Finished! Amazingly (for me) I didn't have to redo the whole paint job X number of times and the canopy masking came out OK.
Front view, with "Pedro" the photographer for scale. Mighty big bomb!
I screwed up on the decals - I forgot a yellow layer for the "red" parts (yellow + magenta = red), so the reds in the roundels look magenta. The tail flash decal was also a screw up - I didn't make it long enough. I'd already put away my ALPS printer, so I printed the fin flash on the color laser printer. Since I already had the original decals underneath, they came out OK, especially since the red is red. I hand painted the edge of the fin - don't look too closely:
The prop is a P-38 prop (slightly larger diameter and better molded) the spinner is from some unknown kit - possibly an Me-109. I was going to add the Alpha Romeo badge to the cowling, but the decal was a mess - I didn't do a color separation on it, so the results were too pixelated. Yes, that is a Brian de Basher "nose art" - a bit anachronistic for the early 40's, but it's hard to see what he's bashing:
You can see the BdB icon better here. The camo pattern is close to apophenia's Ba-64
Batará. The 20-7 is the year/month this plane was finished:
Other side:
The DF antenna is from some random kit donor. The bomb is a large German bomb from the Revell Ar.555 with the fins from a 1/48? 500 lb bomb. The bomb shackle and sway braces are PE from a Tristar Panzer 38(t) Full Interior set.
This really wasn't a good kit. Molding was mediocre, with flash and some mold misalignment. The multi part cowling was annoying (hence the 3D printed version) and the exhaust ring didn't fit.
Back story -
In late 1940, The Ecuadorian government received an offer from the Italians of four ex-Regia Aeronautica Breda Ba.65s. The first Ba.65 arriving in early 1941, with an agreement that the remaining aircraft arriving in late 1941.
The first Ba.65 arrived in Guayaquil in January 1941 with only a partial spare parts kit; the main shipment was lost in transit when the cargo ship was sunk.
The Ecuadorian Air Force (
Fuerza Aera Ecuatoriana - FAE) tested the single Ba.65, suffering a main gear collapse on its first landing with an Ecuadorian pilot. Not wanting to look unprofessional and unprepared, the
Fábrica de Aviones Militares Ecuatorianos (FAME) wasted no time in repairing the aircraft. Unfortunately, the spare landing gear and propellers were in the lost shipment and it would be months before a new shipment arrived.
New Italian observers would soon arrive in Ecuador and the FAE and FAME wanted to show them their prowess in aircraft repair and modifications. One engineer, Ing. Brian "El Golpeton" Perri suggested welding steel tubes and shock absorbers in place of the damaged landing gear and adding spats - which he considered the pinnacle of aviation aesthetics ("Las Bellas Polainas"). This was done in short order. With a new, slightly larger propeller, the refurbished aircraft was only slightly slower than the original.
The generals in the FAE wanted an spectacular mission to show their might to both their Peruvian enemies and the visiting Italians. They suggested a daring bombing mission over the capital of Peru, Lima.
Since the distance from Guayaquil was beyond the Ba.65's range, the FAE moved the aircraft to a small airfield in Zumba, near the border with Peru. The new distance - 518mi/833km - was still far beyond the plane's range. The FAME removed the guns and bomb bay from the Ba.65 and added spare fuel tanks in the now empty bomb bay behind the pilot and in the spare volume inside the large spats. This tripled the range - just enough to make it to to Lima and back. The flight south to target would be down hill and the return flight would be with a much lighter plane.
For the bomb, the FAME combined fertilizer and diesel fuel, as well as some high explosives into a large steel container. The 1000lb/500kg bomb was larger than a similar bomb made from high explosives, but tests showed that it would be destructive enough. A direction finding antenna was added to the plane, with transmitters in Zumba and off the coast of Lima - in a disguised fishing boat.
The primary target was the naval base (Base Naval de Callao), with the nearby military airfield as the secondary. The plane and its large bomb took off from Zumba late one night in March and almost 3 hours later, it was over a foggy Lima. The fishing boat off the coast had suffered radio issues (or was sunk) and the Ba.25 pilot, navigating on a single beacon and dead reckoning dropped his bomb over what he thought was the naval base. The bomb instead fell on a waste treatment plant less than a mile from the military airfield.
The pilot saw the massive explosion as he turned home, assuming he had hit a fuel depot at the naval base. His reception in Zumba was just
OK - joyous but not triumphant. The Italian observers had retired to their hotel after hearing the early after action report from spies on the ground. They were heard muttering
Hanno solo fatto esplodere la merda!.
To this day, the residents of Lima call the mission "El día que llovió mierda"
I hope Brian would have enjoyed this build!