Guy Rump A few firsts for me, this one being my first Russian WW2 aeroplane. The version I intend to portray is an aircraft from the French Normandie-Niemen Group which flew in 1945. The model as can be seen from the photos is white plastic which is quite soft and malleable.
The Yakovlev Yak-3 (Russian: Яковлев Як-3) was a single-engine single-seat World War II Soviet front line fighter aircraft. Robust and easy to maintain, it was much liked by pilots and ground crew alike.[2] It was one of the smallest and lightest major combat fighters fielded by any combatant during the war. Its high power-to-weight ratio gave it excellent performance.[3] It proved a formidable dogfighter. Marcel Albert, World War II French ace, who flew the Yak-3 in USSR with the Normandie-Niémen Group, considered it a superior aircraft when compared to the P-51D Mustang and the Supermarine Spitfire.

Guy Rump Originally, a Heller 1975 kit.
Pilot: Roger Sauvage Normandie Regiment (Free French) Soviet Air Force 1944
Complete: Used Hataka acrylic paints on top of fuselage and Vallejo Model Air on bottom. I had issues getting the right consistency for the Hataka paints but believe I have learned from this!

Guy Rump This P-40N or Curtiss Kittyhawk Mark IV will be an RAAF model from 1945. I have started the body and so far it is fitting together well. The cockpit is very basic as you would expect from a Hasegawa model of this age.

Guy Rump This model is Cleopatra III and was flown between 3 Feb and 16 Jun 1945 by Wing Commander Geoff C Atherton DFC & Bar MID RAAF. He was temporary commander of 78 wing of which 80 Sqn RAAF was a part at Hollandia New Guinea. He commanded 80 Sqn between July and September 1944.

Guy Rump Top of fuselage painted Vallejo Model Air Curtiss Green 71294.

Guy Rump Finally completed. The canopy was a difficult fit (I should have dry fitted it first) Underside Vallejo Model Air Neutral Grey.

Tim Heimer Nice looking!

Guy Rump Thanks Tim

Ben M Nice to see an old kit built so well!

Guy Rump Thanks Ben, I really appreciate your kind comment.

Roland Revolvermann Great job with that old (1977?) kit Cleopatra looks good!

Guy Rump Many thanks Roland Happy New Year to you and happy modelling !!

Dave Flitton Nice, clean build!! Excellent work.

Guy Rump Thanks Dave Happy New Year!

Guy Rump Main parts together and grey primer applied.

Dave Flitton Watching

Guy Rump Welcome Dave, thanks for having a look.

Guy Rump Main body together and airbrushed in primer gray. Coat of Vallejo Model Air 71.016 Olive Drab applied to upper body.

Guy Rump Thanks Roland

Łukasz Gliński Following. What's the fit?

Guy Rump Lukasz, the fit is not bad although I had to do some work on the fit of the wings to the fuselage, didn't come out brilliantly but hopefully it won't detract too much from the eventual finish

Łukasz Gliński Thx, I have to start mine in RAF camo one day.

Roland Revolvermann Nice little gem

Guy Rump Thank you Roland, very much appreciated

Maciej Bellos !!!

Guy Rump Thanks Roland

Mark Norfolk Looks good Guy. Very crisp. I like it.

Guy Rump Many thanks Mark, I appreciate your comment.

Peter Mollenhauer Those were the days….remembering my first steps in modeling. Looks great anyway, nice job, Guy!

Guy Rump Thanks Peter

David Januska Nice Typhoon can't believe it is 60 years old tooling .

Andy Ball Well that turned out really well!!, just shows that you can polish these things up! Congratulations.

Andy Ball @Guy: Weathering: I'm trying my hand at pre-shading, (I'm normally a post-shader). Once you've added a black base, you can try thin 'build-ups' of the green/greys until you're happy with a subtle contrast in the panels' colourings. Some also will add a lightened wash too. It's a whole genre, this, perhaps best that you go to You-Tube...plenty on there to observe. [That's what I did]. And, of course, use this forum.

Guy Rump Thanks David, @Andy, many thanks for your kind comments and valued advice.

Guy Rump Progress has been a bit slow. The fuselage and wings are together and painted so far with Hataka Dark khaki from the WW2 Polish Air Force set.

Łukasz Gliński Not sure whether the dark or the light one (from this set) should be used - will have a look in the internets tomorrow.

Guy Rump Thanks Lukasz

Łukasz Gliński Personally I'd go for the light khaki from that set, basing on this article:
https://modelpaint.pl/2017/06/24/tajemnice-polskiego-khaki/
But it's not so clear - on one hand this is not a metal plane (hence light khaki), on the other there's no specific info on colours used by Czapla's producer - LWS. On the 3rd RWD-14s were produced quite late before the war, when the dark khaki was used.

Guy Rump Thanks for the link Lukasz, it is an interesting article (which I will use as a reference point in the future) . As you say, there doesn't appear to be a definitive answer fir the RWD-14. I think I am going to go with your 3rd point and continue with the dark khaki as the RWD-14s were produced and allocated to Regiments just before the War. I will be using the Light blue gray for the underneath of the aircraft. Thanks again.

Łukasz Gliński Looking forward to seeing it completed

Gordon Sørensen Nice looking little plane, Guy! Too many struts for my liking though...

Guy Rump Thanks Lukasz & Gordon, I'm just about to find out what fitting struts are like....

Guy Rump Finally completed the Hasegawa 1/72 Ki-84 Frank. The canopy masking was difficult to remove and caused a few issues. The decals by and large were good with minor difficulties positioning (due to folding over etc. but these faults were mine. The Hasegawa decals provided take a lot of soaking in water before they slide off the decal paper.
This aircraft is modelled on 51st Flight Regiment, Shimodate Airfield, Feb 1945 flown by Captain Tadao Ikeda.

Guy Rump Vielen dank Roland