In the confusion and horror of Dunkirk, French forces were in a situation that required them to stay and be absorbed by Germany, or evacuate to Britain. One pilot, Lieutenant Henri Martin, decided that he wanted to live to fight another day, and piloted his Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 to Eastchurch, on the Isle of Sheppey.
When introduced into service in early 1939, the aircraft was liked by pilots for its manoeuvrability, but was underpowered and weakly armed. It was easily handled by the Luftwaffe, and despite the bravery of its pilots, played no significant role in the defense of France, other than in forcing Germany to deal with them until they were all gone.
When the aircraft landed at RAF Eastchurch it was immediately impounded by the base commander, under the pretense of making certain that the pilot was loyal and true. The reason became obvious after it spent a week in the paint shop, emerging resplendent in a two-tone grey camouflage. Leading up to the war the commander had been flying with Coastal Command, and RAF Eastchurch was under its jurisdiction. Despite that, none of the squadrons or aircraft based there were Coastal Command. This did not sit well with the commander, but the situation was rectified by the arrival of the M.S.406. To confuse the upper echelons it retained its Armee de l’air markings, and flew patrols over the English Channel and the Thames estuary, usually by Lt. Martin, but occasionally by the base commander. The aircraft survived the war, and is now seen in the RAF museum at Cosford.
The Kit, aka the HORROR!I’m sure that when Heller first started, their desire to produce kits of hitherto unavailable French aircraft was well-intentioned, but they seem to have inadvertently insulted their history with this one. The fit is terrible, the instructions vague, and it should never have seen the shelf of a hobby shop. Did they not have someone at the factory try to assemble one? If so, that person needs a stern lecture. The molds should have been immediately melted down and used for paperweights, and then a new product manufactured.
AssemblyI am glad that I bought some very good Welsh whiskey at the duty free in Birmingham airport, it helped see me through this phase. Let’s leave it there.
PaintAfter a primer coat of Badger Stynylrez grey, it looked good enough to simply apply a slightly lighter grey, Tamiya XF-83, for the second tone. Underside was Tamiya XF-2 white.
MarkingsDecals were okay, but I decided to play it safe and give them a couple of coats of MicroScale Liquid Decal Film. It certainly held them together, but caused a problem I have run into before; the decals curled up at the edges. Application of Micro Set and Micro Sol failed to cure the problem, so some white glue was used to pin them down.
