1/72 Academy Hawker Typhoon Mk. 1b

247 "China British" Sqn

Gallery Article by Greg Knowles

 

Why China British?
I have long been obsessed with the low altitude panzer busting exploits of invasion striped Typhoons over Normandy. Some consider this odd, being an AFV Platoon Commander myself. When I met a Second World War pilot at a Memorial Service for the Bombing of Darwin, who turned out to be Sam Calder, AM OBE DFC JP, a Typhoon pilot of 247 Sqn, I knew then that I had an ideal subject.

Colonel Mike Williams, USMC (himself a Cobra pilot in Vietnam and test pilot for the AH-1W), commissioned me (cost only) to build two replicas of "Sam’s Typhoons", one for himself, and one for Sam. Looking through Sam’s logbooks was an amazing opportunity to do some primary research. It turns out that he was predominantly flying two Typhoons for the campaign. The one I picked (mainly because Sam could remember the A/C code letter), was MN451, coded ZY-T. To confirm my initial research, I contacted Nick Allen at IPMS UK with a request for help. For those who need assistance with research, I can recommend the IPMS site for some excellent help. Not only very prompt, the information forwarded is helpful and presented in a style that is easily digestible, in not the lordly tones of a club "expert".

Edgar Brooks came to my aid and confirmed my initial research, thanks Edgar and Nick. In conjunction with Sam’s help (logbook and photo’s), I had ascertained MN451’s vital statistics. ‘T’ was a bubbletop Typhoon, with unshrouded exhausts and three bladed prop; it wore the standard camouflage scheme of the time, had a sky spinner, fighter band and codes, serial in black, invasion stripes, yellow leading edges and carried eight rockets. Unlike most 247 machines, it did not carry the legend "China British" on the cowling.

Sam identified some key points. He emphasized the intensity of the white of the invasion stripes and the effectiveness of the rockets: ". . the guns kept their heads down, but the rockets did the real damage."

Research complete, I set off to do justice to this impressive man and machine.

The Kit:
I chose the recent Academy 1/72 kit to represent MN451. It was not without shortcomings, but some were logical compromises. As I had chosen to have ‘T’ flying, I needed a pilot. A couple of Airfix Spitfire MkVb kits provided a suitable figure. After decapitation and reposition of his head, I painted him overall black and went to work. Sam wore his blue battledress, blue shirt with Mae West, flying boots and pistol belt. So did 1/72 FLTLT Calder, DFC, complete with appropriate stripes on his sleeves. I also added an oxygen mask, as required due to a leaky firewall on the 1/1 scale variety.

After seating and adding a harness, I painted the kit-supplied cockpit and ventral intake, then closed the fuselage halves. The rest of the kit went together without any problems and soon I was ready to start painting.

Painting:
After masking and attaching the canopy, I gave it quick blast of matt black. Apparently most British fighters of the time had canopy frames in black to reduce glare. I painted the aft fuselage sky, in preparation for the home made codes and "fighter band" and masked out the panels that surrounded the code letters in the invasion stripes. White for the stripes went on next, followed by black. I used pure white, to capture the intensity of the invasion stripes as remembered by Sam. I then unmasked the sky squares in the invasion stripes, masked the stripes and got ready for the rest of the colour scheme.

After painting and masking the yellow wing leading edges, I pre-shaded the airframe and set it aside to dry. Whilst this was drying, I took the opportunity to clean up the rockets-very tedious, but necessary. (I confess I even considered removing the rockets and saying that they had been "fired"). The rails in medium sea grey, rockets dark green, with catches in silver, pigtails black and ready to go.

I now turned back to MN451. I gave the underside a light coat of med. sea grey from Aeromaster Warbird Acrylics and had a shocker! After removing the offending cracked paint, I re-applied Gunze and had a win.

Before I could spray the Ocean Grey, I had to mask off the squadron and aircraft codes with Tamiya masking tape after a bit of a let down with the Eduard masking film. I used several light coats of the Tamiya Ocean Grey and got my templates for the RAF Dark Green ready.

After soft masking, I sprayed the RAF Dk Green and removed all masks, revealing the bright colours of a D-Day Allied machine.

Finishing:
I used the kit decals for the Roundels and fin flashes, although the red seems quite bright (I didn’t have time to get replacement) and modified the kit serials for the over-painted MN451. Tamiya Gloss lacquer went on before and after the decals, followed by paint chipping by Karismacolour pencil and the panel lines high-lighted with Citadel Flesh wash. Detail painting of the exhausts, navigation lights and the addition of toothbrush antennae (remember, an aerial receives, an antennae transmits and receives) it was ready for finals. After a final matt varnish, courtesy of Gunze, the completed rockets were added, the canopy unmasked and the model ready for mounting.

Mounting:
I had a local trophy shop run up a dressed timber base and plaque with FLTLT Calder’s details on it in preparation for mounting. The mount itself is a small piece of triangular aluminum 6" long, drilled in the corners and rolled into an appropriate base. I sanded the mount, primed and sprayed it Testors MM Flat Black. When that had dried, it was attached by two small self-tapping screws, roughly central on the base. The plaque came next, followed by MN451 itself. After final dust and polish, the two MN451’s were ready for presentation at their scale operating altitude.

Conclusion:
The Academy kit is simple, reasonably accurate and cheap. It assembles very quickly and, if it had a pilot, my kit would have been from the box. As you’ve seen, I’ve not used any fancy techniques, nor do I claim it to be an extraordinary model, but that isn’t the point.

The most significant thing for me was the fact that I had an opportunity to meet an amazing man, who actually flew over Normandy on D-Day and beyond (not many of those in Northern Australia), who is a genuine "nice bloke" and a Distinguished Australian. To the best of my knowledge, this is the most accurate kit I’ve made. Sam Calder really did appreciate it, and that is reward enough.

P.S: It seems that COL Williams was so impressed he wants me to build his fathers Corsair and his Whiskey Cobra.

Greg Knowles

      

Photos and text © by Greg Knowles