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Faith, Hope & Charity

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In April 1940 Malta was having its first taste of aerial bombing from neighbouring Sicily which is only 50 or 60 miles away by Axis bombers and fighters. Aerial defence of the island was simply non existent, so something very drastic had to be done. HMS Glorious, a Royal Navy Carrier, left 8 crated Gloster gladiators in Malta when it departed from the island. It was decided to keep 4 of them in Malta to try and cope with the onslaught and the other 4 were handed over to HMS Eagle.

They were quickly rigged and made operational to meet the enemy in the skies over the tiny island. They were the only hope for the island’s survival, so they were nicknamed Faith, Hope and Charity. The other aircraft was cannibalized for the parts urgently needed to keep the other 3 flying.

The Model
The model is in 1/72 scale and it’s about a metre square. I used the Heller gladiator kits which were detailed accordingly. Modified Airfix vehicles were used and I tried to be as faithful as possible to actual photographs. An assortment of polyurethane figures were used, and this involved some conversion works on the tiny figures to achieve the required results. The rest, equipment, buildings, trees and so on were all scratch-built. The diorama represents the Maltese countryside, as at first these planes were kept in a field with minimal basic commodities to fly them. One can see the typical Maltese rubble walls which were fashioned out of little pebbles glued to a backing cardboard strip, the prickly pears cactus trees which were built leaf by leaf using epoxy putty. I tried to show the things that makes the Maltese countryside which also include the little chapel and farmhouse and the little veggie cart. The buildings were made out of balsa wood covered with a clay compound and later scribed. The chapel still stands to this very day. The place was called Hal Far which was a little barren piece of countryside . It also accommodated a small airfield which was later used by two squadrons of Spitfires.
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About the Author

About louis carabott (loucar)
FROM: MALTA

I am 61 and have been doing scale modelling since I was 12 years old. I had a go at practically everything in this beautiful hobby, namely aviation, figurines, AFV 's ,aviation dioramas in 1/72 scale always with wartime Malta as a setting and finally Shipbuilding which has given me the most enjoym...


Comments

Louis, Salute! The legend of these three Gladiators is one of my favorites. I have been meaning to build a Malta Gladiator forever. You built a diorama of them--thank you! This dio lives. The foilage and groundwork are wonderful. How did you make the cactus? Great job!
FEB 28, 2010 - 05:34 PM
Beautiful job I love the way you put the three together. Kelly
MAR 01, 2010 - 06:35 AM
Excellent work!!
MAR 01, 2010 - 06:51 AM
Louis, if you haven't already, please start up a museum on Malta. Those ships and aircraft of yours would do such a project justice. --Karl
MAR 05, 2010 - 08:37 AM
Guys thankyou all for your kind comments about my diorama....Karl my aircraft dioramas are already at The Aviation Museum in Malta I simply have nowhere to put them in my apartment....I will soon have problems with my ships:):) Fredrick the cactus was a very laborious and tedious jobs....I simply rolled tiny pieces of milliput ...then squashed them a bit and they then look like cactus leaves...then I stuck them together piece by piece....a lot of work but it was the only way ....and to portray Maltese countryside without cactus is simply not right:):) Best regards from the little island of Malta Louis
MAR 05, 2010 - 08:17 PM
Sounds like you may have to set up a branch office in Pantelleria! --Karl
MAR 19, 2010 - 09:36 AM
An excelent work, very nice
MAR 19, 2010 - 11:16 AM