seattle chapter news · 2013-12-13 · seattle chapter contacts president: vice president:...

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Seattle Chapter IPMS/USAFebruary 2007

PREZNOTES

In This Issue

NWSM Show Preview 3Tamiya B1 bis French Tank 4Scratchbuilt Spitfire 6Trumpeter Wellington 9Spitfire Bookshelf 10Roden Sopwith Camel 12Eduard Yak-1 14Osprey 332nd FG Book 15

Some weeks ago, whilst setting up adisplay of movie models at the Museum ofFlight, one of them, my PBY Catalina fromthe movie Always, crashed rather badly. Iwas attempting to repair a broken landinggear when the fuselage separated from thewing and it hit everything it possibly couldon its way to the floor. I seem to recallstanding there (holding on to the wing),somewhat stunned, for some length oftime. Everyone there lent their assistanceto recover all the bits and pieces, butunfortunately, the model would not makethe display that night, as the damage wastoo severe to repair at the museum. ThePBY model is one of the favorites in mycollection and it was very hard to see it inpieces. After I got it home that night, I laideverything out on the bench and deter-mined that it was repairable. The waistblisters had popped off, the main landinggears were broken and the scratch builtrudder was broken in a multitude of places.It would appear the fuselage landed tailfirst. The first thing I did was to cut a holein the top of the pylon and remove the leadweights, which had unattached themselvesfrom the bottom of the model. Without the

weights, the mains would not have tosupport nearly as much and what I did tokeep the model from being a tail sitter wasto drill a hole in the bottom of the hull andattach a steel wire to the aft bulkhead. Idrilled and wired the shattered main gearback together and so far it is holding. Idecided not to completely repair the rudderat this time, just together enough to putthe model back on display, then to its spotin my display case. In any event, the model

Continued on page 11

SEATTLE CHAPTER CONTACTS

President: Vice President: Treasurer: Editor:Terry Moore M. Keith Laird Spencer Tom Robert Allen3612 - 201st Pl. S.W. 1825 South 330th St. F-201 318 N.E. 81st St. 12534 NE 128th Way #E3Lynnwood, WA 98036 Federal Way, WA 98003 Seattle, WA 98115 Kirkland, WA 98034Ph: 425-774-6343 Ph: 206-491-0096 Ph: 206-522-8414 Ph: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

IPMS Seattle Web Site (Webmasters, Norm Filer & Tracy White): http://www.ipms-seattle.org

Public Disclaimers, Information, and Appeals for Help

This is the official publication of the Seattle Chapter, IPMS-USA. As such, it serves as the voice for our Chapter, and depends largelyupon the generous contributions of our members for articles, comments, club news, and anything else involving plastic scale modeling andassociated subjects. Our meetings are generally held on the second Saturday of each month, (see below for actual meeting dates), at the NorthBellevue Community/Senior Center, 4063-148th Ave NE, in Bellevue. See the back page for a map. Our meetings begin at 10:00 AM, exceptas noted, and usually last for two to three hours. Our meetings are very informal, and are open to any interested modeler, regardless of interests.Modelers are encouraged to bring their models to the meetings. Subscriptions to the newsletter are included with the Chapter dues. Dues are $24a year, and may be paid to Spencer Tom, our Treasurer. (See address above). We also highly recommend our members join and support IPMS-USA, the national organization. See below for form. Any of the members listed above will gladly assist you with further information about theChapter or Society.

The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the individual writers, and do not constitute the official position of theChapter or IPMS-USA. You are encouraged to submit any material for this newsletter to the editor. He will gladly work with you and see thatyour material is put into print and included in the newsletter, no matter your level of writing experience or computer expertise. The newsletter iscurrently being edited using a PC, and PageMaker 6.5. Any Word or WordPerfect document for the PC would be suitable for publication. Articlescan also be submitted via e-mail, to the editor’s address above. Deadline for submission of articles is generally twelve days prior to the nextmeeting - earlier would be appreciated! Please call me at 425-823-4658 if you have any questions.

If you use or reprint the material contained in the newsletter, we would appreciate attribution both to the author and the sourcedocument. Our newsletter is prepared with one thing in mind; this is information for our members, and all fellow modelers, and is prepared andprinted in the newsletter in order to expand the skills and knowledge of those fellow modelers.

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter

Upcoming Meeting DatesThe IPMS Seattle 2007 meeting schedule is as follows. All meetings are from 10 AM to 1 PM, except as indicated. To avoidconflicts with other groups using our meeting facility, we must NOT be in the building before our scheduled start times, andMUST be finished and have the room restored to its proper layout by our scheduled finish time. We suggest that you keep thisinformation in a readily accessable place.

February 10 March 10April 14 (Bellevue) April 21 (Renton Spring Show)


NWSM Model Show - FinalCountdown

by Tim Nelson

As you read this, we are just days awayfrom what is probably the largest modelshow on the west coast, the NorthWestScale Modelers Show at the Museum ofFlight, February 17-18. Most details wereprovided in last month’s newsletter.

