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The quarterly journal of theInternational Plastic Modellers Society of Canada www.ipmscanada.com

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Random Thoughts

ByByByByByFFFFForororororModellers

♦♦♦♦♦ Roden’ s 1/32 Fokker Dr .I

♦♦♦♦♦ A ’72 Chevy Pickup T ruck

♦♦♦♦♦ A LAV III Conversion in 1/35

♦♦♦♦♦ ‘Napoleon’ 12-Pounder Cannon

♦♦♦♦♦ The Evolution of British Late-W ar

Upper W ing Roundels

Volume 31 • Number 1, 2, 3

2009 Sampler

♦♦♦♦♦ Building Czech Model’ s 1/48 Me 309

♦♦♦♦♦ 1/35 M3A1 Stuart Recce Vehicle

In This S pecial Issue

Welcome toIPMS Canada!

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EditorEditorEditorEditorEditorialialialialial

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Random Thoughts

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................................................

Table of Content s

Masthead and Editorial .................. 2

Building The Czech Model1/48 Me 309Randy Lutz ....................................... 3

‘Napoleon’ 12-Pounder CannonGary Barling .....................................7

M3A1 Stuart Recce in 1/35Bob Ascah ...................................... 12

Evolution of British Late-War UpperWing RoundelsSteve Sauvé ................................... 16

A ’72 Chevy Pickup TruckMassimo Santarossa ...................... 19

Roden’s 1/32 Fokker Dr.IGary Barling ................................... 21

LAV III Conversion in 1/35Andriy Bass .................................... 30

Welcome! You’re looking a special‘Sampler’ edition of RTRTRTRTRT – RandomThoughts, the official journal ofIPMS Canada. The idea for thiscame about as a way ofintroducing, or re-introducingmodellers to IPMS Canada, whilemembers of the IPMS CanadaNational Executive attended theIPMS/USA 2009 NationalConvention in Columbus, Ohio.

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Volume 31 Sampler



liquid-cooled, inline engine turning athree-bladed, variable pitch metalpropeller. Taxi trials conducted in Juneand July of 1942 revealed a tendency forthe Me 309’s nose wheel to shimmy(move side-to-side). After modifications tothe nose wheel, Messerschmitt test pilotKarl Baur made the Me 309V1’s maidenfight from Augsburg, Germany on 18 July1942.

High-speed level fights demonstrated theMe 309V1’s directional instability, whichresulted in enlarged vertical tail surfacesbeing fitted to the aircraft. Four differentvertical tails were installed on Me 309s,yet handling problems persistedthroughout its career. The fighter wasalso retrofitted with the 1475 HP DB 605inline engine, which was installed on thesubsequent Me 309 prototypes. An RLMpilot flew the Me 309V1 in a mockdogfight against a Bf 109G on 22November 1942. This exercise showedthat the Bf 109G could outmanoeuvre theMe 309, which had only a 30 MPH (48.3KMH) faster speed than the older

Messerschmitt fighter. The Me 309’smaximum speed of 360 MPH (579.3KMH) was also 66 MPH (106.2 KMH)slower than the Focke-Wulf Fw 190D,which was under development in late1942.

Four Me 309 prototype were built byMesserschmitt; the RLM cancelled the sixother examples on order. The RLMcancelled the Me 309 project in 1943,due to the fighter’s lacklustreperformance and technical difficulties.

The KitI think it is beneficial as a modeller tostretch one’s self occasionally and trybuilding something other than the oft-quoted Tamiya or Hasegawa ‘shake andbake’ kits. Truth be told, I find the term‘shake and bake’ to be insulting of amodeller’s abilities, as it implies that noskill is required to build the model. Well, Ican tell you that I have seen many ofthese supposed ‘shake and bake’ kitsthat looked like crap once finished. But,we will save this discussion for anotherday.

This model was my first foray into theCzech Model line of kits and I must saythat I was pleasantly surprised with theoverall quality and detail of the kit. It hasa few little areas that require specialattention and a few areas that I feel areincorrect, but none of these issues shoulddeter you from tackling this kit.

Call me crazy, but the packaging of thesimple black and white artwork with redaccents as seen in the header of thisarticle really appeals to me. Inside thissubdued box are 34 injection mouldedparts on two sprues (Photo 1 ), a small

The Kit

Building the CzechBuilding the CzechBuilding the CzechBuilding the CzechBuilding the Czech

ModelModelModelModelModel

1/481/481/481/481/48

MesserMesserMesserMesserMesserschmittschmittschmittschmittschmitt

Me 309Me 309Me 309Me 309Me 309

Building theBuilding theBuilding theBuilding theBuilding the

Czech ModelCzech ModelCzech ModelCzech ModelCzech Model

1/481/481/481/481/48

MesserMesserMesserMesserMesserschmittschmittschmittschmittschmitt

Me 309Me 309Me 309Me 309Me 309

By Randy Lutz IPMS Canada C#4650 Ottawa, Ont ario

GEÌÌÌÌÌCU, the later Me 309 V1 variant,flown by T est Pilot Karl Baur , atLechfeld, Germany , in August of 1942.

BACKGROUNDMesserschmitt began work on anadvanced single-seat Me 309 fighter forthe Luftwaffe in late 1940. Combatexperience with Messerschmitt’s earlierBf 109 fighter - which called for higherspeeds, greater range, and heavierarmament - was incorporated into thisnew design. This design alsoincorporated several advanced features,including a tricycle landing gear, aretractable radiator, a pressurized cabin,and ejection seat. Ten prototype aircraftwere ordered from Messerschmitt in1941.

Construction of the Me 309V1 (WNr(Factory Number) 001, fuselage codeGEÌCU) began in late 1941 and wascompleted in June of 1942. The aircraftwas powered by a 1750 horsepower (HP)Daimler-Benz DB 603A-1 12-cylinder,

Background



was fastened in place after first sandingdown the edges slightly to allow thefuselage halves to meet. In Photo 7 ,arrows point to the areas where I neededto sand the edges of the tub. In Photo 7 ,you will also notice that the nose gearwell is installed as per the scribed line onthe inside of the fuselage and lead fishingsinkers have been epoxied in place tokeep the nose gear on the ground. I hada real strong bond, but unfortunately, thewheel well was in the wrong place. Ifinstalled where Czech Model suggests,the propeller will hit the nose gear on thecompleted model. I had to break theepoxy bond and shift the resin wheel wellback about 3/16". The only good thingabout this is that I discovered it beforethe fuselage halves were glued together.

LANDING GEARI was now at what proved to be the worstpart of the kit, which were the mainlanding gear legs. I found the mouldingsto be somewhat undefined, which made

clean up a chore. Also, both of my resinoleo torque links were broken beyondrecognition. I replaced the links withsome spare photo-etched parts and Ifabricated the axles for mounting thewheels from some Evergreen rod. Themain gear legs are shown in Photo 8 .The gear retraction arms were detailedwith some bolt heads made using myWaldron Punch and Die and glued to the

main gear legs. I airbrushed Tamiya TS-14 Gloss Black on the oleo strut sectionof all the gear legs and once dry this wasfollowed by a few light coats of Alclad IIChrome. I then masked off the oleos andproceeded to airbrush the gear legs withRLM 02, followed by a dark wash andthen lightened RLM 02 dry brushing.

When I attempted to install the resinwheel wells in the wings, it became quiteobvious that they would not fit withoutconsiderable sanding to reduce theirthickness. In Photo 9, you can clearlysee how much resin needs to beremoved to allow the upper and lowerhalves of the wings to meet. With wingsassembled,

I had two more steps to complete, one ofwhich was optional and onemandatory. The mandatorystep was to glue in place ashort section of plastic tube thatwas of the same insidediameter as the attachmentpoints on the landing gear legs.I found this necessary, as thereis no positive method offastening the gear legsotherwise. This tubing mount isidentified as arrow ‘A ’ in Photo10. The optional step is toinstall some styrene strip torepresent the wing structural

detail that would be visible in the wheelwell as seen at arrow ‘B ’ in Photo 10 .And finally, there is a panel line missingfrom the bottom of the port wing.

Once these details are taken care of theairframe can be assembled and as canbe seen in Photo 11 , virtually no putty isrequired, if you pay attention to thetreatment of the mating surfaces andalignment of the sub-assemblies. Thereare small mounting stubs for the tailplanes and the fact that the main wingsare merely a butt joint did not present anyproblems. The only problem Iencountered with the assembly of theairframe was the fact that some of thepanel lines did not match from onefuselage half to the next. Thisnecessitated filling in some panel linesand rescribing new ones, but again it wasnot a big deal.

Landing Gear & Wheel Wells

Photo 7

Photo 8

Photo 9

Photo 10

Photo 1 1

Gap



but in this case, I had no alternative.However, I am pleased to report that thiswas a canopy that actually fit the model. Ithink the biggest hurdle when workingwith a vac canopy is cutting them outproperly. I know we all have our owntechniques, or preferred method forremoving them, but I will tell you how I doit. (see the photo sequence at the top ofthis page. Ed.) First, I outline, or definethe outer edge of the canopy frame withthin strips of masking tape as can beseen in �. It is far easier to cut along aline if you can clearly distinguish betweenthe canopy and the excess plastic. Theblack dotted line illustrates where I makemy cuts using a small pair of scissors.Once cut out, I will sand the edges toshape the canopy so that it matches thecontours of the fuselage. It is then gluedin place with small drops of superglue.Next, I apply pieces of photographicsplicing, or leader tape to cover the clearareas of the canopy. This is then followedby an application of Tamiya putty to blendin the canopy. I can then start to sand theseam as seen in �. The green splicingtape is waterproof and thick enough thatit protects the clear areas while I do allthe bodywork. Once I am happy with thecanopy, it along with the cockpit openingis masked off with Tamiya tape inpreparation for the painting. (The finalresult can be seen in �. Ed.)

PAINTINGPainting was next and for this Iairbrushed Xtracolor RLM 74 Graugrunand RLM 75 Grauviolett over RLM 76Lichtblau, followed by a very soft anddiffused mottle of RLM 02, 70 and 74.If I may stand on my soapbox for amoment, almost all models I have seenfinished in the mid-war grey splinterscheme are incorrectly painted, in asmuch as the modeller has taken to heartthe term ‘splinter’ and applied the RLM74/75 with a hard edge. In reality, thedemarcation between the colours shouldbe soft edged. On pre-war aircraft, a truehard edge splinter pattern was in use,with straight hard-edged demarcations.This was in effect until 1939 when the

camouflage started to change. From1939 onwards, fighters employed soft-edged camouflage patterns, even if they

were still called splinter. For the mostpart, bombers finished in RLM 70/71/65,and marine aircraft using RLM 72/73/65,were finished using the hard edgecamouflage to the end of the war, with afew exceptionsappearing on somelate war bomber andmaritime schemes.

Decals andWEATHERINGThe decals were nextto go on and whilethey were wellprinted and in perfectregister, there weresome errors. Theupper wing crossesas supplied for theV1 aircraft areidentical to the

fuselage crosses and are thereforeincorrect, as they should have thereduced white areas. I base this on the

good quality photo of the Me 309, whichis taken from the right rear where you cansee the upper surface of the wing. While Icannot state with 100% certainty, I feelthe fuselage crosses are a little oversize,

Canopy Procedure

��

Painting

WeatheringDecals and



About the author:Randy Lutz was born in Kingston andraised in the Ottawa area. He has beenemployed for 32 years by the FederalGovernment. Modelling since childhood,with a few breaks along the way, his mainarea of interest is 1/48 WWII aircraft, withstrong emphasis on small air force andforeign markings. Randy has been amember of IPMS Canada since the early1990's and a member of the NationalExecutive since 1996.

but usable as they are. Once the decalsset up, a medium grey wash was appliedto the panel lines and then I applied traceamounts of silver paint to represent smallchips, respecting the fact that this was aprototype aircraft and would not havebeen subject to the same wear andabuse as a front line fighter. This was all

followed by a few applications of TestorsDullcote to achieve the desired sheen.

Czech Model does not indicate where thewingtip navigation lights should besituated, so I surmised that they would besimilar to those found on a late modelBf 109 and masked off the areas wherethey would be. Then they wereairbrushed with Humbrol Crimson andXtracolor X320 Air Canada Teal (Photo12). Also shown in this photo is the pitottube made from two pieces ofhypodermic needles. You will notice insome references that drawings show thepitot tube mounted further inboard, butthis is incorrect. The Me 309, like the109, 110 and 262 had deployable leadingedge slats that made it necessary tomount the pitot outboard of the slats.Landing gear position indicators werefashioned from piano wire, painted redand glued to the wings (Photo 13 ), theexhausts were airbrushed with MetalizerBurnt Iron and Burnt Metal and then

slipped into position from the outsidewhile the hinged portion of the canopywas tacked in place with a few drops ofsuper glue. All that remained was toapply some chalk pastel weathering andthe model was finished. The remainingphotos provide an overview of thecompleted model.

ConclusionThis proved to be one of the mostenjoyable kits I have built. There were afew minor nit-picks, but in the grandscheme of things, none of them wasserious. Depending on the angle viewed,it either looks like an elegant racer, or itlooks rather ungainly. But, no matter howyou look at it, it is a good model of aninteresting subject. Is it 100%dimensionally correct? I don’t know and Idon’t care. I do not have plans tocompare it to and if I did, I would befoolish to blindly assume the plans wouldbe correct. All I know is it looks verymuch like the photos of the real thing.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTI would like to thank Squadron/MMD forallowing me to draw on the Me 309

historical narrative from the kit’sinstruction sheet.

Not much, aside from a few photos on theInternet and a photo in the MonogramOfficial Monogram Painting Guide toGerman Aircraft 1935-1945.

