A while ago I was sent a box of incomplete kits. One of them was the basis for this project.
Little did I know, but this was the first Airfix Gloster Gladiator kit.
The half-pilot sealed in plastic up to his armpits is a dead giveaway. Unfortunately, I decapitated mine before I realized its importance.
I had no idea but there are now three 1/72 Gladiator kits in the Airfix line. Very impressive.
Of course, I needed to replace the missing parts.
I had a spare Spitfire canopy, Val engine, Piper Cub stabs and anonymous floats in the parts bin. I ended out using a spare Wildcat prop instead of the one in the picture.
After a couple day's work, here's how it all looked.
I was able to use the kit's landing gear legs, but I had to cobble together the rest of the struts for the floats from more spare parts. It might be hard to see, but I also built a fairing for the little radiator from card stock.
One thing I really like about the famous Malta Gladiators is there seems to be no agreement on what they actually looked like. Here's a sample I put together of the veritable rainbow of color schemes just for them alone.
I just love how this leaves one free to offer up their own interpretation of the scheme. I decided to go with a subtle version which was brush painted by hand with Model Master acrylics, Primer Gray, Medium Gray and Dark Sea Gray mostly.
Decals are from the decal dungeon. The fin-flash is totally wrong, but I like how it looks. In my imagination, the Royal Navy misinterpreted the directive and then decided to keep it as a unique marking.
The model is rigged with steel guitar strings.
I had a lot of fun building my Gibraltar which took a little over two weeks and I hope you enjoyed it and the story of how it helped win the war.
Brian da Basher
