Brewster 339E Buffalo Mk. I (Special Hobby)
The plastic stuff...and the stickers.
Great resin! Engine, instrument panel, tyres, seat.
Cockpit sidewalls, rudder pedals, fuel tank.
Prop hub, closer views of the rudder pedals and fuel tank.
Seat and seat support.
Some nasty injection towers - and in a really bad place. Got to come off.
Mold damage! There should be two concave areas. Out with the Dremel tool!
British Buaffloes had a longer tail, so we have to cut off the USN version.
Wifey always cleans up my workbench at the start of a project. I almost don't want to get it dirty!
Firewall placement. Notice that I fixed the concave area that had the mold damage.
Rudder pedals glued to the bottom of the instrument panel.
I broke the coaming, but a little superglue and some putty fixes it right up.
It wasn't easy figuring out where the engine supports were supposed to go!
This represents the engine mount, oil cooler, and the exhaust ring.
Cockpit sidewalls in place.
Oops, a little gap. But everything else lines up!
Some paint work in the driver's compartment.
Fixing the little gap.
Engine and supercharger housing painted with Alclad and a black wash.
Cockpit components in place.
More details.
British Buffaloes had two landing lights on the bottom of the wings. Out comes the drill!
Engine mounts and landing gear support painted with Alclad and a black wash.
Exhaust collector and engine mount ready to be attached.
Engine mount in place.
And the engine takes its place up front.
The opening for the lower window was too small - top half shows the alteration required.
The window masked and ready to be added to the lower fuselage.
Standard seat (top) modified into a British seat with square top (below).
Rear deck and roll-over pylon.
Window in place - I added some safety strips to prevent it from being pushed into the fuselage.
Three propeller blades glued to the resin hub.
Assembled! Sheet styrene used for seat and head armour plates.
Filling the gap made the fuselage exactly the same width as the canopy parts.
Dark Green goes on first. Order of painting was determined by ease of masking.
Masking for the camouflage pattern in place.
Dark earth added and the masking removed.
The landing gear legs are on and painted Dark Green.
Sky Blue fuselage band.
Coming at you!
Bottom is painted Sky and Night using Tamiya Sky and NATO Black.
Underside of cowling ring is all Sky according to photos of the plane I'm building.
Decals on for W.8209, TD-E. It's the return of Snifter the Dog!
I like it so far.
I hope I don't have to do another one of those windows anytime soon...
The British Buffaloes had the wing roundels "way out" towards the end of the wing. Odd placement.
New gear doors from styrene card.
British reflector gunsight - not so big in 1:72 scale!
Vacuform sliding portion of the canopy.
Vacuform designed for Airfix/Matchbox kit, with masks for S-H kit. And everything fits!
Generic seat harness masquerading as a Sutton harness.
Prop and spinner. Spinner will get a rubber tip (courtesy of a decal).
Some light pastel work.
Canopy painted. Side panel is a decal from an F-105 decal sheet.
Seat and aerial mast installed.
Getting real close now! Need to add navigation lights and landing lights.
Also need to add the aerial wire and lead-in.
Added aerial post on top of tail, the sliding canopy, and the starboard wing probe.
Landing light photoetch sealed with Future (Kleer).
Finished!
Snifter family reunion.
Comments
1 18 February 2015, 02:28
Bill GilmanHi mates, I've started a photo album for my latest project (which is almost finished). I've been working on it for a month. It's the oh-so-cute tubby little Brewster Buffalo in RAF/RAAF markings. I chose the Special Hobby kit because of the great resin detail parts. Have look and enjoy! Cheers, Bill
18 February 2015, 03:03
Matthias WeissThat's a lovely little bugger... I like the buffalo!
Well done, sir,
18 February 2015, 03:21
Hanno KleineckeExcellen t work as usual, Bill ! How do you achieve this tremendous depth in detail with the instruments in the panel, are they decals or do you paint them freehand ? I`m a bit envyous......😢
18 February 2015, 10:04
Bill GilmanThanks, mates! 🙂
Guido - no tape residue. I used the Tamiya tape.
Hanno - the instrument panel is a combination of decals and freehand painting. The instrument faces and dials are decals that I applied individually to match the detail in the resin.
18 February 2015, 17:26
Dirk HeyerNice and clean built, like always, Bill!! 🙂
The fat barrel is on my to do list too!
It is always a pleasure to watch your builts!
