Gladiator

[Grizly]

It's the ICM 1/32 Sea Gladiator completed as one of the Malta defenders. As a boy, I was intrigued with the story of Faith, Hope and Charity, the names given to three of the Gladiaters that fought in Malta. I suspect, their exploits are largely myth but still they caught my attention many years ago. After market include Eduard's cockpit set and seat belts, Aims photo etch bracing wires, paints for the shadow camouflage and black and white underside are a mix of Model Master, Humbrol and Tamya paints with the metalizers, clear, semi-matte and matte coats from Alclad II and finally, it's the kit decals. 

[Panzerwomble]

Really nice Glad ! 

 

& yes you are correct there were more than three Glads on Malta after the initial attack , though not all flying at once . A bit more RAF propaganda I suspect .

 

Link to more info  

[Martinnfb]

Very clean build, thanks for sharing 

Cheers

Martin

[MikeMaben]

Nice work Griz 

[dennismcc]

That is really nice, as a younger me I too was hooked on the story of the valiant Malta defenders so I have the same kit in the stash, I just hope it turns out as nice as yours.

Here's a holiday photo

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[R Palimaka]

That is a gorgeous Gladiator! Excellent finish and fine detail work all round. 

 

Thanks for sharing this one!

 

Richard

[Greif8]

Beautiful Gladiator, the sea camo scheme looks very nice. 

 

Ernest 

[Chris Wimmer]

Beautiful result, well done! 

[Whitey]

The Ayes' have it. Stunning.

 

[LSP_Kevin]

What a beauty!

 

Kev

[pascal JMW]

hello 

 

 

very nice !

 

[Uncarina]

Beautiful work! How were the AIMS rigging wires?

 

Cheers,  Tom

[Grizly]

Thank you Uncarina. While I've built models for almost 60 years, this was my first bi-plane so I can't compare  with other ways for rigging. I can, however, say that I found the Aims photo etch braces very easy to install. With the exception of two braces (the same outer one on each side that were too short), they all fitted perfectly. The two defficient braces proved not to be an issue as I simply used two of the longer spare braces (yes, there is a spare brace for each pair)  provided and cut them to the required length. I suspect the key is the correct placement of the upper wing. Towards that end, I drilled all the holes specified in the Aims instructions, dry installed the upper wing, glued the struts to the upper wing, painted the model and then glued the upper wing with struts to the lower wing and fuselage. It worked for me.