Finished: 1:144 Hawker Typhoon

Hi folks,

Alongside my two recently completed Spitfires, I added another Typhoon to the collection - this being my fourth. Shown below next to one of the Spits. 

This was a 1:144 scale resin and metal battlefront kit I'd picked up 2nd hand quite a while ago. It had also languished on the painting pile for a long time, as I didn't desperately need another one. However, since I was painting the Spits I decided to get it done too. 

The addition of this model to the collection gives me two flights of two of these beasties for use in big games. Ideally, if I can find suitable models, I would switch two of these models over to being bomb armed, rather than having them all with rockets.  

I nabbed some of my Team Yankee flight stands to make these models a bit taller on the table. Decals are from the old BF aircraft kits. 

Finished: Two 1:144 scale Spitfire IX

Hi folks,

Playing catchup on completed work again - figured I should get these done before my 2023 roundup post in a few weeks. 

These models are some long time lead pile lurkers - mainly as I was lacking in confidence in how to do them justice. The models are 1:144 scale Battlefront resin and metal kits (ACO13 for those interested) representing Spitfire IX fighter-bombers (commonly referred to as Spitbombers). Battlefront originally released these as part of the v3 'Road to Rome' allied book - possibly back in 2016?

Anyway, I'd picked up a pair of them over time - with the intention of doing some Spits for my Normandy games. 

I'll say here and now that I don't consider myself to be a modeller per say - I build stuff to play games with - so these are no perfect replicas. However, as much as I hand painted the stripes and undoubtedly bodged the markings and the likes, I'm pretty happy with these. 

The two models are armed with bombs, machine guns and cannon. They seemed to have been used in a divebombing role, which they were apparently unsuited for. The Spitfire IX (mk.9) was initially a re-engined Spitfire Vc - rushed into service due to huge RAF losses caused by the German introduction of the FW190. When development of the Spitfire moved on, the Spitfire IX's were relegated to other roles, such as divebombing and ground support. 

I nicked the flight stands for my Team Yankee SU25s, as I like to use the taller flight stands. 

Completed Hawker Typhoon 1/144

I've spend the last week and a bit working on getting the various infantry models I had to a finished state. I'm pretty happy with them now, with the matt varnish going on them last night. I'll do another coat just to make sure they are nice and covered (and non shiny) probably tomorrow night. Then they can go on the shelf until the various guns and vehicles are completed. I am still aiming to try working on these a unit at a time rather than doing my normal process of getting all the models to a set stage before starting the next stage.

So tonight I also aimed to finish off my Hawker Typhoon. The plan had been to use some decals I had got to do the invasion stripes. Alas, these didn't work out the way I had hoped. I had to revert to hand painting them - and unless you look too closely, they look ok (at least, I think!).

When I took these pics the decal fix under the roundels on the wings hadn't dried yet, so they still look a little messy. Unfortunately between finishing the model and typing this my phone has decided to update to iOS7, so no more pics tonight.

Still, I am pleased with it, and I think that for a model that cost me less than £3 it's not too bad!

Here is the model alongside the decals I was planning on using:

The final version (as my phone is now working):

1:144 Hawker Typhoon

This week, in addition to getting my infantry army painter varnished and ready for highlighting, I have been working on my Jocks air support.

This comes in the form of a Hawker Typhoon, possibly one of my favourite WW2 aircraft. One of the few stories my grandfather told me about his wartime experiences was of watching these aircraft swooping down in near vertical dives to unleash their rockets on German positions.

This model was one I picked up earlier this year for less than £3. It's been assembled for a while, and being such a low cost model, it's not a great fit. I spent some time with it trying to fill in the gaps, but not too sure I made a great job of it.

So, here's the photos:

First, the underside - the aircraft had been sprayed Matt black primer. The underside was then painted in Sky Gray (Vallejo Model Color 70.989). This took a coat or two. The plastic kit doesn't have the detail of the Battlefront model, and you can still see where I filled in the landing gear spaces with green stuff.

Next I used London Grey (Vallejo Model Color 70.836) trying to follow the patterns from the pictures I found online. Apparently the camo by this stage in the war was applied in the factory using rubber masks, so it was more or less standardised.

I then

I then filled the gaps in with Reflective Green (Vallejo Model Color 70.890). One of the difficult parts was getting the line between the underside and the top colours right. I also had to decide what colour to do the guns - I couldn't tell from the pics whether these were a gunmetal colour, so I decided just to go for the camo colour that was nearest them.

A pic of the almost finished Tiffie. The guide I had said there was a sky blue band around the fuselage before the tail - I didn't lighten the blue I used enough, but I am still happy with the shade. I may lighten it later. The rockets I used Russian Uniform for (Vallejo Model Color 70.924) and for the propeller and leading edge of the wings Flat Yellow (Vallejo Model Color 70.953). The exhaust outlets were done in Brass (Vallejo Model Color 70.801). For the rocket pylons I decided to go with the base Sky Grey underside colour. Propeller blade were tidied up in black, and the canopy was painted on using Russian Uniform and some of the dark blue colour just on the black of the canopy. The tail wheel also was touched up in black. I've still the decals to apply, which will include the black and white invasion stripes.

Below are some shots of the model so far - I have still to decide on a wash (I am considering Army Painter mid tone).

Not the tidiest paint job ever!