just stuck them into the holes in the fuselage and bent them to fit, cemented in place, and then trimmed.
 
 
The kit skis are extremely basic with no details at all, but luckily there are plenty of good photos to look at.  There are even some great SA-Kuva photos of the skis being installed/maintained in the field. The actual skis had a plywood base or “sole” and aluminum housing.
 
 
I scribed some panel seams and added detail to the “knee joint” of the skis, and then glued a thin “plywood” sole to the bottom of each which will of course be trimmed down once the cement sets.
 

I painted the engine (pretty basic -- I opted to not dive into engine-making just yet) and installed it into the cowling, as I needed the cylinders as reference points for where to put the rocker arm bulges.

 
For the bulges, I sanded a rod of styrene stock into a teardrop shape and cut thin slices off the end, then glued the slices to the cowling in line with each cylinder. Those were some small parts!! Indifferent I had to set them onto the wet cement and then coax them into place with a toothpick. Final shaping of each bulge was done with a sharp knife (after photo was taken).
 
 
Used some clear PVC sheet to make the rear window glass. Man, PVC does not like to be glued. Took about five tries to get one glued in place with CA, and even then the curing CA frosted the inside. Luckily, some clear lacquer on a toothpick dabbed inside flowed neatly out over the window and cleared it up.
 
 
The canopy was pretty ugly (scratches and crooked panel lines and surface defects) so I wet-sanded with 1500 grit and hit it with gloss lacquer. Really shined it up nice (not that you can tell from the photo) but it remains to be seen how well it’ll hold up to my handling during masking and painting. The shape isn’t great but I didn’t square it up before sanding/lacquering so I’ll have to live with it.
 
 
That was not very much fun. I hope it doesn’t peel up the clearcoat – I may not have waited long enough for it to dry before I began masking. We shall see.
 
 
Next up are the wingtip lights and handles, and I think I need to put the landing strobe underneath the starboard wing, but I need to check my references again. FR-110 has it, but it might have been added after 1939. I also have to make an exhaust pipe, which is missing on the kit entirely. Once that’s done, I’ll install the skis and hit the whole thing with a thin coat of light grey to help find defects in scribing/seams/etc, and then I’ll be on to the dark green over light grey paint scheme.
 
Have to say thanks to all the members of this forum as all my ideas/solutions have come from other threads here. Even down to the cement and paints I’ve bought, which are such a huge improvement over what I used to use. This water-thin Tamiya cement is magic stuff compared to the Testors tube I used to fight with.
 
And lastly, here’s a fun pic I found in the SA-Kuva archives of a young Finn WWII modeler. Big Smile
 
 

 

 

  • Member since
    January 2016
Posted by suomi39 on Wednesday, January 13, 2016 9:49 AM

Made a little more progress last night. 

Wingtip nav lights added. Not pictured is fairing putty/sanding/shaping. Not sure yet how to add the actual colored lights on the tips - just dabs of paint after final finishing? Clear lenses? These are tiny lights. Any other ideas? 

Skis trimmed and installed. Putty and fairing of the mounts to the wings was a pain -- when mounting I had a choice of either a nice flush-fit against lower wing, or straight and vertical but leaving the gap you can see here. Obviously I left the gap but had to fill and fair it. 

 

I'm kind of disappointed with how long the ski legs/struts are; looking again at the reference photos it's clear that these things are not the right shape at all. I was so focused on shaping the ski bottoms themselves that I didn't pay attention to the struts. Oh well... too late now. Unless I get really brave with the jewler's saw. Indifferent

I also added the air scoops -- had to make both out of styrene tubing. The rearmost air scoop is obviously too big, once installed. I might re-do it with smaller tubing. Doesn't look too bad though, and no worse than the stork-leg ski struts... 