If you have not yet heard, this show is apure exhibition, and is all about bringing allyour models. Not just your latest, or yourgreatest, but all of ‘em: the good, the bad,the ugly. Bring the silk purses, bring thesow’s ears. This show is a chance to enjoyall the twists and turns we make asmodelers, and learn from each other. It’s agreat chance to ask, and answer, thequestion “How’d ya do that?”

Plan to arrive early, set up your collection,and hang out all weekend (you don’t haveto stay all weekend, but if your family istolerant, why the heck not?)

Reminders: make sure Jon Farrelly or Ihave your name for the “Model Citizen”signs, please try to make small label cardsfor your models, and pretty please dustyour models!

If any questions, please contact me [email protected]. See you there!


Tamiya 1/35th Scale FrenchBattle Tank B1 bis

by Bob LaBouy

Initial Comments and Caveats

I have another “mixed” review to share.Some of you have previously sensed mymild strong absolute distaste for almostanything French and it’s actually takensome time for me to warm up to thissomewhat ugly tank. For me, building thiskit was one of “and now for somethingentirely different…” moments. I also freelyadmit I was intially attracted to this kit bythe beautiful box art; I was also drawn to itby the B1’s very ugliness and the potentialto work on a color scheme which can beattractive and very different from thoseI’ve already experimented with. At thesame time, as a Tamiya kit, I quickly saw itis a beautifully engineered and molded kit.Its major distraction is the price, whichlists at $59, though with some Internetresearch, one can be picked up in the low$40 range. This is still a lot, at least for me,for a “target” kit.

Kit Observations

One of my initial impressions is the B1’salmost ‘prehistoric’ appearance, looking alot more like its WW I predecessors thanmany of those we associate with WW II.There is a great deal of interesting historyavailable on the Internet to explain thereasons why and how France was suppos-edly preparing for the well known militaryaspirations of its German neighbors to theeast prior to and during the early stages ofWW II. This tank represents one of themore visual displays of those preparationsand where the French had seriously“missed the boat.” The design of the B1 isclearly more closely related to the earlydesigns worked on by the English,Germans, and French, with its caterpillar-like tread, flat slab-sided appearance andits cannon with its very limited mobility,and quickly illustrates the designs of themid 1920s when it was conceived and built.There were apparently about 403 of them

constructed. Another interesting aspect:when you’ve got this critter constructedand set it next to M4 Sherman or any of theGerman armor, you very quickly realizehow large and tall a tank the B1 is. Atapproximately 28 metric tons, it is appropri-ately classified as a heavy tank. True toform, the French armed it with a main gunof 47mm and the secondary, the larger75mm howitzer. With only the largelyineffective 47mm gun mounted on atraversing turret, the main weapon, thehowitzer had to be aimed by turning theentire tank by its driver – leaving the B1 asless than effective weapon.

Not unlike the Maginot line fortifications,apparently the French designers andtacticians felt that you merely put thisbehemoth on the main roads and pointthem toward the Huns and the issue wouldbe quickly decided. These and otherdesign shortcomings quickly surfaced asthe French actually faced the Germans in1940.

From an engineering standpoint on a scaleof ten, I’d give it a “9.” Why? There are noserious fit problems I encountered, thoughI noticed on several parts, the engineeringisn’t up to the standard I have seen ontheir beautiful aircraft kits. This is mostevident in how and where the seam linesare molded into various parts and where

the parts are connected to the sprue trees.The best of kits today have the attachmentpoints (where one has to cut or separatethe parts) in places which aren’t normallyvisible and as a result require less clean upwork before assembly and painting. Frommy not-so-vast experience with Tamiyaarmor, I have come to the conclusion thatthe engineering crew that produces thearmor kits is not the same group whichdoes their aircraft kits. A very big plus arethe snap together tread sections. They notonly work, are easy to put together andwork very well, but look great whenfinished. It may not be possible on all tracklinks, but it’s a big plus for this kit. There Ialso a well done decal sheet providing themarkings for the four tanks illustrated ontheir painting guide.

The kit’s instructions are well done, aboutas clear as they can be, and containEnglish. There is provision for a fewalternate parts (e.g. the track guards in twoversions), though I was unable to learnwhy or small amount of differences werefor. I’ve also noticed almost no after-market parts for the B1, which from myonline research (where else can one findsuch information today?), there may nothave been many variants of this tank,though I noted there was a B2, B3 and B Btype designed as well. An aspect I reallyappreciated was the two large page, full


color painting guide (see clip below).While it only provides colors from theiracrylic paint series, it provides a diverseand very colorful range of paint schemes.For me, this is where I really wanted toexpand my “target” diversity. I chose athree tone scheme, depicting the Char“Indochine” from the Battle for France in1940. The color pattern is set off by a thindark brown line. I also broke into using theTamiya acrylic paints, which I found to bequick and good – both sprayed and handpainted. From my Internet photo review, Idecided to replicate the paint camouflagescheme using hand painted lines, whichappear to be the same method used by theFrench. From there I used my usualovercoating of Duracryl, then a wash ofraw umber and eventually dry brushing toaccentuate the many surface details on theB1. This is one of those drawings illustrat-ing my modeling subject:

For me, it was a reasonably quick build,with the basic kit taking about three to fourhours to construct and probably anotherfour to five hours to finish. And, asidefrom a few external features (e.g. tools andchain), it may be fully constructed andthen painted. I didn’t turn it into a series ofsub-assemblies and parts which requireseparate painting and assembly, as I find inmost other kits.

