Leger VVC Batavia Tiger Moth

Alex K
Front row seat, please! 🙂

Ben M
I started on this, and funny thing, the instructions have you carve out the rear fuselage and replace it with some other parts, but after I do that, I look at my reference picture above and realize that the rear fuselage on this plane more closely resembles the original fuselage without the other part. So now I'm gluing back in and puttying the parts that were originally there... that'll teach me to look at reference pictures more closely! I've done a bunch of minor assembly and painting, especially of the interior.

Alex K
From Wiki: "From 1941 onwards all military and many civil Tiger Moths were outfitted with anti-spin strakes positioned on the junction between the fuselage and the leading edge of the tailplane, known as Mod 112". I think the (new) Airfix tooling gives this option (unlike the old-tool kit I built a few months ago), but, no, your Batavia examples didn't seem to have the said anti-spin strakes.

Stefan Schacht
curious 🙂

Ben M
So I've never rigged a biplane before - started rigging this one and realized what I was doing wasn't going to end well. So I removed what I've done and will think a bit more before trying again.

Ben M
The Kora models decals aren't really worth it. They are missing the wing markings entirely. All I ended up using was the markings on the prop and the tiny lettering under the "v.v.c." On the cowling. Also included are some resin wheels which don't seem different or better than the ones in the kit. The Dutch decals sheet is nice. I have often had problems with their decals shattering but these seem strong.

Alex K
Thumbs up! 👍

Ben M
It is complete, built a new windscreen to replace the one I lost. Weather should be nice tomorrow and I can take some pics.

Mark K
Very, very nice! I have always avoided painting anything yellow because I have yet to find a yellow paint that covers decently - but clearly it can be done.

Ben M
Hi Mark - I just used Tamiya gloss yellow. The trick is to use white primer underneath it.

Mark K
Thanks for the tip!

Ben M
Complete - I can't believe how tiny it is! I would like to thank @eliask for his advice on how to rig 1:72 biplanes - thank you.

Ben M
Netherlands East Indies training aircraft PK-VVJ, August 1941. A few of these Tiger Moths were evacuated to Australia after the fall of the Netherlands East Indies to Japan.

Alex K
Absolutely lovely, Ben! The rigging turned out fine, congrats! 👍

Hanno Kleinecke
Beautiful Moth, rigging looks very realistic and the woodeffect on the prop is just as convincing !

Es-haq Khosravi
Great job!

Ben M
Thank you. I painted the prop Polly scale rust and then drew laminations on it with a brown marker pen.

Łukasz Gliński
Nice, the rigging went great 👍