In any case, it's starting to look like an airplane! Beer

Here's FR-110 again, with a better look at the real air scoops; also in this picture is the landing strobe and the exaust pipe, both of which I still have to make. That exhaust pipe is proving tough -- three prototypes tossed so far. Super Angry

It's funny... after all that time put in working on making this cowling look halfway right for a Finnish Fokker, I could have just bought a cheap Frog Bristol Blenheim 1/72 and nabbed one of those nicely detailed cowlings, complete with rocker-arm bulges and exhaust pipe -- same Mercury VIII as the D.XXI of course. Huh?

  • Member since
    November 2015
Posted by The Migrant on Wednesday, January 13, 2016 12:27 PM

I really like what you've done here to a pretty basic kit. 

suomi39
I primed the whole thing light grey while still on the sprues. Kind wish I hadn't as I spent a lot of time scraping primer off during assembly.

If you get some Tamiya Lacquer Thinner it will remove virtually any paint without attacking the plastic. Dip a Q-tip in it and just rub it along the painted edges and the paint will quickly wipe off.

Mike G

Western Canada

  • Member since
    March 2015
  • From: Streetsboro, Ohio
Posted by Toshi on Wednesday, January 13, 2016 1:25 PM

That is amazing work and at such a scale!

Toshi

On The Bench: Revell 1/48 B-25 Mitchell

 

Married to the most caring, loving, understanding, and beautiful wife in the world.  Mrs. Toshi

 

 

  • Member since
    August 2013
Posted by Jay Jay on Thursday, January 14, 2016 9:59 AM

I admire your fortitude and clever scratch building techniques.  Thus is going to be an impressive beauty when done.

The ski struts out of the box look like they where intended to be extended in the in flight mode without any load weight on them .I think that's the reason they look so long on the model.  The pics of course are in the compressed mode with the full weight of the aircraft on them.

You can make the wing lights out of clear sprue.  Drill a tiny hole into the interior side of the sprue-light and paint the hole the appropriate color before glueing it to the wing. Then of course shape your light to match the wing shape.  This makes a convincing wing light.

 

 

 

 

 

 I'm finally retired. Now time I got, money I don't.

  • Member since
    January 2016
Posted by suomi39 on Friday, January 15, 2016 11:02 AM

The Migrant

If you get some Tamiya Lacquer Thinner it will remove virtually any paint without attacking the plastic. Dip a Q-tip in it and just rub it along the painted edges and the paint will quickly wipe off.

 

Of course it would; great idea. Thanks! Yes

Toshi

That is amazing work and at such a scale!

Toshi

 

 
Thanks Toshi! We shall see what it looks like under paint. Black Eye
 

Jay Jay

I admire your fortitude and clever scratch building techniques.  Thus is going to be an impressive beauty when done.

The ski struts out of the box look like they where intended to be extended in the in flight mode without any load weight on them .I think that's the reason they look so long on the model.  The pics of course are in the compressed mode with the full weight of the aircraft on them.

You can make the wing lights out of clear sprue.  Drill a tiny hole into the interior side of the sprue-light and paint the hole the appropriate color before glueing it to the wing. Then of course shape your light to match the wing shape.  This makes a convincing wing light.

 
Thanks for the tips on the lights. Sounds doable. 
 
I think you are exactly right on the ski struts, although the hang-angle is wrong for in-flight skis. In any case I couldn't take it any more so I cut them off just above the skis, added a little white styrene stock to build the hight back up for shaping, and then shaped the stump-ends and re-glued the skis. They look much better now but are still a little off -- and far more fragile. Indifferent 
 
I also added the housing for the stbd-wing landing light and finally worked out an exhaust pipe for the cowling. Not extremely happy with the exhaust but I need to move on or I risk losing patience with it. I'm hoping it'll look acceptable after paint and soot/weathering; I need to stop looking at the hi-res photos of the museum plane FR-110. Confused
 
 
Obviously I still have a lot of finish sanding and putty cleanup to do around the scratchbuilt parts, but I'm almost ready for painting, I think.  
 
Thanks again all for the encouragement... I need it. Next build is a HobbyBoss Ms.406 which should require little to no scratchbuilding and, I hope, will be a nice break!

