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PICTURES IN THE PREVIOUS MAILS
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1/72 Hasegawa
Dewoitine D.520C1,
n° 277, GC III/6 5ème escadrille l'armée de l'Air,
Rayack (Syria), June 1941,
flown by Sous-lieutenant Pierre Le Gloan
by Igor Svetlov (IS)
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Kit:
1/72 Hasegawa Dewoitine D.520 „French Air Force“
Afermarket parts :
Eduard #72-254 photo-etched detail set (selected parts only)
Falcon vac formed canopy (from the set #26 “France WWII”)
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The nose air intakes were originally wrong shaped being too narrow
at their forward end. This was corrected with plastic inserts and
re-shaping. The louvers were added to the intakes as it can be seen on
the photos.
The under-belly cooler was too narrow and also not curved enough in
outline. It was re-shaped by making two cuts in its rear part,
repositioning the rear ends of the cooler sides outward and filling the
gaps with Mr.Surfacer.
The cooler interior (area covered by the cooler) was completely
re-worked by cutting out the flat plastic fragment of the lower wing
part and making an appropriate niche instead, as it was on the real
thing. Therefore, the etched cooler grills by Eduard (designed to fit
the kit parts) became just useless and the replacement parts were
finally scratch built. The wing area where the cooler is attached was
also modified according to the reference photos.
The main wheel wells (too shallow and totally wrong represented on
the kit) were completely re-worked, in particular, the niches for the
landing gear legs.
For the wheel well “ceilings” the Eduard parts were used, with some
additions though.
The kit parts for the landing gear covers were thinned down and
modified for correct appearance. This way they still look much better
than the flat etched pieces.
The incorrect curved representation of the area under the rear view
windows behind the cockpit (à la P-40) was removed and replaced by the
flat panels at it was the case with the real thing.
Some panel lines were added and some were corrected according to
the reference photos.
The rear view windows (unfortunately, not present with the Falcon
set and too thick as kit parts) were therma-formed using the kit-parts
as templates.
The main wheels were flattened using the surface of the electric
cooker.
The etched parts for the gun sight were still too big and this one
was eventually scratch built as well. I decided to add the ring gun
sight as well, since it can be clearly seen on one of the photos
showing this a/c.[3, p.140]
Some further minor improvements made on the model can be clearly
seen on the photos.
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This replica represents the famous “No.277”, or “White 6”, flown by
the top-scoring French WWII ace Pierre Le Gloan during the Syrian
campaign in June 1941.
The model was finished with Model Master II enamel paints from the
set “French Air Force WWII”. However, the only paint I used just out of
the bottle was the light blue grey for the lower surface. For all other
colours I just made my own mixes which looked acceptable to my eyes and
corresponded more or less with some colour photos and artwork of better
quality (oh well…) .
This particular airplane is quite well documented. I was able to
found at least 7 different photos showing it during its service life
between mid-1940 and the 15.06.1941 when it was shot down. As the kit
instruction and the most colour profiles proved to be not very
accurate, the camouflage pattern and the markings were made according
to the photos.
Unfortunately, I was not able to find any correct after-market
decals and the kit decals were of limited use because of inaccuracies
and especially of ivory tone where it should actually be white… To fix
this problem, the white areas were replaced with pieces cut out from
spare decals. The tri-colour chevron was made from spare decal pieces
too and for the white “6” on the fuselage and top starboard wing the
kit decals were used. The shape of the wing number was OK, however, the
fuselage markings were rather incorrect. To correct the shape I made
carvings on the decals in several places and then repositioned the
pieces to get the desired shape. After that the decals were sealed with
white paint for the uniform white surface.
Pastel chalks were used for the panel lines highlighting (wet
method), shading and weathering (dry method). Some moderate washing was
done as well. Future was used as clear coat: pure before applying
decals and for sealing them and mixed with Tamiya Flat base for the
final coat.
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References
Photos
and text © by Igor Svetlov(IS)