Hello,

And welcome to my Battle of Malta build.
The two year battle and seige of Malta was one of the pivotal moments of the war in the Mediterranean. Who controlled it, controlled the Med.
Couple of years ago I bought Xtradecals sets covering RAF and Axis aircraft which saw action over the island. As I'm in the middle of building one of the Hurricanes for the Sopwith and Hawker campaign, I thought why not do the rest? Most of the kits are already in my stash and it will get them built.






In the new year I plan on making a start on the Bf110 and probably a Spitfire.
Along with these I would like to add a few more, definitely from the Italian side. So will be on the lookout for a Fiat BR.20, SM.79 and CR.42.

Hope the build will be of interest to everyone.

I love a good project with true focus and lots of variety, and you've got one going here for sure Steven.

I will be following along, looking forward to your progress reports.

Cheers, D

Just my cup of tea ! I have some of these decals as well, I really should consider joining in with a Gladiator (one of my favourite aircraft)!



Magnus

Damian, Magnus welcome aboard and if you want to join in with a Gladiator or anything else, go right ahead! Would be great to see.

A couple of kits are proving to be a bit more difficult than others to track down. The Hurricane IIa, Beaufort and a Macchi MC.200 seem to be elusive beasts!

Nice,
I have always had an interest in the battle for Malta. A few years ago I started the Battle over Malta kit from Sword.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/sword-sw-72070-spitfire-mkvc-versus-re-2001--250810

It took me down the proverbial rabbit hole on what really is the color of the blue Spitfires. Been obsessed with it since.

I will definitely be lurking

Cheers

Hope it will be of interest to you Robbie.

I remember when that kit came out, but never thought to get it at the time. Ah well.

The blue is a bit debatable and more than one shade was probably used. I think it's likely that those that flew in off the Wasp were painted in US Navy blue. As for other shades? Well that's a good question!

To coin a already used phrase when I started looking into it 'Can of Worms'

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234987284-malta-blue-spitfires/

http://hsfeatures.com/maltabluesse_1.htm

Cheers

It certainly is!

I think you just have to consider what was available at the time, what looks right in photos and go with your gut. The only person who can say it's wrong is the pilot who flew it.
There are very few good quality colour photos taken at the time and everyone had more important things to worry about than shades of blue. Factor in weathering, repairs, touch ups and repaints and who can tell what the exact colours were?
Fortunately only one on this sheet is blue.

I am however kicking myself for not buying the Dec 2015 and Jan 2016 issues of SAM which covered this. Wonder if I can find back issues or a pdf copy?

Got a couple more additions to the build this weekend, Italeri's Fiat CR.42 and Airfix's He111 H6 which includes decals for a Sicily based torpedo bomber.
Thinking I might have to drop out of some campaigns I signed up for to get all this done!

Stephen! Beaufort on its way from Airfix this year !



Magnus

Just seen the announcement Magnus!
It's almost like Airfix were reading my mind.
Really excited by that one. I've also managed to bag a Supermodel CANT Z1007 to represent the Reggia Aeronauticas bombing campaign against the island.

Hoping to get a chance this weekend to make a start on something.

Well time I got started I think.

First I'll be building is Tamiyas excellent Bf109E7 of JG26.
What I didn't realise till I pulled it out of the stash, is that the kit has the same markings as the Xtradecal set.





More pictures to come.

Stephen

Made a start on the cockpit tonight. Simple base coat of RLM02, a little black on the throttle and a couple of panels. Dry brush with aluminium and oil wash.



I decided on setting myself a couple of ground rules to keep the builds going. I don't want myself to get bogged down and stall.
1) OOB.
2) Keep it simple.

If I stick to those, I should keep up a steady pace.

The 109's coming together quite nicely.
I used the kits seatbelt and instrument panel decals. The panel looks good, but I'm not convinced by the belts. Should have known better really, but I think it will look ok once the canopies on.





Thanks for looking.

Had another one for the collection arrive today.
The Supermodel CANT Z1007bis. Box is a bit battered, but the plastic is all good and everything is present.



Same can't be said for the decals however. Very Matt and yellowed. I'm hoping I can salvage the CANT logo, but I will need to replace everything else. Numbers are ok as I have plenty spare from Italeri's CANT 506 seaplane reissue. Just need to find the fasces.

Apologies to everyone watching my build, afraid I haven't had much to show lately.

Managed to get some paint on the 109 today. Gave it a coat of white primer and sprayed the nose and rudder yellow. The paint wasn't the easiest to use as it wasn't very opaque. But got it done.



Rest should be easier.