  • Member since
    January 2016
Posted by suomi39 on Monday, January 18, 2016 11:09 AM

Had a bit of a setback this weekend when a roll of masking tape, pretending it was a Soviet 250kg, fell off a high peg on my workbench and landed on the port wing of the Fokker. Dead After some superglue repairs the ski and wing were back together but needed some more putty work; had to remask the canopy; the heavy rolls of tape were relocated to lower pegs. Confused 

Also discovered that I have my engine rotated 180 degrees within the cowling, which resulted in the rocker arm bulges being upside-down and an odd placement of the exhaust. Ahh dang... too late to fix that one. 

Progress-wise, though, I did some final detailing: aerial mast and wing MGs (straight pins); also added the cold-air intake tube on the exhaust. Also added the landing light lens and detailed the basic kit prop with some careful carving. Still needs cleaning up.  

Did a final wet-sand and then layed down a guide-coat of grey on the airframe and red-brown on the cowling (for future burnt-metal exhaust collector ring effect). My canned air Testors airbrush works okay -- an upgrade is in the cards after next payday. 

After the guide coat I can tell I have lots of finish-sanding and a little more filling to do before paint. Also have to find a way to smooth my scribe lines. All my details are a little big and "cartoonish," too, as I look at them, but hey, this is a learning build; I'll be waiting a long time before I start that second PM D.XXI. Wink

In any case, I think the end is in sight. Feels good to have a coat of paint in place. Just have to figure out how to do the painting and shading. 

 

  • Member since
    January 2016
Posted by suomi39 on Friday, January 29, 2016 12:52 PM

Small update for the forum -- was out of town and have fallen a bit behind on this. But, having finally got an Iwata Neo and an air supply figured out, I have moved on to finish painting and did the underside last night. Tonight I should be able to safely mask the grey and then spray the green, and then it's clearcoat and decals.

My scribed lines and scratched details seem like they keep getting bigger. Surprise Lesson learned there, that's for sure. No pics handy but I'll have some this weekend.  

  • Member since
    January 2016
Posted by suomi39 on Monday, February 1, 2016 9:48 AM

Well, made some progress here. I've come to learn that masking is my least favorite part of this -- it just takes so much longer than I expect it to! And then even after an entire evening of careful masking, some paint still leaks through when I apply too wet or a bit of tape on a curve peels up and I don't notice.

On the other hand, learning to use my Iwata Neo has been a joy -- Tamiya acrylics at 1:1 with thinner just spray perfectly.

Unfortunately, Tamiya doesn't offer the grey I wanted for the underside ("light gull grey") and my LHS only had the Model Master Acryl in gloss. I went with it anyway and found it not as friendly to spray as the Tamiya, but at least the color is good.  Spraying around the skis was a challenge for this airbrush newbie but I managed to avoid any major drips or runs. 

After that dried came time for the "big masking" job. I realized that this is why one waits to install the wing MGs and pitot tube until after major colors -- makes that leading wing edge easer to mask.

There are some conflicting suggestions out there for the appropriate Finnish olive green or "oliivin vihreä". I chose to go with FAA Dark Slate Grey, which required sacrificing a full bottle of RLM22 by adding 35 drops of red and 125 drops of black. I'm happy to say that I really like the result. It sprayed wonderfully and it feels very good to have this little bugger starting to look like a Finnish Fokker. (Cowling and prop mocked up for pics. Cowling exhaust collector ring and exhaust are Tamiya Red Brown shot thinly over a base coat of chrome silver.)

A few masking flubs on the wing leading edge to be touched up, or covered with chipping/weathering, maybe? 

Last night I got a coat of Future in place and now I'm starting to get nervous again... decals and weathering! Indifferent These planes lived outdoors, operating from grass fields and frozen lakes. Period photos show some extreme weathering and dents and bruises.  Then it'll be installation of the gunsight, aerial wire, and wingtip lights, and then... will it really be complete? Hard to imagine. Sleep

  • Member since
    February 2007
  • From: Brunswick, Ohio
Posted by Buckeye on Monday, February 1, 2016 11:30 AM

Looking good!Yes

Mike

  • Member since
    January 2016
Posted by suomi39 on Wednesday, February 10, 2016 12:39 PM

One step forward, two steps back!

