Another of my hobbies.

[Jacques]

That is stunning work! . I always get inspired by the projects you and others show on here. There is so much talent residing in these forums.

[Dogsbody55]

WOW indeed!

Was it a Halesworth based bird?

From memory the LM birds where the first in the UK with the Razorback Thunderbolts and based over at Halesworth inventing the Thunderbolt tactics almost on the fly as they worked out how to fight and win over Europe.


cheers,
Lewis

Yes, it was indeed a Halesworth based plane, and you are quite correct in saying the 56th FG worked out the tactics for flying and fighting over Europe. The 56th also commonly had an extra and much larger Star and Bar painted on the lower wings of their planes, which I can only assume is an extra recognition point to protect themselves against friendly fire. The 56th was also famous for handing back their Mustangs and staying with the wonderful P-47 too, and they proved the worth of this plane with their results. They were the only Eighth Air Force group to do so.

East Anglia became home to so many USAAF Eighth AF bases and there were so many of them too, though most have now been returned to farming land. Your part of the world, is it not, if I remember my geography? If not for this pandemic, I'd be in England right now. Next year perhaps??


Stay safe,
Michael

[Lewis - A2A]

Indeed, I lived in Halesworth for a year around 2010ish still in Suffolk/Norfolk border now. Love living down here but I miss Lincolnshire, luckily nigh on always lived in WW2 aviation history land lol

When I moved to Halesworth I noticed the local little museum hut on some of what remains of the runway/hard stands and looked into the local WW2 history. To this day because so much hasn't changed around this part of the UK its easy to imagine willy's jeeps filled with airmen ragging around the single lane tracks to the villiage pubs lol.

cheers,
Lewis

[Dogsbody55]

Indeed, I lived in Halesworth for a year around 2010ish still in Suffolk/Norfolk border now. Love living down here but I miss Lincolnshire, luckily nigh on always lived in WW2 aviation history land lol

When I moved to Halesworth I noticed the local little museum hut on some of what remains of the runway/hard stands and looked into the local WW2 history. To this day because so much hasn't changed around this part of the UK its easy to imagine willy's jeeps filled with airmen ragging around the single lane tracks to the villiage pubs lol.

cheers,
Lewis

It amazes me how much England, outside of the cities, hasn't changed. I left for Australia in 1967 and didn't come back until 2015. I lived in the Cotswolds about 2 miles from Aston Down which at the time was an RAF training facility. During WW2, it was an OCU and night fighter station. It's no longer a military facility but the airfield and most of the buildings remain, and it's now a glider airfield. There were four of five other airfields within a 10 mile radius, and they're all still used as airfields. It's great to know that so much of what I played in and on in the early 60's is still there.

Time doesn't seem to move very fast in the English countryside, and I still maintain that on a warm sunny day, it's one of the best places in the world to be.


Cheers,
Mike

[Lewis - A2A]

Here in East Anglia for sure thats true once you get off the A-Roads and go on the single track passing place style roads then yes, your right on the same stuff as the US guys ran around, must have been quiet the shock compared to the big open wide roads those boys where use too lol

Edit, Halesworth little hut museum (closed for covid atm)
http://www.halesworthairfieldmuseum.co.uk/

[Dogsbody55]

Next model project is underway. Another that should be familiar to all those here.




Cheers,
Mike

[Lewis - A2A]

Wow, 1/48th again?

cheers,
Lewis

[Nick - A2A]

Looking good Mike. Warhawk I take it?

Cheers,
Nick

[Dogsbody55]

1/48 is too small for my aged eyes, I'm afraid. No, this is a 1/32 scale kit, the same as the Thunderbolt. And like the Thunderbolt, this is another of those kits that is great in some ways, and terrible in others. The cockpit is way too shallow and with a flat floor, so I got a resin replacement kit which it turns out is also wrong, with the front of the cockpit lower than the rear. So my rendition has a "bitsa" cockpit instead - some modified resin, some photo etch metal, a little kit plastic and a lot of scratch built alterations and replacements.



This is where the project is now; still a long way off completion, but looking recognisable.



It will be a P-40B when finished and will be either an RAF Western Desert plane, or a Flying Tigers aircraft.


Cheers,
Mike

[Killratio]

Those belts are stunning Mike!!!

Very nice all around.

D

[Lewis - A2A]

Wow I forgot it was 1/32 and not 1/48. Blimey where do you keep all the models, they ain't the smallest hehe. Smashing job and I'd always vote for RAF Desert bird hehe. The Desert air war is like the forgotten war whilst ironically the AVG is the famous part of an otherwise forgotten war leading to the Burma campaigns etc. Looking forward to seeing it come to life eitherway

thanks,
Lewis

[sniper31]

Very nice in-progress pictures. You have an amazing attention and hand for detail

[Dogsbody55]

Those belts are stunning Mike!!!

Very nice all around.

D

There's 25 parts in that seat, and only two of them are the actual seat.



FYI, The ruler is in centimetres. One problem with the belts is that the shoulder harness is a little too long. Seat belts are not my favourite part of model building, but necessary as they're so prominent in this scale. One day, I'll make a set of belts I'm happy with.


Cheers,
Mike

[Dogsbody55]

Wow I forgot it was 1/32 and not 1/48. Blimey where do you keep all the models, they ain't the smallest hehe. Smashing job and I'd always vote for RAF Desert bird hehe. The Desert air war is like the forgotten war whilst ironically the AVG is the famous part of an otherwise forgotten war leading to the Burma campaigns etc. Looking forward to seeing it come to life eitherway

thanks,
Lewis

Thankfully, my kids have flown the nest so I have another room I can build models in, and places to add shelves for display. And money for kits now that I'm not supporting them . Plus I may be tossing out some of my older models as I build replacements.

As to the paint scheme, I already have a USAAF Western Desert P-40E which I did almost 20 years ago, as well as an RAAF P-40-M from about four years ago.





I want to make a collection of P-40's so a B in Flying Tiger or RAF Western Desert colours would be good. The problem is that the kit has no optical gunsight provided, as Curtiss delivered P-40B's in 1941 with no such thing. The first war ready version was the C or Tomahawk IIB. If I can find a reflector sight in my spares boxes and figure a way of mounting it, then an RAF desert plane becomes possible and will look good next to these two.

Then, what I need is a USAAF Pacific theatre P-40N to complete the collection


Cheers,
Mike

[Lewis - A2A]

That RAAF one looks utter amazing Talk about a forgotten war in sim land

cheers,
Lewis