1/72 Fighter Models


World War 2

  • United States
  • Great Britain and Commonwealth
  • Soviet Union
  • France
  • Germany
  • Japan
  • Italy
  • Life after death: prop fighters after 1945

    United States of America

    Year Model Make Photos Comments
    1944 P-47D Razorback Academy 325FG at Foggia in early 1944. They upgraded to P-51B Mustangs in late April. Kit has undersized rudder and wing shape issues. Decals are a silvering nightmare.
    1944 P-51C-10-NT Academy 332FG Tuskegee Airmen in Italy. Lt Buddy Archer's plane in 1944.
    1944 P-51K Tamiya Maj. Kit Carson's P-51K in late 1944/early 1945. 362nd FS 357th FG 8th AF.
    1945 F6F-5 Hellcat Revell Vf-17 on the USS Hornet. Out of the box Revell kit with a gazillion stencil decals.
    1945 P-51C-10-NT Academy 530th FS, 311th FG in China, July 1945 The kit comes in two flavors, with or without fin fillet. The rear fuselage is a separate section and care must be taken to align it properly.

    Great Britain and Commonwealth

    Year Model Make Photos Markings Comments
    1940 Spitfire I Airfix 234 Squadron during the Battle of Britain Good kit for its age despite the raised panel lines. Full interior (total waste of time as invisible). Underwing roundels should not be there as this plane was forced down on August 15, 1940 over Cherbourg before they were mandated
    1942 P-40E Kittyhawk Academy+Airfix canopy, spinner,decals 112 Squadron in Egypt The Academy canopy and fuselage spine is too high, which detracts from the overall look. The spine was sanded down and an Airfix canopy uses instead. Next one will have a Squadron vacform
    1942 Hurricane IIb Hasegawa+Quickboost propeller 274 Squadron in Egypt This plane should have bomb racks but I have yet to find accurate drawings for these. Too bad Hasegawa did not include them. Those in the Airfix kit are too short.
    1944 Spitfire VIII Hasegawa 155 Squadron in Burma Nice kit of the Spitfire VIII/IX. Propeller blades too thin otherwise looks good to me. Bumps one each wing need to be removed for most wartime machines. The ailerons need to be scribed to match either an VIII or IX.
    1944 Spitfire XIVc Academy 610 Squadron in the UK; V1 hunter in the spring of 1944 Nice kit with 2 issues, a bit plump in the fuselage and underwing radiators perpendicular to the ground instead of the wings
    1944 Typhoon Ib Academy Rocket armed panzer hunter closing the Falaise gap in August 1944. This is the three bladed prop version with small tailplanes. Much maligned kit in terms of accuracy builds up well nevertheless. The rockets were repositioned closer to the rails. The overthick fins were left as is.
    1944 Spitfire XIX Airfix 541 Squadron RAF Benson UK in residual D-Day stripes in the fall of 1944. New Airfix model with Pavla detail kit of which I used the propeller, exhausts, radiators, air intake and the small scoop on the cowling. Decals are from generic RAF sheets. Last step is to color the nav lights. I hadn't noticed before but there are none!
    1945 Supermarine Spitfire XVIe Heller 350 Squadron leader Raymond Lallemand's plane in 1945. Probably early postwar. 350 and 349 reverted to Belgian control in late 1946. You could do the same plane with Belgian markings. They now fly F-16MLU's. The Heller kit is nice. Underwing radiators were too deep, cut off and sanded down. Canopy is Falcon vacform. It was a reject for my Spit 18 but fit the XVI nicely since the fuselage is a bit on the skinny side.
    1945 Hawker Tempest V Academy This plane (NV994) was flown by leading French ace Pierre Closterman in April 1945 when he was a flight leader with RAF 3 Squadron. The kit comes with decals for NV724 in colorful postwar markings. NV724 never saw action with Closterman. He flew SN722 on his last wartime missions in May. The kit is a couple mm too short in the rear fuselage and has some shape issues with the wings. Other than that it is an easy build.

    Soviet Union

    Year Model Make Photos Comments
    1944 La-5FN KP Sr Lt Vladimir Orekhov, 32nd GIAP, 3rd GIAD, 1st GIAK in 1944
    1944 Yak 3 Hasegawa Marcel Albert, 303rd IAD, Normandie Niemen. 2nd ranking French ace of WW2. 23 air victoires incl. 1 in 1940.

    Germany

    Year Model Make Photos Comments
    1939 Me-109 E1 RPM Dreadful kit. Easier to remove the cannon detail on a Tamiya or ICM wings than to add missing details to this dog. The wings are much too thick, detail is soft and the whole section under the nose is incorrect. Markings are from the kit's sheet and depict a Polish Campaign machine without unit detail. The plane is RLM71 Dark Green with RLM65 Light Blue undersides.
    1940 Me-109 E3 Tamiya Excellent kit. A bit short in the rear fuselage but otherwise perfect. Markings are for a 4./JG77 machine in September 1940 in Norway.
    1941 Me-109 E7 Tamiya JG27 in Lybia Excellent kit. Same as the E3 kit with a different canopy.
    1942 Me-109 F4 Italeri 3 piece vacform canopy was a nightmare to fit.
    1943 Me-109 G6 Academy Gerhard Barkhorn's G6 in 1943. The Polly scale RLM74 gray-green is too green.
    1945 Me-109 G14 Academy Erich's Hartmann's JG53 G14 in Feb. 45.
    1945 Me-109 G10 Revell Jg27 in April 45. Camo is RLM81/82 (Brown/Dk Green).
    1945 FW-190 D9 Tamiya

    Italy

    Year Model Make Photos Comments
    1942 Macchi MC202 Folgore Italeri 3 Stormo 85 Squadriglia in North Africa 1942

    Japan

    Year Model Make Photos Comments
    1941 A6M2 Type 21 "Zero" Hasegawa Zero from the Akagi Fighter Group over Oahu on December 7, 1941. Nice kit from Hasegawa. Filling required for the wing roots, whicvh was unexpected. Push rods were added to the the engine cylinders. Decals from Techmod were very fragile and immune to Microsol. Only way to get them to conform to panel lines was to cut them through and add Future. Color is Tamiya AmeHiro (XF-76), the proper light green shade that is now conventional wisdom for early IJN fighters.
    1944 Ki44 II "Shoki" Hasegawa A Shoki from the 47th Sentai, a B29 Special Attack (it means ramming!) squadron in late 1944 in Japan. Entering service in 1942, the Ki44 was fast and a swift climber, being designed from the start as an interceptor. It wasn't adapted to dogfighting however, unlike most other Japanese fighters. This is one of several older Hasegawa kits picked for $6 each at Rollmodels. Great value for money. I also used a True Details resin interior, which is a waste of time and money as you can't see it. The pilot sits too low because 1/ his shoulders can't clear the fuselage, and 2/ his head bumps up against the canopy. Talk about scale thickness!

    Post 1945

    Year Model Make Photos Comments
    1948-1949 Spitfire FR18 MPM 208 Sq. in Egypt. 4 of these Spits were shot down by Israeli Spit LFIXe's on Jan. 8, 1949. More here.
    1960 French F4U-7 Corsair Italeri Standard French carrier fighter-bomber from 1955 to 1964. Used at Suez and in Algeria. Were replaced by F8 Crusaders.