Thursday, September 21, 2017

Tamiya 1/35 M113 Armored Personnel Carrier


The M113 is a kit from the mid-1970s, but is has a nicely detailed interior, and good overall fit. I added some items to the interior, as well as a decent amount of weathering and a shield for the .50 cal machine gun. The figures are chunky and lacking details such as the helmet covers, but they were used anyway. As for the base, I had limited resources to do the groundwork, as well as limited skills in modelling Vietnamese terrain, but the reddish soil or clay is prevalent in many pictures from the Vietnam War.

Here's some pictures of the sprues:
https://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?t=8766




































Sunday, September 3, 2017

Hawker Hurricane Mk. IIc of No. 336 (Greek) Squadron

What you see in the store.

The Hawker Hurricane requires little introduction, an it also happens to be one of my favorite WW2 aircraft. This kit was released by Revell Germany in the very early 1990s, and it was also one of the first modern Revell kits with some of the qualities we take for granted today, such as recessed panel lines, detailed wheel wells and cockpit interior. The Revell Hurricane is an easy and enjoyable build, and it comes with markings for No. 336 (Greek) Squadron, as well as a Hurricane based in India towards the end of the war. A more extensive review can be found here

No. 336 (Greek) Squadron was part of the armed forces established by the Greek government in exile after the fall of Greece in 1941. Greek pilots were trained in Rhodesia, and they initially manned two squadrons, No. 13 Light Bomber Squadron and No. 335 Fighter Squadron. No. 336 Squadron was added on February 25, 1943. It was initially equipped with 21 Hurricane Mk. IIc aircraft and commanded by Flight Lieutenant Spyridon Diamantopoulos. The ranks included several veteran pilots from No. 335 Squadron, which enabled the Squadron to become operational in a relatively short time: the first combat mision was flown on March 1, and the unit was declared fully operational on April 11. Throughout the summer and early fall of 1943, No. 336 Squadron conducted shipping protection and fighter sweeps. The unit was eventually re-equipped with Spitfire Mk. Vc, with the first Spitfires arriving on October 12. The squadron took part in several raids against Crete in November of 1943, missions that did incur some losses. No. 336 and No. 335 Squadon were subsequently deployed to the Italian theatre, from which they primarily flew support missions over Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. In November 1944 the Greek squadrons returned to liberated parts of Greece, and more specifically the Ellinikon airfield outside Athens. The Greek squadrons flew missions against remaining Axis units in the Aegean and on Crete before being transferred from RAF to Greek control on July 31, 1945. No. 336 Squadron soldiers on to this very day in the Hellenic Air Force, and it is the last unit to fly the A-7 Corsair II.