Tour de Airfix Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 I’m kicking off my D-Day 80th Anniversary builds with two of Airfix’s 1:72 scale Hawker Typhoons. One from the 2024 Airfix Club D-Day Duo set A73016 and the other from the 75th Anniversary D-Day Air Assault Set A50157A. Both use Airfix’s 2013 tooling and it’s a kit I’ve previously enjoyed building so am keen to see how my finishing skills may have improved with age! These come with decals for 245 Squadron’s ZY-Y MP126 and 245 Squadron’s MR-B MN265, the latter having actually joined the squadron to replace another lost on D+1, so may not have actually been present on the day itself but we won’t hold that against it. What strikes one first on opening the boxes is the different colour plastic now used by Airfix. The feel and level of flash across both kits is however the same. The instructions are the same pictorially but the recommended painting instructions differ, probably due to the larger D-Day kit having to keep to the colours supplied in the little starter pots. Having built this before, I’ll not be wasting time painting the interior as I did before, as with a pilot installed, none of it can be seen. Then again, may be I should this time build these without using the pilots 🤔 Im starting to remember there’s a lot of great detail included in this little kit 😊 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SD45elect2000 Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 Now this one I have built !! I thought it was a fantastic kit and despite my skepticism the decals for the wing stripes worked out well. You can see my efforts in my thread. Randall 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dominic Thomas Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 Looking forward to seeing the results of these builds. I spotted the typing error : ZY-Y = 247 Sqn. 😀 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tour de Airfix Posted April 5 Author Share Posted April 5 13 minutes ago, Dominic Thomas said: Looking forward to seeing the results of these builds. I spotted the typing error : ZY-Y = 247 Sqn. 😀 Oops … you’re right 🤦♂️ I’m currently scanning squadron archives checking on their D-Day activities. Most interesting and enlightening. More later 😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul71 Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 I've got both of these sat in my stash been thinking about when to do them will watch this with great interest on how you do it and any problems you come across, will you be building the vehicles as you go along. paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tour de Airfix Posted April 5 Author Share Posted April 5 @paul71 I’m hoping to have another session on them this afternoon so I will definitely keep you posted. 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tour de Airfix Posted April 5 Author Share Posted April 5 Well I wasn’t going to but I have … I couldn’t resist in the end giving the cockpit a coat of interior green. I know it’s painted even if you can’t see it and the same for the instrument panel decal which, and I’ve said it before, it would be more useful if Airfix provided harness decals instead 🤷♂️ I found joining the two fuselage halves together required the arms of an octopus but it still went together beautifully even with just the two hands 😁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dominic Thomas Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 Even worse if you’re doing two at the same time ! 😝 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tour de Airfix Posted April 6 Author Share Posted April 6 These Typhoons are starting to look a bit more like aircraft as this afternoon I got to fit wings and ailerons. It's at this stage that one has to decide on payload and whether to have the cannon ammunition ports open or closed. Decisions decisions ... For one of the kits, I've gone for all ports open and rockets as the payload. This required the careful use of a blade to cut out a section of the upper wing and the drilling of 4 holes in the lower wing to mount the rockets. For the other, having repeatedly broken off the tail wheel (note - this is very fragile) I'm now going for a wheels up Typhoon and will have it airborne flying above the D-Day Air Assault diorama, so naturally all ports will be closed, and I'm going to have to remember to install a pilot! I've also drilled just the 2 holes in the lower wing, as this Typhoon will be heading off on a bombing mission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tour de Airfix Posted April 7 Author Share Posted April 7 I’ve had to run a little filler along the wing to fuselage join, nothing serious, just a bit of cosmetic touching up. I’ve also constructed the bombs for one and fitted the bomb and missile racks under the wings. Then, using the cutaway pieces from the gun bays and unused wheels covers to mask the painted areas, I’ve given both