1:72

Fairey Barracuda Mk II (1:72)

And on it goes: the Fairey Barracuda of the Royal Navy FAA (fleet air arm) fits exactly into the timeline of my story "Hunting the Tirpitz".
This torpedo bomber got the takeovers "the ugly beast". And the kit lives up to the name, at least as far as the word "ugly" is concerned. As a model builder, I was challenged in a number of areas. But there is only this kit from Special Hobby and I absolutely need one.
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Some Barracudas, exactly 9 of them, were equipped with special bombs (1600 lb) during the attack on the Tirpitz on 3. April, 1944 in the Kaafjord. My model was fitted with such a 1600 lb bomb and flew in the first wave (830NAS) starting from the carrier HMS Furios.
The model is now fully built (photos in the album). For the bomb I drew the decal myself.
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X5, Royal Navy X-craft (1:72)

A detour into the water; more precisely a submarine it should be. As part of my (planned) "Hunt for the Tirpitz" series, the Royal Navy's X-class midget submarines belong at the very beginning. During operation 'Source', three such X-crafts placed their explosive charges under the Tirpitz on 20. September, 1943. The successful operation in the far north of Norway put the battleship out of action for six months.
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So I really wanted to build a 1/72 scale model of an X-craft. However, it should not be presented on a stand in the classic way, but rather in its traditional element, i.e. in the water. After a few attempts with casting resin I then 'sunk' my X-Craft model. With a cast model you can see all sides in detail. The whole story of the construction is recorded in the album.image see the side of the model
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Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat (1:72)

The Covid pandemic is (unfortunately) not over yet and when the second lockdown was loosened at the end of June, orienteering races could be held again. Therefore, my model building activities have stalled a bit. But now I have just finished another model.
This time it is a US Navy fighter that has mainly used in the Pacific; a Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat. It is a Profipack kit from Eduard in scale 1:72. With this one I also wanted to try the special positive rivets from HGW. These are attached like decals and they are raised. In addition to the chosen variant, which was stationed on the carrier USS Bunker Hill, it was painted in a plain seablue color. To get a model that is still appealing, I have modulated the color in different shades. There is a photo album of the finished model and its various construction stages on Flickr.
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Saab J-35 Draken (1:72)

Saab built the famous Saab 35 Draken in the 1950s. This was later replaced by the Viggen and today the Grippen is the standard fighter aircraft in Sweden. Tarangus released a high-quality kit from Viggen in 2018. There is no such thing (yet) of the Draken. I bought a Hasegawa kit and some additional parts such as the cockpit, engine exhaust, wheels, pitot tubes and all the armament. With some additional effort, you can also make a nice model. My version is the J-version ("J" for "Johan"), which was the last operational version of the F10 Ängelholm unit. The photo album of the Saab J-35J Draken model is uploaded to Flickr.
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Saab Lilldraken (1:72)

Sweden has its own aviation industry which has produced some remarkable products over the years. One that particularly fascinates me is the Saab 35 Draken. This aircraft has a special design with its double delta wing. To test this concept, Saab has built a version reduced to 70%; the Saab 210 "Lilldraken" (little dragon). There is also a model kit available; Planet Models sells a resin kit.
To immediately see how small this aircraft is, I built it with the landing gear retracted and a pilot in the cockpit. And to present it in an appealing way, a friend from Sweden organized an original SAAB badge for me, one with the airplane on it. There are already photos of my Lilldraken on Flickr.
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Lighthouse Louie (1:72)

The story of Jackpine Joe is also the story of the MTO (Mediterranean Theater of Operations). So far for me it has been more of a sideline in WW2; this is deceptive. In addition to the BG, FGs of the 15th Airforce were also involved. The history of the 325th Fighter Group (FG) is particularly exciting. They have 'decorated' the tail units of their aircraft with a black and yellow checkerboard pattern. That soon gave them the name "Checkertail Clan".
I have now built a model of an early type, a Curtis P-40F Warhawk. And as always, the photos are on a flicker album.
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