References

I was pleasantly surprised with the numberInternet based references, including a large

number of images taken of a number ofChar tanks currently in museums orpublicly displayed. An excellent overviewof the Char may be reviewed at: http://www.chars-francais.net/archives/renault_b1-bis.htm There is also someinteresting information at Tamiya’s site:http://www.tamiya.com/english/products/35282b1bis/0607index.htm

Summary

If you are as interested something a bitunusual or different from the usualcollection of Shermans, Panzers, andStalins, this kit is for you. This kit isanother winner from Tamiya. It providesthe modeler with a very accurate model ofsignificant piece of armor during the earlystages of WW II in Europe, one that isseldom seen on the ‘popular’ lists and willdefinitely add a bit of color and interest to

your display of armor scale models. Buy itand build it, I think you’ll bepleased with your finishedefforts and have modeled a lesserknown piece of WW II armor.


Scratchbuilt 1/5th ScaleSpitfire Mk.Ia at the Royal

Air Force Museum

by RAF Museum Staff

As one of the most iconic fighter aircraft,the Spitfire holds a special place inaviation history. The Royal Air ForceMuseum exhibits many real examples andnow it presents this unique 1/5th scalemodel, hand built by David Glen, with fullcockpit details.

Built with the help of many originalSupermarine factory drawings sourced atthe Museum in London, David Glen’s 1/5thscale model Supermarine Spitfire Mk.1a is arivet-by-rivet replica of R J Mitchell’slegendary fighter.

The model, which has an 80-inch wing-span, took more than eleven years to buildand features a minutely detailed cockpit inwhich even the needles on the instrumentfaces are separate items. The airframe hasbeen left in bare aluminum to show thestructure to maximum advantage.

Glen (58), a company director living withhis wife Eva at Whaddon near Cambridge,said: “I have always been mesmerized bythe Spitfire and I hope that I have beenable to capture something of the spirit ofthis wonderful aircraft…

I can’t think of a better or more fittinghome for it than the Royal Air ForceMuseum and I am extremely proud to haveit displayed there. I hope in its own way itwill serve as a reminder, and especially foryoung people, of the aircraft and of thosewho fought and died in it during thosedark days; and of Reginald Mitchell, thegenius who never lived to see hiscreation’s ‘finest hour’”.

Mr. Glen is also a private pilot whoregularly flies Cessna 172 aircraft from theCambridge Aero Club at Cambridge CityAirport in his spare time.

At the request of the Museum, the modelhas been retained in its natural metal finishand is on display in the ConferenceEntrance to mirror the full-size replica inthe entrance reception in “Milestones ofFlight”.

Additional comments from David Glen:

If anyone asked me why I set out to build aSpitfire in one-fifth scale, and detailed tothe last rivet and fastener, I would prob-ably be hard-pushed for a practical or evensensible answer. Perhaps the closest I canget is that since a small child I have beenawe inspired by R J Mitchell’s elliptical -winged masterpiece, and that to build asmall replica is the closest I will ever aspireto possession.

The job took me well over eleven years,during which there were times I very nearly

came to giving the project up for lost. Thesheer amount of work involved, countlesshours, proved almost too much, were it notfor a serendipitous encounter at my flyingclub in Cambridge with Dr. Michael Fopp,Director General of the Royal Air ForceMuseum. Seeing the near completefuselage, he urged me to go on and finishthe model, promising that he would put iton display. I was flabbergasted, for when Istarted I had no inkling that my workwould end up in a position of honour inone of the world’s premier aviationmuseums.

As I write, the case for the model is beingprepared, having been specially commis-sioned by the museum with a case-makerin Sweden. I have not yet seen it, but fromwhat I hear, it is enormous!

In one respect the story has gone fullcircle, since it was at Hendon where Istarted my research in earnest, sourcingMicrofilm copies of many originalSupermarine drawings, without which sucha detailed build would not have beenpossible.

The model is skinned with litho plate overa balsa core and has been left in bare metal


Thoroughbred

at the suggestion of Michael Fopp, so thatthe structure is seen to best advantage.The rivets are real and many are pushedinto drilled holes in the skin and underly-ing balsa, but many more are actualmechanical fixings. I have no accuratecount, but I suspect that there are at least19,000!

All interior detail is built from a combina-tion of Supermarine drawings and work-shop manuals, plus countless photo-graphs of my own, many of them takenopportunistically when I was a volunteerat the Duxford Aviation Society based atDuxford Airfield, home of the incomparableImperial War Museum collection inCambridgeshire, England. Spitfires, invarious marks are, dare I say, a commonfeature there!

The degree of detail is probably obsessive:The needles of the dials in the cockpitactually stand proud of the instrumentfaces, but you have to look hard to see it!Why the flat canopy? Well, the early Mk.Ishad them, and I had no means to blow abubble hood, so it was convenient.

Similarly the covers over the wheels wereanother early feature and they saved me achallenging task of replicating the wheelcastings.