Photo 12

Photo 13

Conclusion

Acknowledgement

References



When most people visualize a Civil Warcannon, they usually think of the ‘Napoleon’.Little wonder that they do, as it was the mostwell known field artillery piece of the WarBetween the States. Named in honour ofEmperor Napoleon III by its designers, whocreated it in the 1850’s in France, theNapoleon cannon was a bronze, smoothboreweapon. Emperor Napoleon III ordered itsdesign and construction so that the ordnanceof the French army might be standardized tosimplify the production, supply, anddistribution of cannons, carriages,implements, and ammunition.

Often referred to as the workhorse of CivilWar artillery, the Napoleon was manufacturedand used extensively by both sides. By July1863, in the Virginia Theatre of Operations,the Napoleon comprised about 39% of allartillery armament for both the Union Army ofthe Potomac and the Confederate Army ofNorthern Virginia.

The Napoleon had the best features of theextant smoothbores of the day. It was areasonably manoeuvrable piece, sturdy anddurable. The Napoleon light 12-pounder had arelatively high degree of effectiveness atranges up to 1700 yards, which made it agreat overall artillery weapon. The Napoleonso impressed a three-man American militarycommission that toured Europe in 1855 and1856 that they recommended it for Americanuse. Within a year, it was made an official partof American ordnance (Photo 1 ).

Napoleons were produced by bothConfederate and Federal arsenals. Federalarsenals produced almost 1200 Napoleonlight 12-pounders during the War, whileConfederate arsenals were able only toproduce between 500 and 600 Napoleons ofslightly different appearance.

THE KITThe Verlinden 120 mm resin kit (#1234) iscurrently listed as available through theVerlinden website for about USD $60.00. Thebarrel, gun carriage, ammunition types andsome parts of the accoutrements are separate

pieces, while the remaining parts are offeredin a resin sheet, from which they are to be cutand/or sanded. Wire and cording areprovided, from which metal gun fittings andrope ‘prolonges’ are fashioned by themodeller. Additional parts, such as theimplement rods, are to be provided by thebuilder. My kit did not have the instructionsheet. A call to the merchant resulted in afaxed version that was not the best, but whichprovided enough guidance to proceed. Theoverall quality of the kit is very good, withproblem areas discussed in the pertinentsections below. I’ll deal with the barrel, guncarriage, implements and painting separately.

THE BARRELThe barrel provided is the Union standardbarrel with the characteristic ‘swell’, or bulge,at the muzzle. The overall shape anddimensions are very good, but my barrelsuffered from some miscasting: there wereseveral significantly pitted areas that requiredfilling and sanding. Photo 2 shows acompleted model without the required barrelrepairs, and I thank the modeller who built itfor permission to use this image in my article.

By Gary Barling, C #0014IPMS Ottawa

‘Napoleon’ 12-Pounder SpecificationsBore Diameter 4.62"Material BronzeLength of Tube 66"Weight of Tube 1227 lbsPowder Charge 2.5 lbsAmmunition Solid Shot, Shell,

Spherical Case,Canister

Rate of Fire 2 rounds/minute(4 RPM for Canisterin emergency)

Range at 5º Elevation 1619 yards Photo 1

INTRODUCTION

THE KIT

THE BARREL

‘NAPOLEON’ 12-POUNDER CANNON‘NAPOLEON’ 12-POUNDER CANNON‘NAPOLEON’ 12-POUNDER CANNON‘NAPOLEON’ 12-POUNDER CANNON‘NAPOLEON’ 12-POUNDER CANNON



Accordingly, be prepared for some barrelrepairs: the barrel of the original gun was castin bronze, and so displayed a very smoothsurface. Hence, particular care should begiven to the finishing of the barrel, as any faultwill detract from the overall look of the model.I used Mr. Surfacer 500 and 1000 to fill andfinish the barrel. In retrospect I might havehad an easier time of it had I used Milliput forthe filling portion of the repairs. A finalapplication of Mr. Surfacer 1200 thinned with

40 per cent lacquerthinner, followed by apolishing withMicroMesh 4000 and8000 grit preparedthe barrel for itspainting andweathering (Photo3). A touchhole,representing thepoint where thefriction primer wasfitted for firing, wasdrilled into top-dead-center at the rear ofthe tube.

Another gallingfeature of the barrelis that it does notprovide any idea ofhow the gun wasaimed. In fact, twoadditions have to bemade. The first,easily done, is toadd a foresight. Thisis simply a pointedrod fitted to thebarrel just above themuzzle. I drilled ahole,snippedoff theend of apin, andglued itin placewith atouch of

CA glue (Photo 4 ). Thesecond is a bit more labour-intensive. Napoleons from fourof the five foundries producingthem had small flattened‘pads’ moulded in to the upperand lower end of the tube(Photo 5 ). The top pad istermed a “hausse seat,” forthe attachment of a pendulumhausse bracket. This is

essentiallya removable gunsight:you placed the bracketon the upper pad,sighted the gun usingboth bracket andforesight, and thenremoved the bracketbefore you fired the gun.The bottom pad was atype of ‘base plate’ onwhich the elevatingscrew rested.Napoleons from theHenry N. Hooperfoundry were made withonly the top pad for thesight bracket. No fool I,my model is a HooperNapoleon: one pad only(Photo 6 )! To make thepad, I taped off the areaof the pad, lightly

Photo 2

Photo 6

Photo 7

Photo 3

Photo 4

Photo 5



scratched the surface with the end of a #11blade, and then applied a small quantity ofTwo-part epoxy Milliput. I moulded the Milliputwith a small spatula and a bit of water, andthen let it set up for a day. When cured, Ilightly sanded the Milliput into the final shape:a small platform just to the rear of the touchhole.

THE GUN CARRIAGEI’m not an expert onthese weapons, so Idon’t currently know forsure if Verlinden hasprovided a specific guncarriage or a genericversion that might ‘lookgood’ but is not entirelyaccurate. However, Ido know the campaignand battle ofGettysburg, and I’veguided severalbattlefield tours there(warning: never get mestarted on that topic orI’ll talk about it ‘til youreyes glaze over). In theGettysburg Visitor’sCenter museum, there

is an original Napoleon, complete with all ofthe implements (Photo 7 ). Accordingly, I used

this gun as the basis formy construction. Thechanges are minor, andeasily within the abilitiesof the average modeller.All you really need istime, patience, and asupply of wire! Let’sstart at the front andwork our way back.

The kit provides youwith three implementsthat have to be fittedonto two wooden rods(we’ll talk about theirconstruction below).They are carried slungunder the gun carriage,supported at the front ofthe gun by iron fittings.These usually take the

form of a ‘hook’, in which the rod rests, butcan also be a ‘loop’ through which a rod is runbefore tightening up the implement straps atthe rear of the carriage. I opted for the twohooks illustrated in the directions (Photo 8 ).These are formed from wire included in thekit, bent to match drawn templates.

Water is a vital part of the gun equipment.Once fired, the barrel is swabbed out with adamp wool-covered sponge to extinguish anyremaining burning embers. You can imaginethe effect of ramming 2.5 pounds of blackpowder down the barrel and letting it comeinto contact with the burning remnants of theprevious charge. More than a few gunnerslost hands, arms and lives as a result.Accordingly, a water bucket is carried underthe carriage on a hook. Again, the hook ismade from a piece of kit wire bent to atemplate. However, I found that the templatewas a bit too long: the bucket rested too closeto the ground when looped into place. Easy

fix: cut off the hook, shorten the shank and thebarb of the hook, and re-attach.The bucket itself needed a bit of work. Tosuspend the bucket on the hook, two shortpieces of chain were used. A larger iron ring,the part that actually fitted over the hook,joined these to each other (Photo 9 ). I usedthe small chain that came with the kit, cuttingtwo short pieces and attaching them to eitherattachment point on the bucket with thin wirefrom my own supply. Then I made the ironring from slightly thicker wire, painted it black,and fitted each of the chains to it.

The barrel was fitted with two trunnions,circular stubs that fitted into semi-circularrecesses on the top of the gun carriage.When in location, the trunnions were held inplace by two iron fittings, each of which in turnwere held in place by a locking pin. The pin, inturn, was attached to the carriage by a smalllength of chain. I made the pin with theubiquitous wire, attached a small length of kit

Photo 10

Photo 9

Photo 9 A

Photo 8

GUN CARRIAGE



chain to one end, drilled a receiving hole inthe carriage lock bolt, used a touch of CAglue to join the chain to the carriage, andslipped the locking pin in place.

The Napoleon came with two handspikes,about 4 ½ feet long. I manufactured thesefrom lengths of wooden shish kebob spears,sanding them smooth and reducing thediameter a little, as I neared the end of thehandspikes. These were used by fitting theminto the rear of the carriage (called the ‘trail’)and used to manhandle the gun left and rightto engage a target. The handspikes werecarried on either side of the barrel, mountedon the forward part of the carriage, using twofittings: a ‘D’ ring at the extreme forward edgeof the carriage; and an ‘O’ ring further back.You are expected to form the forward ‘D’ ringfrom supplied wire. The instructions tell you tofit a ‘J’ hook to the rear, into which the otherend of the handspike fits. However, the

Gettysburg Napoleon has the rear of thehandspike attached by a short chain, whileothers feature a rear-mounted ‘O’ ring. This isthe option I used. I drilled a hole into themoulded-in fittings, and then inserted aGrandt Line eyebolt. Using thin wire, I formedrings around a suitable dowel. Opening therings slightly, I fitted them into the eyebolts,then closed them up and gave them a coat ofblack paint (Photo 9 ).

Elevation and depression of the gun barrelwas done using a simple screw device fittedinto the trail of the carriage under the rear ofthe barrel: screw goes up, muzzle goes down,and vice versa. The kit provides the screwand four extension handles use to operate theitem. The problem here was that the hole forthe screw was cast vertically in relation to thetrail, when it should have been castperpendicular to the ground and to the axis ofthe barrel, as it was positioned to fire. Thiscalls for re-drilling or grinding out the hole inorder to get the screw seated vertically toground level (Photo 6 ).

Moving to the rear of the trail, the kit requirestwo more ‘J’ hooks to be fitted. These are formounting the other end of the implementsmentioned above. However, the Gettysburggun clearly shows that these ends of theimplements were strapped to the trail ratherthan being carried loosely in ‘J’ hooks. I used

thin strips of electrician’stape for the straps: black,self-adhesive,flexible…what more could Iwant? I just applied thetape to the implement, andthen CA’d the end upagainst the moulded fitting.

The gun carried a rope,called a ‘prolonge’, on thetop of the trail. Theprolonge was used tomove the gun and, ifnecessary, recover it inretreat without the use ofthe gun’s team of horses.The kit provides theprolonge, and it is a simplematter of wrapping itaround the two iron fittingson the trail. I added an iron

ring to the prolonge, andsoaked it in cold teaovernight, then darkened itwith Weatherall, to providesuitable weathering.

The carriage also carriedtwo sets of chains, one oneither side. I believe thatthese were called ‘lockingchains’, and were used to fitthrough the spokes on eachwheel to ‘lock’ them andprevent the gun from rollingdownhill. The chain providedin the kit is the right size forthe bucket and variouslocking pins, but it is toosmall for a locking chain. A

trip to a costume jewellery store found

suitable chains, which were painted black andfitted into place (Photo 10 ).

IMPLEMENTSYou are provided with three items that are tobe fitted onto the ends of two wooden rods(length unspecified). In the event, my twoimplements came out to an overall length of 4½ inches. I used lengths of wooden shish

kebob spears for my rods due to their realisticwooden appearance. Two of the provideditems go on either end of the same rod: therammer (short, cylindrical part) and thesponge (longer, roughened cylindrical part). Ithink that the sponge is too long, and so Isawed off about ¼”. I also found that all of theimplements are too big to fit into the muzzle,so the rammer and sponge were sandeddown to a smaller diameter of about 6mm. Iglued coarsely powdered railroad-landscapingmaterial onto the sponge head to give theroughened surface of the original (Photo 9A ).

The other implement featured a bore brush onone end (not supplied) and a ‘worm,’ which isto be fashioned from the ever-present wire. Icast about to find a suitable brush, finallysettling on (believe it or not) a good-sizedmascara brush from the local drug store’scosmetic section! The worm was a

corkscrewed length of metal used to recoverpowder charges in the gun barrel…gently.The instructions would have you wrap wirearound a dowel, then glue it into place on yourstave. Not quite. You do have to wrap the wirethree or four times, but then the end of theworm that fits into the rod must be bent intothe center of the circular corkscrew, then bentaway from the corkscrew at ninety degrees,and then fitted to the rod. The reason is that, if

Photo 12

Photo 13

Photo 11

IMPLEMENTS



not done, the axis of the worm will be offsetfrom the axis of the rod: you’re trying to getthe worm ‘centered’ on the long axis of therod.

WHEELSThe wheels are the most difficult part of thisbuild, not because of what you get in the kit,but because of the design of the actual wheelitself. As one of my references states, “Thewheel was a very subtle design. The fourteenspokes are dished slightly inward to make thewheels more springy on rough ground, andthe ends of the axle are tapered downward tocorrect for this angle, so that the base of theiron-tired wheel is horizontal to the ground.This improves cornering, and also has theeffect of throwing mud outward and away frommen and horses following the gun.”

