Phoney War – Morane MS.406C-1 Dora Wings 1/48
Having taught history for 20 years, it is sometimes fun to find and build a model that is appropriate for a specific time period. The La Drôle de Guerre / The Phoney War Group presented an interesting, and limited, time period for some really cool planes. Basically from the summer of 1939 to the summer of 1940, this period featured rapid changes in the airplanes of France, Great Britain, and Germany. The Morane MS.406C-1 was considered one of the best fighters in Europe in 1939, but by the time the Germans invaded France in 1940, it was unable to hold its own against the Me-109Es that it was dog fighting in the skies over France.
I wanted to find something to build that was a little less known than the Me-109Es, Spitfires, and Hurricanes of the period, so I discovered this 1/48 Dora Wings kit lurking in my garage. It is a pretty good kit that already includes the required PE and canopy masks. I invested in an Eduard pre-painted PE set for the cockpit, but that is about all that I added to the kit. I used Tamiya paints throughout, and artist oils and Odorless Turpenoid for the weathering. Please visit the build log in the Phoney War Group if you want more info about the build.
Thanks to Felix (@fxrob) for setting up this really fun group. There are a bunch of great models being built, including two MS.406s that are sure to be much better than mine. Drop in if you have a chance.
Cheers.
G’day George (@gblair),
Great build.
I haven’t started mine yet, apart from cutting the main parts off the sprue, and will be trying to avoid the various pit falls that you have revealed.
So, you will be due some of the credit when I get mine done.
Your camouflage painting and general finish is excellent and you should be justifiably proud of the result.
Liked!
Thanks, Michael (@michaelt). I appreciate you following along on the build with your suggestions and support. I think the main credit is figuring out what not to do on this kit. See what I did, then do the opposite. Looking forward to your MS.406.
Beautiful build George and a great subject for this group build!
Thanks for stopping by, Bob (@v1pro). Your Hurricane build is making me want to build something old from Monogram.
Great theme to choose George! And great build. I was also thinking about this particular kit and doing a Swiss variant.
Thanks, Dmitry (@starfar). The Swiss 406 would be cool. Not only did the Swiss have some really striking paint schemes, but their 406 had several differences from the French version. Looking forward to your build.
Well done, George. Loved watching this one being built. Love the camo! 👍👍
Thanks for the kind words, Gary (@gwskat). I appreciate you following along on the build.
An impressive result! Are those decals used on the tail striping or did you paint. Looks mighty good.
Hi, Chris (@champagnecrc). Thanks for stopping in. The tail stripes were painted using Tamiya paints.
Well done, George. Looks a lot nicer then the old Hobbycraft kit.
Thanks, John (@j-healy). I had both the Dora Wings kit and the Hobbycraft kit. The choice of which to build was fairly obvious. I treated the kit like a high-end limited run kit, and it all worked out fine.
Great looking build, George. Nice work on the camouflage.
The landing gear looks like it was tricky, and did the kit give an option to have a lowered radiator cooler?
Thanks, George (@georgeswork). I was really worried about the gear as I was building them. They were not very sturdy until I installed a small gear door that tied the main gear door to the wing surface. It was really solid after that. The kit is designed to have the radiator extended. I wanted to find some photos of the actual plane to see if the radiator was extended or closed on the ground. I found photos that had the radiator full up, full down, and in intermediate positions. I liked how the plane looked with the radiator up, so I wanted to build it retracted. I built the radiator, then cut it down.
Excellent result, George! This is a beautiful MS.406! Your build thread was, as always, a joy to follow.
Well done!
Thanks for following the build, Spiros (@fiveten). I appreciate your support and comments as the build goes along.
A nice bit of history, George, very well built and finished.
Thanks, George (@chinesegeorge). It was a fun kit.
This 406 turned out beautifully, George @gblair
Specifically the tri-color camouflage scheme looks really nice.
It was an interesting and learningful build thread, a real pleasure to follow, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for stopping in, John (@johnb). As always, I appreciate you following along with comments and support.
Excellent rendition of this elegant fighter.
Thanks for sharing, George.
Thanks for the kind words, Alfred (@alfred).
Really nice! Fun to see something besides the ubiquitous Spits and 109s!
Thanks, Greg (@gkittinger). I was looking for something from the Phoney War period that not everyone was doing. It turned out there are 3 of us in the group building 406s. It is fun when everyone is building the same kit at the same time because we all approach the kit differently.
Well done!
Thanks, Chas (@chasbunch). I appreciate the comments.
Really nice, other George. Love the early camo on these, no two the same
Hi, George (@blackadder57). Thanks for stopping by. The camo was really fun. I guess the artistic spirit in France extended to the crew chiefs and their application of camo. Some of the camo schemes are very complicated.
That's a great build George. I didn't realise that the Morane was outclassed so quickly. My work bench is still a bit cluttered with 3 ongoing builds but hope to start my Beaufort 👍
Thanks, Guy (@thom). Before the war, the 406 was considered one of the best fighters around. The problem was that the development of new fighters stalled in France, while Germany continued to churn out new and more capable fighters. The 406 was more maneuverable than German planes, but the 109E was 100km/hr faster than the 406. According to Wikipedia, the French lost nearly 400 Moranes in the Battle of France in 1940, with about 1/3 being lost in the air. Looking forward to the Beaufort, which is one of my favorite planes.
Fantastic finish @gblair. Michael @michaelt has already said it. I’ll add my two bits, if/when mine gets done, it will owe a lot to your pathfinding.
It’s been a privilege to watch you work on this. Outstanding!
Thanks for the kind words, Paul (@yellow10). I feel like I sort of muddled through this one. If I built another I could avoid some of the problems I had, many of which were self-created. One of the things I like about all of us building the same kit is that we will all approach the kit differently, and we will solve the problems differently. It will be fun seeing how you and Michael (@michaelt) each will build the kit using different techniques and still come out with an impressive model. Looking forward to both of your builds.
Very nice building. I like it a lot.
Thanks for stopping by, Milan (@milantesar).