Brickie's BMP

[Brickie]

I've actually made a start on my first model, which isn't officially part of the BMP but is sort of connected.

It's a PZL P.7 by MasterCraft, which isn't a type Marek flies in the novel but of course he would have flown them in the past. I'm planning to do it on a flying base, and stand it on my desk at work to remind me to Write The Damn Novel in my lunchbreaks...

So far I've stuck a seat and a control column to the baseplate and just need to figure out the right internal blue and paint the pilot. There wasn't a pilot included so I've grabbed one out of the bits box (look, I have a bits box these days!). I think a 1930s Polish pilot would have had a sort of khaki canvas flight suit - anyone know if they bothered with Mae Wests, given they weren't expecting to go anywhere near the sea?

I seem also to have misplaced the teeny tiny transparency for the windshield - I'll have a look in the garage again, otherwise what can one use to scratchbuild one with?

[Brickie]

OK, here's the first photo.

Pilot is painted, fuselage is stuck together, as are the wings (not shown), currently working on painting the engine prior to assembly.

Goodness me those things were tiny!

[Dazzled]

Looking good. It's nice to see this big project underway

[Brickie]

Muhahaha! I've found the windshield!

In the meantime, I've assembled the whole thing, given it a coat of primer, stuck the undercarriage struts back on three times and am about to give it a bit of a fill & sand.

Overall, the fit's pretty good though - good job as the plastic's hard as nails...

[Brickie]

Cracking on, we've now got some paint on. Memo to self for when I build the P.11: paint first, then add wing.





Contrary to appearances, that is actually blue on the bottom there. Humbrol 67, to be precise.



Hello Marek! (The windshield has gotten a little fogged. Use PVA next time.)

[Brickie]

So nearly there, but I don't think I'm going to get it done before I have to pack up for Christmas. All I need to do is Klear, decal and weather but the in-laws are arriving tomorrow and so tonight is going to be spent tidying...

[Dazzled]

Looking great so far Brickie. Full sympathy for the packing away for Christmas bit. I reckon I might get a couple of hours in tonight before I have to square away the bench for a couple of days.

[Brickie]

I also need to mail-order some flying-bases in from Games Workshop's online store so that will put things back a bit.

[Brickie]

Got home to find my wonderful wife had been sent home early from work and done the front room already, so I was able to get the klear on, followed by some decals.







However, as you may have spotted in the first shot, something has happened to the decal on the upper port wing...



... any idea what might have caused this? I was using Humbrol Decalfix, but haven't come across this particular effect before.

[Migrant]

It's probably just a reaction of the Future with the fixing solution, I've had similar things happen when I've not left the Future to cure properly. My advice is to leave it for a few hours, most of those issues seem to clear themselves as the Future dries.

[Brickie]

Yes, I probably did it in a bit of a hurry - I wondered if it might be something to do with that.

[Brickie]

With judicious and careful application of a thumbnail, the white crusty bit scraped off nicely. I've now applied a matt coat and am just awaiting some Citadel flying bases to arrive off eBay to mount the thing.

[Brickie]

I've just taken delivery of a cheap 1/72 Stuka off eBay, which is going to go into a diorama being attacked by Marek's P.11c.

The decals included with the kit are for 5 Staffel, II Gruppe, Stukageschwader 2, based in France, July 1940, and the painting guide indicates all-over Black Green on top and all-over Sky Blue underneath.

Edit: Having asked, I've just come across this link, which suggests that this squadron was part of Luftflotte 1, based in north-east Germany during the September campaign. This makes it eminently possible that Marek would have encountered this aircraft over Chelmno on 3 September, but does anyone know whether the camo scheme for the 1939 campaign was different from that listed in the box?

[Brickie]

Flying bases have now arrived, so I'll hopefully be able to base the P.7 and upload some "finished" photos tomorrow...

[Brickie]

Slight delay due to lack of daylight, but here's the finished article...