SPITFIRE GROUP BUILD 2007-2008

TLP- Very nice work!

gzt- Excellent job on the camo.... very fine work! 

Waste Land: Thanks :)

Frank: Thanks but I wish it is flawless :( 

I tried to do a very thin coat of Dark Green , kinda of a mist only. THis is why I did not put preshade on top of the first coat. I lamost have what I need but some places the Dark Green is a bit too thick. I believe my eyes are not so good or the light need some improvements :)

Overal I think it is a bit bettter than my first Spit.

Gary: I am not sure who exactly do you refer to as" there was just one survivor of that event", however there were a lot of Polish pilots who survived the war. Many of them already passed away - Witold Urbanowicz died in Long Island - one of the aces from BoB.

Some of them returned to Poland after the war. Urbanowicz was one of them. He was arrested but was able to escape to the west. Some like Stanislaw Skalski were not able to escape and they were tortured by KGB while imprisoned for few years after the war. After stalin died, he was freed. Later he became a general of PAF. He died few years ago.

For all interested there is a great book by Olson and Cloud : "A question of Honor - the Kosciuszko Squadron - forgotten Heroes of WWII" 

For those who may not know that : the second (after Britain) largest use of Spitfires during the WWI was PAF - maybe this is why I like Spitfires so much

gzt wrote:

TANGO 1 wrote: Greg, it is true that many forget the part that Polish pilots played in WWII, but I can assure you that I and many others do remember them and thank God that they and many more airmen from other countries came to Britains aid. They all deserve much more recognition than what they were given. My yearly reminder on these boards is one of the many ways that I remember them and give thanks for their bravery and sacrifice. If I remember right there was just one survivor of that event. He later wrote a book about it, and they tried to kill him more than once long after the war ended. I found it at the Public Library. gary THanks Darren ! Time goes on and not too many of the are still with us but I hope that we all remember and tribute the once who lost their lifes "for your Freedom and ours". I remember that my history class took about one semester just on WWII (sadly it was silent on Spetember 17 1939, Katyn mass murder and post war prosecution of heros), I am curious how much space current history books have for this time period.  Just difficult time ... Thanks again Darren.

Greg-

Your paint looks FLAWLESS!  Excellent work, my friend!

latest on Zumbach's Vb

just painted a second coat of Dark Green. Now have to wait two days for enamels to cure and will coat with gloss .... DECALS TIME

Nice Work TLP!

We have completion! I threw in a few shots of it when it wasnt complete because the final shots I took came out kinda blurry and now the model is no longer in my posession. let me know what ya think

I ran across this photo over on ARC, not sure if it's real or not but sure makes for an interesting diorama idea!

Thanks for all the kind words guys!

John, I've seen some pics too that show they were not perfect. Makes you wonder why we pull our hair out masking them perfectly, huh?  That must've been a lot of work to get that done right before the invasion.

Rich.Carpenter wrote:

Nice job, Jon. Looks like quality work on both the camo and the stripes. I was wondering, what was the significance of the "invasion" stripes? Did they serve a particular purpose beyond the usual type of insignia meant to help fellow airmen more easily distinguish between Allied and Axis aircraft?

Just to add to what Frank said, Wikipedia says:

A total of 12,000 aircraft under Air Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory were to support the landings, including 1,000 transports to fly in the parachute troops; 10,000 tons of bombs would be dropped against the German defences, and 14,000 attack sorties would be flown.

That's a lot of air traffic! It's a wonder they didn't paint them even more than they did. 

Looks good, Jon!  We're all keeping track so don't slack off on the building, we'll all show up at your door asking "What For!".

Invasion stripes always bother me.  I've read that they were all put on over night, and that the methods were brooms and mops along with paint brushes, and the work was not that neat.  I've found some pictures that back that up, but most seem pretty well done.  I wonder what the real story is?  Maybe in the days after the invasion they got "fixed up" some.

Jon,

Mmmm..............very nice work mate! I have wanted to build ML407 in the same paint scheme and your build is giving me plenty of inspiration.

Well done!! 

Frank,

I am soooo glad you didn't slice up that kit! I nearly did the same thing, so don't be too hard on yourself.

You can get the next round in.

Rich-

The invasion stripes were applied to all allied aircraft operating in the area of the Normandy Invasion as a means of quickly identifying them.  The stripes were put on in the early morning hours immediately before the operation began, and helped keep allied gunners from firing on friendly aircraft.

Nice job, Jon. Looks like quality work on both the camo and the stripes.

I was wondering, what was the significance of the "invasion" stripes? Did they serve a particular purpose beyond the usual type of insignia meant to help fellow airmen more easily distinguish between Allied and Axis aircraft?

I finally got some more work done on my Hasegawa Spitfire Mk. IX.

I'd actually been kind of avoiding it, as I'd never painted invasion stripes before, and I was sort of dreading it. But I've chipped away at it over the last week, and all the tape came off today. I was pretty happy with it. I need to touch up a few places, but it turned out way better than I thought it would. 

After this, things should go faster!

Glad we could clear it up, especially before I started hacking up a good kit for no reason other than my own ignorance!

That's why I love the people here on these forums, they have saved my more than once!  In fact, how many times have you saved me Darren?

Dooh!   I was going to change them cuz' I thought they were supposed to face to the front.  Glad I asked, the pics I was looking at were of other marks, and they had them facing front.  So, I thought I had to change them so that they DID face the front.  Glad I asked...

Thanks mate, I owe you another drink!

Frank-you don't need to change anything! Just follow the instructions, the scissors are supposed to face the rear.

Your last post sounds like you think you have to change things around-you won't have to as the kit legs will fit as the instructions show you. Fit the legs with the wheel end leaning toward the front of the airframe and the scissors will fit in the two holes on the back of the oleo legs, this will result in them facing the tail end of the aircraft.

If I'm not making any sense, I'll post a pic of how I did mine when I get home from work. I have to go off line now as its time for me to go on duty. If you do as the instructions say-you'll get it right.

Hope this helps.

Darren-

, that bites!  I was afraid of that.  Did you change yours on your Mk.47?  I am looking at them, and wondering how hard it would be to cut off the little square-shaped mounting lugs and somehow changing the mounts so I can correct it.  Thanks for the assurance, mate.  Drinks are on me!