Very nice progress on the 109, Andrew. It will be unusual looking in those colourful markings. Looking forward to see more.

Excellent Spitfire, Stefan! Nice trick with the masking - I might try that as well on my next Russian or British aircraft.

The Tiberiu Vinca Bf109E-3 is finished. One of the best thing about this campaign is the encouragement to read up a bit about some relatively unknown ace pilots, such as Vinca. Without the campaign i would simply have built this kit OOB without even looking up who the pilot was!

Anyway Vinca flew this Bf109 with the 7th Fighter Group during the earlier stages of the Russian Campaign. He scored his first 5 victories during the first part of the campaign, up until Stalingrad. More detailed info can be found on this excellent site for Romanian units and pilots: http://www.worldwar2.ro/arr/?article=743
Particularly interesting is the acount of Vincas rescue operation when the Russians broke the front lines. He took off carrying 2 mechanics in his Bf109E, one in the aft fuselage and one in the cockpit with him, all whilst the airfield was being shelled by Russian tanks. Bf109's were notoriously dangerous to take of and land at the best of times. The balance with someone in the aft fuselage must have made things VERY dodgy! But it was done often by many Bf109 pilots on the Russian front. As to leave groundcrew behind to Russian capture was only a last resort option.

Vinca had an unlucky end however. In March 1944 he was shot down mistakenly by German He111 gunners and he did not survive the crash. His final score was 15.
Whilst overall the Germans did not always fully trust their Romanian allies, the Luftwaffe at least had good respect for the Romanian airforce, which did have some very capable pilots that flew and fought well- especially considering they usually used aircraft that were one or two generations behind what the Germans used.

All paints Tamiya and Gunze. OOB build. Decals appear pretty accurate except maybe the the white surrounds to the national markings being a bit too wide. Surprisingly the instrument panel decal worked out looking really nice. The Hasegawa kits only real downfall compared to more modern kits is the simple cockpit detail- especially compared to the Classic Airframes Bf109D i built earlier this year. The sunlight makes the yellow look brighter than it really is, the last (bottom) phot is probably closest to how the yellow looks to the eye.









Andrew

Hi all!

Andrew, Your Romanian 109 is simply stunning!
Colorful and very well bulit and the weathering is not too little or not too much, you nailed it!
A very nice build!

My Spitfire is done and finished so here´s the last report on that model.

First a bit of history about Skalski and his Flying circus!

Late 1940 the Polish Liason officer requested that a group of experienced pilots were sent to the North African Front, to gain valuable experience as a preparation for the D-day.

It was decided to establish a group of experienced pilots and the idea attracted over 70 volunteers.
Ultimately, only 15 pilots were selected for the PFT (or the Polish Flying Team) of which three was already aces; Stanislaw Skalski (who would lead the unit in the air), Waclaw Król and Karol Pniak.

The unit arrived in Africa in March 1943, where it was assigned to No244 wing (Led by Wg Cdr Ian Gleed) and attatche to 145sqn for logistics purposes.

Initally they flew the older MkIV´s, but in less then two weeks they were re-equipped with the then brand new Mk.IX.

In 40 days the team scored a total of 25 enemy aircraft comfirmed destroyed, 3 probably destroyed and 9 damaged, for the loss of one pilot (made PoW).

A week later Axis troops in North Africa surrenderd, and the PFT was disbanded and the pilots went to other missions.



Stanislaw Skalski flew the Spitfire MkIXC marked ZX o 6, as the PFT was a freestanding unit of the 145th, they used numerals instead of letters on their aircrafts.

This very aircraft gained no less then five confirmed victories, so It can be said to be an ace in itself!



Here´s my model of Skalskis Spitfire;


























Now I have to decide on the next build!

Tally-Ho Boys!

Stefan E

Im almost lost for words!
Absolutely stunning builds everyone..very well done!
I think now may be a good point to have a Half Way (ish) Aces High Campaign Update.
If Ive missed anyone I apologise profusely,,please PM me and I'll update my campaign file.
So far we have 49 "Flyboys" signed up for the campaign.
19 have yet to post.
16 have posted progress reports.
14 have reached ACE status
Special kudos to Andrew Beard,CMOT70 for multiple entries, very deserving of a round of single malt in the rapidly filling Officers Club!
Here are the finished entries so far, in the order they were posted in the ACES HIGH CAMPAIGN GALLERY

Captain A
James Howards P-51B "Ding Hao"



Vanize.
Douglas Baders Spitfire MKII



CMOT70
Bruno Loerzers Fokker


Karl Bolles Fokker



FalkeEins
Wolfgang Falck's Bf110 E



Longknife
Hans Joachim Marseilles Bf 109-F



Magnusf
Hans Phillips Bf 109-F



Tedmamere.
Kozhedubs Yak La-7


Propwash
Col. Aleksandr Ivanovich Pokryshkin's P-39N



STGJKJ
Heinz Bar's FW190 A7



Amegan
Maxime Lenoir's Nieuport 16



Betheyn
Lt. Alexander Vraciu's F6F-3 Hellcat



Jolly Roger
Erich Hartmanns Bf 109



Atoplu
"Pips" Prillers Fw190 A3



CMOT70 **3rd Entry*
Tiberiu Vinca's Bf 109 E3



Phantom2
Stanislaw Skalski's Spitfire MkIXC



Im home from my latest tour later this week and hopefully I'll be able to join you guys in the Officers Club very soon.
Keep up the fabulous work everyone!
Nige

That is a formidable lineup of heros.

