Here
are some Aussie 1/72 kits from my collection.
They are:
-
Avro
Anson MkI – Airfix kit finished as for an aircraft from RAAF 71 squadron
based at
Lowood
,
Queensland
in late 1943.
-
Curtiss
P40-E Kittyhawk – Heller kit, RAAF 75 squadron,
Milne Bay
,
Papua New Guinea
1942/3
-
Vultee
Vengeance MKII – SMER kit, RAAF 24 squadron, Nadzab airfield,
Papua New Guinea
1942
Click on
images below to see larger images
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All
were built pretty much OOB, with the exception of a little scratchbuilding in
the cockpits with plastic card/sprue and masking tape seatbelts.
All painting was done with an Aztec airbrush using Tamyia and Model
Master acrylics.
Various
new techniques were trialled on these aircraft as follows:
-
Using
painted masking tape for canopy framing on the Anson – worked OK, except
the yellow tint from the Tamyia masking tape shows through a bit.
-
Pre-shading
panel lines on the Kittyhawk – this was my first attempt after learning
about it on ARC and it worked great. I
do it all the time now.
-
Using
scrapings from a lead pencil on the Anson to simulate wear on raised
surfaces – worked OK, but I wouldn’t wax lyrical about it.
-
Instead
of using decals, I sprayed the lettering on the fuselage of the Vengeance
using small bits of masking tape – I was very happy with this, but it sure
is more work than decals!
-
Simulated
paint fading for the first time on upper surfaces of Kittyhawk by spraying
sections with slightly lighter shade of green.
-
Cut
out and repositioned elevators on the Vengeance.
-
Made
a complete dogs breakfast of the extra vac-formed canopy which came with
Vengeance due to CA glue crazing, so had to use the thick and lumpy canopy
supplied with original kit.
-
Used
up half a tube of putty on the upper fuselage of the Anson due to the poor
fit.
-
Cut
out and re-attached in a slightly opened position the cowl flaps on
Vengeance.
The
Vengeance was a bit of a find for me. Despite
all my interest in WW2 aircraft, I had never heard of this aircraft till just
lately and decided I really needed to build one.
But I had never seen a kit.
Then,
on one of my work trips out west (to Narrabri, cotton country in NSW – get
those Aussie atlases out), I dropped into Toyworld
and there it was, on sale. Too
easy!
David Thompson
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