1/72 Revell Breguet BR 1150 Atlantic

Gallery Article by Derek Derks on Nov 12 2020

 

      

The Kit:
This came about in 2003, with the Revell kit numbers 04329-04384.

Bringing this model on the market was a risk. Big, ugly, and not highly trendy, but fellow modelers, an important maritime military aircraft. Thank you Revell for bringing this model on the market. 

It builds like a dream. The only thing I missed was the extra wing spar as extra support / alignment for the (large) wings. I made my own wing spar. I got it wrong with the weight and ended up with a tail sitter, despite adding 80 grams in an Evergreen box, filled with PVC glue.

Most difficult, was the Super Decal Sheet. It represents the German Federal Flag, over the full length from the airframe. After completing this lengthy task, I still needed to airbrush, to get the flag complete. I can assure you, that additional airbrushing next and onto decals is nerve wrecking. You cannot use tape and must resort to pieces of carton. Loose in the hand and hope for the best. It worked out.

The crew access at the end of the airframe is open, with complete interior until the pressurized door from the crew compartment. The weapons bay is open and loaded with torpedoes and depth charges. Interesting is the weapon bay door, is that they slide open on a rail, directly next to the airframe. The first slide (port and starboard) has a flexible middle, so that it can form around the root of the wing.

Click on images below to see larger images

Diorama:
This diorama depicts German Navy Atlantic 61-11 in an incredibly special paint scheme, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the German Air Force in 2006. This specific Atlantic belonged to Marineflieger Geschwader 3 and was home based on the Fliegerhorst (Naval Air Station (NAS) Nordholz. The apron is quite large and gives the opportunity to add a flight crew and some vehicles to make it livelier.

Additional figurines and vehicles:
The flight crew (Shapeways Figurines) are posed near the back entrance and is being photographed by the base photographer (ReedOak Figurines). Maintenance crew is from Preiser.

Vehicles: 5ton MAN GP truck (Revell) – VW 2T Pick-up (PJ production) – Unimog tow tractor (Planet Models) – Tow bar (Revell) – Mobile air conditioning unit (Hasegawa) - APU for electric power (Hasegawa). This APU was not in use by the German Navy, but this example was in the stash.

The grass is from the German firm Noch.

The whole scene is very lightly weathered with a mix of umber oil/white spirit.

Current situation regarding the fleet of Atlantics.

Germany:
At this moment, the German Atlantics are all decommissioned. Some found their way to museums, but most airframes ended up on the scrap yard. The Atlantic has been replaced by second hand former Royal Netherlands Navy Lockheed P-3C Orions.

France:
The French naval Air Force is still operating several the Atlantic NG (New Generation).

Italy:
The Italian Air Force, after 45 years of service, has decommissioned its fleet of Atlantics and is in the process of replacing the Breguet with the P-72A, a militarized ATR-72-600.

The Netherlands:
The Netherlands lost three out of its fleet of nine with loss of life. In 1984 the last operational flight was performed. Destination was the weather ship “Cumulus” in the North Atlantic. Responsible for making meteorological observations for shipping, air lines, shore stations. The crew had to drop a mail canister with mail and goodies for Christmas.

The Atlantics were replaced by thirteen P-3 Orions.

France/Pakistan:
In November 1985, the remaining six airframes were sold to the French government. Rumors suggest, that of this batch, three were sold to the Pakistan Navy. Serving 29 Squadron at the Naval Air Base Karachi-Faisal, near Naval Base Mehran. Fact is that a Pakistan Atlantic was shot down by an Indian Air Force MIG 21 on the 10th of August 1999. No survivors.

Derek Derks

Photos and text © by Derek Derks