Enjoying the company in this group a lot, gents. Thanks for making it a great experience!

Given a lack of time pressure (hopefully no near deadline). I’m going to add a third build, with the codicil that it will happen a little later.

I thought a French fighter would be fitting.

One option is Captain Robert Williame was a short-lived but highly effective French ace during the Phoney War and Battle of France.

During the Phoney War, in the Morane-Saulnier MS.406 he shot down a Dornier 17. He followed up with various 109s, Junkers 88s and Stukas, in the Battle of France, before heading up a squadron flying Blochs 152s - and dying in a training accident before further combat.

@michaelt G’day Michael. Greetings from The Gold Coast! This kit actually came from BNA! I’ve got two on the go for this group already. Happy to drop this one if you want to do it. I’ve also got a Galland E-3 in mind and won’t manage that if I do this one.

No drama at all if you fancy this one! Just shout.

Excellent entry, my friend @yellow10! Looking forward to it!

That is another great choice, Paul @yellow10. A nice plane and an interesting scheme with 3 colors. The French put up way more resistance than most people know.

Cracked the seal on this Dora Wings kit today. Spent a fair bit of time putting the photoetch in and deciding on the order of building/painting. Also deciding on interior colour. Midnight blue is referenced. Colour photos show something lighter - this may be due to restorations being photographed.

Having built the mini (minuscule) sub-assemblies I decided to black base some parts pre-cemented to the fuselage and others individually, to allow some detail painting.

I decided to go for a lighter colour than midnight blue, so I mixed MRP Celeste Azzuro and Insignia Blue as a base layer. I then brushed on some highlights. I’ll let it settle, add a clear coat, and then weather. The hope is that the closed up fuselage will not appear too dark, but will darken a touch for shadow etc.

Next up painting details and adding IPs.

1 additional image. Click to enlarge.

Some detail painting and some weathering of the office floor.

Cockpit looks great, Paul (@yellow10). I think the colors we used for the cockpit are similar, and mine turned out quite dark after closing the fuselage. I see you managed to get the PE rudder pedals attached without losing one. Well done. The arms for the rudder pedals that attach on the side of the trough is what I had to thin to get the fuselage closed. Aren't those PE levers fun?

Hi, Paul (@yellow10): I wasn't worried about the rudder pedal assembly until I realized that the slot they sit it is where the bottom of the cockpit sides would eventually sit. Dry fit showed that the fuselage wouldn't close and it looked like it was those pedals that was the problem. I had already glued the cockpit floor to the right side of the fuselage, so I only had the left rudder pedal to work with. I thinned it as much as I dared and it was enough to get the fuselage to close. I thought about distressing the seat and other places in the cockpit, but I didn't want to press my luck. I suspect that these planes were clean and well-maintained until the war started, and then the maintenance priority shifted away from cosmetic things toward reliability and armament. You are right about the color photos. The only color photos I found were from the cockpit of a restored warbird. I think museums tend to use accurate colors, while people restoring planes might not worry so much about color accuracy. I don't know much about French planes, so I have been using the colors called out in the instructions. They were nice enough to supply the formulas to mix the colors from Tamiya paint, which is what I mostly use.