The model has its mistakes, but I’ll leavethe experts to spot them, as they mostcertainly will, plus others I don’t evenknow about. I don’t pretend the littleSpitfire is perfect, but I do hope it hascaptured something of the spirit andincomparable beauty of this magnificentfighter - perhaps the closest to a unionthat art and technology have ever come - akilling machine with lines that are almostsublime. So, with the model now in itsmagnificent new home, what comes next?

Well, I’m planning a book that will have alot to say about its genesis and perhapsjust a little about me and those dear to me,including a long suffering but understand-ing and supportive wife. And then there’sthe Mustang. Yes, a 1/5th scale P-51D isalready taking shape in my workshop. How

long will it take? I’ve no idea, but what Iam sure of is that at my age (58) I can’texpect to be building many of them!

[Thanks to the RAF Museum for permis-sion to use the article and photos, and toJim Schubert for acquiring that permis-sion – ED]


Trumpeter 1/48th ScaleVickers Wellington Mk.III

by Chris Banyai-Riepl

The Vickers Wellington was one of themain bombers of the RAF during the earlyyears of the Second World War, but itsslow speed and limited payload restrictedits use in the later years. The WellingtonMk.III was an improvement over the Mk.I,with more powerful Bristol Herculesengines and a four-gun rear turret insteadof the original two-gun model. With over1,500 built, the Wellington Mk.III was acommon sight in Bomber Commandthroughout 1941, until it was replaced bylater Wellington variants, and the moreuseful four-engined bombers.

The Wellington Mk.III was a logical choicefor Trumpeter to continue their 1/48thscale Wellington series, as this is basicallythe same plastic as the Mk.I. The maindifference here is the fuselage, as this kithas far fewer windows in the sides. Lessnoticeable are the engine and turretchanges, but they are there, showing thatTrumpeter has done their research withthis one. The kit is molded in the typicallight gray plastic, with a couple trees ofclear parts. Enhancing the kit further is asmall fret of photo-etch parts, along withsome white metal landing gear and vinyltires. A small decal sheet and an acetatefilm instrument panel rounds out the boxcontents.

Although the Mk.III fuselage has fewerwindows to gaze inside, there is still quitea complete cockpit. With all the variousbulkheads, floor pieces, and details, it willseem almost a shame to cover it up withthe fuselage halves. Still, this will be usefulin breaking up the monotony of theaircraft, as the somewhat colorful interiorwill contrast nicely with the black, green,and brown camouflage. While on theinterior, this kit comes with a full bomb bayand a wide variety of bombs to place in it,so you can build your Wimpy to go afterjust about any kind of target.

Aside from the cockpit, the large fore andaft turrets are the other eye catcher on thisbomber, and they are well representedhere. The nose turret is a twin-gun mountand, after some cleanup and carefulpainting, should look good. The rear turret,with its quad machine guns, looks down-right lethal, as I am sure anyone who flewup the back end of a Wellington discov-ered for himself. In both cases, the mainturret shell is split into front and rearsections, thus ensuring that the clear partsremain quite thin.

The engines are also nicely done in thiskit, with both rows of cylinders split into afront and rear face. While this does createa seam in a rather difficult place, I wouldnot worry too much about it, as theseparate exhaust collector on the frontcovers up quite a bit. This in itself is a nicetouch, one that most other kits tend tomiss. There are two options for the cowlflaps, open or closed, and the multi-piececowling should make painting quite simple.

The main construction is straightforward,and as long as you take care in test fitting,there should be little to no need for filler.That is good, as it will preserve the surfacedetailing, which is expansive. Some haveraised the question about the heaviness ofthat detailing, which shows the geodeticconstruction quite well. As the majority ofthis plane is covered in black, though, I

think that the heaviness will end uplooking quite nice under the black paint.

The small (compared to the rest of the kit,anyway) decal sheet provides basicmarkings for two aircraft, both camou-flaged in Dark Green and Dark Earth overNight (black). There is not much variety forthese Mk.III Wellingtons, so about theonly difference you will find is a code letterchange, and perhaps the color of said codeletters. The decals are well printed andthin, and should be no problem in applica-tion.

For a 1/48th Wellington, this is your onlychoice in injection molded kits. Luckily, itis rather good, and should build up into animpressive replica. Now you have some-thing to set next to that Tamiya Lancasteryou have sitting on your shelf.

My thanks to Stevens International for thereview sample.