The problem thus comes in two phases:setting up the inward ‘dishing:’ anddetermining how to set the angle betweeneach of the spokes. First, the angle. With 360degrees in a circle, and fourteen spokes,simple math gives us 360/14 = 25.7 degreesbetween spokes (and please don’t ask whyfourteen spokes!). I then held the circularwheel part in place on a piece of card, anddrew a circumference around its insidesurface. Using a compass and straight edge, Ithen found the center of this circle. Finally,using a protractor, I marked off sixteen 26-degree radii from the center to the edge of thecircle. This became the template to positionthe spokes. And no, I didn’t really worry aboutthe .3-degree variance! With the template, Ithen marked off the points of contact that thespokes would make with the inside surface ofthe wheel (Photo 11 ).The original wheels were fitted with iron ‘tires.’These were heated up, tightly fitted to thewooden wheel, and allowed to cool. Thisshrunk the tire, which had the effect ofcompressing the wooden wheel and forcingthe spokes into both the wheel and hub. Thekit gives you two strips of styrene for the tires.These then have to be fitted to the wheels. Iused CA glue, tacking one end to the wheeland then running the strip around the wheel,tacking it as I proceeded. The strips arelonger than required, to allow for final fitting,and slightly wider than required, necessitatinga final trim to shape. With the end trimmedand fitted flush with the start point, I ran asmall bead of CA along both sides of the tirearound the entire circumference. SmallGrandt Line rivets were fitted to each end ofthe ‘iron’ strip to represent the attachmentpoints to the wheels.

Now, the effect on the tires of trundling a tonor so of barrel and carriage over weeks andmonths of heavy usage is fairly obvious. Theload-bearing surface gets pretty beaten upover time. I used Mr. Surfacer 1000 for theeffect. I dabbed it onto a piece of pipeinsulation (any rough surface will do as anapplicator) and then dabbed the MS onto thetire. This was built up over two or three thinapplications until a suitable roughenedsurface was obtained. Xtracolor Gunmetal

was airbrushed over the surface to replicateheavily used iron tires (Photo 12 ).

AMMUNITIONEight rounds of ammunition are provided, fourspherical case and four canister. I painted themetal portions using Alclad II Steel, andfinished the cartridge bagging with a lightbeige linen colour. There is a wooden sabotbetween the cartridge bag and the tin canistercontainer: this was painted a gloss mid-brown,and then fitted with woodgrain decals fromSpada and Dullcoted. Further detailing waswith lead and coloured pencil for the cordingand shading (Photo 13 ).

THE BASEI used a standard wooden base from a localtrophy shop. However, I had read of aparticular railroad scenic material thatprovided a very good ‘grass’ surface. This isfrom Busch of Germany, and is coded HO7211 Grass Matting Dark Green. It comes intwo other shades besides the one I used(Light Green and Corn Field), and wasordered on-line from Walther’s in the UnitedStates (see references).

PAINTINGI decided to add a little ‘character’ to thismodel by finishing it as a Union gun capturedby Confederate forces (I am sure that ourMemphis, TN Chapter will appreciate this!).Accordingly, there are essentially four coloursto use for this model: bronze, medium green,grey-brown and black. The gun barrel, asnoted above, was cast bronze, so you canuse any bronze paint you wish. I used a mix ofAlclad II paints for mine, but ran into a smallproblem. Having successfully used TamiyaGloss Black on earlier projects as anundercoat, I used it again here. However,after about two or three weeks, the Alclad IIstarted to crack. I removed the paint, re-sprayed with the Mr. Surfacer 1200/lacquerthinner mix, and started again. This time, Iused decanted Krylon Gloss Black (#1601)based on an article I found on the Internet.Three or four light coats followed by apolishing with MicroMesh prepared thesurface for the Alclad II application. This timethe application was successful. I lightlyairbrushed very thin coats of dark brown andblack randomly over the barrel to replicatewear and grime. These did not cover thebronze, but added a touch of depth to thefinish. I lightly applied Xtracolor Exhaust at themuzzle and touch hole to replicate powderresidue left as a result of firing.

Most Northern gun carriages in the AmericanCivil War were painted with an olive greencolour, obtained by mixing yellow ochre andblack. Other colours were used occasionally,but not often. I used Xtracolor X816, BritishArmy Khaki Drab, but any similar colour willdo. However, to add interest to the model, oneof the wheels was painted in a grey-brownshade. My somewhat apocryphal story is thata solid shot strike on the right wheel disabledthe gun. Abandoned in combat, it was

captured by Southern forces, andsubsequently repaired by fitting one of theirwheels to the carriage. The South, sufferingunder Union blockade, used whateverappropriate paint they could find, hence themismatched wheels. Weathering was donewith pastels of various shades to replicateslight rust staining, dust, and the usual wearand tear of rough campaigning.

ConclusionAlthough at times frustrating, this kit built upinto a very pleasing replica of an extremelyimportant weapon used in the American CivilWar. With thousands of British NorthAmericans serving in the War, and up to 29 ofthese men receiving the Medal of Honor fortheir acts of bravery and courage, it is areminder to me of the close ties we have withour American friends, and have had over thepast 140 years.

References♦ Philip Katcher, American Civil WarArtillery 1861-65 (1): Field Artillery , OspreyPublishing, New York, 2001.♦ United States National Parks Service:various websites that provided information onthe Napoleon.♦ www.cwartillery.org Homepage ofseveral artillery-oriented websites.♦ www.swannysmodels.com/Alclad.htmlSwanny’s Alclad page, one of many on hiswebsite.♦ www.walthers.com Railroad landscapingmaterial.

About the author:Gary Barling was born and raised in theToronto area and subsequently served 40years in the Canadian Army. He’s 64 and hasbeen retired since 2004. Modelling since1955, His main area of interest is aircraft,with strong minors in armour and ships.Gary’s been a member of IPMS Canadasince 1965 and currently the Chapter LiaisonRepresentative on the IPMS Canada NationalExecutive. He maintains dual citizenship inboth IPMS Ottawa and IPMS Farnborough inEngland.

WHEELS

AMMUNITION

THE BASE

PAINTING

REFERENCES

CONCLUSION



BACKGROUNDIn December 1943, 1st Canadian Corps, 5th

Canadian Armoured Division and CorpsTroops deployed to Italy to join 1st CanadianInfantry Division and 1st Canadian ArmouredBrigade. This was done as a Relief in Place;the Canadian units taking over equipmentfrom British units that returned to England inpreparation for the invasion of France. To thechagrin of the Canadians, the result was thatthey ‘inherited’ a motley collection of battleworn / road weary vehicles that had seenconsiderable British service in Tunisia, Sicilyand even Egypt/Libya before being issued tothem. These matters were not helped bysuspicions that the British 7th ArmouredDivision had deliberately carried out anexchange program with other 8th Army unitsprior to the handover, in order to retain thebest vehicles in British units, andconsequently passing on the worst vehicles tothe Canadians. While tanks and otherprincipal vehicles were replaced at the outsetwith new vehicles, many of the soft skins andsupport vehicles continued to soldier onthrough 1944.

A study of loading tables for OperationGOLDFLAKE, the move of 1st CanadianCorps to the Netherlands in February 1945,

turned up some interesting oddities in theCanadian units. In the case of 4th CanadianAnti Tank Regiment, two M3A3 Stuart lighttanks and five M3A1 Stuart Recce tanks werebeing held by the two M10 SP batteries. Thegun tanks appear to have been assigned tothe Battery Commanders and the StuartRecce vehicles assigned to the TroopCommanders in lieu of the Universal Carriersauthorized by War Establishments. While theM10s were most likely new vehicles, 98 and82 Batteries not being equipped as SP sub-units until March 1944, I am quite certain thatthe Honeys (as referred to in the War Diaries)were ex-8th Army vehicles. Following themove to the Netherlands, the TroopCommander vehicles were exchanged forM3A3 Stuart Recce vehicles and the 3" M10swere replaced by 17 pdr M10s. Thesevehicles appear in the well-known PublicArchives photo of the 23 May 1945 VictoryParade at Groningen, Netherlands.

GENERALHaving picked up an Academy 1/35 scaleM3A1 to use the road wheels on anotherproject, I decided to take a stab at modelling aTroop Commander’s ride in Italy. At the startof the project, information on these vehicleswas sketchy at best; much of the final productis the result of informed speculation anddeduction. Imperial War Museum (IWM)photos do shown recce conversions of M3and M3A1 Stuarts and a comparison of theStuart Recce Census Numbers from the loadtables with the list on the MAFVA site

confirms the Canadian vehicles as beingM3A1 hulls. As I reached the painting stage, Icame across a British Pathé film clip whichshowed a British M3A1 Stuart Recce inMessina, Sicily. This necessitated a couple ofquick adjustments to my depiction. While theconversion could be done on the Tamiya kit,

By Bob Ascah,IPMS Canada #0878Limestone City Modellers,Kingston, ON

(Above) Lt I.L. Rosenbaum’s ride. Aninterpretation of a little known Canadianvehicle from the Italian Campaign.

(Above) The inspiration. Extracted fromthe unit War Diary.

77 Background

77 General

M3A1 STUART RecceM3A1 STUART Recce

4th Cdn A/Tk Regt – Italy4th Cdn A/Tk Regt – Italy



the inclusion of a basic interior in theAcademy kit makes the project simpler. Finalpainting and marking is a best guess in theabsence of clear photos and diagrams. Thisarticle will look at my approach andinterpretation of this obscure beast.

SUSPENSIONAs the mounting pegs for the suspensiontowers extend through the lower hull tub, it is

necessary to assemblethe basic suspensionfirst. This will permitfilling and sanding theinterior walls prior toadding the interiorcomponents. Based onthe kit review at thePerth Military ModellingSite, I elected to use aset of Tamiya road and

idler wheels in place of the kit’s open ribwheels. This was more a matter of having theTamiya parts at hand than a purist approachof buying a second kit for parts. The returnrollers and drive sprockets were left off at thispoint to ease the process of fitting the upperand lower hulls and seam finishing.

INTERIOR

The floor and rearbulkhead were gluedinto the lower hullwithout modification. Inretrospect, someshimming may havebeen in order; however,I’ll leave that topersonal choice. Therest of the interiorfollowed the kitinstructions with theexception of leaving outthe sponson radio (B21)and ammunition racks.A base coat of whitepaint was employedfollowed by washes withblack and raw umberacrylics to create a well-worn look. A drybrushing of the floorplates with steelfinished off thecolouring. The issue ofa radio fit now raised itsugly head. A lack ofdefinitive information onM3s and brainstormingwith fellow modellersled to the decision tomount the radio in theright hand sponson.There is conflictinginformation on thewireless sets employedby anti tank units, withsome sourcesindicating No. 22 sets.

(Left) Academy’sbasic interior. Rawumber and blackwashes bring out thedetails and provide awell-usedappearance.

(Above) Filling required on the upper / lower hull joints. Notethe styrene bracket added to the rear fender stowage box.Tamiya wheels have been added for their improvedappearance.

(Below) Ultracast figure painted up asthe Troop Commander.

(Above) Do as I say. Trim the kit turretring back as marked, leaving themounting tabs and representative ringin place.

(Above) Maple Leaf Models No. 19 radioset. Painted cord and black thread havebeen added to wire the basiccomponents.

77 Suspension77 Interior



A check of 4 A/Tk Regt’s War Diary referredto No. 19 sets, although without specificcomment on the SPs and Honeys. Iaccordingly prepared a Maple Leaf Models

No. 19 set for installation. For those desiring aNo. 22 set, Resicast’s U.K. Wireless Setsincludes a pair of very nice units, albeitwithout the vehicle mounting tray.

The turret ringwas removedfrom the upperhull based onearlierassumptions ofStuart Recceconversions. Ahomebrew splashring was thenadded using .010"styrene strip.Again, aftercommitting knifeto plastic, newinformationindicated that theturret rings wereleft in place.Cutting back the

horizontal locking plate to the interior verticalsurface would appear to be the best optionhere. The front sponson plates (B1, B54) and

hatch plate (E27) wereadded, the interiorpainted white andwashes applied. Ifleaving the driver andassistant driver hatchesclosed, they can beadded at this time. Theupper and lower hullswere then gluedtogether.

EXTERIORAfter filling and sandingthe seam between thehull halves, theremaining lower hullcomponents from Step 1were added. Attentionthen turned to the upperhull details. A flimsy rack

(B30) was added to the right rear fender and aBritish stowage box (B27) to the left rearfender. Both required the construction of

support bracesfrom strip styrenein order to sitlevel, a detailomitted on the kit.The British box(B25) was addedacross the reardeck and the finalBritish box (B26)was added to theright front fender.Side skirts werenot added basedon studies ofphotos and theknown qualities ofwinter mud inItaly. Asmentioned,subsequent

information showed that the auxiliary fueltanks atop the sponsons were left in placewhen the turrets were stripped off. A quickassembly of the kit parts ensured and theywere glued down as per the instructions. Theeditorial deadline precluded further researchin this area and so I am uncertain as to thestyle of mounting brackets actually employed.The kit parts do not appear correct; however,more digging about is required in this matter.A No.8 Aerial Base (conical) from a TamiyaUniversal Carrier was position atop the rightfront sponson roof and an 8’ antenna added tothis. For the ‘B’ set the kit component B38was used to replicate a No. 9 Aerial Base,being added to a 1/16" styrene rod andinserted into a vertical hole drilled through B49and the engine deck. A 20" rod antenna wasadded to this. The external 0.30" calibre MGbracket from the back of the kit turret wasassembled and fitted to the centre of the frontdriver’s compartment plate. The co-driver/glacis MG mount was left empty based on thevehicle in the British Pathé video.

(Above Left) The basic camouflagepainting and vehicle markings. A washof raw umber has been added to adddimension to the paint job.

(Left) Crew stowage in the left sponson.The MG mount as based on the BritishPathé film.

(Above) A wash of buff titanium hasbeen applied to the overall vehicle. Thisapplies a dusty appearance, althoughcare is required to ensure that there isnot a build up of colour in the crevices.Headlights have been painted over as acommon practice to eliminate reflection.

