Brewster B-339 Buffalo, 805 Sqn. FAA, Crete, 1941
The kit (an ePay purchase) was missing a few parts, the engine and prop amongst the most egregious absences. Fortunately, I have a prop, spinner, and engine from (I think) the even earlier Revell kit, and I also have an Aires resin R-1820 in the stash to provide an even better engine (even if it may be overkill in this instance). I also have a Squadron vacuform canopy, but I'm undecided on whether I'm going to subject myself to that this go-around.
The cockpit was completely devoid of any detail, not even an instrument panel or a seat. A seat side panels, control stick and a few more small details were made from styrene strip. The instrument panel comes from a sprue ion the spares bin.
The cockpit was completely devoid of any detail, not even an instrument panel or a seat. A seat side panels, control stick and a few more small details were made from styrene strip. The instrument panel comes from a sprue ion the spares bin.
The cockpit was completely devoid of any detail, not even an instrument panel or a seat. A seat side panels, control stick and a few more small details were made from styrene strip. The instrument panel comes from a sprue ion the spares bin.
The detail added in the cockpit should be just enough to look right under a closed canopy
Painted zinc chromate green. Instrument and control panel decals were scavenged from the spares bin and rearranged to approximate the Buffalo's cockpit. The seat harness is a generic Eduard one, cut up to fit.
Painted zinc chromate green. Instrument and control panel decals were scavenged from the spares bin and rearranged to approximate the Buffalo's cockpit. The seat harness is a generic Eduard one, cut up to fit.
Painted zinc chromate green. Instrument and control panel decals were scavenged from the spares bin and rearranged to approximate the Buffalo's cockpit. The seat harness is a generic Eduard one, cut up to fit.
Painted zinc chromate green. Instrument and control panel decals were scavenged from the spares bin and rearranged to approximate the Buffalo's cockpit. The seat harness is a generic Eduard one, cut up to fit.
Wings and tail planes are on, starting to look like a Buffalo
Canopy on for a dry fit and to see how much of the cockpit can be seen through it. I'm actually amazed by the nice fit of all the parts. The moulds might be a bit "marshmallowy" and not particularly detailed, but everything fits together without any drama whatsoever.
The engine comes from what I believe is the even older Revel Buffalo kit, the engine was missing from this box. I detailed it with pushrod covers from styrene rod, ignition loom and oil pump from lead soldering wire, and the plug leads are fine tinned copper wire.
The engine painted and mounted. Also the "roll bar" evident behind the pilot's seat on FAA Buffalos was fashioned out of lead wire.
The front of the cowl is on and slathered with putty, it needed a bit of whittling to fit over the non-matchbox engine. Otherwise, everything is going fairly okay.
Preshaded...
Sky sprayed on the undersides...
Dark Earth and Dark Green on the topsides...
And then I raided the decal bin... Lo and behold, I had every last decal needed, spread between several generic sheets and some leftovers from other kits. Just waiting for everything to dry, matte and weathering is next...
Weathered with a bit of panel liner and Tamiya powders. It will all tone down a bit after one last coat of matte clear.
Done...
The weighted wheels were salvaged from the spares bin to replace the very unrealistic matchbox ones. Hub covers were made out of styrene. The pitot tube was scratch made from styrene rod and the antenna wire is EZ Line.
The weighted wheels were salvaged from the spares bin to replace the very unrealistic matchbox ones. Hub covers were made out of styrene. The pitot tube was scratch made from styrene rod and the antenna wire is EZ Line.
Comments
17 6 March 2022, 21:36
David JanuskaWow, this is a really old dog. It remembers me my beginnings. In Czechoslovakia Matchbox was very rare but one of the best kits in those years in the last century.
7 March 2022, 06:51
Album info
The ancient 1974 Matchbox kit, reboxed with AMT branding in 1979.
Brewster B-239B Buffalo Serial AX814 was originally ordered by the Belgian Air Force but the order was taken over by the English after Belgium was occupied in 1940. AX814 was assigned to No. 805 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm and was sent to Egypt to provide fighter cover to the Eastern Mediterranean. With the Battle of Crete expected to unfold, three 805 Sqn. Buffaloes, AS419, AS420 and AX814, were sent to Heraklion Airfield on the besieged island. Unfortunately, only one sortie was flown in AS419, and it resulted in a loss of that aircraft in an accident. The other two aircraft, down for maintenance issues and awaiting spare parts were strafed and destroyed on the ground by the Luftwaffe.
