Model Talk 5 - World War Two, ad nauseum...!

World War Two, ad nauseum...!

I have only been writing this column for a couple of months and already I am generating ‘hate mail’...

... well, perhaps not exactly ‘hate mail’, more like a minor caustic comment from one of my mates ‘darn souff’ – Derek, bless him.

He makes some very valid comments on the current state of the hobby, and as such I have decided to print his ‘letter’, (an e-mail actually, but you know what I mean), in full.

“Dear Neil,

 

I have just finished reading your Model Talk 3 on Relish Models' website – I like it. However, looking at your model photos has brought a question to mind, “What is this continuing obsession with all things World War Two about?” I'm not knocking you in particular, but the hobby in general.

 

I'm just one step away from being 70 years old now and in my life, modelling-wise, I have abhorred most things aeronautical prior to the 1950s and most things with ‘fans’ up front. I don't know how many Spitfires etc you have built in your lifetime, and how many more you have stashed away, but I can actually count the ones I have built on the fingers of one hand. My last Spitfire was a presentation Mk I for 54 Squadron on behalf of my local model club; then there was a Matchbox Mk 24 I built for a mate. Another Mk I, with a Bf 109E, was also built for a mate and a Mk VIII conversion for my bruvver to take back to Oz for a workmate there. Note, nothing for myself.

 

German, other than a couple of Bf 109s, there has been just one Fw 190; Japanese, absolute Zero (no pun intended), and not much on the American side either, other than a couple of B-17s, P-51s, P-47s and a Catalina.

 

Things with hot ‘arses’, now that's another thing...

 

I remember reading a couple of years ago that there were complaints that there was nothing other than F-16s etc being produced, but nowadays it is possible to build nigh on every Axis and Allied aircraft that saw service in World War Two, even those in minor service, in whatever scale desired, and with a multitude of camouflage schemes and decal options.

 

Jets? Yes there are many, but usually the same sub-types and there are still whacking great holes in what has been used over the years. For instance look how long we have had to wait for a 1/48 scale Sea Vixen! It has been left to the likes of Kinetic and Trumpeter to produce decent, or half decent, kits of some of the ‘missing links’ but there are still a whole bunch of missing items like 1/48 scale Meteors, Javelins and Swifts to mention a few, and I'm not talking resin or vacforms, just ‘standard’ injection moulding.

 

Each year on the modelling forums, questions are asked as to what we would like to see produced, and each year the same old things appear. We are very close to overload on certain subjects now as manufacturers follow each other around like lost sheep in search of that elusive sale.

 

I have seen some of your models so don't put yourself down, they are good... almost as good as mine, tee, hee!

 

Derek”

I can see where Derek is coming from, however, like it or not, World War Two is still probably the most popular subject matter amongst the majority of enthusiast aircraft modellers – at least as far as the UK is concerned...

Maybe it is because they are literally 'warplanes', and were 'in regular action' whereas most 'modern' aircraft have not been in regular combat (thankfully) – with obvious exceptions, such as the likes of the Korean War, the Arab/Israeli Wars, Falklands War and the Gulf War etc...

... come to think of it now, many of the ‘popular’ jets HAVE also been regular action too...!

Continuing with Derek’s ‘thread’, there are a few 1/48 scale post-war Meteors available – Classic Airframes did a series, but perhaps now is the perfect time for Airfix to bang a few more post-war jets out? Especially so, now they seem to be producing some VERY nice moulds – just look at their new Sea Vixen for example... it’s excellent.

I have to admit that my particular planned future model builds, at least for the next couple of months, are all going to be World War Two period... albeit more by ‘coincidental accident’ rather than blinkered pedantic preference or bloody-minded design...

Which brings me rather nicely to part two of this week’s Model Talk – whether to add pilot figures or not.

Until relatively recently, I never used to bother adding pilot figures to my models, but then I had a bit of a ‘sea change’ and decided that figures accompanying a model gave the model a sense of scale.

Unfortunately, I’m not a very good figure painter – which is an art form in its own right – but I’m getting quite ‘hooked’ on to adding figures to my models now, so I’d better start getting more practice in hadn’t I?

It all started when my grandson Josh was in his early ’teens and roped me in to taking him to Games Workshop ‘wargaming’ sessions. The staff in the Games Workshop model shops are VERY enthusiastic, are all wargamers themselves and VERY knowledgeable about the company’s products. Josh was ‘hooked’ as soon as he walked in and after ‘having a go’ with several genres, eventually settled upon ‘Lord of the Rings’ as being his favourite ‘period’ and soon built up quite a sizeable Army of Gondor. Overcome with grandparental ‘joi de vivre’, I decided to go that one mile further, show willing, and started collecting and painting my own army, in this instance the Army of Rohan, so that at least we could ‘fight’ each other at home.

He’s grown up now bless him, and sort of grown out of the wargaming phase – and no, despite my gentle encouragement (gentle !?!), never got in to the injection-moulded modelling phase... what is wrong with the youth of today? – but my flirting with painting the figures in my Army of Rohan left an indelible mark upon my psyche, and from then on I started adding the odd pilot figure here and there...

I generally model in 1/48 scale, which means that whilst such figures are relatively small, they are big enough for the painting to require some degree of attention to detail – and figure painting is a whole new ball game, with its own rules and disciplines...

Without wishing to annoy my mate Derek any further with more references to World War Two, several of the recent Battle of Britain models I made had pilot figures installed. Quite apart from trying to paint the figures to an acceptable standard, I also had to research the type of clothing they wore...

Little did I know when I started that I would have to recognise the minor nuances of World War Two pilots’ clothing and equipment. For instance, during the Battle of Britain period, much of the equipment and flying clothing dated back to the mid-1930s period; the flying helmets were a particular style; there were various styles of goggles, standard issue and privately bought ones; the microphone had a canvas (not leather) face mask; the yellow Mae West wasn’t yellow, but a khaki-beige colour that some pilots painted yellow at the front to aid visibility in the water; most Spitfire pilots didn’t wear the standard issue leather fleece-lined flying jacket as it restricted movement in the confined space of a Spitfire’s cockpit, and simply wore their uniform jacket – occasionally, at the height of the summer, some only wore shirts with the sleeves rolled-up; and many didn’t wear flying boots, but simply their normal shoes... The list of differences is almost endless.

Suffice to say, the research is pretty much ‘on-going’ and has led me up the model figure manufacturers’ path... To finish off, can I ask that if anyone has any hints and tips on painting aircrew figures, PLEASE don’t hesitate to write/e-mail in – I need all the help I can get as the few photos of my attempts accompanying this, will bear testament to.

Until next time, Tally Ho!!!

Neil Robinson