a covering of grey primer. All being well, and I see no need for more filler or sanding, I can move onto the fun bit of starting on the canopy masking and camouflage 😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tour de Airfix Posted April 10 Author Share Posted April 10 Back to the scale modelling and my duo of D-Day Typhoons! Schoolboy error resulted me fitting the rocket rails before adding the D-Day stripes so with a little application of liquid cement I’ve managed to remove the inner pair knowing that the slight damage will be covered once I’ve refitted them later. Before all that, I’ve masked up and added the ocean grey / dark green camouflage. Next up will be the white stripes and sky band … I think I’m going to have to top up on my masking tape! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tour de Airfix Posted April 12 Author Share Posted April 12 I started this afternoon’s session thinking I’d try using the Airfix decals for the stripes, band and leading edge markings. As I progressed I thought better of it and got out the masking tape. I’ve never been able to get on with getting oversized decals to fit and stick on curved surfaces 🤷♂️ These have now had a coating of Klear ready for a few decals to be applied tomorrow. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dominic Thomas Posted April 13 Share Posted April 13 Nice sharp bands, well done you. (check the fuselage bands and how many go all the way around 🙃) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tour de Airfix Posted April 13 Author Share Posted April 13 Thank you! I'm not allowed to say how many bands go all the way around, but I counted them all out, and I counted them all back 👌😂. More on that subject later 😊 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dominic Thomas Posted April 13 Share Posted April 13 (edited) I was just comparing the painted bands with the illustration in the instructions in the background. That shows a full white and a full black next to the sky band for the rocket armed aircraft. Edited April 13 by Dominic Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tour de Airfix Posted April 13 Author Share Posted April 13 Very true! These are two Airfix models using the same base kit but very different markings 😊 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tour de Airfix Posted April 13 Author Share Posted April 13 This is the other one … and now with decals 😊 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dominic Thomas Posted April 13 Share Posted April 13 (edited) Looking good. What I hadn’t realised as a) I don’t have the club kit and b) I hadn’t seen the instructions, is that for this 245 Sqn aircraft the last black band on the fuselage is full on one side and partial on the other, so my apologies. Edited April 13 by Dominic Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tour de Airfix Posted April 13 Author Share Posted April 13 That’s OK and so very observant! There are actually a number of errors in Airfix’s colour plates on both kits. The Club D-Day Duo kit has it being with No.45 Squadron when it should be No.245 while the D-Day Air Assault Kit correctly has its Typhoon with No.247 Squadron, it wasn’t in June as quoted as it wasn’t present on D-Day because it was not delivered to the squadron until August, not flown by Stapleton until September and it wouldn’t have the suggested markings until probably October at the earliest 🤷♂️ I’m sticking to the Airfix plans though as each have their story to tell of both D-Day and the drive into Europe 😊 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dominic Thomas Posted April 13 Share Posted April 13 Good for you and thanks for the update. Now we have more knowledge than we had at breakfast 😊 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tour de Airfix Posted April 13 Author Share Posted April 13 The one from the 2024 Airfix Club D-Day Duo set A73016 is complete ... This is finished out of the box as Typhoon MN625 MR-B of No.245 (Northern Rhodesian) Squadron, 83 Group, 121 Wing, 2nd TAF. RAF Holmsley South, Hampshire, 1944. MN625 joined the squadron as a replacement for MN377, an earlier “MR-B” lost south of Caen on D+1; it was flown by Fg.Off. W Smith who, a few days later, was the first Allied pilot to land at one of the Advance Landing Ground airfields in Normandy, in this case B5/Camilly which became the squadron’s operating base for the next two months before the Allied advance continued. