1/48 Bristol Blenheim If.
This is the outstanding recent Airfix kit. It's highly detailed, well engineered, and is a pleasure to build. I started this one late last year and it assembled very quickly with no problems. The only thing I added was a set of Eduard belts. If you're interested in the assembly, I did a thread on the Work in Progress page. It took awhile to finish due to research. Having built the Airfix 1/72 Blenheim I bomber kit in Arthur Scarf's (probable) 62 Squadron Victoria Cross mission plane, I decided that I wanted this one to be a 27 Squadron fighter. Time-Life from 1941 featured color photos of 27 Squadron in Malaya. The planes feature standard dark green/dark earth uppers and blue/black undersides. The blue is definitely not “Sky”. To my eye it seems closest to RAF Sky Blue. They also sport fighter bands on the rear fuselage in the same color.
Markings were tricky also...PT was 27 Squadron's code at the time, while 60 Squadron sported FX. For many years it was thought that Scarf's plane was coded PTF with the serial number L1134. Confusion stems from the fact that both squadrons survivors were amalgamated under a single command early in the campaign. A very long thread on this subject over at Britmodeller yielded photos from a Japanese wartime magazine showing the captured PTF with serial L8618 undergoing maintenance. The plane also featured the fighter band on the rear fuselage. This is the one I chose to model.
Paints are Xtracolor dark green and dark earth over Humbrol black and Xtracolor RLM65 which seems a ballpark match to the Time-Life photos. Decals were a combination of kit roundels, Printscale codes, and decal dungeon serials.
This was really an enjoyable model and I can't wait to build the 1/48 Blenheim bomber in desert colors from the Greek campaign.
Very nice looking machine
Thanks, George. It is an attractive plane.
Quality build.
Thanks, Haslam!
Fantastic result, John @j-healy
It was very interesting to follow your thread, thanks for sharing your building process.
Well done.
Thanks, John!
John, This looks great, I like it a lot !
Thanks, Terry!
This is an amazing build, my friend @j-healy!
I followed you build thread with great pleasure!
Looking forward to your Greek campaign one!
Thanks, Spiros. The next one will be easier. The markings for 211 Squadron which deployed to Greece from Egypt are in the kit. The box art features a 211 Squadron plane engaged with an Italian Fiat CR42.
Beautiful work as usual, @j-healy. Thanks for the word on Scarf's airplane not being PT-F/L1134, which I have decals for from the old Classic Airframes release and was planning to use with my other Blenheim kit.
This kit is a real honey and you have definitely gotten the most out of what it offered.
Thanks, Tom. I’m looking forward to seeing your next one. It’s really a great kit.
It's always pleasing to hear such positive comments about a new Airfix release, and you've done a superb job with this one, definitely liked.
Thanks, George. I’m a big Airfix fan. The subjects, engineering, and pricing can’t be beat. The decals are generally excellent these days too. The quality control seems much better in the last couple of years too, after a few stumbles.
Wonderful job John, she really looks great. Haven't tried any of the new Airfix kits yet but have several in the stash. Looks like I better get going.
Thanks, Tom. You’ll enjoy them.
Very nicely done! Looks fantastic.
Thanks, Greg!
Very sharp Blenheim John!
Thanks, Dale!
I label these builds as a box top build. Something that any good manufacture would be proud to have on the cover of their box. John your model is very sharp, tight and plays the role of the
Blenheim to perfection.
Some folks have commented that the canopy or the wind screen where it meets the fuselage on the port side is a little to wide. Did you come across this problem and if so how did you correct it?
Two thumb's up
Thanks, Stephen. Actually my port side canopy was tiny bit narrow. A few swipes with a sanding stick on the fuselage join area made it a reasonable fit.
Awesome work on the Blenheim John, looks fantastic.
Thanks, George!
Smart work, John...
Sometimes with RAF aircraft, the dark earth and dark green are contrasted more, but I really like this subtle, rather sophisticated offering of the colour scheme. Nice clear canopies and very good cockpit detail... quite an eye-catcher you have there. Very well done.
Regards,
Paul
Thanks, Paul!
Awesome work 🙂 i love blenheim