Camouflage & Markings – Gloster Grebe
The Grebe was the RAF's first new fighter to enter service in the UK after World War I. At first one flight of 111 Squadron was equipped with them at Duxford alongside their Snipes and Siskins from October 1923. Five other squadrons were then fully equipped with them and they remained in service until 1929. They were all painted silver and had the coloured squadron markings on the fuselage which were repeated across the top wing between the roundels. Beautiful looking aeroplanes!
Beautiful looking plane, absolutely. The RAF biplanes and the striking markings are great subjects for modelling.
Sadly i never seen a kit to build the Grebe.
Got the H.P Siskin ( without intructions and decals) and the Bristol Bulldog in my stash. They can be build into nice little gems, with some care and new decals. It seems like Xtradecal got markings
I have checked on Google for Grebe kits and found two that have been produced and there are articles/reviews about them online. Just search for gloster grebe plastic kits and that will get you there.
One is by Merlin Models and, I think, pretty old and difficult from the little I read. It's in 1/72 scale and there are photos of the box.
The second one is by Aeroclub in 1/72 scale also, and seems to be much better than Merlin's. There are two of these on offer on ebay at the moment, one for auction at a low starting price (5.00 GBP). The other one is from the USA at the crazy price of 70.41
GBP!
Mushroom Models do decals for the Grebe and Gamecock (# 8112).
Thank you very much for this info, Rick 🙂
I wish that Wingnut Wings would some time venture into making the kits of these biplanes of the silver wings era. Among them, the Grebe is perhaps the lesser known, but as said, all were beautiful airplanes.
As you say, Martin, someone should produce kits of the RAF silver wings biplane fighters. With their colourful markings I'm sure a series of all of them from Snipe to Gladiator would prove very popular, in, say, 1/48 scale. To have them all displayed together like that would be great.
In my answer to Bernd you'll see there are two 1/72 kits of the Grebe.
I have profiles of all the other types and I will gradually post them.
A Wingnut Wing Grebe other planes of that time frame will be very nice, but kits in 1/72 and or 1/48 (smaller and cheaper) will be a nice touch too
Oh yeah, 1/48 would be very very nice. What a lovely looking aeroplane. I wasn't aware of it to be honest, but it looks super.
Those aircraft of the early 1920's are not well-known nowadays except to dedicated enthusiasts. Mushroom have published a very good book in 2010 by Tim Kershaw on the Gamecock and Grebe and it's still readily available on Amazon. I have a copy and it's well worth having at 12.50 GBP for anyone interested.
Rick these are stunning. Like these colourful interwar schemes. Do you have some drawings of Siskins and Harts. Those are my favourites by far. Built many Matchbox Siskins as a child.
Thanks Morne. Yes, I do have Siskin and Demon (fighter version of the Hart) drawings and they will be coming along soon. Watch this space.
I'm surprised and very pleased at the interest in the Grebe and other inter-war aircraft, and the desire for kits of them. iModeler members should get together and write to the kit manufacturers and tell them what you want. From my own experience in the past it does sometimes get you what you want.