The Brewster Buffalo was the RAF
main fighter in
Malaya
when the Japanese invasion began. Poorly matched against the more agile
Japanese fighters, the Buffalos were destroyed in numbers either on the ground
or in the air. Whatever remains after the island fortess capitulated was either
rebased at Sumatra in Burma.
The bird was completed in 4
sittings in whatever spare time I could muster this last 3 months. Most of the
tedious work went into the modification of the pilot figure to a seated on and
the separation of the cockpit glazing panels.
Tamiya excelled in the ease of
construction in their kits and this is no exception. The parts came together
quickly and there was only some minor filling to the fuselage.
The entire kit was basecoated
with Tamiya semi gloss black and finished with Gunze RAF colours. After a light
toning spray in the centre of all the different coloured patches, a coat of
Future was applied and Raw Umber turpentine wash was coated after decals were
applied. Before the oils dried, a clean brush was used and streaked along the
airflow direction to create interest.
Some pinhole washes were added with thicker coats and also with lamp black.
One final coat of Future was
applied and minor wear and tear was simulated with a HB pencil.
Click on
images below to see larger images
The
glazing separation was the trickiest part and this was done carefully with a
razor saw from Crazy Modeller. The kit came with a masking set to colour the
canopy and extra care is needed as the material is soft and easily distorted. A
bit of adjustment is also needed because the parts are not in perfect symmetry.
All in all, this is still a must build if your interest is in the
Malaya
campaign. Big T has a passion for
Malaya
and this is evident in their recent release of the Repulse in 700 scale,
completing the collection for Force Z in that scale. Hopefully they will soon
come out with the Tropical Hurricane mk2C and the Blenheims to complete the main
RAF planes.
Please
visit our modeling society SFTPMS at
http://malaysiascalemodelling.com/index.php
CK
Happy
51th Merdeka Day
Malaysia
.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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