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SD45elect2000 Posted April 13 Share Posted April 13 Nice neat job A+ on this build. Randall 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tour de Airfix Posted April 13 Author Share Posted April 13 And the other from the 75th Anniversary D-Day Air Assault Set A50157A is also complete. This, as I shared with Dominic earlier, is an interesting release from Airfix, as it is not as suggested a June 1944 D-Day kit at all. MP124 was delivered to 247 Squadron in August, S/Ldr Stapleton did not take part in Operation Overlord (D-Day)and was never based at RAF Hurn. Here's the true story behind ... Typhoon MP124 ZY-Y of No.247 (China-British) Squadron, Aircraft flown by Squadron Leader Basil Gerald "Stapme" Stapleton DFC, No 83 Group, 124 Wing, 2nd Tactical Air Force, 1944. There were at least 8 ZY-Y Typhoons during WW2 and the aircraft which flew on D-Day was MN363, damaged and removed from service on 8 June and thus not Typhoon MP124 ZY-Y flown by S/Ldr Stapleton. S/Ldr Stapleton was serving as an instructor for the RAF Central Gunnery School on D-Day and promoted to take command of 247 Squadron in August 1944. Although missing D-Day itself, he was thrown straight into the fray on joining 247 Squadron, at their Advance Landing Ground B6/Coulombs, Normandy, when on 25 August his first recorded operational flight was flying Typhoon MN585 in an RP attack on tanks at Beuille. His personal Typhoon, MP126, was delivered from the forward staging base at RAF Bognor, West Sussex, on 28 August 1944. His first operational flight in the aircraft was an armed reconnaissance flight on 9 September. The Squadron record book for the day reports 8 Typhoons led by S/ Ldr B G Stapleton DFC detailed for an armed recce in the Bergen op Zoom - Breda - Dordreich - Gorinchem - Hortogen - Bosch - Tilburg area. No movement could be observed due to bad weather. On the morning of 10 September, weather had improved and Stapleton was back in the air leading 7 Typhoons on another armed recce, this time in the Breda - Hertogenbosch - Eindhoven- Venlo - Turnhout area. They attacked and destroyed a locomotive west of Breda and a convoy south of Eindhoven. In the afternoon he went up again leading 8 Typhoons to attack a 60 plus convoy. They found 20 plus and attacked with RP reportedly knocking out 5 before sighting a stationary goods train which they attacked with cannon. On 17 September, the opening day of Operation Market Garden, Stapleton led 8 RP Typhoons against 2 gun positions in the Arnhem area destroying one and damaging the other. 247 squadron’s Typhoons continued to provide support the advancing troops right through to the end of the operation on 25 September, though were severely hampered by poor weather. The squadron's sky coloured spinners were repainted red in late September / early October, and the whole of 124 Wing had them (137, 181, 182, 247 Sqns) by 2nd week of October. It is likely that this scheme was applied when they were stationed at Eindhoven to help waiting ground crews differentiate between the Typhoons of the 124 and 143 Wings which were based there. For some reason, on 5 December, Stapleton's MP126 was marked up as spare and then allocated to P/O Frikkie Wiersum for an armed recce of the Wesel - Dulmen - Cosefeld area, in Germany. While over Bochlot they encountered heavy and accurate flak, Wiersum was hit and last seen climbing into cloud streaming glycol. Although he called up over the RT to say he thought he could make base, he never arrived and it was presumed that he must have decided to bail out. No more was heard from him and Wiersum and MP126 were reported lost. Stapleton’s own war came to an end on 23 December 1944, when during the Battle of the Bulge, flying Typhoon MP189 on an armed recce in the Aachen - Blatzhed area, he led an RP attack on a train. Unfortunately his Typhoon was hit by fragments from the exploding train and he was forced to crash land behind German lines. Captured he spent the remainder of the war as a PoW. While the Typhoon could carry either 2 500/1000lb bombs or 8 Rockets (RP), most squadrons stuck to one type. While 247 (and 245) Squadron was one which specialised in RPs, and indeed Stapleton's own aircraft carried nose art depicting a fired rocket, I really wanted one of my Typhoons to be loaded with bombs and chose this most different of the two to have them. I also read of a the commander of one wing having two personal aircraft, one equipped with Rockets and the other with bombs, so in my imagination, this is what Stapleton has here 😊 I now have the rest of the D-Day Assault kit and diorama to build, together with the Spitfire from the Club D-Day Duo. I'll share these in another thread. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dominic Thomas Posted April 14 Share Posted April 14 I really like the finish you have achieved on both of these aircraft. The historical information is a real bonus. Thanks very much for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tour de Airfix Posted April 14 Author Share Posted April 14 Thank you Dominic. ☺️ I’m afraid I’m a real sucker for the background story and I read and research deeply into everything I build. I’d probably of had less to say on this one if our friends at Airfix had done the same. This has given me an idea for another thread 😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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