(Bottom Left) Those pesky external fueltanks. The kit mounting does not appearcorrect, although further research isrequired on the actual tie-downs.

77Exterior



About the author:

Born in Montréal,Bob Ascah servedQueen and Countryfor 36 years in theCanadian Forces. Heis now retired andenjoying a moreleisurely life with the

added bonus of additional modelling time.Having started in plastic modelling at anearly age; he joined IPMS Canada in thelate 60s, drawing inspiration, as well asstealing ideas from RT over the years. Anactive member of the Limestone CityModellers in Kingston, Bob’s principalfocus is on military vehicles with a keyfocus on WW II Canadian equipment, theCold War and the various Arab/Israeli

PAINTINGThe model was finished in Light Mud and BlueBlack colours, as specified in early ItalianTheatre instructions. Steve Guthrierecommends a mix of four parts Tamiya XF-49 Khaki, three parts Tamiya XF-2 White andone part Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black for the lightmud. This provides a spot on match to thecolour chip in Mike Starmer’s book. I lightenedmy mix with a dollop of Tamiya XF-55 DeckTan for ‘scale effect’. Tamiya XF-50 Field Bluewas used for the Blue Black disruptivepattern. Mike Starmer’s excellent guide onItalian Theatre camouflage notes that nodocumentation for Stuart vehicle patterns hasbeen located. As such, the Blue Black pattern

is a best guess. The rubberon the suspension wheelsand track pads is a darkgrey with raw umber beingused for the metal portionsof the track. Markings werecobbled up from variousdecal box items, the troopcommander tactical signsbeing the most problematicas few artillery sets dealwith A/Tk units. The CensusNumber was constructedusing an Archer DryTransfer set. The endresults are interpretive forTroop Commander, HTroop, 82nd (Gaspé) Anti Tank BatteryRCA. Weathering was applied withacrylic washes of raw umber and bufftitanium and a dusting of the lower hull

and suspension with Model Master Skin ToneShadow Tint. Care was taken in applying thewashes to ensure that the formation, unit andtactical signs were left visible.

FINAL DETAILSResicast large packs and other pouches, aDragon PIAT, and various other items fromthe spares box were added to give the interiora suitably cluttered look. A typical troopcommander crew would be a lieutenant andthree other ranks, although I went with a crewtotal of three to acknowledge the personnelshortfalls encountered in theatre. An Ultracasttanker painted up by Dave McCarey for mewas added to provide a sense of scale. Forthose wishing to add cam nets (a futureproject), light tank scales in 1944 were one12’x12’ garnished net and one 24’x24’garnished net. In 82nd A/Tk Bty, the mesh netsof the M10s were exchanged for shrimp netsin late April 1944.

CONCLUSIONThis started as a relatively quick andenjoyable project, but quickly took on a life ofits own after my commitment to write it up for

RT. That said, it did proverewarding, despite the lack ofspecifics regarding Canadianusage and the late discovery ofsupporting evidence. TheAcademy kit builds up well, andthe inclusion of the Britishstowage in the M3A1 kit simplifiesthe Commonwealth detailing. Thesubject choice provides anunusual and little known vehiclefrom Canada’s Italian battles.

PRODUCTS USED♦ Academy 1398 M3A1 StuartLight Tank♦ Maple Leaf Models MLM3008Commonwealth Radios

(Above) RH – Troop Commander, HTroop.Red square in lower left of blue square –Third Battery.77 on a red/blue square– ArmouredDivision A/Tk regimentMaroon rectangle – 5 th CanadianArmoured Division. The “Mighty MaroonMachine”

(Top Right and Below) Views of thefinished vehicle.

♦ Archer AR35084B British War DepartmentNumbers (Black)♦ Resicast 35.528 UK infantry equipment♦ Ultracast 35047 Canadian/British TankCrewman

REFERENCES♦ Staff Tables, Operation GOLDFLAKE;Library and Archives Canada RG24 Volume10778♦ British Middle East Colours. Tunisia, Sicilyand Italy 1943 – 1945; Mike Starmer♦ Canadian Camouflage Colours; SteveGuthrie, Military Modelling Vol.36 No.11 22September 2006♦ Canadian Army Overseas Technical andTraining Bulletins No. 9, Eqpt-Camouflage-Scales of Veh and Weapon Entitlement;Library and Archives Canada, RG24 Volume12.221♦ British Pathé – “Sicily – The End” Film ID1093.14 (http://www.britishpathe.com/)♦ E-mail – Marc George, Director, RCAMuseum, Shilo♦ Conversations – Dave McCarey,Education Coordinator, Military C and EMuseum, Kingston

77 Painting

77 Final Details

77 References

77 Conclusion

77Products Used



Evolution of BritishLate-WarUpper Wing Roundels

by Steve Sauvé, C#0323IPMS Ottawa

I’ve tried to use the proper names for thestuff in our hobby, but this is a tough one;changing a life-long habit that I’ve grownup with. Thanks to the SAM monographsreferenced in this article, I now know thatthe common names for RAF roundels(Type A, A1, B, C, C1) were not the officialnames in use by the RAF and Ministry ofAircraft Production (MAP). Who knew?!?!

For clarity in this article, I will use thefamiliar British marking notation systemcreated by Bruce Robertson in his 1956Harleyford book, Aircraft Camouflage andMarkings, 1907 to 1954. But for the sakeof education, here is a cross-referencebetween the two naming conventions:

Marking Changes andChronologyAn Air Ministry Order (AMO)promulgated on 02 Jan 1945, directedthat all RAF aircraft, except for thoseused on night operations, those inSEAC and in the Pacific, were havetheir upper wing roundels changed tored, white and blue (i.e., Type C) ,instead of red and blue (i.e., Type B).This was to come into effect on 07 Jan1945. This was to help aid inrecognition of British aircraft and helpreduce the number of ‘friendly fire’incidents still taking place.

The upper wing roundel change alsocame into effect for new productionaircraft from 07 Jan 1945 (or later,

depending on which references youbelieve).

In connection with the AMO, markingchanges to RAF 2nd Tactical Air Force(2 TAF) day fighter aircraft on theEuropean continent concurrently cameinto effect on 05 Jan 1945. Thesewere:

• removal of the Sky rear fuselageband• painting propeller spinners from Skyto Night (black)• conversion of the upper wingroundels from Type B to Type C

Later, in April/May 1945, the upper andlower wing roundels on some 2 TAFaircraft were converted from Type C toType C1 through the addition of a

Yellow outer ring.

� The End �

A nice, short, simple story, right?Ah, if only it were so ...

The ProblemOne thing that is evident onmany aircraft is that when thetwo roundel conversions tookplace, it produced some mis-proportioned results. From a

modeller’s point of view it should havebeen a fairly straightforward process toconvert a 54" Type B to a 54" Type Cor Type C1. Unfortunately, we weren’tthe ‘erks’ swinging the paint brushes.

Unlike the three stipulated sizes for theType C (18"/32"/48") and the two sizesfor the Type C1 (36"/54"). There was awide range of sizes in use for theType B upper wing roundel. The TypeB roundels of some of the typesaffected by these marking changeswere:

• Beaufighter 63"• Mosquito 54"• Spitfire 56"• Tempest 50"• Typhoon 50"

One other problem affecting theroundel conversion was the fact thatthe upper wing B roundels were bothsized and placed to fit snugly in thespace available on the upper wing.Most aircraft had the roundel located1" ahead of the aileron hinge, whichwas the minimum distance permitted,and generally not much more than thatfrom the leading edge (or the yellowleading edge ID strip). This is animportant point to note for thepurposes of this article.

The standard roundel size andpositioning left no room to increase itsdimensions, as regulations did notallow roundels to overlap onto theaileron. Consequently, the onlyrecourse was to work with the existingmarking, its current proportions, andgo from there.

(Mis-)Step 1 – Type B to Type CConversionI have a theory as to how this mis-proportioning problem came to be.When you stand back and look at it,and not through a modeller’s eyes, theproblems that arose and their practicalsolutions by the guys in the field makewhat happened easier to understand.

Using Spitfires as an example, theycarried a 56" Type B upper wingroundel. This consisted of a 22" or22.4" (depending on your referencesource) red centre spot on a 56" bluebackground. This is a ratio of 2:5, redto blue. The roundel was typicallylocated 1" ahead of the aileron hingeline.

To create a Type C from a Type B is apretty straightforward process, right?Simply add a white ring and you’redone. Sigh…

A Type C roundel has proportions of3-4-8 (red-white-blue). In the case ofthe conversion of a 56" Type B, thatwould require a 21" red centre, a 28"diameter white ring 3.5" thick, and a56" blue circle.

Well, what should have happened isthat a 3.5" wide white ring was paintedto cover 3" of blue and ½” of red in theexisting Type B roundel. I’m sure thathappened in many cases, producing aproperly proportioned Type C roundel.

What I’m also sure happened is thatsome airmen either didn’t care (I hope



not), didn’t know what to do (notlikely), or, maybe more likely,somebody saw an easier ‘90% correct’solution in using the red/blue boundaryas a guideline and simply painted thewhite ring up to that edge. From theairman painter’s point of view, it wasonly a half-inch difference, so what’sthe harm? And it sure would make thepainting go faster, with one edge ofthe white ring clearly defined on thewing. If you look at the representativegraphics I’ve produced for the article, itreally doesn’t look wrong or bad.

An issue with the compromise solutionwould be the width of the white ring. Itshould have been a 28" diameter, 3.5"wide ring. Using the ‘close counts’scenario I described above, then therecould also have been a 28" diameter,3" wide ring painted on the blue, ormaybe even a 29" diameter, 3.5" widering painted on the blue. Either way,when they’re seen by themselves, theystill don’t look terribly wrong as finalresults.

(Note that this theory deals with minorerrors in width and positioning of thewhite band. You can also find photosof aircraft with much greater degreesof error than I’ve shown, but thegeneral idea of the problem and thesolution still holds)

(Mis-)Step 2 - Type C to C1Conversion – April/May 1945By this point in the war, we now haveaircraft being built with Type Croundels at the factory, and any re-painting work at the RAF MaintenanceUnits (MUs) or contractors probablydoing the same thing. Plus whateverkinds of Type C roundel variations hadbeen produced by units in the field.

Then some 2 TAF units added ayellow outer ring to the Type Croundels above and below the wingsto produce a Type C1 roundel.

For this to take place, a Type C1conversion becomes potentially morecomplicated to produce correctresults. Even if the Type C roundelwas properly proportioned, there wasno room left to add the yellow outerring to the existing marking. The way Isee it, the remaining options were:

• Repaint the entire roundel as aproper 36" or 54" Type C1 (with a3:4:8:9 ratio, the math would have

been much simpler to use the standardsized marking). This would involverepainting Dark Green, Ocean Grey,plus red, white, blue, and yellow

• Do a partial repaint, using theexisting roundel as the foundation.Depending on the size, this wouldrequire some math to determine theband widths and repainting some or allof the four markings colours.

• Compromise and just add a yellowring to the blue band.

So what do you think the squadronpainters did? That’s what makes thispart of the hobby fun! Based on photosit’s an easy bet that all three optionswere used, depending on localconditions and motivation at the timethe painting took place.

This problem didn’t seem to occur withthe Type C1 conversion of Type Cunderwing roundels. They wereinvariably sized at 32" and situated onthe wing with plenty of room aroundthem to add the new 2" yellow outerring at the outside edge of the bluering. The width could be accuratelydetermined simply by measuring thewidth of the existing 2" thick white ringthat was already in place on the

aircraft. The result seems to haveconsistently produced a properlyproportioned 36" Type C1 roundel.

Modelling SolutionsI’ve studied this roundel issue withinterest and it’s a problem formodellers. There are almost no decalsavailable that reproduce thesediscrepancies. The Canadian companyWatermark Decals produced a sheetwith some mis-proportioned C1roundels and this sheet is still availablethrough their website. But that onlycovers a couple of variations, onebeing a fairly unique style applied toone particular Spitfire.

With the trend by some decal makersto produce their British roundels withseparate red and yellow components,it’s something you can jury rig a fix for,by mixing and matching various-sizedroundel components (in variousscales) to create a good match foryour model. Good Luck!

Parting PhilosophyThis admittedly small area of interest isone of those things that I findfascinating and important to our hobby.I think that some modellers get toowrapped up in official orders and

Above : A 400 Sqn Spitfire PR.XI sporting 36” Type C1 upperwing roundels,01 May 1945. Credit DND Photo PC-2357

Below : A 414 or 430 Sqn Spitfire FR.XIV with converted, misproportioned C1roundels, 01 May 1945. Credit DND Photo PC-2358



official practices and consequentlymiss some of the realities of thesemachines that really make them moreinteresting.

Have you ever seen a good qualityclose-up photo of some of thesewartime aircraft? They can tend tolook like real ‘beaters’. Heavyweathering, wear and tear, stains, mis-matched paint and roughly paintedmarkings. I think it’s safe to say thatthe guys painting and maintainingthese airplanes didn’t really care (atleast like we do) about the small stuff.Markings may have been properlyapplied at the factories and RAFMaintenance Units, but at the sharpend, in wartime, things were different.They treated these aircraft as combatmachines, and keeping them pretty,perfect and squeaky clean weren’t ashigh on the priority list as keeping themserviceable and ready to fight. I knowfrom my own military experience, thatthe ‘close counts’ solution to a problemwas often perfectly okay to get the jobdone.

Human nature in WWII is still humannature. So whenever I’m confrontedwith one of these oddities about anaircraft I’m researching, I always lookfor the simplest reason that explainswhat happened. In this case, thetroops were given painting jobs to doand I’ve tried to see how they’d do itthat:

a) got the job done to thesatisfaction of their bosses, and

b) got it done as quickly and easilyas possible.

