As one of my (many) current projects is creating a DAK force for Bolt Action when I spotted this kit in a local model shop I thought it would be a welcome addition to my small force. I've since spotted a pre-painted version of the same model during a scale model show so it's worth keeping a eye out for it.
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| Box Art |
The kit itself is quite basic (although not as basic as the Grafix models) and easy to assemble. The box art is slightly misleading as there is no pilot figure and you only have the option of the landing gear being down. There is also very little cockpit detail but as I wanted to use this simply as a playing piece to match my other airplanes for Bolt Action I wasn't overly concerned about these points.
A small magnet was superglued to the underside of the fuselage so that the model can to fixed to 'flying' base (see photo). To help give the impression that the plane is flying I remodelled the landing quite up. This is was quite crude but it will hardly ever been seen especially as the planes are only really supposed to be seen in plan view.
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| Landing gear up |
"Standard armament was the engine mounted 20MM MG 151/20 cannon with 200 rounds and a pair of cowl-mounted 7.9MG 17 machine guns with 500 rounds per gun. This could be supplemented by Rustsatze 6, a pair of MG 151/20 cannons in under wing gondolas."
I fixed the canopy of the model in place without a pilot as at 1/72 scale you don't tend to notice that the pilot is missing, especially as the canopy of the 109 was notoriously small.
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| Interesting decal options |
Although this may seem a contradiction, seeing as I won't purchase miniatures depicting SS soldiers (this is obviously my own personal choice) I do prefer to have the option of modelling a model correctly in the same way I will paint a hammer and sickle on a flag for use with my Soviet forces.
Lovely work Matt. Have you used an airbrush for the colours? The flying stand is that the GW one or a custom design? Also did you have problem with balancing it on the stand with the magnet? I recall from my very younger days having to weight some of the kits to get them to stay on the stand with lead, due to them being either front or rear heavy. Sorry for the questions but I would like to return to WW2 air gaming and been considering 1/72 as an option to play small dogfight games.
ReplyDeleteHi Mark,
DeleteThanks for the comment. I really should have stated the painting details in the post. The model has been painted using normal spray cans and a paint brush, I've never used an airbrush (not yet anyway). I painted the underside and belly of the model with Revell Aqua Color - Light Blue Matt, # 49. I masked off the base and then sprayed the model with 63 Sand Matt - 150ml acrylic spray paint from Humbrol. This ran out pretty quicker as I'd used it to base coat my DAK figures so I then applied a coat of Foundry Sand (shade). Once dry, I then masked of the entire plane apart from the wing tips and band around the fuselage and sprayed the areas with cheapo white primer (from Wilkos).
The flying bases was made be my friend Ade when he had access to a laser cutting at work but the GW ones would be perfectly adequate, I would have thought. As you can see from the photos the stands aren't that tall so have a relatively low centre of gravity anyway. I haven't had any problems with the models of the fighters (so far) but larger models (bombers etc.) may be an issue. You might want to consider using a CD, or a smaller but heavier base to give larger models a bit more stability.
Have you considered the Wings of Glory game? WWII based and comes with pre-painted (makes life a lot easier) models - 1:144 scale I think.
Regards,
Matt
Hi Matt
DeleteI have considered Wings of Glory a good friend is collecting them. But I'm going through what is almost a second childhood having returned to 20mm gaming (modern) and collecting and building the plastic AFV kits. So having realized the large number of kits out there now, I quite like the idea of building and painting a few Spitfire's, 109's etc. to use in games.
You have done a great job with the spray cans. It looks very neat which is why I thought you had used an airbrush. If you are or do think about getting an airbrush then I can highly recommend it as a good investment.
Thank you again
Mark
Second childhood? I don't think I've left my first one yet ;). You really are spoil for choice with kits at the moment, practically every theatre of operations is covered for both Allies and Axis powers. Good luck with your future efforts.
DeleteI will be trying out a friend's new toy..sorry.. airbrush hopefully soon. If and when I do I'll post the results.
Superb Matt! What a wonderful job and brings back so many great memories, although those done in my youth were never as good as these!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michael, all the model planes in my youth were painted gloss red by my mom for me Happy days! (I suspect now it may have even been nail varnish) So hopefully these look a bit more authentic.
DeleteI'm really liking these planes, too bad about the Spitfire. I won't model the Swastika, or the Stars and Bars for that matter, but as you say it's personal choice and I don't judge people for historical accuracy. I also liked your werewolves. Hmm how about Weird WW2?
ReplyDeleteThanks Sean, the less said about that 'Spitfire' the better! Hopefully no-one was offended by the model but as you said, its all done to personal choice.
DeleteI have some Dust warfare figures hidden away somewhere so Weird WWII may feature some time soon.