One M.B. 152 deserves another
Seeing Bill's version of this kit, I thought I'd present mine. Same airplane, in "Slaves Pajamas" - the Vichy red/yellow markings. It's a second release of the kit. I found sanding down the cylinder heads aided fit inside the cowling (you can't see squat in there anyway, so it's easy and looks good). Fortunately my kit didn't have the warped wing that Bill's did, so assembling fuselage to wing presented no problems. With Bill's "map of the minefields" it was an easy project (read our M2 reviews - they make your life as a modeler easier).
Painted with Tamiya paints. The "Slave's Pajamas" are a masking project all their own. Kit decals.
Excellent finish.
That's a lovely finish on that, TC. Very nicely done, indeeed.
One Question; Is that cowl straight? (Cos it's not supposed to be.) The engine and cowl point about 5 degrees off true to the rest of the arframe.
(if it had been made by Micrsft, it would be a "feature" , and not a bug!)
I've always felt the best description of the MB152 was that it was a "Bloch on the Landscape"!
It is canted, but it's hard to see other than looking straight down.
Love the paint job! Nice looking plane!
The slave's pyjamas and the national markings really help to make this model's great looks, good job (again), Tom.
OUTSTANDING ! Looks like a lot of work paid off.
This is a great website, I learn so much with every model post. I always thought this was a sharp paint scheme, but couldn't figure out why the plane had a nice camo scheme with those loud "circus strips" painted on it. (It sort of defeats the stealth camo). Blame it on the Vichy...Anyway, nice job!
Slaves Pajamas! Never heard that before, but it sure is appropriate. Are they in the category of "anti-camouflage," like the Italian aircraft with big red stripes on the upper wing so Air- Sea Rescue could find them?
Great model. Yours probably is better kept than the actual thing.
"Slave's Pajamas" is what the French called the markings - striped PJs being "the thing" at the time, fashion-wise, and Vichy seen as a "slave" to Germany. They were an "anti-camouflage." Officially, Vichy France was "neutral," like Sweden and Switzerland, so the bright markings were supposed to be to keep them from being shot down, same as the red/white stripes on Swiss airplanes.
Photos show these well-maintained, as they were operated in Metropolitan France (the M.B. 152 being too short-ranged to get to North Africa). After November 1942 they were all confiscated when the Germans occupied all of Vichy France - those not scrapped were turned into fighter trainers.
Tom,
I also had never heard of the term "Slaves Pajamas". Regardless I have always liked this scheme. Now I have a whole different connotation to it. Nevertheless, I love your model, love the scheme, love how you did such a fine job on it, but still think this airplane is a typical French POS. I apologize to the French.