And backward steps this late in the game really cause angst... but so far, nothing totally irreperable. I won't go into all the details, but mainly they've had to do with airbrush mistakes, mostly dry-tip problems that result in no paint, no paint, no paint, then suddenly HUGE WET spot of paint. I can't seem to spray anything but 1:1 thinned Tamiya with consistent success.

This of course is not good when trying to paint exhaust and smoke free-hand. I had just painted 6 perfect exhaust streaks on a scrap model, but for some reason when I went to do the same thing on the D21... Indifferent oh well.   Fortunately, the well-cured Future and undercoats of paint withstood some thinner-wiping of fresh paint on top. Still some touch-up necessary but I think it's all salvageable. Also, I need to remind myself to check and re-check things like which side the exhaust pipe is on, as perspectives change when the nose is facing you vs. the tail. Hmm

Decals went on pretty well. I had trouble getting a smooth gloss finish with the Future. It seems like the Tamiya flats are SO FLAT, especially if they spray a little dry, that the texture telegraphs right through the coats of Future. You'd have to spray/brush 3-5 thick coats to fill it in I think. Now I see mentions of "burnishing" Tamiya flats before recoating and I can understand why. Experiments on my next project's (HB Ms.406) Tamiya primer coat are seem to support this.

Result of this on the D21 is a bit of silvering under some of the letters and markings and some bubbles/wrinkles in the roundells. However they are very minor and really have to be looked for. You can see the texture on the wing - this is after two coats of Future, decals, and another coat of Future.

Same stage, side decals, along with an abortive stencil attempt on the rudder. I had a problem with the tactical number on this aircraft: the kit decals (aside from being uselessly yellowed -- I tested them) were for "white 3," which was this aircraft's number during the Continuation War. From everything I could find, during the Winter War, it should have been "blue 2." The blue number would have been outlined in white and impossible to hand-paint at this scale, so I decided to settle for a "white 2," but although the stencil looked good the result was quite poor (not pictured Ick!).

I popped the rudder off and soaked it in iso alcohol for about thirty seconds and took it back to bare plastic, then re-painted. I also purchased an aftermarket decal set from Kora and one from AML: this got me a "white 2" decal and some assorted other small details that I was missing, such as the first-aid/ski access panel red cross, foot- and hand-holds, and propellor logos. They were very fragile but look pretty good -- the rudder green and white colors needn't necessarily match the rest of the paint exactly anyhow, since the tactical numbers were unit-applied. Now some more research (got a new book) has shown me that FR-98 might have worn "white 3" during at least part of the Winter War after all. Confused

Photos are also after a thin application of Tamiya smoke which tamed the bright white roundells a bit; the cowling and prop are dry-fit. Some chipping with a silver Prismacolor pencil was started. 

I do believe that the next update will be "ready for inspection." I have to correct the smoke/exhaust on the underside (notice no pics of that here...), finish the chipping, and then apply a mild flat coat (prewar FAF D.21s were finished glossy but wore to a soft satin). Still have gunsight and aerial wire to install. 

The flat coat has me nervous -- experiments so far with Testors Dullcoat aerosol, Future with Tamiya Flat Base added, and Model Master Acryl Flat have all been inconsistent at best. Dusty white or semi-gloss. Wish me luck, and thanks for following along!

  • Member since
    June 2003
  • From: Cavite, Philippines
Posted by allan on Wednesday, February 10, 2016 10:22 PM

Welcome back to the hobby! Looking at your work its like you never took a break.

 

Its fortunate the kit color is dark, the decals appear to have yellowed.

No bucks, no Buck Rogers

  • Member since
    January 2016
Posted by suomi39 on Thursday, February 11, 2016 9:07 AM

allan

Welcome back to the hobby! Looking at your work its like you never took a break.

