Model aircraft construction 1:72

[hasegawa]

I started doing this when I was a child. In the GDR, kits were a very rare article and most of them came from the former CSSR. After the reunification in 1990 I bought and built many kits of airplanes that interested me. I decided on the scale 1: 72 because of the space requirements. 1:48 makes more of a mature appearance but takes up twice as much space. In order to limit the collection a little, I mainly collected fighter planes from the WW2, although this did not always work out. So I have here some rarities from former times. Then I was so busy at work and of course also privately that I didn't have the time to sit down for a few hours or days to do handicrafts. Today, as a pensioner in the Corona crisis, I am stuck in Germany and my girlfriend in Latvia, I have plenty of time and so I have made an inventory of the kits that are still lying around and I will start again. My left hand is partly out of action and so I also use modelling as occupational therapy. If you like, I'll show you some modells...



I still have to do that. Beside what you can get in every well-assorted toy store like Revell, Airfix, Heller, there are through out one or the other rarity.

[chopper_nut]

Pretty good collection there... Being stuck at my parent's place with this nonsense, I've started building again. Whereas before, I had a pretty wide range of subjects, I've narrowed down to Cold War British jets and helicopters. First build underway now, Frog's 1/72 Hunter FGA9. Old kit but not terrible. Only thing that I've added are the seat straps and the ejection handles. Underside paint coats done and I've just masked it off for the camo. Got Matchbox's Wessex and Italieri's Tornado GR1 in the pile now.

[hasegawa]

FROG is as far as i know made from old kits from Matchbox ... and now made in Russia. They are not to bad. Yes, it is not Hasegawa or Finemold... but good enough for making acceptable models.

This is my first aircraft in Coronona-times

The model shown is a Fokker D. XXI of the Royal Dutch Air Force, from 1939. This aircraft with the serial number 5510 and the tactical number 237 was lost on 22. November 1939. An emergency landing attempt after engine failure and in dense fog failed. The aircraft was totally destroyed and the pilot was killed.

http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/221892



The kit was from Matchbox

[chopper_nut]

That's looking good there mate. Frog kits were their own. Some of them were released by Novo with the same numbers. There are some that are still being released by eastern European manufacturers but most have been surpassed by better toolings. Www.scalemates.com is good for tracing stuff like that

[hasegawa]

Curtiss P-40N-5 "Warhawk"

1:72, Hasegawa

Last Version of the Curtiss P-40, discontinued November 1944. This aircraft was flown by Lt. Noel B. Paris, 7th Fighter Squadron, 49. Fighter Group, Spring 1944 over New Guinea. He was later an Ace with 9 Victories and flow the P-38L Lightning.
The P-40 was never a 1st-Line fighter, but it was available at the time needed and after the USAAF replaced them they flow under Leand Lease abroad.

[hasegawa]

Supermarine "Spitfire" Mk. Vb

1:72 Revell

This was the typical british Fighter Aircraft 1941/1942. and can tangle with the Messerschmitt Bf 109F of the same time but was inferior to the first Focke Wulf Fw 190A-3. "Turning doesn't win battles" was the comment of a British pilot of that time.
Squadron-Code "AZ" was the 234th Squadron, used for air defense in South England and the Orkney Islands. At the time of the Landing in Normandy they still flying this version. I have no information about the Pilot of this aircraft.

[hasegawa]

Polikarpov I 16, Type 18

1/72, Revell

The I-16 was the first monoplane fighter in the world with retractable landing gear. It was in use from 1932-1943, a long time for a fighter aircraft.... to long. In WWII inferior to all fighters of the Axis it remaned in Service, because of the losses of the Red Air Force in the first days of War. There was simply not enough better then this.

78. IAP WWS-WMF (78. Fighter Regiment of the Air Force of the Naval Fleet), October 1941 Captain Boris Feoktistovich Safonov
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Safonov

The inscription "Beat the fascists"; on the other side "For Stalin"…

[hasegawa]

Vought F4U-2N "Corsair"
1:72 Hasegawa
Night fighter on aircraft carriers, then completly new, 1944/45
VMF(N)-532 211 ("Line Rider") | Sea Blue, non-specular Sea Blue, Intermediate Blue, Insignia White...

[hasegawa]

Mikoyan and Gurevitsh MiG-3, 1941

1:72 Italeri

The first MiG produced in greater numbers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-3

[chopper_nut]

Are you putting these photos up as you're building them?

[Mynameisnemo]

Great collection there, I have a few 1:72's plus a couple of 1:48 aircraft and a few 1:24 cars to be built.

[hasegawa]

No... Only the Fokker D. XXI is new.

But I'll build more now. Why? The whole thing is an important ergo therapy for me, because my left hand is only of limited use, ring finger and little finger are stiff. Due to the Coprona crisis, we don't have any ergo therapy at the moment and this is an important help for me to constantly practice the movement of the hands and the handling of small parts.

[hasegawa]

When I started, I decided to use only 1:72 to avoid any space problems...

[hasegawa]

Heinkel He 112B-1, Romanian Air Force, 1940

1:72 Encore

The He 112 was a competitor of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the Arado Ar 80. It was not to bad and we have in Germany always the question if the Modell B of the Heinkel was in reality the better aircraft.
But after RLM ("Reichsluftfahrt-Ministerium") opted for the Bf 109 the He 112B became the Licence for Export. Smal numbers reached Japan, Romania, Hungary and Spain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He_112

[chopper_nut]

I build 1:72 for the same reasons. I'm struggling for supplies now though. Realised that I don't have any thinners for the gloss varnish prior to decaling so my build has stalled. I could start the next one but I don't want to end up with a whole heap of unfinished models...

[hasegawa]

North American P-51B "Mustang";

1:72 Airfix

The P-51B was the first series to feature the Rolls Royce Merlin engine built under license from Packard. It still has the old typical cockpit hood, which was later partially replaced by the Malcolm hood

This machine "The Hun Hunter Texas" was flown by Lt. Henry Brown of the 354 FS, 355. FG at the 8. USAAF in Great Britain in April 1944. Interesting, that this machine was painted in the old standard painting in Olive drab and Neutral grey. The camouflage painting on US Army Air Force aircraft was abolished in September 1944, when it became more important to be clearly identified in the air as one's own than to hide on the ground. . .

[chopper_nut]

Finally finished my first project. Frog Hawker Hunter FGA9. Without a doubt the best looking of the second generation jets. This particular example represents one of 54 squadron RAF West Raynham 1968. The only additions I made to the kit were the ejection seat handles, seat belts and the wing tank supports. Not bad for a 40+ year old kit.

[chopper_nut]

Completed the second kit this morning. Frog's Gloster Meteor F4 of 263 Squadron 1950. Starting to show it's age as a kit but enjoyable nontheless. My additions were to shift the seat to correctly form the armour plate behind the pilots head, add seatbelts, build the wing ribs in the undercarriage bays, reshape the rudder slightly and add the second aerial on the spine of the aircraft. Not as easy as the Hunter to build but a hell of a lot easier to paint and finish. The decals gave me some problems and there is some silvering present but they're 40+ years old so I can't get too worked up.

[hasegawa]

I like Your work. The Gloster Meteror is a good example for the first Jets...

[chopper_nut]

Thank you. First kits that I've built in about 15 years so I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I started the new Airfix Vampire before I left home too however I only got the first coat of silver on before I had to go back to work.