Battle of Britain 75th Anniversary GB

For some reason I thought the group build already started, I can put a hold on the construction. 

No problem Dan, I'm looking forward to starting my new tool Airfix Spit as well.  I can't wait to see how it compares to the old one.  Only 19 days to go lads!

Yeah I'm wounding how my two Spit's will fit together,  my next trip to my local hobby shop I'll be picking up one of the squardon's books on the Lancaster.  Also came across a Airfix new release,  1/72 Battle of Britain 75th Anniversary Gift Set.   You get Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IA,  Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3, Hawker Hurricane Mk.I, Heinkel He 111 P-2.  Not bad for $49.99 USD.   September 18, 2015 arrival date.

That looks like an awesome kit Dan.

Yeah I would love to pick this up, at my local hobby shop.  Looks like the Heinkel is a new tool.

If those are all new tools (and it looks like they are), that's a great deal.

Just came across this GB, what a great idea!  The BoB is one of my favorite subjects to study, have numerous books and of the course the classic movie "Battle of Britain".  I have been hoarding/collecting all the pertinent A/C of the conflict (all 1/48):

Of special interest is the middle subject not found in many collections, 1/48 CA Boulton-Paul Defiant.

The 1/48 CA Hurricane MK1 is a fabric wing variant.

Nice collection there Reasoned, one of my local hobby shops had that Revell/Monogram 1/48 Heinkel HE 111 for what seemed like forever.  Then when I decided to pick it up on one of my visits, it was gone.  Every now and then they would had some kits that are out of production, but at a great price.   I have one of those Pro Modeler Heinkels I got off ebay.  

Airfix has the following out already.  It contains the new mold Spitfire and Messerschmitt, but still the old metal wing Hurricane.

It's available from Hannants in the UK.  I received mine in about ten days in the US.  There are also some new BoB decal sheets showing up at Hannants now, too.

And I ran across this website yesterday.

http://www.battleofbritain.tv/TheFew.html

Those three fighters look pretty sweet!

Here's the MESSERSCHMITT BF 109G-10 at the USAF Museum.  Even though this aircraft didn't take part in the battle of Britain,  but where's a close up on the engine.

I have been trying to plan out what I want to do for this GB and I've narrowed it down to a couple Hurricane options but need some help. One I'm interested in doing is Sgt. Ray Holmes of 504 squadron and the other is Billy Fiske of 601 squadron. I've just finished "The Few" by Alex Kershaw and would like to do a sort of tribute to the yanks who fought in the BofB (I know Ray Holmes wasn't American but I'd still be interested in depicting his plane) . But if I do Billy Fiske's I'd like to do it as the plane he was shot down in, which I've found was serial number P3358, but I haven't been able to definitely nail down what it was coded. I was wondering if anyone has come across this information? I know it will be "UF" something b/c of 601 squadron code but not sure what the last letter will be. One website said it was UF-H but not sure if that is right. Thanks to anyone who might be able to shed some light on this for me!

-Andy

According to this site

www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/.../00.shtm

it's UF-H.  Maybe this is the website you already found?

The aircraft illustrated by the model was apparently his usual aircraft (UF-E), but he was shot down in -H, with serial P3358, as you indicated.

Another website claims the same thing

http://ehangar.com/forum/ehangar-com-gallery/battle-of-britain-art-chronology/page-3

but it wouldn't load for me.

Tally ho!

Yeah Checkmate that's the website I saw. That ehanger website is pretty cool though! Thanks for taking the time to lend a hand, I really appreciate it! If I go with Billy Fiske's plane I'll probably go with UF-H, barring anyone here showing something different. Looking over the ehanger website brought another pilot to mind...James Nicolson, the only VC recipient in the BofB. There are just so many real hero's that could be represented. In this age of athletes and actors I think the word hero is used too loosely. Just my . However, I build way too slowly, so I'll have to pick just one and do the other ones another time Thanks again Checkmate!

-Andy  

Tenth July, and the Battle of Britain has now begun.

Here's the Airfix box from my contribution.

Here are the decals I plan to use.  Sorry about the glare; I was shooting through the plastic bag.

SO-E came from 145 Squadron.  Not too much information about it on the web but from this site:

 http://www.epibreren.com/ww2/raf/145_squadron.html

"On 10 October 1939, No 145 reformed at Croydon as a fighter squadron, receiving Blenheims in November. In March 1940 it began to re-equip with Hurricanes and in May became operational over northern France. 