 

Its fortunate the kit color is dark, the decals appear to have yellowed.

 

 

Thanks Allan, for checking in. The kit decals are very yellow. I tried them on a scrap model and while strong I deemed them unusable. I ended up using aftermarket Techmod, AML, and Kora decals.

  • Member since
    August 2013
Posted by Jay Jay on Thursday, February 11, 2016 9:35 AM
I'm happily following along and enjoying your clever additions to this plain kit. Ty for posting as i am learning much.

 

 

 

 

 

 I'm finally retired. Now time I got, money I don't.

  • Member since
    January 2016
Posted by suomi39 on Thursday, February 11, 2016 3:38 PM

Jay Jay
I'm happily following along and enjoying your clever additions to this plain kit. Ty for posting as i am learning much.
 

 
Getting to the point that when I look at it all I can see are all the improvements I skipped or mistakes I made! Time to finish it and start the next one in earnest, hopefully one a little... less plain. Thanks for following along!

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Cameron, Texas
Posted by Texgunner on Thursday, February 11, 2016 4:11 PM

Oh man, that is so cool!  Beautiful work sir!!Bow Down


"All you mugs need to get busy building, and post pics!"

  • Member since
    January 2016
Posted by suomi39 on Thursday, February 11, 2016 5:26 PM

Texgunner

Oh man, that is so cool!  Beautiful work sir!!Bow Down

 

Kiitos! Lots to say about camera angles that hide the screwups.

I hope to bring a lot more FAF birds to life here over time. 

  • Member since
    January 2016
Posted by suomi39 on Tuesday, February 16, 2016 1:03 PM

As a kid, I built models all the time, but rarely finished one. Part of me was afraid that I'd have the same problem as an adult. But I have to admit that keeping a "build log" here on this forum was a major motivator to finish, not to mention anytime I hit a roadblock or problem, I could search the forum and find a half-dozen solutions. 

In any case it's definitely time to call this one done. There is probably more I could do, but I'm starting to only see errors and can feel discouragement sneaking up on me. I have to move on. On the plus side, I have learned quite a bit and that helps reduce the sting. For example -- missing/incorrect details (wrong exhaust placement, missing instrument venturis, missing brass ejection ports on wing undersides, etc), a few historical errors ("white 2" instead of "blue 2"), and a few are just model-making mistakes that I couldn't easily correct (tail not square with airframe, etc). The biggest imperfection that stands out to me on 1/72 models is canopy glass and framing. I ended up with some clouding on the inside and some of my primer coat leaking underneath the tape, in addition to over-wide frames and generally bad fit.  

Also, some decal silvering showed up after the matte clearcoat, and as noted above I think this was caused by a less-than-glossy gloss coat. My chipping (prismacolor pencil) got a little too symmetrical on the wings, and the panel lines of course are kinda sloppy. Initial weathering was with Tamiya Smoke and final weathering was done with pastels. Believe it or not the exhaust stain on the underside is actually a little too light when compared to some period photos. The gun barrel staining on the other hand is mostly absent from period photos but I used it to cover up some clearcoat issue.  I did not seal the pastels as most were in non-handling areas and I did not want to chance screwing it all up with another matte clearcoat.  

I am very happy with the colors, and with the way that the Tamiya Smoke faded/toned down the decals and overall finish; also happy with the aerial wire -- a much easier addition than I was expecting -- though it's missing the mounting post on the vertical stabilizer. 

Lots of this stuff looks better in person, I think -- hi-res photos really let you see blemishes up close! Huh?

So... here is FR-98, perhaps on 1 December, 1939, after Sgt. Lauri Nissinen's first of four Winter War kills, an SB-2 (he damaged two more) over Viipuri.

 

 

Thanks for checking in on this -- next WIP will be posted soon. 

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

SEARCH FORUMS
FREE NEWSLETTER
By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. View our Privacy Policy.