My attempt has been rather less heroic I just can't get the cockpit to fit into the fuselage. For reference I'm going to start building the tamiya 109e (discretion being the better part of valour) as the instructions for the AML kit are a little vague as to the placing of the instrument panel. Never having built a 109 before I'd rather get a feel for it that way than wreck this lovely pit, however I'm convinced some major surgery will be required to remove bits of the cockpit that wont' be seen. Anyone have experience of this kit with the resin cockpit.

Here is a snap of the pit. painted green with an earth wash and a little paint chipping and detail.

Hello Nigel

I was working on the new Eduard Hellcat and I will also do Alex Vracius mount. the work is postponed until I get my Twin Spinners Bf 110 C done (which is also an aces mount ). I am also about to finish a F4F-3 in c&m of Butch O'Hare ... was intended for Rumble over the east, so it cannot count for this campaign .. maybe for "Get the job done

as a small side note .. here is a list of articles on my models (most of them aces) Aces gallery

cheers

Steffen

Make some space at the bar guys!
Another Ace coming through!

George Bostwicks P-47 M "Ugly Duckling.



Nige

Hi Nige!

You´re welcome, we´ll make room for you and cheerio ´ol boy!

Mighty nice model, just love that color scheme!

Well done!

Cheers!

Stefan E

Excellent P-47, Nige. That unique camouflage is a real head turner

See you in the bar

Hello everyone,

Nigel, that is a very bold looking P-47! Well done.

I highlighted the major panel lines on the Nate. If I’m fortunate maybe even a base coat of paint will follow soon.







Sincerely,
Brian

Hello everyone,

I made some progress on my Nate. One good thing about this particular aircraft the color is overall Grey/Green, makes painting a whole lot simpler. The cowl is so tight around the engine you really can’t see much of it either. Next is to paint the cowl ring and prop tips red.







Sincerely,
Brian

Hi Brian.
Great progress, and it looks as though you'll be joining us in the bar quite soon.
Hows everyone else getting along with their builds?
I expect that the next month will be quite slow with the holiday season well and truly upon us
Nige

OK, I think I have my second entry.
Now it all depends if we are depicting the aircraft the ace used to get his ace status or if we are just counting the pilot, in whatever aircraft he flew.
Confused, the model and description should explain.
Revell 1/48th F-105D.

The mount of Colonel Paul P Douglas Jr, commander of the 388th TFW.

The kill markings.

If it is allowed I will upload the pics to the campaign folder.
Andy

Hi JP
I feel your pain. Im presently trying to shoehorn an Aries cockpit into a Tamiya Spit. It WILL fit,,one day,,honest!,,,I'll MAKE it fit!
Nige

Andy.
It was common practice when fighter groups were re-activated post ww2 for pilots to display their ww2 scores on the jets,,so I'll allow it
Nige

Hello everyone,

I decided to not use decals for the roundels. I used a drawing template and cut out circles from blue tape.







Here is the result afterward. I like it but one of the top wing roundels is slightly off round from the other. Its not real bad and I don’t want to mess with it so I won’t. Next is to paint the lightning bolt on the tail fin and apply the victory marks (that will be a decal). Here it is after painting the roundels.







Sincerely,
Brian

Hello everyone,

Well the family is asleep but I’m wide-awake, so what to do? Work on my model of course! My next step was to paint on the Lightning Bolts for the Nate. I took the decals and scanned them to make exact copy.



I then used my x-acto knife to carefully cut out the paper pattern over some blue painters tape. I removed the cut area and applied the masks to the tail.




Then painted with flat white and after cleaning my airbrush I removed the mask and here it is.




Goodnight,
Brian

Hi Brian.
Burning the midnight oils certainly paid off, those markings look great.
Almost there now.
The red tips on the props are a nice touch.
Nige

Hi Brian. The Nate looks good, and now I'm not quite so scared about painting balkenkräuzer on my latest 109. Thanks for that.

Good job on that Nate, Brian. The masking seems to have gone very well so far. The Markings look great!

Looking forward to see more

Hello everyone,

Nigel, Tony and Jesper, Thank you for the compliments I am really enjoying this kit it went together without a bit of putty and aside from some confusing drawings for the engine being assembled it is a joy.

My next step is to apply a gloss coat for kill markings and a wash which leads to the next question for anyone to answer. What would be a good wash color (oil or enamel) to apply over Japanse Army Gray/Green?

Nigel, I don't know if the red spinner tips are correct but the painting instructions say they are. There're not many photos of KI-27's especially from 1939.

Sincerely,
Brian

La-5fn progress report.

Things are going at a faster pace: I'm in vacations :-))

Here's some pictures.






If all is well I'll send it to the paint shop today.


Jean

Hi All,

After a 3 week holiday in Egypt, I am now back and have managed to get some time in on the Machold 109.

I have finally decided which aircraft it will be, White 15. This is because this is the one with the most numerous photos I have found (2).



I have got the main assembly done now and the basic camo painted.





Underside.. spot the deliberate mistake...




I have now got to apply the mottle to the fuselage sides. This was very dense and apparantly applied with a rag or sponge. I have tried various techniques to simulate this and the best I can come up with is a cut down paint brush and a stipple effect. This is hopefully how it will look once done.



Now, another cry gor help. Does anyone know if you can get a decal of the Bonzo Dog emblem used by 1./JG2. or am I going to have to try am paint it freehand (gulp!)

La-5fn progress report.

Things are going at a faster pace now that I'm vacation.

As you will see I'm doing some preshading tests:






I'm tempting to create 2 things. First to break the even look of the paint with dark grey, medium brown and white shading.
Second the yellow is used to attempt to highlight the higher spots of the plane hoping that the final coat will be a tad lighter on these spots.

I've painted the underside with White Ensign AMT-7. Unfortunately the shading is less visible in the pics than in reality.




Jean