When I read in Pat Martin’s excellentseries of RCAF/RCN/CAF markingsbooks on the painting issues inCanada’s post-war military, it isfascinating to see the errors,oversights, misinterpretations andcompromises that took place. And thisis what was happening in a peacetimemilitary. I’m certain that the sameproblems existed in WWII and weredealt with in similar ways, or not dealtwith at all.

In doing these two markings’conversions from Type B to Type C1,there was no doubt a lot of repaintingdone correctly, with the prescribeddimensions carefully adhered to. Butthe evidence is there of compromises

Roundels are 1/48 Scale

Roundel VariationsObserved in Photos

56" Type B with 22"Red centre (normalsize seen on SpitfiresRatio 2:5

54" Type C1Ratio 3:4:8:9

Correct 56" Type C with 21"Red centre and 28” white ring

56" Type C with 22" Redcentre and 28” white ring

56" Type C with 22" Red centreand 3.5” thick, 29” white ring

First row, belowWhat the above Type Croundels would look likewith a 3.5” yellow ringpainted over the blue disc

Second row, belowWhat the above Type Croundels would look likewith a 2” yellow ringpainted over the blue disc

Reference56" Type C1Ratio 3:4:8:9

56” roundel proportionson Spitfire FR.XIV photoseen in this article.

56” Type B converted to TypeC1 with 3” yellow ring paintedon the blue ring and a 3” whitering painted from the red edgeinwards (seen on Spitfires).



being made in order to get the jobdone simply, quickly, easily, and‘looks good – let’s go for a beer’.

Keep in mind that these guys werefighting a war, not trying to win awarbird painting contest.

References:Ducimus Books Ltd:• Camouflage & Markings No.1,Supermarine Spitfire RAF NorthernEurope 1936-1945• Camouflage & Markings No.4,Hawker Tornado, Typhoon &Tempest, RAF Northern Europe1936-1945• Camouflage & Markings No.6, deHavilland Mosquito RAF NorthernEurope 1936-1945• Camouflage & Markings No.9,Bristol Beaufighter, RAF NorthernEurope 1936-1945

Scale Aircraft Monographs:• Camouflage & Markings No.1, RAFFighters 1945-1950 UK Based, byPaul Lucas.• Camouflage & Markings No.5, RAFFighters 1945-1950 Overseas Based,by Paul Lucas.(I cannot recommend these volumeshighly enough. They make for anexcellent technical read and are a‘must have’ reference for anybodywho wants to understand thebackground, development andapplication of RAF camouflage andmarking marking practices.)

Watermark Decals -www.watermarkdecals.com

About the author:Steve Sauvé hails from Ottawa,Ontario. Recently retired from theCanadian Forces, he now works as acivilian in the Department of NationalDefence. In the hobby for over 40years, he has been a member ofIPMS Canada since 1968. Hisinterests are Canadian militaryaircraft, Luftwaffe and NATO aircraft,plus Canadian Army vehicles. He’sbeen a member of IPMS Ottawa,IPMS Winnipeg, and IPMS ColdLake.

by Massimo Santarossa C6052 Calgary, Alberta

Looking over the display my eyessettled on an old pickup truck model Ihad built a few years ago. Our newEditor was in the market for articlesso I thought I would submit somethingthat wasn’t the traditional airplane ortank. It seems that each time I build amodel, I end up trying out some sortof new technique or using an aftermarket product for the first time. Thisbuild was no exception. I got theinspiration for this project from aphoto of my wife’s farm when she wasgrowing up. There, in front of the barnnext to a tractor, was a GM pickup.But I wasn’t happy just building anordinary truck; it needed somethingmore and along came the February2000 issue of FineScale Modeler. In itwas an article on how one individualaged and weathered a ’70 Chevelle.Add to that the desire to try out BareMetal Foil and I was good to go.

The KitThe kit I used was AMT/Ertl’s 1/251972 Chevrolet Cheyenne PickupTruck, which allows you to build twoversions of the truck. I chose toconstruct the standard vehicle, since Idon’t believe my father-in-law wouldhave had a souped-up truck forhauling hay bales. I completed the kitright out of the box with oneexception. I added spark plug wires tothe engine. A word of warning if youplan on building this kit. Dry fiteverything and dry fit often. There issome flash on the kit, which is nothingnew, but a number of parts do not fit

together just because they’re off thesprue. I found that most anything tobe attached to the chassis neededadjusting of one kind or another. Thisgoes for small individual pieces rightup to completed sub-assemblies likethe engine. Seriously, I cannot overemphasize the need to continuallycheck the fit of all the parts. Once youunderstand that, the rest of the kit isno problem.

Bare Metal FoilI painted the kit Insignia Yellow andthen satin coated it. Now came thereally cool part. I had never used

A ‘72 CHEVYA ‘72 CHEVYA ‘72 CHEVYA ‘72 CHEVYA ‘72 CHEVY

FARM TRUCKFARM TRUCKFARM TRUCKFARM TRUCKFARM TRUCK



Bare Metal Foil and I was interestedto see how it looked on a kit and howeasy it was to work with. Well, I laiddown that first strip of foil over somemoulding, burnished it in andimmediately fell in love. My word, itlooked like real chrome! I just satthere for about 5 minutes going“Wow!” at what I had just produced. Icontinued to foil the remainingmouldings, the tailgate, door handlesand window frames. I found BareMetal Foil easy to work with and havebeen using it ever since. If you makea mistake, simply strip it off and startagain. However, there is one area thatstripping and starting over will notwork on. Some of the chrome grill inthe kit had lost its plating, so I figuredI would just cover it over with some ofthis fantastic foil. I did not like my firstattempt so I removed the foil and inthe process, pulled off almost half ofthe plating. Now I was forced intofoiling the entire grill. Word to thewise.

The foil will take paint, but it won’ttake it very well. The paint will adhereto the foil, but it can be scratched offwith little effort, which is a hidden

advantage, actually.During the paintingprocess, I ended up“outside the lines” onoccasion as I wasworking the mouldingsand the like. Once thepaint was slightly dry,my mistakes wereeasily scraped awaywith a toothpick, but becareful not to tear thefoil in the process. Thisfoil stuff is great andyou don’t have to be arocket surgeon to use it.

Rust!My article of inspiration from FSMshowed how to create rust, rust holes,and paint dirt/dust. I basically followedthe article as one would follow acooking recipe, substituting only thebrand of paint used. Here are somequick highlights. The rust holes aremade by thinning the plastic from theinside of the kit and then gougingholes with a #11 blade from the front.Try to keep the holes from lookingsymmetrical when creating them. Therust is a combination of Testors Flat

Black and Rust. I usedtwo shades of “rust”,darkest immediatelyaround the holes thentapering off to thelighter shades. I alsoadded some rustspots to other areaswhere it wouldnormally develop. Togive the rust texture, Iadded some bakingpowder to the mix.The truck then got acouple of dustings of

highly thinned Testors Flat MilitaryBrown to simulate dust and dirtaccumulation. If you are interested indoing a similar project, I highlyrecommend getting a copy of thisarticle and using it as a guide,especially if you’re a first-timer.

The end result is a good-looking ‘dirty’farm truck that even brought backmemories for my wife. It was a funproject and I even learned somethingalong the way.

About the author:Massimo Santarossa got backinto modelling about 12 years agoafter a prolonged hiatus. Anomnivorous builder, he doesn’tlimit himself to any one particulartype of model. His major inter-ests lie in aviation, armour andautomotive, and within thesesubject areas his interests arevast and varied. When not model-ling, he plays husband and fatherto his wife and daughter. Occa-sionally he can be found going towork, where he flies a Boeing 767on international flights.



by Gary Barling, C#14,IPMS OttawaPhotos by the author

The Fokker Dr.I Triplane is an icon ofFirst World War combat aviation.Coming into service in the late summerof 1917, the Triplane served to the endof the war. Grounded in late 1917 dueto wing structural failure, it wasredeployed with strengthened wingsand an attendant improvement infactory quality control. Although only320 airframes were manufactured, theTriplane gained significant notorietyfor, among other reasons, being thefinal type flown by Manfred vonRichthofen, the famed ‘Red Knight’.Supplanted to a great degree by thesuperior Fokker D.VII, the Triplanecontinued in service to the end of thewar as the favoured mount of some ofthe more successful German pilots ofthe war.

The Fokker Triplane has been wellserved by model manufacturers over

the years. Beginning with Airfix in the1950’s, companies such as Aurora,Revell, Smer, Blue Max, Dragon,Renwall, Micro Ace, Hasegawa, VKand Guillows (the latter two are flyingmodels) have produced models from atiny 1/144 scale to a huge 1/8 scaletour de force.

Roden’s KitThe appearance of the 1/32 offering byRoden in 2005 gave the promise of alarge-scale replica that would be closeto the final word on the Triplane. Therewere great hopes that this would bethe ‘crème de la crème’ of FokkerTriplane kits. And, in the event, the kitdoes build up into quite a good modelof the aircraft. However, as notedbelow, it does need help and care toachieve an accurate result.

Parts are well moulded, with very nicesurface fabric detail. Approximately100 parts are provided on six sprues.There is a little flash on some of thefiner parts, but this is easily cleanedup. A nice touch is two sets of machine

guns: one is fully moulded, while theother provides only the receiverassembly and the barrel. The latter isfor those who wish to purchase after-market items, including the slottedmachine gun cooling jacket. Overall fitis generally good, but modellers shoulddry-fit parts and assemblies often toensure that the fit is totally acceptable

In general, I found that this buildshould be by sub-assemblies: engine,wings, fuselage and undercarriageassembly should be built and paintedseparately, then assembled and fittedwith remaining parts. I used severalaftermarket items, each of which willbe identified as we progress.

ConstructionI started with the engine. The kitoffering is very good, with the mainbody and cylinders split fore and aftand each cylinder head separate. Thismeans that the seams on the cylindersare minimized and there is no seamshowing on the heads. I finished theengine with various Alclad II colours,

Fokker Dr.I 454/17 as it is believed to have appeared in March, 1917.

Roden’s 1/32 FOKKER Dr.I

TRIPLANE



painted the spark plugs white, addedignition wires and weathered theengine a little with a thin wash ofTestors Rubber to replicate theengine’s oil spray. (Photo 1)

Cowling and EngineThe kit cowling has two problems.First, it is presented as a single pieceitem when, in reality, the originalfeatured a faceplate riveted to theengine cover. I solved this bypurchasing an aftermarket cowlingfrom Cutting Edge, sadly no longer inproduction. Second, the engine is ashade too large in circumference foreither cowling. There are two fixes forthis: grind out the inside of the cowlingto accommodate the engine; or cutaway the cylinder heads that will not beseen once the engine is mounted. Iopted for the latter fix. The fuselageinterior posed the greatest number ofconstruction challenges. However,each of these can be overcome withpatience and care. First, the mouldejection stubs near the cockpit mustbe ground or sanded off and theinterior fuselage surfaces painted inClear Doped Linen (CDL). This is notthe same as British or French CDL: theGerman version is somewhat darkerand more yellow. My mix usedXtracolor RFC Doped Linen, tinted witha little yellow and tan. The kitinstructions would have you paint theinterior surfaces an olive drab, thinkingthat the external colour would showthrough. This is not the case: the fabric

was clear doped with two coats beforeany external colour was applied, so noexternal colour would seep through.

There are a couple of puzzles to thiskit. One of them is the factthat Roden did not mould akey feature to the inside ofthe forward fuselage. Large,triangular ply fillets run fromthe firewall back to justbehind the pilot’s seat onboth sides, but the kit showsnothing of this detail. I wentto a flooring store and pickedup several brochures onwooden floors. These featurephotos/images of the variousflooring surfaces. Selectingone, I cut out a suitabletriangle (having measuredthe requirements on thefuselage interior) and glued itinto place with white glue.When dry, I added the threeframing strips, cut from 1/16"wooden strip: top and bottomstrips first, then the middle

strip with the rear end trimmed to fitneatly between the other two. The‘image’ was Dullcoted to cut down thepaper gloss and there you have a plyfillet with quite plausible wood grain.(Photo 2) I used the same material forthe flooring and for the main spar of

the lower wing (as represented in thefuselage assembly).

CockpitThe cockpit provides a number ofitems, including the seat, rear fabricpanel, floorboard, rudder, compassand control column. A pressure pumpand auxiliary throttle control (on theframework) are also in evidence. It’shere that a fair number of photoetchaftermarket items got fitted and a fewerrors fixed. The magneto/ignitionswitch on the right-hand frame was cutoff and a PE part from the Eduard PEset for the Triplane was fitted on theleft-hand side. The same set provideda replacement throttle assembly: theone moulded on the left side framingwas removed, the frame sandedsmooth and the PE part attached.Linkage bars from brass rod werefitted to the frame as well. A compassface was fitted to the upper compasssurface and a coat of five-minuteepoxy applied to replicate glass. Theseat of this aircraft was covered inyellow fabric, so wet tissue wasapplied with thin white glue, thenpainted. The PE set also providedseatbelts and fittings for the seatframe.

The gas/oil tank and the twoammunition boxes were a little finicky

Photo 1

ignition leads

from flooring brochures

thin wood strip s

Photo 2



to fit. I took a ‘best guess’ approach bytaping the fuselage parts together, dry-fitting these items and, when happythat all would work, gluing them inplace on one side. I then fitted thepilot’s seat assembly, which requiredthe ‘shoulders’ of the seat frame to berounded off and sanded down a bit tofit properly against the fuselage top/side interior corner. Next, the rudderand elevator cabling was strung fromthe controls back under the seat andthough the holes in the seat frameblanking panel. I glued a piece ofsprue transversely about an inch to therear of the seat assembly and attachedthe cable ends to it. Finally, the tailskid,which had already been painted anddetailed, was fitted into its place at therear of the fuselage. Although I didn’tdo so, those who wish to open thecable access holes in the rear fuselagesides should thin the plastic behindthese holes and then open them.Otherwise, the thickness of thefuselage walls will detract from theirappearance. Now I could join the twofuselage halves, fill and sand theseams and relax for a day or so!

