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Kalafrana 1942

The model…

This is the very old Airfix Sunderland kit which was extensively detailed using bits and bobs from the scraps box.The detailed engines were scratch built. All Figures were modified Matchbox 1/76 scale polurethene figures and the vehicles were again modified and altered to represent the propped up vehicles available in Malta at that time. They were painted in any sandy or stony coloured hue available… one can notice the crane mounted on a Matador truck and fuel was just tapped off from a normal bowser to 45 gallon oil drums and later fuelled manually by hand using 10 gallon tanks !!!! . Equipment was very limited in wartime time Malta. We took a pounding and had it very bad… Sicily being only 60 miles away!

The seascape was sculpted using clear resin being very careful to make the right mix as not to corrode the model…

This diorama was actually modeled from a photograph taken at that time - with a story to it… this particular aircraft arrived from Alexandria for a technical and fuel stop in Malta. It had an engine failure on take off at Kalafrana Sea base… The engine change was effected on the slip way to get the aircraft out of Malta as soon as possible as air raids were becoming deadlier and more frequent.