[Thanks to Chris Banyai-Riepl andwww.internetmodeler.com for permissionto use his, Norm’s, and Stephen’s articles. -ED]


Spitfire Bookshelf

by Scott Kruize

The Supermarine Spitfire was the onlyAllied fighter plane that was in productionat the outbreak of the Second World War,and kept there continuously until wellafterwards. Its nature was high perfor-mance, and in the hands of skilled pilots,could always take on the best that the Axispowers threw against it. Its sleek lines andgraceful elliptical wings - product of itsracer heritage - made it a visual symbol ofBritish determination, technical compe-tence, and martial prowess. Books about itare welcome additions to any modeler’sbookshelf. Here are three from mine:

Spitfire: A Complete Fighting History.Dorset Press (division of Marboro BooksCorp.), 300 pages, copyright 1992. This israther misnamed, not being a formalhistory at all, but rather a compilation oftwo earlier books, Spitfire at War, andSpitfire at War 2. But author/editor AlfredPrice has certainly gathered together alarge volume of interesting material, mostlya set of essays and reminiscences of pilotsor people with firsthand experience of thefighter. For example, Air Commodore Henry

Iliffe Cozens, C.B., A.F.C., was a pilot atDuxford before the war, and one of the firstservice pilots ordered to fly the Spitfire:

“During these intensive flying trials, AirChief Marshal Hugh Dowding, C-In-CFighter Command, visited us at Oxford. Ishowed him over the Spitfire and then wewent to my office. When we were alonetogether he told me the position regardingthis aircraft, if it came to a war. He said thatthe Hurricane was a great success and itcould take on the Junkers 88 and the otherGerman aircraft but the Messerschmitt 109was more than a match. So his questionwas: could the Spitfire take on the 109? If itcould, then Fighter Command was pre-pared for war.

“I became convinced that Spitfire couldindeed take on the Messerschmitt 109 andany other fighter then in existence.”

The second remembrance is called “FirstEncounter”, by Colonel Horst von Reisen,who just barely managed to escape withhis Junkers Ju 88 bomber, in the Spitfire’sfirst combat against the enemy.

Mixed in with the recollections are shorttechnical descriptions. For example,“Spitfire Spy Plane” describes how thephotoreconnaissance models werestripped of armament, and equipped withcameras. Some examples of their work areprinted here. Later, a photo recon pilotdescribes being threatened by the incred-ible Messerschmitt 163 Komet rocketfighter, but manages to escape.

Eagle Squadron pilot Irvin Miller gives awelcome American perspective on whatwas like to fly and fight in the Spitfire. TheEagles later adapted to P-47 Thunderboltsand other fine American fighters, but theyalways retained a fondness for theirBritish-made mounts.

There are accounts by a naval gunfirespotter, a Fleet Air Arm aircraft carrierSeafire pilot, and a fighter-bombersquadron’s pilot, describing dive-bombermissions.

An interesting chapter is entitled “Swifter,Stronger, Safer”, written by engineer EricNewton. He investigated various Spitfireaccidents during the war. There’s afantastic picture of a completely burned-out Mark XVI, which had the most bizarreand spectacular accident when its pilotjumped in and started up the engine. Butthe conclusion, throughout the war, wasthat most of the accidents were due to thesame dangers that would have taken outany aircraft, such as pilot disorientation instormy weather, or failure of specific,inadequately sturdy or durable parts,under the pressures of wartime production.The basic aircraft was very well designedand safe.

Chapter 12 is “An Aerodynamicist’s View”,by engineer Sir Morien Morgan. From theAerodynamics Flight at the Royal AircraftEstablishment at Farmborough, he wasinvolved in improving the Spitfire’s rollingcapabilities as speeds steadily increased -an essential quality in aerial combat. Thespeed increase was always due to addi-tional power, but that’s not ‘free’: “For themost part, the story of the aerodynamicdevelopment of the Spitfire was one ofpiling on more and more power transmittedthrough larger and larger propellers andthe airframe designer having to tailor therear end to compensate for this.”

Noteworthy are three short essays:“Outclassed” describes the Focke-Wulf190A’s clear supremacy over the SpitfireMk. V. “The Balance Restored” pits the Fw190A, later, against the hastily-introducedSpitfire Mk.IX. The tests show the twomachines - with not a single feature incommon - to be within an eyelash of eachother. Later yet, tests are run with a SpitfireXIV against the Hawker Tempest V, NorthAmerican P-51 Mustang, Fw 190A, andMesserschmitt 109G…and the testsconfirmed that the Spitfire still remained“Equal to the Very Best”!

If you do want a formal history, theBallantine’s Illustrated History of WorldWar II paperback series includes Spitfire,by John Vader, copyright 1969, 160 pages.By book, chapter, and verse, Mr. Vader


traces the history of the Spitfire from itsearly conception following theSupermarine victories in the SchneiderTrophy Cup races, through to the postwarGriffin-powered models that served withthe Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, incombat in Korea and Malaya.

The bulk of the book is, of course, thehistory of the Spitfire during the SecondWorld War, where each succeeding modelwas introduced to particular roles andmultiple theaters of action. It is an excellentand detailed account, and will give a goodunderstanding of the role of the Spitfire inhistory. My only criticism is that thepublishing standards were low, to keep theprice down, and this seriously reduces inthe quality of the printed pages and - mostespecially - the photographs

But you say that was all in the ancientpast, and you wish to lust after Spitfirestoday, in the here and now. What you wantis Spitfire: Flying Legend, by John Dibbsand Tony Holmes. (Copyright 1996, byOsprey Publishing. 190 pages)

Besides snippets of Spitfire history,including some more bits of remembrances

from the people who flew and fought inthem, there are many black-and-whitephotographs of wartime service, muchmore nicely reproduced than in theBallantine book. But what will really sendSpitfire fans are the recently-taken full-color pictures of several Spitfire restora-tions, which don’t just sit quietly inmuseums, like the one we’re used to at theMuseum of Flight, but are instead photo-graphed gallivanting around all over thebeautiful blue skies of today. While I’msure not a single Spitfire on war operationsever looked anywhere near this good,they’re so drop-dead gorgeous that anymodeler, after drooling over these full pagelayouts, cannot help but leap for his workbench and paint pots!

