1/48 Monogram "Helldiver" of the R.H.A.F.

by Thanos Mentzelopoulos

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Greece National Day

 

Hello everybody! Today is a National Holiday in Greece, since we are celebrating the entrance of our country into WWII against the Axis forces in 1940.  Never forget what Winston Churchill had said about the way the Greeks fought in this war: "Today we say that Greeks fight like heroes, from now on we will say that heroes fight like Greeks." 

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Now let's talk about the model.  This is quite an old kit, manufactured some 30 years ago, but still it has a lot of potential!  It was purchased 15 and finally built about 8 years ago.  The kit was very plain and simple (e.g. there was almost no cockpit provided), so everything in it as well as the bomb bay had to be scratchbuilt.  I added the two pilots in order to cover the huge gaps in the cockpit and focused on the exterior detail and paint scheme.  A little filler was used mainly on the underside of the wings-to-fuselage joint. Then I decided to experiment with metal foil.  The whole aircraft was wrapped around with kitchen aluminium foil and then airbrushed with a mixture of Humbrol enamels.  Next, I chipped some of the dark blue paint off and I had a very convincingly worn out pattern!  You should give it a try! Once again, the only aftermarket improvement set I used was the "Plastimodelismo" decal sheet intended for the Hellenic Air Force.

Thanos 

 

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Photos and text © by Thanos Mentzelopoulos