Rick's Gallery of completed builds for 2014

[Rick]

Going to start this years collection of completions with a couple of wingies. More or less built them at the same time. Worked on one while glue and paint were curing on the other.  I'm going to try to build planes that were flown by a notable pilot and eventually have wide representation of some of their aircraft.

First up is Airfix's P40b Hawk in 1/72 scale.  Kit features Airfix's new molds which really let the detail show through.  Fun easy build with good overall fit.  Really helped restore some faith in Airfix.  Only real complaint was the thickness of the kit decals that prevented them from conforming to the panel lines. 

This P40 was flown by Charles Older, the 3rd highest scoring ace of the "Flying Tigers" with 10.5 kills.  68 is from the 3rd squadron, the "Hell's Angels" flying from Kunming, China.

Photo is from Wikipedia Commons

[deafpanzer]

One of my favorite WWII planes... you did great! And its a great way to kick off 2014.

[Rick]

2nd completion is Hasegawa's Messerschmitt Bf109G-6 in 1/72 scale. The kit is packaged as a combo kit with 4 different sets of markings to represent aircraft flown by Erich Hartmann with JG52 on the eastern front Hartmann is the world's leading ace credited with 352 kills.

This aircraft featured his distinct scallops on the nose of the aircraft. The markings were only present for a few months as the Russians easily identified the aircraft and avoided combat resulting in fewer kills. Once removed, Hartmann's victories again began increasing in frequency. Alignment of the decals was extremely difficult but conformed to the uneven fuselage with a lot of Micro Sol.

[Leon]

Awesome way to start off 2014 Rick.Both are very nicely done.