This Supermarine creation may havelacked the toughness, versatility, anddestructive power of the Hawker Hurri-cane, and it often entered each succeedingwar theater a year, or even two, behind itsless-glamorous stablemate, but it remains avital historical icon, and is a worthysubject for the IMPS Seattle IPMS 2007Spitfire Group Build Jacob Russell ‘Hap-pening’ [more information on this projectwill appear in the next issue – ED]. So:where’s your Spitfire?

is back together and on display at themuseum.

I have a hard time throwing any modelaway, I’ve become attached to every one Icomplete (and that includes the StarfixSpitfire). The only model I’ve purposefullytossed was a Monogram F9F, which wasproving to be a royal pain in the ass and Iwas having a really bad day. That was afew years ago. Before that the only modelsI threw away (quite inadvertently ) werewhen I was cleaning the garage andmistakenly tossed a few boxes that hadsome old projects. Took me weeks to getover that. If you have seen my displaycase you’ll notice that I have models goingback to the late ‘60s, when I got reallyserious about the hobby. I just can’t let goof them. No matter how hard I try.

Next weekend is the display at the Mu-seum of Flight, both Saturday and Sunday.Doors will be open early for us to set upour models. If you bring models to display,there is no entry charge either day. So,bring all your models! There will be tablespace for you to work on something aswell, just short of airbrushing. Rememberthat this is only a display, a chance toshow off your work, and to talk to peopleabout how fun your hobby is, especially tonon modelers. There is no contest atmo-sphere to worry about and no one tocomment that the yellow tips of yourpropeller blades are the wrong shade! Andwhile you are at it, check out my display of“reel” planes. I’m “real” proud of it!

See you at the meeting,

Terry

PrezNotes from page 1


Roden 1/72nd Sopwith F.1Camel w/Bentley

by Robert Allen

History

The Sopwith Camel is probably the mostfamous Allied aircraft of World War One.For aviation buffs its fame lies in the factthat it destroyed 1,294 enemy aircraft, therecord for a WW1 Allied fighter; to thegeneral public, it’s the type of aircraft thatSnoopy believed his doghouse to be. TheCamel was noted for its ability to makequick right-hand turns, a result of theengine, pilot, guns, and fuel being packedinto the first seven feet of the fuselage,combined with the torque of its rotaryengine. However, this outstandingmaneuverability came with a price, for theCamel was a difficult aircraft to fly,especially for a novice, and many Britishand Dominion aces preferred the moredocile, and faster, RAF SE.5a to the Camel.The Camel used several different types ofrotary engine. The Bentley B.R.1 was adevelopment of the Clerget 9B, designedby W.O. Bentley, who would becomefamous after the war for building some ofthe most iconic sports cars of the 1920s.

The Kit

For years, the only readily available 1/72nd

kits of the Camel were the Airfix 2F.1, oneof their oldest, and worst, kits, and theAcademy Camel, which is essentially aknockoff of the ESCI knockoff of theRevell kit. The Revell kit, which dates backto the 1960s, was a good kit for its time,and the preferred option prior to the Rodenkits, but has a habit of only being inproduction for a short time, then disap-pearing again like a vampire up after dawn.Clearly the need was there for a new, state-of-the-art 1/72nd Camel. Roden has not onlystepped up with a Camel, but an entireseries of them. The F.1 w/Bentley followsthe 2F.1, F.1, and TF.1, and a two-seattrainer and “Comic” night fighter are in thepipeline.

The F.1 Camel w/Bentley kit consists offour sprues of medium-hard grey plastic,with 56 parts in total. Of these, 13 aremarked on the instruction sheet as beinginappropriate for this version. Includedamong them are the Le Rhone and Clergetengines, so care must be taken to makesure that you’re using the Bentley. There’salso a small piece of clear film containing awindscreen. The eight-page instructionsheet contains two pages devoted to thefour optional color schemes, and a verynice rigging diagram that takes up almostan entire page, showing five differentangles. It’s very well-done, and eliminatesone of my pet peeves concerning manybiplane kits. Unfortunately, a jig foraligning the wings, as included in the AirfixSopwith Pup, is not given, so that peeveremains. The instructions themselves takeup two-and-a-half pages of exploded viewdrawings.

As far as accuracy goes, I want to say upfront that I don’t have the WindsockDatafile on the Camel, so I had to use thedecades-old drawings in the Harleyfordbook. The wings, fin and rudder, andtailplane match up well to those drawingsin shape and dimension; the fuselageseems a tad short, though.

Quibbles and commendations

The interior lacks one very importantfeature of the Camel – seat belts! Ordi-narily this would not be a big deal, but thehandling characteristics of the Camel wereso abrupt that it speeded up the introduc-tion of belts as standard equipment onBritish aircraft. In The Clouds Remember,Oliver Stewart spends half his allottedspace on the Camel talking about theinvention of the Sutton harness, so youhave to at least make an attempt toreplicate belts.

