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I will be building Tamiya's 1:48 Buffalo as the mount of 2nd Lt. Kunz of VMF-221 at Midway. I've got the kit, and the decals, but I have yet to start the research. I have a Tamiya Ki-61 Hien on the workbench now, but once that's done, I'll be diving into this project.
2 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Thanks for joining the Midway Group Build. It looks like you have a nice subject picked out. You don't see too many Buffalo's built up, much less in Midway markings. Excellent choice...
Please keep us updated as time permits, and welcome aboard !
Frank, the kit as it comes out of the box, is a F2A-2. The buffalo's at Midway were -3's. They had a longer fuselage and a different prop hub. There are conversion kits out there Special Hobby makes a -3 with Midway markings...
Frank, Here's the conversion set you need for a Midway Buffalo. I haven't used this particular set, but I have used the one to convert the Tamiya Buffalo to the one the Finn's used. It was very straight forward and a great first resin conversion if you don't have much experience with those. I have no connection with this auction whatsoever.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AeroMaster-HT-4-F2A-3-Buffalo-Conversion-Kit-Scale-1-48-J4-/152448989601?hash=item237eaaf9a1:g:V8cAAOSwtfhYsJ3f
Hope this helps, Rick Wilkes
Thanks Rick! I went the other route and bought the Special Hobby kit.
And Freddie... I have two of the Tamiya B339 kits...I'll build one as an RAF bird and the other as either RNZAF or Dutch East Indies for the AAM allied planes case.
Works for me Frank! You can also do a "Yellow Wings" F2A-2.
In response to Rick's suggestion, of using the F2A-3 conversion set: I have built one and used the set, and it is really an easy fix, and works out well. Below is my converted Tamiya F2A-2, to a -3, using the Aeromaster set. Rick, I did not think there were any of those still out there! Sorry the pictures SUCK...
3 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Frank this is going to look sweet buddy . I need to pick one of these up to. Look forward to the progress pics 🙂
I will definitely be following this build. I have the SH Buffalo but mine is the British 339-23 version. I opened it up and it looks like you can build a US Navy Midway plane from the kit if you had proper decals.
Thanks again for posting this article. When you get the Special Hobby kit please post some pictures.
If the Buffalo you're going to build turns out half as nice as your recently posted Tamiya Ki-61 Hien, then this one will be absolutely amazing...it is a work of art.
I started the Special Hobby Buffalo today. It's going to be a LOT of work. So far, the top halves of the wings are longer in chord by about 2 mm than the bottom, and both trailing edges need to be planed or they don't fit. The wing to fuselage joint is currently less a "joint" and more of a "rough association".
And three steps in, I'm finding a bunch of broken pieces attached to the sprues.
Limited run multimedia kits. I do not love them.
Are ya sure you don't want that conversion set?
Wow Frank sorry to hear that about your Buffalo. Hang in there my friend.
I should be ok Freddie...but this kit is maddening. No attachment indicators. Broken parts up the wazoo. And it's not from the person from whom I bought it... The box is pristine. It was packed with damaged parts.
I'm going to hang in there with it.
I'm glad to hear that you are going to forge ahead with this one. It's an excellent choice for the Group. I'm following this one... Thanks again.
