Falklands/Malvinas War 30th Anniversary GB

Yes. Argentinian planes.

Hey bondoman - come on, I got mine first!!! Just kidding buddy, go for it, I can add it to the list if you like. It is a great-looking kit though, and I still think it's a steal considering the resin + photoetch it comes with. And the funny thing that I hadn't thought of before... I was comparing some numbers while looking at my two Falklands boxes... this Pucara is actually quite a bit larger than the Harrier I'll be building alongside it.

Hey guys- I grabbed the Special Hobby 1/72 Pucara. I compared it with the Airfix rebox, and while it cost a few $$ more, and really just a few, it has all kinds of resin and PE stuff.

Azorean  Glad to have you abouard. I take it these will be Argentinian aircraft.

Welcome aboard Azorean, I'll add you to the build list right now,

Hi from the Azores Islands, Portugal

I would like to take part of this future GB. After all many say that the Portugueses were the first to put the eyes in the  Malvinas / Falklands / Malouinnes islands. 

I will built a Twin Otter or a Skyvan, both 1:72 scale.

Some great info there Jere, those unpainted areas deffinatly do look blue, so easy to see the confusion. And i really like those pics on the all NMF aircraft. Some great variation in the panels. We mostly only see WW2 and Korean war aircraft in NMF, so nice to see some more fecent ones in better quality pics.

VanceCrozier

ahhh - so the blue we're seeing here is natural metal after some exposure to the elements. My 1982-vintage paint should be showing the aluminum. Thanks again for the information Jeremias!

You are most wellcome my friend,

Here are a few pics of the Pucara at the war with a commo on in and after with the NMF.

You can see diferente shades of colours with more or less contrast between and also you can see some yellow ID bands.

Here is the NMF, the nose and tail cone is painted in silver.

Bondo, yes please join us LOL there is plenty of subjets to choose from

All the best for you guys

Jere

VanceCrozier

ahhh - so the blue we're seeing here is natural metal after some exposure to the elements. My 1982-vintage paint should be showing the aluminum. Thanks again for the information Jeremias!

Umm no I did not mean to suggest I'm not in here. Quite the contrary. But I am very much happy to spur you all along with the little tidbits I do know abt the war.

I just haven't had an inspiration. But I am sure I shall.

ahhh - so the blue we're seeing here is natural metal after some exposure to the elements. My 1982-vintage paint should be showing the aluminum. Thanks again for the information Jeremias!

Mmmmm maybe as the guys said you can try to thin down the fuselage, I´m not too good solving this problems LOL

regards

Jere

bondoman

 

VanceCrozier:

 

 

 

There's that darn oil can. Jeremias i did notice in a couple of other photos that the upper surfaces of the ailerons were still blue too, so you are probably correct. I like the detail of the buzz number still over blue.

 

Another nice detail in Vance's pic is that somebody stripped off the "Fuerza Aerea Argentina" painted tin from the nose, must be pinned up in a pub in Norfolk.

Gosh I would love to build a Pucara, but the time frame of this GB just is not in my zone. I run up to the 50's.

 

No Pucara was painted in blue, (just the undersides in light blue) what yu see is just the unpainted parts in anodized aluminium.

Here is some dta from th 1/48 Aconcgua kit (the guy from Aconcagua have an exelent research sistem)

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"When inducted into the Argentine Air Force (F.A.A.)  The IA.58 Pucara were delivered in natural metal showing different tones of anodized aluminum.

An exception was A-518 which was painted tan and brown for it's sale to Maritania but after the sale was canceled it retained these colors for the rest of it's sevice life,  and AX-04 of Fligth Test Center prototipe, painted gloss withe and red.

In 1982 during the   Falklands / Malvinas conflict camoflage was hastely applied without an established pattern ,due to this no two aircraft were painted alike.

The standard markings and insignias although usually tried to be masked over but were mostly over painted and parcially reapplied .

The inscription "FUERZA AEREA ARGENTINA" was masked over in a retangle and when unmasked displayed a natural metal retangular backround.

The control surfaces on the mayority of all aircraft were left unpainted not to disturb their static balance.

All aircraft were painted green and brown of various tones aproximately FS. 34258 and FS. 33448 with bottom sides painted FS.35450 ( A-511, A-512, A-532, A-533 and A-537)

A-515 , A-536 , A-555 were painted in gloss automotive paint with darker tones aproximately FS10152 reddish brown and green aproximately FS 14128 with bottom surfaces in natural metal..

On some aircraft yellow I.D. stripes were painted on the upper and bottom wing surface starting from the wing attach angle one meter outwards and the rudder was also painted yellow.(A-511, A-532,        A-533)

Pucara A-549 was painted in the lightest tones, tan FS 33448 light green FS 34558 and the bottom light blue FS 35622 with an irregular motted pattern applied."

Best regards

Jere

That could be a good option too Bish, and less damaging to the panel lines etc. along the spine. I'll have to see how thick the fuselage walls are & if there is any detail on them to worry about losing.

vance, would thinning the plastic of the cockpit wallas help any. I know i have had to do with when adding AM resin cockpits. Might be worth looking into for this as well.

Jeremias, thanks for the tips on the Pucara. I wonder it it's possible to add a shim between the two fuselage halves rather than making the cockpit narrower? Would that help the fit of the canopy, or just cause problems in other areas? I'll make a note to check that out when I finally get into the box.

bondoman - even if you aren't building, please feel free to keep an eye on us, you could be an honourary member! Maybe a technical Director or something!   And after your comment about the "oil can camo", I thought it was funny to see that there was actually an oil can sitting there in the photo.

bondoman

must be pinned up in a pub in Norfolk

I resemble that remark, and if i had one it wouldn't be in any damn pub.