There are two front upper deck/cockpitoptions provided. The instructions seemto show that part of the cockpit coamingneeds to be cut away, but after studyingthe instructions carefully, I’m not sureexactly what needs to be cut, or why,especially as cutting away the shaded parton one of the options, 3E, will result inremoving the middle fork between the guntroughs. I don’t like instructions thatremind me of an Escher drawing!

On the other hand, this model is very well-detailed, and touches such as adding thepitot tube and air-driven petrol pump tothe struts are appreciated. As with allRoden kits there are no fuselage location

photo by James Tainton


pins, and the entire top decking of thefuselage is provided as add-on pieces (tofacilitate the various versions of theCamel). This will require some carefulfitting. On the other hand, the one-pieceupper and lower wings should give notrouble replicating the Camel’s mostdistinctive visual trait – the heavy dihedralon the lower wing, combined with thetotally flat upper wing.

Colors and Markings

This is the first Roden kit I’ve seen withcolor callouts in ModelMaster, rather thanHumbrol, paint numbers. This is especiallygood, because previous Roden BritishWW1 aircraft had called for upper surfacesfinished in Humbrol 108, which has beenout of production for years. However, theModelMaster color specified for all fouroptions, 2050, is Olive Drab ANA 613,which is not exactly a British WW1 color.To add to the confusion, on the box back,the same color is given as 2051, which isFaded Olive Drab. The Matt Doped Linenfor the undersurfaces is given as 2053,Sand ANA 616.

There are four decal options, all from RoyalNaval Air Service units, or the correspond-ing squadrons in the RAF after the RFC/RNAS merger. They are as follows:

1. B6212 “Black Prince”, 13 SquadronRNAS, flown by W.A. Moyle, December1917

2. B7234 “Laura”, 204 Squadron RAF,flown by R.L. Hollingsworth, July 1918

3. B7230, 3 Squadron, RNAS, flown byK.D. Campbell, March 1918

4. B3894, 9 Squadron RNAS, flown byA.W. Wood, October 1917

I have a couple of reservations about theschemes provided. First, Wood’s aircraft(used while gaining seven of his 11claims), the only one of the four optionsflown by an ace, should be B3884, notB3894, according to both Above theTrenches, and Sopwith Camel Aces ofWorld War 1. The decals provided byRoden for this aircraft include an attractivesilver, white, and blue diamond marking onboth upper wings, and the upper fuselagedecking. However, a photo of the aircraft inthe Aces book includes a caption thatgives the diamond colors as “blue andwhite (edged in red).”

B6212 and B3894 were Sopwith-builtaircraft, while B7230 and B7234 were builtby Clayton & Shuttleworth. (As an aside,Sopwith itself built only about 500 of theover 5,000 Camels produced, the rest beingsubcontracted to eight firms). This isimportant, as many of the Camels built bySopwith for the RNAS had reddish brown-tinged PC 12 colored upper surfaces, notthe more common khaki-like PC 10 favoredby the RFC. The subcontractors, however,were more likely to use PC 10. So there’s astrong possibility that the two Sopwith-built aircraft were finished in PC 12, andthe two built by C&S in PC 10. In any case,Mister Kit makes accurate versions ofeither color, so I’d recommend using themrather than ModelMaster approximations.

The decals are nicely printed, except for aslightly off-center white surround to someof the roundels. Roden decals in the pasthave been prone to dissolving, but thecompany has improved their decals in

recent years; nevertheless it might be anidea to proceed with caution.

Conclusion

Like most Roden kits, this looks like it willbuild up into an accurate representation ofthe original, with a little attention to detail.The parts breakdown means that care mustbe taken with the assembly, and thisprobably isn’t a kit for the rank beginner.But anyone with a little experience ofbuilding biplanes should be able to makethis into a very nice model of a classicaircraft.

References:

Above the Trenches: A Complete Recordof the Fighter Aces and Units of theBritish Empire Air Forces; ChristopherShores, Norman Franks, & Russell Guest;Grub Street, 1991

Camouflage ‘14-’18 Aircraft; O.G.Thetford; Harborough, 1943

Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War;W.M. Lamberton; Harleyford, 1960

Sopwith Aircraft 1912-1920; H.L King;Putnam, 1980

Sopwith Camel Aces of World War 1;Norman Franks; Osprey, 2003

The Sopwith Fighters; J.M. Bruce; Arms &Armour Press, 1986

Sopwith Fighters in Action; PeterCooksley; Squadron/Signal, 1991


Eduard 1/48th ScaleLimited Edition Yak-1b

by Stephen Tontoni

This kit, originally issued by AccurateMiniatures, was ably reviewed by TomCleaver for Internet Modeler in 1998. Forthat reason, I’m not going to go into thedetails of either the aircraft, or the merits ofthe Accurate Miniatures model kit. Take itas read that this is an exceptionally highquality kit.