"On 16th May, Wg/Cdr. Ginger takes over temporary command of No.145 Squadron. No.145 has only recently arrived in France, and is currently based at Crepy.

"On 17th May, whilst leading No.145 Squadron on a sortie over St.Quentin, Wg/Cdr. Ginger single-handedly accounted for 5 enemy aircraft destroyed. In recognition of his outstanding dedication to the war effort the French Ministry of War has awarded him the Croix de Guerre (Cross of War). 

"On 31st May, Wg/Cdr. Ginger is promoted to Group Leader and posted to Group H.Q. 

"After covering the evacuation from Dunkirk, the squadron took part in the Battle of Britain until withdrawn to Scotland in mid-August, returning south in October.

"Stations
Tangmere 10 May 1940
Crepy, France - ca. 15 May 1940?
Tangmere
Westhampnett 31 July 1940
Drem 14 August 1940
Dyce 31 August 1940
Tangmere 9 October 1940"

I haven't found any information about the pilot for this specific plane.

And the plastic bin of parts, detached from the sprue.  Next day or so I'll spend cleaning them up for painting.

Tally ho!

I decided to get started on this thing today.  Haven't done much modeling lately.  I've hit a small wall on the other two GB's I've started.  I thought I'd try something fairly easy, then jump back to the other kits.  I'm at the point CMK is at.  This Airfix kit has some nice detail for the scale.  Hopefully it will progress smoothly.

Craig

Here's my Tamiya Spitfire Mk.I. Started working on the cockpit a little last night.

Good start chaps, good start!

I just found you GB.  I have a question.  I see that most of the aircraft are Allied.  Is this open to the Axis side as well?  I am thinking of getting a Bf 109E-4.

moose

Very frustrating. My build got derailed unexpectedly when my cockpit floor/seat assembly went missing and hasn't turned up yet. I suspect the cat but she's not talking. 

Probably was the cat, since you have one.  They are notorious thieves.  I had a 1/700 LCT go missing months ago and it hasn't turned up.

Now I keep the pieces in old plastic sandwich meat boxes that have snap on lids.

Hope your kitty returns the parts.

Here is a color photo from that time and place that I just came across and thought that you folks might enjoy

Nice shots; good for reference.  Thanks, stik!

another beauty!

just one more...

Nice!

Made some progress on the Airfix Hurricane MkI.

First, I've had to change the plane I'm building.  Further research shows that my original choice from 145 Squadron was equipped with a rather long and pointed de Havilland nose cone--which I don't have.  I ordered one from Hannants, and when it arrives will build it.  But for now, I've settled on "Widge" Gleed's plane, as shown on the boxart.  I've got some Xtradecals for it, too.

First thing I usually do with planes is to attach the horizontal stabilizers before closing up the fuselage.  This lets me glue them from the inside, with lots of glue, so the silly things don't fall off during construction--most times.

Then I painted the inside of the fuselage, after filling up several ejector pin marks.  The landing gear wells are all open on this ancient kit, so the bottom of the cockpit floor shows through.

I used WEM Colourcoats Eau de Nile for the undersides, since that is what the Xtradecal sheet says.  It's a pretty vivid shade of green, and apparently got used in the confusion of the RAF's switch from black/white undersides to Sky, Type S, in June/July 1940.

Here's the cockpit floor and seat.  I'll add seat belts later, made from masking tape.

And another shot, of the underside of the floor.  Since it'll show through the gear wells, I painted it Eau de Nile.

Some work on the wings.

The landing gear legs had a couple of ejector marks on each one.  I filled these with superglue and sanded them off (hopefully).  They are pretty simple, with only a brace to glue on.

I masked around the area for the intake and painted it black.  Also painted the inside of the intake black, then test-fitted the two together.

Here's the intake with the prop.  I painted the prop black, then masked the blades.  I shot another bit of black over the masks to seal things, then a coat of white to back up the yellow tips.  The nose cone will be red, so I undercoated that with white, too.

Since the edges of the top wings will also be visible through the landing gear wells, I painted them in the undersurface color of Eau de Nile.

And that's progress for now!

Tally ho!

Really nice progress Checkmate. I like the idea of gluing the stabilizers before closing up the halves Too often I make a mess with the glue, I may have to try that. Keep up the great work!