There is a squarish access panel onthe undersurface of the fuselage,found in the space between the firewalland the leading edge of the lower wingspar. This was easily fitted: the panelwas cut from 5-thou sheets plastic and

glued into place. When dry, smallholes for the fasteners were drilled,fasteners added and a hinge (madefrom a length of brass wire) fitted tothe front edge.

The horizontal stabilizer isdimensionally fine but, for somereason, Roden has moulded a centraldepression in both upper and lowersurfaces. The upper surface,therefore, needs to have this filled andthe cable access openings re-cut. Thebest way to do this is to use thin sheetplastic, cut to size with the edges filledand sanded, to ensure a dead flatsurface.

We now move on to the wings(although I was working on themconcurrently with other assemblies).Each wing is divided into upper andlower surfaces and is fitted withseparate wingtips and ailerons (for theupper wing). Rib detail is quite nice.However, the wingtip part calloutnumbers are incorrect in theinstructions. The correct upper wingtips are parts 7A (right upper) and 7B(left upper). The mid- and lower wingtips are parts 10D (left) and 11D (right)for each wing. Getting them wrongleads to filling and trimming to get thecorrect look.

There is a celluloid viewing pane in thetop wing, used to identify part numbersand to inspect the main spar. Rodenhas this represented in outline, but it istoo far back from the leading edge. Isanded off the representation and thencut a small rectangular section out ofthe upper half of the wing. I fitted asmall piece of clear plastic, thensanded, smoothed and polished thearea back to a glasslike surface. Asmall piece of masking tape, cut tosize, was fitted in the correct locationand left there throughout all of thepainting process. And, again, if you’regoing to open the aileron cable holes,now is the time to thin the plastic onboth surfaces of the upper wing.

You are provided with both early andlate style ailerons. The early onescurve back from the wing trailing edgeover a distance of two ribs, while thelater version uses a one-rib span. Atleast one aircraft carried one of eachand, as this one was shot down andcaptured intact, more than a few modelmakers have relied on the Britishtechnical drawings of this aircraft tomould their offerings. Check yourreferences!

Small pads were fitted to the leadingedge of each wing at the factory.These were to protect the edge as thewings were stacked on the leadingedge, hence the name ‘stacking pads.’These are moulded into the leadingedge, but they all but disappear duringthe sanding and smoothing of theleading edge. I simply drilled a smallhole in the right place and then fitted adark grey-painted Grandt Line rivet ofcorrect diameter. The locations ofthese pads varied, so again, checkyour references. I’ve used whatappears to be the default setting forthem.

Fokker’s Streaked CamouflageAt this point, I’ll digress into a shortdiscussion of Fokker streakedcamouflage and how I applied thisfinish to the model. (Photo 4) I do thisbecause, from this point on, virtually allof the major assemblies and partsought to be painted to facilitateassembly. Apart from the actualstreaking, my painting was done witheither an Iwata Revolution or an IwataHP-C, usually with Xtracolor paints, at

Fairly busy cockpit: compass,case, seatbelts, ammo boxes.A large-scale open cockpitneeds the details!

Photo 3



least two parts thinner to one part paint(thinner for the application of yellow tothe fuselage) and sprayed at about 18psi.

First, paint the wings, fuselage andhorizontal tail with German CDL. Thisis best done with wings, fuselage andtail assemblies separate. As notedabove, I used an enamel mix(Xtracolor) of RFC CDL, trainer yellowand light tan to get the darker andmore yellow German CDL.

The dope on Triplanes was appliedrandomly (more or less) and brushed

out to give the familiar streaked finish.This resulted in darker and lighterareas on the airframe. To replicate thedarker areas without having to buildthem up with several light coats ofpaint, I use masking tape to define (bycovering) the lighter areas and thenlightly airbrush the darker areas. In thiscase, I used Xtracolor Dark Drab. Thisonly tones the dark areas: it does nottotally fill them in. The process alsosets the angle to be used for thesubsequent streaking. Note that thecentre area of the top wing has yet toreceive its toning: I had to do a bit of arepair and so did the toning after this

photo was taken. This also shows thecelluloid window, discussed above.

I found a few photos of Triplanes andused them as a guide to define thedarker areas. As noted above, thedope was randomly applied, so unlessyou have several photos of a givenaircraft, artistic licence can begenerously used (within reason) todefine the various areas.

I used gloss enamel for the paintscheme to this point. This allows thesubsequent streaking to be brushedout more smoothly. If matt CDL and

toning is used,you might wantto apply a glosscoat over itbefore the nextcoat.

Now comes thestreaking. Thereare two schoolsof thought on theactual colour ofFokker OliveGreen. Oneholds that thecolour was moreof a browncolour, as most

Photo 4 The initial, airbrushed application of the darker streaking colour: in this case, Xtracolor Dark Drab

The brush-streaked finish, usinga ¼” brush and thinnedGunze Sangyo Olive Drab. Photo 5



of the surviving samples show thisshade. The other says that the colour ismuch greener: current samples haveaged and changed over the interveningninety years. So which is right? Well, itseems that they both are. A well-respected researcher has noted thatAntony Fokker used a browner colourup to early 1918, at which time (forsome reason yet unknown), he changedto a greener colour. As virtually all of theTriplanes were built in 1917, it followsthat the brown colour ought to be usedto model them. By extension, virtually allof the Fokker aircraft built in 1918 (EV/D.VIII, D.VII and so on) would havecarried the greener colour where notreplaced by the four-colour lozengepattern fabric. The acrylic Fokker OliveGreen put out by Misterkits, forexample, would be used for the 1918aircraft. Olive Drab comes as close tothe earlier requirement as any andmodellers are free to choose whichbrand and shade they prefer.

Three or four applications were used invarious areas of the airframe to build upthe overall effect. Don’t try to do it all atonce. I used an acrylic paint (GunzeSangyo Olive Drab), thinned roughly astwo parts paint to one part thinner. Theacrylic thinner, of course, does notaffect the enamel CDL surface. Using arelatively coarse flat brush, about 5mmwide (more or less), dip the brush in thethinned paint, dab off the excess on anold cloth and (following the direction ofthe toned areas) apply a thin coat ofstreaks over the surfaces. If too muchpaint is applied and it tends to pool, justdab off the excess from your brush onthe cloth and continue to streak. Thisstarts the streaking effect in the lightareas and almost finishes it in the tonedareas. Let the paint dry for a few hoursor so.

You can see how the streaking followsthe original toning direction and how ithas started the overall effect. Note alsothat the pattern of the horizontalstabilizer does NOT continue onto thecontrol surfaces. On the original aircraft,elevators and ailerons were dopedseparately from the wing and stabilizerand attached to them later in theassembly process. This is easy on theRoden kit, as the parts are alreadyseparate. On other kits, with the control

surfaces moulded in, they should bemasked (or detached) and paintedseparately. Note as well that the forwardfuselage area, just behind the engine,was almost always a darker doped area.I think that the workmen started thereand worked back towards the tail, hencethey had fully loaded brushes when theybegan. You can see this in almost all ofthe photos of actual aircraft.

After two or three thinly streaked coatsof the Olive Drab, I found the result tobe ‘almost right’ but that (in my opinion)the streaking was a little too harsh. Itherefore went over the surfaces with avery thin coat of the olive (four partsthinner to one part paint), very finelyairbrushed on to blend the surface justthe merest smidge (I’m not sure what a‘merest smidge’ measures out to, butit’s pretty small!). Next time, however, Ithink that I will try for a slightly lightenedeffect, as is shown on the tail sections:this attempt might be a smidge too dark.However, I am quite happy with how thetechnique worked out for a first run.

The Painting Continues…Note that I painted the undersurfaceblue of all assemblies after the uppersurfaces. This is because I felt that, hadI painted the turquoise blue and thenmasked it off along the leading edge,the thinned acrylic would pool along thetape, possibly bleed under it and causea bit of a mess. This in turn meant thatthe small 20 mm ‘return’ of the blue upthe fuselage sides had to be maskedand painted separately.

I applied the yellow (Xtracolor X-106,FS13538-Insignia Yellow) to the rearfuselage and tail surfaces in very thincoats, building up the colour until italmost – but not quite – covered thestreaking completely. This replicates thebrush application on the original aircraft,which allowed the underlying streakingto show through faintly. Note that, bythis time in 1918, the white crossfieldshad been ordered painted over, usuallywith a more or less solid application ofthe olive green. Hence, the crossfieldson the model fuselage took on a darkertone than the surrounding surfaces. Theundersurfaces were sprayed TurquoiseBlue (Xtracolor X-243, GermanWW1Underside Blue). For the record, I used

Xtracolor X-103, FS11136-Insignia Red,for all red surfaces.

Upper Wing ColourControversyThere has been an ongoing and usuallyfriendly argument over the years as tothe colour of the upper surface of thisaircraft’s upper wing. One school holdsthat it was painted yellow, except for thepainted-over crossfields. The thought isthat Lothar ‘borrowed’ the idea of hisfamous brother and painted the rearfuselage and upper wing a given colour:red for Manfred and yellow (his cavalryregiment’s colour) for Lothar. The otherschool holds that the upper surfaceremained in the standard Fokkerstreaked olive camouflage. The onlyphotograph of the upper wing was takenjust after the crash of March 13, 1918.The yellow rear fuselage is shown togood effect but, as most of the upperwing fabric was torn away, only a portionof the left aileron and crossfield can beseen.

Both schools claim this photograph asproof that their interpretation is correct.The former claims that the portion seenis much lighter than the usual olivestreaking, thus a lighter colour wasapplied through which some of thestreaking shows. This scheme showsup in several paintings and is featuredon the Cutting Edge decal sheet that Iused. The latter school claims that earlypublications of the photograph show amuch more defined streaking andhence there was no overpainting. Thebasis of this theory is that laterpublications of the image (copies ofcopies) become more ‘washed out’ andhence will show a lighter surface thanthe original. I’ve read a great deal fromboth sides and, although I do notdismiss out of hand the ‘yellow upperwing’ position, I have yet to beconvinced of its accuracy. We willprobably never know for sure. Whatswayed me to the finish I used was astatement by a well-known researcher,Mr. D. Abbott. He states, “There are twoschools of thought relative to Fok.Dr.454/17. I have a combat reportwhere the RFC pilot describes thecolours of Lothar’s machine in precisedetail, “Red engine hood, red struts andwheels, and the rear fuselage and



the tails yellow.” But he does not saythe upper wing was yellow. The cross-fields are over painted probably olivebrown. The streaking can be clearlyseen on the left aileron.

Turtledeck DetailsNow we’ll deal with the turtledeck, justforward of the cockpit. (Photo 7) Ispent a fair bit of time on this littleplastic thingie, as you’ll read. First, I

fitted two littleblast platespositioned justunder themachine gunmuzzles. Theseprotected thesurface frommuzzle blast.Thin sheets ofplastic card, plusmore smallGrandt Line rivetsand it was done.Use the solidguns todetermine justwhere the platesgo. Next, themachine guns. Ifound that theguns, when fittedwith theircartridge feedsand spentcartridgecollectors, did not

fit well in their respective positions.Each gun impacted on the other,throwing off the alignment. I had to dotwo things. First, I opened up the slotsfor the guns and their cartridge feeds/

The airframe starts to come together. Besure that the interplane struts fit into themidwing openings before starting thisphase.

Photo 8

Photo 7

Things to note in this shot are:the photo-etch for the machine guns,the shielded fuel gauge between the guns,blast protectors under the muzzles, andthe second filler opening for the oil tank.



collectors. Then I removed thecollector from the right hand gun,trimmed it so that it fit closer to its gunand reattached it. In essence, I movedit slightly to the right, closer to its gun.This reduced the impact on the lefthand gun. The combination of openingslots and shortening the collectorworked: both guns fit and were paralleland level. Be sure to fit the gunsbefore you attach the top wing,otherwise you’ll graduate as acontortionist extraordinaire trying toget all the gun assembly into position.

Speaking of guns, the Eduard PE setalso provides two cooling jackets forthem. I found these to be quite good. Iannealed the jackets and then rolledthem to shape with the variousdoweling and rods in my ’Hold n’ Fold.’If you do this, watch for which end ofthe jacket fits over the receiver: theseparts go on one way only. Or, moreaccurately, they’ll fit either way but oneway is backward: place the wide endslots to the rear and the small circular

holes to the front! To ensure that theslotted front of the jacket fits nicely, Isimply cut off the muzzle, slightlyshortened the barrel, then attachedthe PE front of the jacket, then CA’edthe muzzle back into place. The rest ofthe gun PE was attached using onlyFuture floor wax. There’s no stress onthe parts and the Future allowsprecise positioning before it dries. Twobits of plastic rod formed the cockinghandles and, when painted andmarried up to their feed trays andcartridge collectors (as modified), theguns were ready for fitting.

Continuing with the turtledeck, Iopened a second hole on the rightside to accommodate the oil fillerneck, scratchbuilding a cap to fit. Ialso opened up the two round holesjust forward of the machine gunmounting position: these are for theaileron cables that come up from thepilot’s controls and lead into the wing.The deck was painted with a solid coatof the Gunze Sangyo Olive Drab: both

the deck and the axle winglet werefinished in this manner.

