Subject: Re: Stehlin's Dewoitine
From: "Steve Bamford ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "Randy Lutz" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2003 16:05:49 -0700

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you have never been hurt; and
Dance like no one is watching!

----- Original Message -----
From: Randy Lutz <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Sent: Friday, August 29, 2003 11:58 AM
Subject: Stehlin's Dewoitine

Hi Steve,

This particular model of the Tamiya 1/48 Dewoitine represents the D.520
flown by Commandant Paul Stehlin, of Groupe de chasse III/6 while based at
Maison Blanche, Algeria in July 1940.

To model Stehlin's aircraft I was fortunate to have three photos from three
different time periods.  By coincidence, all three photos are of the exact
same airframe.  One of the photos, a close-up of the rear, shows Stehlin's
aircraft in pre-Armistice markings and was a great aid in determining the
camo pattern on this area.

The second photo was taken about a month later when the aircraft was
displaying the full white Armistice markings.  This photo provided a
complete starboard side camo pattern, although the nose area was too dark to
see the pattern.

The final photo showed Stehlin's aircraft after being painted with the
yellow tail surfaces as seen on Syrian based machines, but had much better
exposure in the nose area and allowed me to duplicate the camo pattern in
this area.

One thing Aero Master missed in their decal option was the extra white
letter 'A' on the top of the starboard wing, inboard of the roundel.  This
made it necessary for me to pick up another set of these decals to obtain
the missing 'A'.  The application of the individual aircraft letter or
number was a common practice of Groupe de chasse III/6 and can be traced
back to MS.406's of early war days.  Aero Master also suggest that the
numero de matricule (serial number) No.331 is shown on the rudder.  However,
this is incorrect as it is clearly not visible in the 3 photos of Stehlin's
Dewoitine.  One final complaint with the Aero Master markings relates to the
size of the fuselage letter 'A'. It is a little oversize and because of
that, it would be impossible to model Stehlin's aircraft in the Syrian
markings as the letter 'A' would not fit in between the yellow rear fuselage
and the fuselage roundel.

In keeping with my standard painting practices, this model was finished with
Xtracolor X384 WWII Kaki, X386 WWII Ombre Calcinee, X388 WWII Gris Bleu
Foncé, X389 WWII Gris Bleu Clair, X103 Insignia Red FS11136, X124 Blue
FS15109 and X141 White FS17875.  The decals are from Aeromaster  sheet
48-095 and the aircraft was weathered with chalk pastels.

As with all my other Dewoitines, this one is essentially out of the box,
save the photo-etched seatbelts.  This is my sixth Dewoitine and I would
have to say that the appeal of this subject has to be on account of the
varied marking choices.  I have many more in the queue to model, including
both Allied and Axis Bulgarian machines, a Free French, and a few from the
Aeronavale.  We all have our favourite subjects we like to model.  For some
it is Me-109's, or Spitfires.  But for me it is D.520's.  However, I also
like Nates and Mustangs.