How did this work anyway? AccurateMiniatures turned out a P-39 Aircobraracer that was a spiffed up Eduard kit. AndEduard has released a spiffed up versionof this Accurate Miniatures kit. Was it asimple swap? Will we see more collabora-tion between them? I certainly hope so;the modelers out there benefit fromrubbing these two together.

What Eduard has done, and which wasalluded to in the build article by Tom, thereare assemblies to the kit that could havebeen executed better. In fact, there’s areference to the model master, BillBosworth, saying that he wished he’ddone some parts separately. That wish hascome true; in this issue by Eduard of thebeautiful Accurate Miniatures kit, they’veincluded a modest fret of pre-coloredphoto-etch. The photo-etch includes theradiator grill, (which is much more convinc-ing than the styrene part it replaces), amulti-layer instrument panel (to replace theclear part which is still included in this kit),seat harnesses, various levers and knobs,oleo struts, and more. This limited editionkit takes an already superior kit anddresses it up to ‘Profi-Pack’ standards.Also included with the kit are EduardExpress masks for masking the canopy.

While the kit instructs you to discard theparts, it also includes the skis if you wantto do a ski option, in which case you justneed to acquire or cobble together thecorrect markings. Regarding markings, Iwas very pleased that you have a selectionfrom six aircraft and I’ve scanned just one

of the illustrationsfrom the colorinstruction sheet.On scanning thedecal sheet, itseemed in theimage on mycomputer screenthat the whitesurround of theinsignia was out ofwhack. An opticalillusion? I thor-oughly examinedthe decal sheet,and indeed, thewhite and red areout of register, butnot consistentlyso. I was disap-pointed becausethey seem likeexcellent decals,printed cleanly onthin stock byAviprint. Thesimple insignia canbe easily replaced,but the smallvictory stars on thefuselage, shouldtheir white sur-round be out of


register, it could be a fatal condition. I’llhave to think about what decals on thesheet are usable, and what can be replacedif necessary before I begin building themodel. When purchasing this kit, Irecommend that you ask your friendlymodel shop owner/operator to open the kitso you can examine the decals. That’s thebeauty of shopping at a full service hobbyshop over a McHobby’s or mail ordersuper store.

In conclusion, this is a brilliant kit since it’sfinally (nine years later) addressed someareas of improvement from the originalrelease. The decal sheet being out ofregister is a disappointment, but it’s not afatal flaw; since this kit is still fairly new,I’m sure it’s possible to get a replacementsheet directly from Eduard.

Many thanks to Eduard for this reviewsample!

Aviation Elite Units332nd Fighter Group -

Tuskegee Airmenby Chris Bucholtz

by Norm Filer

It would be almost impossible to writeabout this unit without spending consider-able text on the racial issues they encoun-tered during their training and deploymentto North Africa in the middle years ofWorld War Two. Most of us modelersprobably tend to ignore the political orsocial issues surrounding our choices ofmodeling subjects. I suspect that is a goodthing, as it allows us to build modelswithout regard for the good, bad, and uglyissues of the various conflicts.

The Tuskegee Airman are the exception tothis. If it were not for the fact that theywere an all Black group, they probablywould be one of the many Fifteenth AirForce groups we don’t really note verymuch. Their record of aerial kills is notespecially high, they only had one ace,and their aircraft were not generallyflamboyantly marked.

But everyone knows the story of how theywere able to overcome prejudices at everylevel of the US Military and politicalsystem that was being forced to makechanges they did not want to make, andthen to attempt to use the “system” tomake this integration process fail. How theTuskegee Airman managed to overcome allthis, and even reach combat, let alone dowell, is what this story is all about.

The author has balanced the racial issueswith the group history very well. Thedifficulties of establishing a pilot trainingprogram for Blacks is clearly described.From there it moves on to actual trainingand eventual overseas deployment andfollows the unit through the Mediterra-nean and then Italy.

It is clear that the author spent a lot of timeon personal interviews and research.Almost every event has the names andeven comments from either the actualparticipant or an observer.

While the special circumstances of theTuskegee Airmen are well covered, theOsprey Elite Units series are military andaircraft oriented, and that part of the 332ndhistory is not neglected at all. The day-to-day operations, missions, losses, suc-cesses and participation in the NorthAfrican and Italian campaign is very wellcovered.

As with most of the Osprey books, thisone has an excellent color profile sectionthat illustrates a broad selection of thedifferent aircraft flown during WW II. Anadded bonus are the illustrations in colorof the 332nd Fighter Group emblem and thefour Squadrons assigned to the group aswell.

Most history books tend to record historyin a bland, impersonal narrative. With thisbook’s writing style, frequent quotes andnames, it makes it much more real andpersonal.

If you’re into WW II Allied aircraft, thisone is a keeper.


Meeting Reminder February 1010 AM - 1 PM

North Bellevue Community/Senior Center4063-148th Ave NE, Bellevue

Directions: From Seattle or from I-405, take 520 East tothe 148th Ave NE exit. Take the 148th Ave North exit(the second of the two 148th Ave. exits) and continuenorth on 148th until you reach the Senior Center. TheSenior Center will be on your left. The Center itself isnot easily visible from the road, but there is a signpostin the median.

seattle chapter news · 2013-12-13 · seattle chapter contacts president: vice president:...

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