AssemblyThe two interplane struts are eachmoulded as one long strut that runsfrom the bottom wing, through the midwing and into the top wing. It didrequire some fitting, cutting andsanding to get the struts to fit properlyin the mid wing so that they would sitproperly in the bottom and top wingslots, but once in place, they weresturdy and straight. Best to modify themidsection of the struts, so that they fitinto the slots provided in the midwing.Get these painted red and then moveon.

Now we get to some assembly. First,the lower wing is fitted into its slot inthe lower fuselage and glued in place.Get this as level and square as youcan, as the fit and sit will affect theother two wings. Place, but do notglue, the interplane struts into themiddle wing. Fit the middle wing into

Photo 9

With the midwing and interplane struts fitted and squared, the upperwing is fairly easy to fit. Ensure your decalling is done in stages aswell: lots of them, in some difficult locations on the finished model.


Note that these are screen-resolution quality imagesits recesses in the fuselage, justahead of the cockpit and then fit theturtledeck in place. This is probablythe most fiddly part of the build, as youare confirming the fit of the lower wing,fuselage, turtledeck, middle wing,interplane struts and firewall… all,more or less, at once. (Photo 8)

I dry-fitted the midwing in place (fittingthe interplane struts into their slots),then fitted the turtledeck over it andtaped that into place. Now we makeany minor adjustments to the wings,moving the midwing a bit here andthere until it lines up with the lowerwing. Eyeballing the two leading ortrailing edges, one over the other,helps here. Once happy, I lightly tapedthe wings in place and dry-fitted thefirewall to check its fit. Everythingworked out all right except for a slightgap between the side of the turtledeckand the fuselage. That not beingexcessive I glued everything in place,tacking parts together with CA andthen applying liquid glue sparinglyalong all seams. I subsequently filledthe gap with a little thinned white glueand touched it up with the Olive Drab.(Photo 9)

Engine InstallationNow I could fit the engine and cowling.This is where the fit problem with the

engine shows up, so, (as notedabove), I cut down five of the ninecylinder heads. Fitting the engine sothat the other four heads wereexposed below the cowling faceplate, Islipped the cowling into place: noproblems here. This is confirmed bychecking the location of the propellershaft as it exits the circular hole in thecowling: if it’s at or near dead centre,you’re good to go. A little CA and liquidglue and the engine/cowling assemblywas home free.

UndercarriageThe undercarriage was another finickyassembly. I finally simply glued the v-struts into their recesses on the axleaerofoil as neatly as possible, invertedthe fuselage, set the struts into theirrespective location holes and playedwith the structure until is was more orless aligned. When dry, the assemblywas removed and Mr. Surfacer 500used to fair the struts more neatly intothe aerofoil surface. Once sanded,smoothed and painted, the assemblywas offered up to the invertedfuselage, the struts glued in place,then left to dry completely. Once dry, Ifitted turnbuckles made of thin, twistedwire into drilled holes, then completedthe rigging with stretched sprue andwhite glue. Tires were painted a

medium grey: there were no blacktires on First World War aircraft!

PropellorThe kit provides two differentpropellers: the more commonly usedAxial; and the Garuda. I’ve seen somevery nice painted finishes onpropellers, but I had heard of anotheraftermarket item: accurate, handcarved wooden propellers for FirstWorld War models, produced byMartin Digmayer in the CzechRepublic and distributed throughCopper State Models in the UnitedStates. I ordered a few of thesepropellers in both 1/48 and 1/32 scale,as well as the propeller bosses andhardware (PE) and was very happywith the product. (Photo 10)

Having attached the PE hardwareusing Future, I applied the Axial decalsfrom the Cutting Edge Triplane sheet(see below). Once dry, a thin coat ofDullcote was applied, just enough tocut the glass-like shine to a smoothsheen.

RiggingI used stretched sprue for all of therigging: there isn’t very much on theTriplane and what there is, is in shortlengths. The double aileron controlcables are very evident in this scaleand are a challenge to get to sitproperly with the airframe fullyconstructed. Fortunately, I was able topass the contortionist exam, thanks toa pair of angled tweezers!

MarkingsThe kit comes with a very extensivedecal sheet, providing markings forfour different aircraft. For my model,however, I used one of the CuttingEdge sheets, “Fokker Dr.I, Part 2”,(CED32067). This sheet providesmarkings for three aircraft and issuperb. Every possible cross, line,stencil, trademark, part number andpersonal insignia is included.Individual information sections foreach aircraft are included. A separateairframe diagram for just the stencilsalone is provided. Did I say this sheetwas superb?! The decals reacted wellto the Micro-system, causing noproblem in application. When all wasdone, a thin application of Dullcote tiedeverything together. As a final note, I

Two very nice additions:the Digmayer woodenprop, and the Cutting

Photo 10



regret to say that Cutting Edge is nolonger in production as of early 2008.

ConclusionThe Roden Triplane is a fine modelnotwithstanding its idiosyncrasies andI can recommend it for modellers withaverage experience. There are manycolour schemes for this aircraft, a fairnumber of which do not call for theapplication of streaked camouflage. Avery nice model is possible: good luck!

ReferencesFokker Dr.I, A Windsock DatafileSpecial, Ray Rimmell (Editor),Albatros Productions, Ltd.,Berkhamsted, UK, 1991, reprinted1998.

German Fighter Units, June 1917 –1918, Alex Imrie, Osprey Publishing,Oxford, UK, 1978.

Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War,W. M. Lamberton, Aero Publishers,Fallbrook, California, USA, 1964.

Fighters, 1914-19, Attack and TrainingAircraft, Kenneth Munson, BlandfordPress, London, UK, 1971

Websites :

http://www.fokkerdr1.com/index.htm

http://www.theaerodrome.com/

http://memorial.flight.free.fr/indexuk.html

About the author:Gary Barling was born and raisedin the Toronto area andsubsequently served 40 years inthe Canadian Army. He’s 64 andhas been retired since 2004.Modelling since 1955, his mainarea of interest is aircraft, withstrong minors in armour and ships.Gary’s been a member of IPMSCanada since 1965 and currentlymaintains dual citizenship in bothIPMS Ottawa and IPMSFarnborough in England.

Note how the control surfacestreaking does not match with that ofthe mainplanes



By Andriy Bass,Ottawa, Ontario

(Note: As this article was being prepared forRT, the news came that Andriy’s LAV III tooka Silver award in the Advanced categoryat the April 2009 AMPS competition inAberdeen, MD. This was well-deservedrecognition for an excellent model. Ed.)

INTRODUCTIONSince 1999, 651 Light Armoured Vehicles,Generation III (LAV III) have been taken intoservice with the Canadian Forces (CF).LAV IIIs are a vital part of the CanadianArmy’s current operational doctrine, notably inAfghanistan, where they play a critical role incombat and support operations.

REAL MODEL’S CONVERSIONEarly in 2008, I first heard of the Real ModelLAV III conversion coming for the AFV ClubM1126 Stryker. When the conversion kitbecame available, I immediately placed anorder.

My first impression was that it was acomplicated kit, with a multitude of resin and

photo-etched parts. The quality of the resinconversion pieces was very good, with only afew air bubbles in some of the components.

The large casting of the upper hull was notwarped and a test-fit to the AFV Club Strykerlower hull was positive. The distinctive turretlooked very nice and I found that it fit the resinupper hull with no gaps.

One of my first observations was that theeight resin tires were all identical andtherefore needed some modification orreplacement (of which more later).

It was also apparent that some of the morecomplicated photo-etched componentsneeded to be soldered to provide structuralstability. I also found that some of the appliqué

armour attachment bolts would need to bereplaced, as they were malformed. Photos ofin-theatre vehicles revealed that several minordetails were missing from the kit components.I thought the instructions for the assembly ofthe resin components were average, andseveral of the assembly sequences werelacking clear directions in several areas. Onthe other hand, the instructions for theassembly of the photo-etch components werevery good with only a few minor mistakes inthe assembly sequences.

THE MODELMy model represents a generic LAV III usedby the CF in Afghanistan during 2006-2008.The basis for the Real Model conversion isthe 1/35 AFV Club M1126 Stryker kit. I foundthe relatively high cost of the conversion kitreasonable, given the subject and the overall

Canada’s Third Generation Light Armoured Vehicle- A Conversion in 1/35 Scale

LAV IIILAV III

Heading photo: This illustrates theimportance of correctly depicting the build-up of dust and dirt on the lower hull andwheels of the LAV III as seen on vehicles inAfghanistan. This cannot be done in oneshot, but in multiple sessions, and varyingthe tones of the paints used to depict thedust and grime.

THE KIT REAL MODEL CONVERSION

INTRODUCTION



me on to finish the model in arelatively short period of time(one year!).

THE TURRETThe basic shape of the RealModel turret is good, and theexterior components of the turretare a nice representation of thereal vehicle. The conversion kitgun barrel is from Barrel Depot.Produced from aluminum with abrass muzzle brake, the detail onthis prominent LAV III feature isvery nice.

The major problem I found withthe turret is the stowage baskets.

If you follow thekit instructionsfor theirassembly, it will result in apoor fit with the resin turret.I found that frequent dryfitting of the basketcomponents ensured areasonable fit to the turret.The resin-bending jig for thebasket frames is the wrongshape for achieving thecorrect profile of the framesupports, and the framewire included in the kit is toothick. To solve theseproblems and achieve agood fit of the baskets to theturret I used the photo-etchmesh as a template or guidefor bending brass wire to thecorrect profile of the basket

frames. Once satisfied with the shape of theframe supports, I soldered the brasssupports and the mesh together for asecure assembly.

I identified several minor problems withturret component moulding and accuracy:

♦ I replaced several of the appliqué armourmounting bolts and the turret lifting lugs withbetter styrene representations, as well asfabricating a better representation of theantenna mount.

♦ The vision devices for the commanderand gunner were missing important detailssuch as the covers, visors and strapping. Ire-sculpted the shape of the vision devicesusing Magic Sculpt because the resin partwas the wrong profile and too small.

quality of the resin and photo-etch parts.There were several new finishingtechniques that I wanted to try for the firsttime during the painting and weatheringphases of my model build, which spurred

Side view before painting, showing corrections and extra detailingmade on the kit and conversion. Note the modified resin wheels; theReal Model kit wheels are copies from a single master, showing novariation in Michelin logo location.

The extra details added to the turret. The protective visorsfor the sights were scratch-built, as were the machine gunmount and gun mantlet TV camera. Extra details wereadded to the turret hatches and the bins were filled withstowage sculpted from 2 part epoxy putty.

THE TURRET

The turret antenna was scratch-built as the kit examplewas poor in detail. All strapping on the turret and hullwas made from paper and the buckles were genericphoto-etch pieces.



♦ I scratch built the missing visors from0.005" sheet styrene and fashioned strappingfor the vision devices from strips of lead foil.

♦ The hinge mechanisms for thecommander’s and gunner’s hatches wereover simplified. I consulted reference photosand scratchbuilt a more detailedrepresentation of the hinges and the hatchstop mechanisms.

♦ I did the same for the inside face of thecommander’s hatch where the detail was notrepresentative of the actual hatch. Thisinvolved fabricating a new hatch lever andlocking mechanism.

♦ The kit’s representation of the turret guncamera is too small and soft in detail. Ifashioned a larger and better-detailed camerausing rectangular styrene strip and rod. I also

replaced the co-axial machine gun (MG) asthe resin representation of the MG is toosimplified and bulky looking. The MG bodywas replaced with a resin part from Legend’sM240 and the barrel was fashioned from twolengths of brass tubing.

♦ I also made some modifications to thecommander’s MG. I found the resin pedestalmount inadequate and scratchbuilt a newmount using styrene and brass rod. I replacedthe kit C6 7.62 mm MG with a C9 5.56 mmweapon, using a modified Tamiya SAW withadditional details and a new ammo box holderscratchbuilt out of 0.005" sheet styrene.

The final phase of the turret constructionincluded fabricating turret handles from brasswire provided in kit and adding some turretbasket stowage, which was a combination ofspare plastic, resin and scratchbuilt packs and

rolls. I fashioned strapping from lead foil stripand the buckles were sourced from the LionRoar Stryker photo-etch set.

THE HULLThe assembly and fit of the lower hull of theAFV Club kit presented no problems. The fit ofthe resin upper hull to the plastic lower hullwas generally good with the exception of therear of the upper hull, where there was aslight gap relative to the lower hull. The gapwas filled with some styrene strip and CAglue. There was a slight gap where the upperhull joins the lower hull on the undersurfacesof the hull sponsons. I filled these gaps withTamiya putty and sanded smooth.

The front lower ‘cheek’ panels of the LAV IIIdiffer from those on the US Stryker. RealModel does not provide the proper LAV IIIpanels and they need to be fabricated by the

The top of the engine air intake was rebuilt, as there was notenough space to add the two grab handles. The protectivecanvas covering the driver’s hatch hinge was fabricated fromlead foil, as was the small tarp attached to the rear of the engineexhaust. The coaxial 7.62 mm machine gun barrel was fabricatedfrom several short lengths of small diameter brass tubing.

Real Model did not provide the small armour plate mountedbelow the winch compartment. Online photos provided adequateinformation for scratch-building a replacement. A bag withstrapping was sculpted and inserted into the winch

The area near the octagonal grill was rebuilt because the RealModel rendition was poor. Reference photos aided the fabricationof the multiple styrene parts necessary to produce an accuratedepiction of this area. The styrene side panel of the front lowerhull was necessary as Real Model did not provide the correctpiece.

The arms for the side-view mirrors were fabricated from brass wireand tubing to provide a better scale look . The two front wheelswere turned sideways slightly to give character to the model- thesuspension arms were slightly modified to match.

THE HULL



modeller. I made mineout of sheet styrene.Additionally, theattachment studs for thewinch apparatus on thefront glacis plate arepositioned too high andshould be shortened. Icut them off andreplaced them withscratchbuilt styrenestuds.

