Hallo everyone!
This is my fourth diorama on the Finnish WWII theme that I have chosen for my reborn passion for modelling. Part 1-3 can be found in Constructive Feedback Forum on armourama.com as they focus on land based vehicles rather than aeroplanes.
I'm still a freshman and this is my very first post on Aeroscale. I'm looking fore some feedback in order to develop my building skills.
/Fredrik
Background
The historical theme for the diorama is the decisive fight to defend their country that the Finnish soldiers and air men fought on the Karelian Isthmus in the summer of 1944. All four dioramas covers the action on one single day, June 25th 1944.
The diorama is an free interpretation of the battle of Tali-Ihantala. It captures the moment when Capt J. Myllymäki is about to make what would be his last take off from the Lapeenranta field in aircraft MT-221. He went Missing in action in this machine along the road between Tali and Juustila on June 25th.
The Finnish Air Force Fighter Wing 2/HLeLv 24 were equipped with Messerschmitt Bf109G-2 aircraft. The Wing took part in the battle of Tali-Ihantala and flew combat as well as reconnaissance missions over and along the front line. They had had to abandon their field in Suulajärvi on the Karelian Isthmus due to the Soviet advance and flew their missions from the field in Lapeenranta on June 25th.
The kit
The Finns called the Messerschmitt "Mersu". This one is made from Hasegawa's kit 08148, Messerschmitt Bf109G-4 'Regia Aeronautica', slightly modified to be a Finnish G-2 lookalike. The only resin parts are the exhausts from Quickboost.
The decals are from Techmod, though sparsely used as MT-221 was a repainted aircraft meaning that most of the German markings were painted over. This aircraft is painted according to LeR 3 directions from May 22nd 1944. The yellow upper half of on the engine was painted green and the tactical number was moved backwards.
The pilot figure is original from the kit with a modified Hornet head. The mechanic is from Royal Model as well as the photo etched parts used for the Tamiya bicycle.
The Mersu is quite heavy weathered in order to try to achieve a battle worn look to the kit. In my opinion there is no room for spit shine during combat.
This was my first aeroplane model in many years but I had lot of fun building it. I put some energy in creating dioramas for my models as in my opinion the story is as important as the plane or tank itself. I'm still learning as I go both on the kit itself and on the diorama so I hope that you folks will give me some constructive feedback.
Please comment!