I have both volumes of "Bloody Shambles" from Christopher Shores, Brian Cull and Yasuho Izawa in my stash. Just incredible what these RAAF/RAF/RNZAF and Dutch Pilots have undergone to fight against an overwhelming opponent and modern fighters like the Zero and Hayabusa.
Your model represents W8209/F, Squadron No.453 / Kuala Lumbur of Sgt. Mac Read, KIA, ......"last seen apparently ramming or crashing into an opponent as he went down......." This happened on Monday, 22. December, one of the big air battles over Malaya. Btw, the opponent that day was the 64.Sentai with Ki-34 Hayabusa fighters led by Major Tadeo Kato. The battle lasted for over 30 minutes and 15 Buffalos fought against 18 Hayabusas with heavy losses for Squadron No.453.
Cheers Dirk
18 February 2015, 19:53
Bill GilmanHi Dirk, thanks for the nice comments. Sgt. Read flew the plane I'm modelling, but he died in a different aircraft. When I get home I can post the serial number.
W.8209 (there is a decimal point between the W and the😎 was coded TD-E. The kit decals were TD-F, and I had to modify them. Surviving logbooks from 453 Squadron show that TD-F was a different aircraft. There is a movie at the IWM that shows my plane during an inspection, and it's TD-E.
I have to read Bloody Shambles, I've heard from several people that it is really good. I'm currently reading Buffaloes Over Singapore, which is also by Brian Cull. You are right, it is incredible what these guys did.
The research part is almost as fun as building the model! I have the Dutch Buffalo to build along with the US Marines (Midway), the Finnish model 239, and US Navy (Yellow Wings). That will make a nice little collection! Cheers, Bill
18 February 2015, 22:43
Bill GilmanLatest pictures are posted. I keep finding some other little fiddly thing that needs to be done, but it is very close to being finished! 🙂
26 February 2015, 01:54
Bill GilmanHi Holger - you are right, it has been quick. But it's a small model, not many parts! 🙂
27 February 2015, 01:13
Bill GilmanThanks, mates! There are still a few things to finish. Last night I did the landing lights on the underside of the wings. I put some photoetched landing lights into the holes in the wings, and then sealed them in with Future (Kleer) to represent the lens. I think it looks pretty good. I'll get a picture soon.
27 February 2015, 17:26
Bill GilmanThe Buffalo is finished! I added the landing lights, the aerial wire and lead-in, plus I added a decal for the gas patch as well as the sealing over the gun camera port. Not my best work, but I will remember it as my chemo-bird, built while I was having my cancer treatments. I've added several more photos to show the final work. The very last photo shows the Buffalo and my recent Beaufort, both with Snifter nose art. 🙂
1 March 2015, 21:35
John EThat looks like a beautiful kit and you have done marvelous work with it. The scheme is great. We should all remember those brave men.
2 March 2015, 00:22
John Bolligwow, Bill I have the matchbox and airfix buffaloes. I have built them years ago. yours is a great build wow
2 March 2015, 04:17
Soeren R.The Buffalo is really a great nice plane! I ve two Hasegawa combos in my stash and I think I will build one Finland version soon 🙂
2 March 2015, 06:24
Ulf PetersenPhantastic art, Bill!👍 I am glad to see your output increase. Keep on!
2 March 2015, 06:59
Jenswhich is made class without telling the scale, I would have thought it a '48 model 👍 👍 👍
17 February 2018, 18:12
CuajeteVery nice "Buffie" and Albemarle looks very good. Does the Buffalo's assembly have any difficulty?
17 February 2018, 19:46
Bill GilmanThanks mates. It's always fun to have an old thread revived. I was just dusting this model the other day! 🙂
@Cuajete, for a more detailed look at the building of this Buffalo, see my WIP thread here:
britmodeller.com/for..rewster-buffalo-mki/
This reminds me, I still have more of these to build - USN F2A-1 (yellow wings), USMC F2A-3 (Midway), Finland B-239, and Netherlands B-339. Cheers, Bill
18 February 2018, 18:52
CuajeteMany thanks, Bill. Checked. When I said Albemarle, I meant to say Beaufort. Sorry.
18 February 2018, 20:04
Album info
This kit represents a Buffalo Mk. I from 453 Squadron, flown by very brave RAAF pilots in the defence of Singapore. The build will be pretty much out-of-the-box, since the kit comes with some highly detailed resin components.