Pity you can't make this GB. I take it you have alot on the next 16 months.

VanceCrozier

 

Another nice detail in Vance's pic is that somebody stripped off the "Fuerza Aerea Argentina" painted tin from the nose, must be pinned up in a pub in Norfolk.

Gosh I would love to build a Pucara, but the time frame of this GB just is not in my zone. I run up to the 50's.

VanceCrozier

 

Another nice detail in Vance's pic is that somebody stripped off the "Fuerza Aerea Argentina" painted tin from the nose, must be pinned up in a pub in Norfolk.

Gosh I would love to build a Pucara, but the time frame of this GB just is not in my zone. I run up to the 50's.

Nice cockpit, and great info on that paint scheme. I am sure we will get a few like that.

VanceCrozier

Bish:

...a few have resin cockpits...

...Seems to have lost its importance with the end of Empire.

 

Right, forgot to mention the resin - two nice ejection seats & some engine exhausts. I feel like I got a bargain on this one due to the relatively odd subject.

I picked up a copy of an RAF yearbook a few days ago - when talking of defence commitments, they refer to the British Isles of course, Afghanistan and "the South Atlantic" - so the MoD does remember them! For the navy, that would be a costly trip moving ships that far south I suppose.

This is the cockpit of my Special Hobby kit.

It´s really nice and lots can be seen even ith the canopy closed.

Be aware that you probably will have to trim a little of the cockpit floor in order to get the fuselage closed, also you will have to add considerable weight and the canopy fit is quite poor.

Regards

Jere

bondoman

VanceCrozier:

...the oil drum scheme??

 

Pucara A-515, and perhaps a few others were captured at Stanley airport wearing a very unusual color scheme. The standard light blue/ light tan camo had been painted over by hand in dark brown and green in haste, except for the vertical stab and tail planes. One theory is that the ground crews were by that time limited to using oil drums for work stands, and had no access to the taller parts of the a/c's.

This isn't the 515 in the foreground I think, but you get the idea.

Jeremias- congrats on the A-511. It's a real beauty. I can tell that cockpit is "sick" with detail.

Hi there and thanks for the compliments, I don´t deserve that, The kit is full of details I just have to be patient but a talented modeler can do a real piece of art with the kit, I was happy just for finish it LOL

About the Pucara in most of the planes NON of the control surfaces were painted because the crews were afraid that the improvised painting can unbalance those critical parts, that´s why. The planes were painted in the mainland not in the islands.

PS: the camo was shades of green and brown in the upper surfaces and light blue for the undersides (I use RLM65) the cammo was diferent from plane to plane so there was camos from very very light shades to dark ones.

best regards

Jeremias

stikpusher

Greg, I just had a look on Ebay and the basic Tamiya 1/35 LVTP-7 (what the Argies used) is starting at $12 with a 'buy it now' for $18. The Academy clone starts at $15. Even the Hobby Boss with interior starts at only $25 plus shipping. Act quick!!!

Thanks Stik, the Tamiya was actually an A1 model.  I am thinking hard about the Hobbyboss though.  I'm not too worried about an interior though.  As it would be my first armor build, I'd like to keep it simple.  At some point though, I am going to half to research the paint for it though.

Cheers,

Greg

ahhhh - I see it now, thanks for the heads-up bondoman. That was featured in several pics that I found on airliners.net, but I didn't really notice that before. So that's the story behind the tail on this...

VanceCrozier

...the oil drum scheme??

This isn't the 515 in the foreground I think, but you get the idea.

Jeremias- congrats on the A-511. It's a real beauty. I can tell that cockpit is "sick" with detail.

Well its still rather a touchy subject which i won't get into here, this isn't the place for it. The history goes back a couple of hundred years, and is dissputed by bith sides. There used to be a strategic value back in the days of Empire, but in 82 and in the years since, it was mainly down to the people here wanting to be a part on the UK. The main econmic value was fish. In the last couple of years oil has come into the equation, though as of yet nothing of value has been found, but they are hopeful.

I know there is oil exploration in the area. It's likely a stop-off point on the way to Antarctic science stations. Anything more that that would be better addressed by Bish.

I might come off as being an ignorant American here...but WHY did/does Britain want these Islands so bad? Is there a sort of strategic value or something?

I also have a few MPM kits, same company, and these look very good as well, and CMK do some more unusual kits.

I think the RN rotates one of its ships every six months or so, not sure how long the trip is down to here. But i guess the cruise down here is all part of the fun of being in the navy. I would hate to think how much it costs to keep this place running, what with the distance from home, the about of Helicopter hours to move kit and people around and every thing else that goes on.

Bish

...a few have resin cockpits...

...Seems to have lost its importance with the end of Empire.

Right, forgot to mention the resin - two nice ejection seats & some engine exhausts. I feel like I got a bargain on this one due to the relatively odd subject.

I picked up a copy of an RAF yearbook a few days ago - when talking of defence commitments, they refer to the British Isles of course, Afghanistan and "the South Atlantic" - so the MoD does remember them! For the navy, that would be a costly trip moving ships that far south I suppose.

Thanks for that vance. I haven't taken any of mine of of the bag yet, just had a quick look, so hadn't noticed the lack of locating tabs. But they do look nice, a few have resin cockpits and most seem to come with PE, so looking forward to building one of mine.

Bondo, yes, please to elabotare on the oil drum scheme. And keep us posted on the ship, i know the falklands was an important base for the RN at least until the end of the Second World war. Seems to have lost its importance with the end of Empire.