TAMIYA 1/48 DEWOITINE D.520
GC 2/3 Dauphiné, 2 Esc.(Adj. Chef Bouton) June 1940. A very nice kit with a few glitches. The instructions miss the color for the cockpit innards. It's actually a dark blue and for this I used Tamiya X-3 Royal Blue. The cockpit floor is depicted as a solid piece but it has cutouts to allow the pilot to see if his wheels are raised or lowered I believe. This is an easy fix or there is a resin cockpit with the floor in the correct shape. I just studied the resin piece online and made my cuts accordingly. Almost every build I read online mentioned a gap at the underside wing/fuselage join at the rear. I glued some stretched sprue here and sanded. This was my first attempt at airbrushing the camouflage free hand. It helps as the French seemed to use a fire hose when they applied the camo. For paint I used Mr Hobby Aqueous Hobby Color H67 - RLM65. For the top-side colors I used Tamiya paints: XF-18 Medium Blue, XF-51 Khaki Drab and XF-64 Red Brown. Tamiya instructions have mixes but these are close enough. I used the kit decals and was concerned about the very large red fuselage striped folding up, ripping or both. In the end they were sturdy to withstand the abuse. A word of caution here... the fuselage roundel goes over the stripe. For some reason Tamiya colored the stripe white here and I found out too late that the roundels are slightly translucent. Two options here: wait until the stripe dries and remove the white section or paint the area white to match the roundel size. This is a fantastic kit and I will be buying another kit in the future as I spotted a spiffy oddball "captured" version...Woof Woof
Nice work. Good looking model.
Not a complaint or a criticism, but a closer color to French cockpits would be Tamiya Field Blue (XF-50) with 10% Tamiya NATO black. For future reference.
Thanks Tom, good to know. This was the closest color I had at hand but will pick up some in the future.
I’ve always had something of a soft spot for the Dewoitine. There’s something really balanced about them and terrribly elegant; very French. Great build of an unusual subject in really nice colours. Thanks, George.
Thank you David
Another fine piece of work, sir...I like it.
Many thanks Craig
A beautiful job! No negative waves here, time for some wine and cheese.
Thank you Robert
George, you wrote: "It helps as the French seemed to use a fire hose when they applied the camo." That's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time! I'm STILL laughing now - 5 minutes after I read it!
I'm with David - this is a good looking aircraft, but to me, it's one of only a few French WWI & WWII planes that look this good. Now, jets on the other hand ... that's s different story. Woof - woof! The French can make some awesome looking jets! Just look at the Mirage series. Those Delta winged marks look like they're going 500MPH sitting still on the ground! But that's just my opinion. Your mileage may vary.
What ISN"T just an opinion is how good your Dewoitine D.520 looks!
Well done, Mr. H!
A nice looking D.520! I love the French schemes, and this was about their most elegant prop-driven bird. Ever since my first build of the Dewoitine in the early 70's I've had a soft spot for it.
One of the best looking French aircraft ever built - nice work George!
that's just flat out fine work George
Thank you all
Hadn't noticed until now what a beautiful aircraft the Dewoitine D520 is. The cockpit seems far back and bunkered in a way. It is reminiscent of a Ferrari 250. I think I'll have a crack at this model next. Though it wont be as nice as yours.
Nice work, George! Ashamed to admit that i’ve had one 75% built in its box for about 10 years. Thanks for the inspiration to finish it!
Interesting build and colour job. Never seen one like it. Thanks for showing.
If you have a steady hand, I would paint over the roundel .
I learned something here about the interior cockpit colors... good to know.
This is another fantastic build my friend. You normally don't see this type built up, and it's not very common at shows either. It does resemble a greyhound to me, very sleek.
Like Jeff said, I started laughing at the painting with a fire hose comment... as a retired firefighter, I could envision this. 🙂
Thank you gentlemen