Slightly Dodgy Aircraft from the Early Pacific War

[Paul Wagner]

I have finally finished my Vickers Vildebeest, Singapore C.1942. I started it in early January, so it's taken 4 months of dabbling, but with all the tiny, tiny etched parts, it is without doubt the most intricate model I've made since I returned to the hobby! This is the Azur kit, which was just wonderful to make - challenging but flawless


Vickers Vildebeest by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Vickers Vildebeest by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Vickers Vildebeest by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Vickers Vildebeest by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Vickers Vildebeest by puddingisacat, on Flickr

The pilot is wearing an accurate blue cardigan and stiffly starched shorts…


Vildebeest interior by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Vildebeest pilot - in cardie! by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Vildebeest pilot - in cardie! by puddingisacat, on Flickr

…and I assembled the 3rd crewman so he’d be peeking through the little internal window.


Vildebeest crewman 3 by puddingisacat, on Flickr

This completes a body of work entitled Slightly Dodgy Planes of the Early Pacific War. More to follow!

[Paul Wagner]

Also from Singapore is this RAAF Buffalo – originally I got an Airfix kit, but quickly decided it was a waste of effeort and got a Hasegawa instead! It is, however, significantly modified in small details, according to the info in the excellent Buffalo In Action book (now for sale if anyone’s interested!).


RAAF Buffalo by puddingisacat, on Flickr


RAAF Buffalo by puddingisacat, on Flickr


RAAF Buffalo by puddingisacat, on Flickr

And, from further south, an RAAF Battle (Airfix, OOB, but with an interesting colour scheme).


RAAF Fairey Battle by puddingisacat, on Flickr


RAAF  Fairey Battle by puddingisacat, on Flickr


RAAF Fairey Battle by puddingisacat, on Flickr

[Paul Wagner]

To the east, a Chinese Martin B-10. I only bought this as I had never even seen such a thing before, and loved its wonkyness. The Williams Brothers kit required a lot of work and a few mods, and was missing an engine, but I like the result.


Martin B-10B by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Martin B-10B by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Martin B-10B by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Martin B-10B by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Martin B-10B by puddingisacat, on Flickr

[Paul Wagner]

To the West, a Philippines Air Force Peashooter. Never liked this plane until I saw an illustration of a Filipino example - amazing what a nice scheme can do. This is the Pavla kit, which - if you can find one - is a joy to build. Everything - including the fiddly resin bits - fitted perfectly, and the decals were both Excellent AND contained Filipino ones! (which I didn't know when I bought it, and had no idea where I was going to find some...). Still amazed the Filipinos actually managed to shoot down anything with them, though.


Peashooter by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Peashooter by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Peashooter by puddingisacat, on Flickr

[Paul Wagner]

And to the North, the Dodgy and decidedly Not Dodgy. First the Claude - Hasegawa kit, predictably nice, but the decals took a lot of subduing.


Claude by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Claude by puddingisacat, on Flickr

Next, the Nate, with a striking purple camo scheme from Burma. This is an ICM kit, which had vast amounts of internal engine detail that I ended up leaving out in the interest of getting things to fit! Decals were a little thin and dull too.


Ki 27a Nate by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Ki 27a Nate by puddingisacat, on Flickr

Third, a "float zero" (which is what Allied pilots actually called them) or Rufe. It's painted up as the Alaskan purple example, which may or may not have actually existed. The kit is an old Revell one, but it got some extra bits from a spare Zero kit which lifted it a bit.

Float Zeroes probably shouldn't be described as "dodgy" - by all accounts they were still pretty formidable.


Float Zero by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Float Zero by puddingisacat, on Flickr

[Paul Wagner]

Likewise, Oscars, which by all accounts flew like a dream and turned on a dime - though they did tend to explode dramatically if you could actually hit one. Anyway, here's a Fujimi, and two Hasegawa kits (all lovely), in the most interesting schemes I could find.


Oscar (Fujimi) by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Oscar (Fujimi) by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Oscar (Hasegawa) by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Oscar (Hasegawa) by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Oscar (Hasegawa) by puddingisacat, on Flickr


Oscar (Hasegawa) by puddingisacat, on Flickr

Finally, a couple of actual A6M2s, one (Hasegawa) as a sun-bleached Pearl Harbour participant, and they other (new Airfix) with some camo. Again lovely kits is lovely aircraft.


A6M2 Zero (Hasegawa) by puddingisacat, on Flickr


A6M2 Zero (Hasegawa) by puddingisacat, on Flickr


A6M2 Zero (Hasegawa) by puddingisacat, on Flickr


A6M2 Zero (Airfix) by puddingisacat, on Flickr


A6M2 Zero (Airfix) by puddingisacat, on Flickr


A6M2 Zero (Airfix) by puddingisacat, on Flickr

Paul

[Chris]

Thats a wonderfull collection Paul, absolutely top knotch 

Chris

[GTX_Admin]

Absolutely outstanding collection!  I really like the Vildebeest.  What scale is it?

[Maverick]

Some really nice stuff there.  The Vildebeest is quite detailed and I'm assuming it's the new one in 72nd?

Regards,

John

[Paul Wagner]

Yes, they are all 1/72 - I pretty well decided to stick to that when I came back to modelling

Paul

[taiidantomcat]

As a fan of Japanese planes this thread is great!! 

Love that Burmese purple scheme, All of theme are top notch though  Hope to see more! 

[RussC]

Great builds and collection. You don't see a Vildebeest everyday !

[AXOR]

Awsome,great collection !!!
I really like this ''experimental camo''

Alex

Oscar (Hasegawa) by puddingisacat, on Flickr

[ChrisF]

Outstanding work !! Im not sure where to start all are brilliant but i particularly like the Fairey Battle and the Camo Zero... How did you get the camo done ?

[Texgunner]

That's a whole bunch of very cool airplanes!  Congratulations on some great work.
Gary

[Paul Wagner]

How did you get the camo done ?

On the Zero? Just with a very small brush :)

Paul

[ChrisF]

Nice smooth finish for brush painting ... Even higher marks to you sir !!  :)

[Brian da Basher]

My what lovely spats your Vildebeast has!

They're all outstanding but I think I found my favorite!

Brian da Basher

[GTX_Admin]

My what lovely spats your Vildebeast has!

Down Brian...

[Empty Handed]

Some absolute crackers there!

[finsrin]

So many built so fine 
B-10 and P-26 are long time favorites of mine and mostly ignored.  A treat to see them here.   :)
Bill

[Tophe]

nice collection, thanks

[sequoiaranger]

I truly admire your collection of "Slightly Dodgy Aircraft".

As a "clarification", however, the light-gray Mod 21 Zero you present as a "Pearl Harbor" plane had tail codes and leadership stripe indicating it is from the Tainan air group, a *LAND-based* unit operating in the Rabaul area (possibly ace Nishizawa's aircraft). All carrier aircraft had tail codes with an early-alphabet letter indicating the Carrier Division, followed by a Roman Numeral indicating the individual carrier within the Division, a dash, then an appropriate three-number code indicating the mission of the plane and the individual aircraft number.

F'rinstance:  "B II-107" would be the Second Carrier Division (Hiryu and Soryu), second carrier in that division (Soryu), "1" indicating fighter, and "07" the individual plane number. The described Zero in this case would also have two blue fuselage bands (again indicating the second carrier in the "blue"---second--- carrier division).

That said, your Zero is a nice rendition of an "Early War Fighter".  Cheers!

[Weaver]

They all look great - really nice painting technique you've got there!  :)

[tsrjoe]

really nice builds indeed, an impressive thematic collection too