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Colin Latta
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1/48 Hurricane IIc, night intruder, Karl Kuttlewascher

July 7, 2022 · in Aviation · · 17 · 1.5K

This is my interpretation of Karl Kuttlewascher's IIc 'Night Reaper'. Again, it's a night scheme that has been hotly debated for many years, with no definitive answer, most likely a transitional scheme at the time of the Dieppe raid.
Kuttelwascher's Hawker Hurricane IIc was serial number BE581 and carried the code letters "JX-E". It also carried a personal emblem of a yellow scythe with a red banner emblazoned "Night Reaper". Kuttelwascher had the greatest number of successful strikes of any night intruder.
On the night of 1/2 April 1942, Kuttelwascher scored his first victories as a night intruder, shooting down one Junkers Ju 88 fighter-bomber and damaging a second, both near Melun. On the night of 16/17 April, he shot down a Dornier Do 217 bomber near Saint-André-de-l'Eure. His next victories were a Do 217 and a Ju 88, both near Rouen-Boos. On the night of 30 April/1 May, he shot down a Do 217 near Rennes and a Heinkel He 111 bomber off the coast near Dinard. On the night of 4/5 May near St-André, Kuttelwascher shot down three He 111s within four minutes.
A Dornier Do 217 bomber. Between April and July 1942, Kuttelwascher shot down seven Do 217s and damaged another three.
On the night of 2/3 June, Kuttelwascher shot down a Do 217 off Dunkirk. The next night near St-André, he shot down two He 111s and a Do 217 and damaged a second Do 217. On the night of 21/22 June, again near St-André, he shot down an Ju 88 and damaged a second. On the night of 28/29 June 1942 Kuttelwascher shot down a Do 217E-4 of VII/Kampfgeschwader 2 at Trévières in Normandy, killing all the crew.[5] On the night of 1/2 July near Dinard he shot down two Do 217s and damaged a third.
No. 1 Squadron destroyed 21 enemy aircraft in three months. Of these, Kuttelwascher had shot down 15 and damaged another five. For this he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and news media nicknamed him the Czech Night Hawk.

Anyhow, it's Hurricane Mk IIc, with Ultracast's long range tanks, exhaust and seat. Decals are (if I remember correctly) Aeromaster, painted withTamiya acrylics, and weathered with pastels and oils.
Thanks for looking,
Colin

Reader reactions:
24  Awesome

9 additional images. Click to enlarge.


17 responses

  1. Colin...Super build and finish on a fine kit. Particularly impressed by camo and subtle weathering...well done.

  2. All excellent, Colin!
    Congratulations!

  3. Amazing Hurricane, Colin @tail-dragon
    Beautiful scheme and nicely applied.

  4. Very nice work and a superb result.

    Tom

  5. Very nice results! The painting is very attractive, and the photos are very nicely presented.

  6. I think some of the hardest cameos are painted on the Spitfire and the Hurricane. Getting the patterns down so that it looks natural and then having the Greens and Gray's with the same values and intensities that are balanced is not easy. Add a black underside which can look very boring, monotone and flat. Enough of the artsy fartsy, it all works Colin. A five Star build.

    Two thumbs up.

  7. Very sharp. True art work.

  8. What a superb model and color scheme! Amazing work and good job highlighting an interesting name for an RAF ace: Karel Kuttlewascher.

    Thanks for posting.

  9. Beautiful work, stunning paint effects

  10. Excellent build, very well done.

  11. Congratulations. Very realistic.

  12. Nice work, Colin!

  13. Nice job, Colin. Paint job and colors look good.

  14. very nice painting!

  15. beautiful paint and weathering work - and I like that scheme for something different. I may have to build a 1/72 version of that! Well done.

  16. Well done, Colin (@tail-dragon). Great job on this Hasegawa kit. I just read an article on the use of Hurricanes in the desert, so this build is much appreciated.

  17. Great job on this Colin, there has been a lot of quality work posted the last few days and this is among the best of the best in my opinion. Thanks for sharing!

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