17 replies to this topic

[dennismcc]

Finished at last, though looking through the final photos I need to do some touch up around the cockpit and do something about the too shiny wheel wells.

The build was ably assisted by the tweak list from the late and much missed Edgar Brooks and a lot of Barracuda resin parts.

All marking are painted apart from the stencils and ES badge (thank you Sean)

 

The subject aircraft was a Spitfire Mk.IIa flown by Pilot Officer Bill Dunn who became the first American ace of WW2 while flying Hurricanes and Spitfires with No. 71 Eagle Squadron, before transferring to the US AAF, he later went on to serve in Vietnam.

 

After market parts used came mainly from Barracuda namely:

Cockpit detail set

Wing detail set

Seat and armour

Main wheels

YAHU IP

Top Notch Camouflage masks

Top Notch markings masks

Paints used, Xtracolor, Humbrol and Sovereign Colourcoats for the markings

RB Productions seat belts, these are superb.

Mistakes, all mine.

 

The biggest let down for me was the prop and spinner, there is only one aftermarket prop and spinner available and that is far to expensive and when I last checked there was none available in the UK but I am still pleased with how the kit turned out.

The worst problem was encountered when I was finishing off, the kit undercarriage is built up in two parts and one leg came apart as I was fitting it, and the holes that they fit in on the wing are greatly oversized, I had to pack them out with scrap plastic and flood the hole with CA to get a good fit.

And here are the finished photos, not the greatest but the best I could manage.

 

And here are all three of my US operated Spitfires

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

Edited by dennismcc, 20 April 2017 - 09:16 AM.

[Gerhard]

Dennis, that looks stunning!!  

[LSP_Kevin]

Lovely work, Den. Lovely indeed.

 

Kev

[Thunda]

Beautiful build- is it the Revell IIa you started with?

 

You can get the Grey Matters Rotol prop for this kit in the UK- nearly £9 with postage, it is pricy, although a nice piece.

[R Palimaka]

That's a fine result, excellent work! Nice theme you have going there too.

 

Bill Dunn trained at the BCATP airfield near here, in Picton, Ontario, and was married in a church there. Much of the airfield, the hangars and buildings have been left intact, and is a remarkable place to walk around, like stepping back in time. Some of the wooden buildings are suffering from decades of Canadian winters, but it's kind of eerie to walk around.

 

Richard

[dennismcc]

Dennis, that looks stunning!!  

Thank you very much Gerhard, I've learned a lot on this one and tried new things which is great.

 

Lovely work, Den. Lovely indeed.

 

Kev

Thanks Kev, it has turned out nice but it is good to get it finished.

 

Beautiful build- is it the Revell IIa you started with?

 

You can get the Grey Matters Rotol prop for this kit in the UK- nearly £9 with postage, it is pricy, although a nice piece.

Hi Thunda, I did get the GMF prop and the MDC one but the Revell kit nose is a mite too big a diameter for the back plate on them, I think that they were designed for the earlier Revell or the Hasagawa kit, the one that fits is the Eagle Cal one.

 

That's a fine result, excellent work! Nice theme you have going there too.

 

Bill Dunn trained at the BCATP airfield near here, in Picton, Ontario, and was married in a church there. Much of the airfield, the hangars and buildings have been left intact, and is a remarkable place to walk around, like stepping back in time. Some of the wooden buildings are suffering from decades of Canadian winters, but it's kind of eerie to walk around.

 

Richard

Hi Richard, I'm glad that you liked it, and it is nice to know a bit more of Bill Dunn's history, abandoned airfields are a bit spooky and sad, when I was a sproglet we kids used to go and play on an ex RAF airfield near us.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

Edited by dennismcc, 20 April 2017 - 04:13 PM.

[Bill Cross]

Really nicely done. Very clean.

[Mark M]

   

[dennismcc]

Really nicely done. Very clean.

Thank you very much Bill, I'm really rubbish at weathering so my finished models are usually clean but in this case the aircraft was reputed to have been recently repainted so I have an excuse !!

 

   

Thank you Mark, glad you liked it

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[MikeC]

Very nicely done.

[Joel_W]

Dennis,

 I followed your build from start to across the finish line, a trip well worth it. The finished model replica is really very well built, painted, decaled/masks, and weathered.

 

The trio of American flown Spitfires really is a fitting tribute to those who flew them.

 

Joel

[dennismcc]

Very nicely done.

Thank you Mike glad that you liked it

 

Dennis,

 I followed your build from start to across the finish line, a trip well worth it. The finished model replica is really very well built, painted, decaled/masks, and weathered.

 

The trio of American flown Spitfires really is a fitting tribute to those who flew them.

 

Joel

Thank you Joel for that and your encouragement during the build, it is appreciated, and yes the story of the Eagle Squadrons and the US operated Spitfires tends to be forgotten so I hope it does get some people looking in their reference material.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Joel_W]

Dennis,

   Now that's a very interesting point. I can't say that I've ever given that fact much consideration other then the AVG as it was played up in a big way by Hollywood.

 

Joel

[Shaka HI]

Pleased you finished this build Dennis! Looks fantastic!

[dennismcc]

Dennis,

   Now that's a very interesting point. I can't say that I've ever given that fact much consideration other then the AVG as it was played up in a big way by Hollywood.

 

Joel

Hi Joel, I must confess that I knew a bit about the Eagle Squadrons but I was not fully aware of the use of the Spitfire by US forces, when I was building the kits I bought a couple of books which went into a lot more detail, Classic Warbirds American Spitfires Camouflage and Markings Pt. 1&2

 

Pleased you finished this build Dennis! Looks fantastic!

Thank you Shaka, it was nice to see the finished article, I can't really appreciate it until I see the finished article myself

 

Cheers

 

Dennis