I was not satisfied withthe appearance of thesupporting structure ofthe engine air intake. Onthe Real Model kit thestructural detail washorizontal, but in fact itshould be inclined atabout a 30-degreeangle. I rebuilt thesupporting structure andadded some detail thatwas missing.

The photo etchprotective blast panelsfor the two rear sentry

positions in the Real Model conversion areinaccurate in shape and appearance. Ireplaced these with my own scratch builtstyrene panels of the correct profile usingappropriate reference material. The ends ofthe frame are not open on the real vehicle andI fabricated covers for each.

I replicated the protective dust cover for thedriver’s hatch hinge using lead foil, instead ofusing the suggested AFV Club vinyl part.There is no spare wheel holder on the rear

ramp provided in the Real Model kit,with the exception of an illustrationto assist you in scratch building oneof your own. I carefully fabricatedmy own by soldering togetherlengths of brass wire of the correctprofile. I used photos of the holder

on the real vehicle, and it took me only oneevening to complete.

I added the circular armour plate to theoctagonal shaped engine deck intake andanother plate to a rectangular intake. Handleson the hull were fabricated from brass wire ofappropriate diameter

With the minor additions and correctionsmade to the upper hull, I now added the finephoto-etch details to the exterior of the upperhull and I fabricated the electrical conduits tothe lights/horn assembly from some smalldiameter solder

I sculpted a pack to fit into the winchcompartment and I made some straps out ofpaper to hold the pack in place. Buckles weresourced from a Voyager photo-etch set. Therolled tarp on the engine deck was fashionedfrom lead foil and strapped with photo-etchparts. I found a resin pack in my spare partsbox and placed it below the engine intake onthe right side of the vehicle.

The Real Model kit provides you with three20 mm ammo boxes. I used one of them onthe turret and another was placed above thetool holder on the right side. Being durable,waterproof and dustproof, various-sizedammo boxes are used as containers forvarious gear, small tools, clothes, etc. Theconversion set does not provide the modellerwith any 25 mm ammo boxes. This seems anodd oversight, considering that the LAV IIIcrews would have ready access to a steadysupply of them to replenish the vehicle’sammo supply.

I used a total of six jerry cans for the model; acombination of AFV Club and Maple LeafModels cans. The pioneer tools are acombination of AFV Club and Voyager resinitems

As mentioned earlier, Real Model providesyou with eight identical resin copies of thesame pattern of wheel. The Michelin logo,inflation stem, and tire bulge is in the same

position on each wheel,and I had to come up witha solution to this problem.

Additionally, the tiresprovided in the kit are a bitsmall in diameter (maybethere was shrinkage in themoulds in my case?). Imade four bulged tiresusing the AFV Clubwheels and then mademultiple resin copies ofeach; the result was that Ihad a variety of wheelswith the logo and thebulge in differentpositions, making for amore realisticappearance.

Here are details of the scratch-built protective shield for the reargunners on the LAV III. Real Model provides a photo-etchversion which does not match photos of the real armour. RealModel does not provide adequate templates for fabricating theturret stowage baskets so a little trial and error was needed tocorrectly shape them. The antenna bases at the rear corners ofthe upper hull were too small and were replaced by largerexamples of the correct size and shape.

Rear view displaying rear ramp detail and medicalstretcher with scratch-built stowage. Spare wheelrack was an exercise in patient soldering – noinstructions were provided by Real Model for framingthis rack. Jerrycan is a MapleLeaf Models accessory.

This photo illustrates the numerous photo-etchdetails added to the rear ramp area of the vehicle.

Here is the stowage sculpted for the reardeck stretcher from Apoxy-Sculpt. Theturret’s C9 5.56 mm machine gun was aTamiya SAW with extra details toreproduce the Canadian version.



PAINTING AND FINISHINGI primed the model with Tamiya Grey Primer.Consultations with some experts led me tobelieve that the Tamiya NATO Green wouldnot be representative of the Dark Green inwhich current Canadian vehicles are painted. Ifound that a mixture of Tamiya NATO Greenwith Deep Green in the ratio of 3:1 gave methe colour that I was looking for. I thinned thismixture with Tamiya Lacquer thinner in a ratioof 1:3 and, using my Iwata, airbrushed threethin coats on to the model. I let it dry forcouple of days.

I then darkened my green mixture with someTamiya Black and Brown and airbrushedselected areas of the lower hull with thesepaints to give some shadow effects. Likewise,I lightened my green paint mixture withTamiya Buff and airbrushed selected areas of

the upper hull tohighlight the selected surfaces of the vehiclethat would be in direct sunlight. This helped tobreak up the monotone green paint finish ofthe model.

Before beginning the highlighting of the raisedsurfaces and structures of the model, Iairbrushed a moderately thinned coat ofTamiya Buff to the lower edges of the upperhull in a random manner. I did this so that anyhighlighting would not be obscured by a postdry-brushing, dust application.

My next step was to create subtle highlightson the vehicle’s exterior surfaces by using amodification of the traditional dry-brushingmethod. I used an old Tamiya 3 mm brushthat I modified by cutting off the end of thebristles to create a chisel tip that would besuitable for dry-brushing most of the large

surfaces of the vehicle. I did the same to a #2brush (1.5 mm wide) that would be used fordry-brushing very small structures on themodel. My modified dry-brushing techniqueinvolves using a variety of Humbrol greensand tans mixed with Windsor-NewtonTitanium White and Yellow to create verysubtle highlight paint mixtures that would notgreatly contrast with my basecoat of DarkGreen. I removed more paint off the tip of mybrush then is traditionally left before beginningdry brushing. I have to do several repetitionsof highlighting on a given surface or astructure but I gain better control of thehighlighting effects. This results in a longerperiod of time to finish the process but you arerewarded with more realistic highlightingeffects.

I did some detail painting of various sub-components of the vehicle. The 25 mm

Attachment points for the additional armour panels were fabricatedfrom punched discs of 0.010” plastic and the bolt heads were slicedhexagonal plastic rod. The stowage rack for tools was carefullysoldered so that the hinges remained workable. They were madefrom brass tubing and rod, not included in the kit.

The jerrycans over the side stowage rack are for water and camefrom the AFV Club Stryker kit, as did the fuel cans mounted on theback. The photo-etch brackets above the wheels are clips that willhold the tow cable in place.

The various stowage items were finished in a variety of olive draband green tones so as to replicate stowage observed in images ofin-service vehicles. These vehicles have a lot of kit attached to theoutside and it is important when modelling an operational vehicleto keep things looking a bit cluttered.

PAINTING & FINISHING

Note the three miniature water bottles attached (with the Cdnsoldier’s universal tool, green ‘gun tape’) to the turret’s right sideantenna. Crews insert chemical ‘glow sticks’ into the bottles as aquick and easy method for night time vehicle identification. Blackpigment was applied around the engine exhaust to replicate thediesel exhaust ‘gunk’.



Bushmaster barrel was airbrushed mattblack and highlighted with graphite. TheC9 5.56 mm machine gun also was paintedblack and the MG mounting and ammo boxwere airbrushed with a green colour. Thedust covers for the driver’s hatch, mantletcover and rolled tarp were hand paintedwith a dirty Olive Drab (OD) colour mixedfrom Humbrol paints. The commander’shatch pad was painted with a dusty blackcolour. The aerial identification tarp wasbrush painted with various shades of redusing Humbrol paints. The crew gear bags,vehicle rolls and vehicle tarps were handpainted in slightly different shades of ODcolour. The strapping for vehicle equipmentand the stowage was hand painted with very

faded OD colour thatalmost looks like

faded canvas colour.

The tow shackles where painted a light greycolour with the pins painted a faded redcolour.

I made up my washes by mixing oil paintswith mineral spirits. I applied two dust colourwashes made up of Humbrol #103 MattCream and #71 Satin Oak, mixed withTitanium White oil paints. Using a finebrush, I applied these mixtures to placeswhere dust would collect on the real vehicle,such as gaps between appliqué armourpanels, mounting bosses, bolts, etc. Afterthat, I applied a dark colour wash to bringout detail on the surface of the model using

a mixture ofbrown and blackoil paints.

I applied Model Master Acrylic flat clear coatto seal the washes and dry-brushing.

FINAL ASSEMBLYAfter the major and minor components ofthe vehicle were painted and weathered, Iadded the fragile and/or delicate parts thatwould have been broken during the paintingand dry-brushing process:

♦ A towing cable was positioned on the leftside of the vehicle using the kit photo-etchcable brackets. Cable ends and theirmounting points were scratch built and thecable itself was taken from a length ofVoyager woven steel wire that was 0.44 mmin diameter. I painted the tow cable and thecable ends in a variety of rust colours.

♦ I did not want to mask the semi-transparent armoured glass ports in the rear

The upper deck sees a lot of wear and tear from the crew movingabout the vehicle. Paints and pigments were used to replicate theeffect of many combat boots tromping around.

A splash of colour on a military vehicle always helps in breakingup the monotony of an otherwise uniform colour. In this case ared-painted tarp sits in the rear turret basket.

Attaching the tow cable had to wait until the base model was finished.It is stowed along the lower edge of the upper hull along the left side.Painting the headlights and final attachment of the side view mirrorswaited until the final finishing phase of the model.

It is vitally important when painting a model with a singlecolour exterior finish to vary the tones of that finish. Oilpaints were mixed into the base finish in a restrainedmanner to subtly brighten and darken the base paint.

FINAL ASSEMBLY



blast shield and therefore I left theirfabrication and placement to the end of thepainting process. The glass ports on thereal vehicle are a bluish-green colour; theReal Model kit does not include anycoloured acetate to use for viewing ports.My source for a suitably coloured clearplastic was a sci-fi Gundum base, which Icut up into small sections and then sandedto the required thickness.

♦ I used the AFV Club Stryker pioneer toolset, as it was perfectly suitable for aCanadian LAV III. The vehicle tools includetwo shovels, a sledgehammer, pickaxe andan axe. On the real vehicle, these items arestowed in two tool holders mounted on thesides of the upper hull at the rear of thevehicle. Real Model provides nicely donephoto-etch representations of the toolboxes.I had previously painted the tool holders andleft the stowing of the painted tools to theend. I painted the tools with appropriatepaints to match the colours of the plastic,wooden and metal parts of the individualtools. I attempted to imitate the rustyappearance of the shovel blades andpickaxe head. The sledgehammer headappears to be finished in a red colour on thereal vehicle and I painted it with a suitablecolour.

♦ I had previously painted and weatheredthe spare tire that is stowed in a holder onthe rear ramp door of the vehicle. On theactual vehicle, a heavy-duty strap andclamp hold the spare wheel in place. Ifabricated the strap from lead foil and thephoto-etch clamp came from the Eduard setfor the Challenger II. I painted the strap infaded Olive Drab colour and the clamp in asteel colour.

♦ I fashioned the antennas from lengths ofstretched sprue. The length of the antennaon the real vehicle is 3.25 metres; diameterof the base of the antenna is 30 mm, whichnarrows to 6 mm at the tip. I painted theantenna in a dark green colour and thenattached the clear resin representations ofthe plastic water bottles (into whichchemical ‘glow-sticks’ are placed) that serveas vehicle night recognition devices. Thesecame from a Tamiya kit.

♦ I used the AFV Club Stryker plasticlenses for headlights and taillights, andused Future Floor Wax to glue them inplace.

♦ The mirrors from AFV Club kit wheremodified – the pivot mechanism wasscratchbuilt from brass strip and fine tubingand the arm was made of brass wire. Imade an extra mirror for the vehiclecommander, which is positioned on the rightside of the turret close to commander’ssight. I used Echelon Fine Details reflectivestickers for the vehicle mirrors.

♦ The C9 5.56 mm machine gun wasattached to the pintle mount in front of thecommander’s hatch and a C7 5.56 mm riflefrom Maple Leaf Models was positioned inthe left side turret basket.

CONCLUSIONThe whole project took me longer then Iexpected, but was quite enjoyable and veryinformative. It was my first ‘more or less’serious model of an armoured vehicle in 1/35. I learned some new painting techniques,ones that are quite different from those Iwould normally use on aircraft. Not

everything turned out the way I wanted it,but it sure was a great experience for me;hopefully my next armour model will beeven better!

ONLINE REFRENCEScombatcamera.forces.gc.caMain ref - the photos from Combat Camerawebsite. This is an outstanding resource forCanadian Army related subjects.

primeportal.netPrime Portal has an excellent walkaround ofthe LAV III - covers all aspects andcomponents of the vehicle - only withappliqué armour removed...so you haveto take that in consideration when usingthose pics for scratch building parts for LAV

And some pics I got just from a standardGoogle search online...

PRODUCTS USEDmapleleafmodels.com

Some parts came from Voyager setPE35162, available online

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThere were couple of people who I want tothank for helping me with this project:

Barry MaddinSteven Millstone-TurnerSid Arnold

CONCLUSION

ONLINE REFERENCES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PRODUCTS USED

About theauthorAndriy Bass is 29;before moving toCanada in 2003with the rest of thefamily, he lived inOdessa, Ukraine.After graduatingfrom the OdessaMaritimeAcademy, heworked at sea fora couple of years.After moving to

Canada, he settled on a shore-based life.

Andriy first got hooked on modelling at theage of 6. His first models were snappedtogether with his dad, usually in oneevening.

His return to ‘serious’ modelling happenedat age 15-16; that’s when he discoveredputty, paints and the joy of airbrushing.

For the last several years he’s been tryinghard to keep his stash of kits limited tomodern subjects in 1/35 scale. However,other scales and subjects appear on theworkbench occasionally.

Andriy is a member of the Ottawa-CarletonArmour Modelling Club.

RT Sampler - with print screen images.pmd

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