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

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