Finland's Flitzer

[Nick]

I've dug out the modeling table, dusted off the toolbox and dragged the cutting mat out from under the bed. From the bedroom stash I've taken the 1/72 Revell Focke-Wulf "Flitzer" and the old decalsheet from Modeles ABT en France!

It's a simple kit with about 50 parts and the decals seem to work going by the test run (I now have a random fuel tank stating Finlande 1941/44).

I've painted the cockpit and undercarriage. The fuselage is a pain. I cannot find any decent colour pictures or plans of the Finnish Ilmavoimat 1940's aircraft online.
Of course, this is a what-if so I can do pretty much what I like but I do want some reality in the paint scheme.


Backstory: Following the Soviet Unions major withdrawal to behind the Urals after Operation Barbarossa, the German and Finnish governments come to an agreement on weapons and technology sharing. Part of this results in Finland getting 2 squadrons of Focke-Wulfs latest fighter in 1946, the Flitzer.

[Spey_Phantom]

the Flitzer is an excellent choice of aircraft to whiff, it has an endless potential 
ive been planning to build one myself as a belgian post-war fighter 

you really think you can build it and have it ready in less then 12 hours before the deadline of this GB, you my friend have guts 

[Mossie]

Sounds good Nick.  For schemes for the Continuation War, click on the Wings Palette link below.  It gives you a list of nearly thirty types used.  Click on one & it'll give you a list of pages.  Click on those, it'll send you to a list of profiles, click on the thumbnails to view them.
http://wp.scn.ru/en/cat/wars/ww2/47

IPMS Stockholm has a list of Ilmaviomat colours that might be useful too:
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/colorcharts/stuff_eng_colorcharts_finland.htm

Failing that, tap Joe up by PM, I'm sure he can help you as our local Ilmaviomat expert!

[Nick]

It was finished last night (well, 2am ) when the last decal went on. Nearly drove myself mad until I decided that you don't need all the silly little markings you can only see with a magnifying glass!

I've been outside taking photos and now uploading to Photobucket for the last hour. Why does that take so bloody long?!

Anyway here's the in-progress shots. I'll stick the finished shots in the well-named 'Finished Builds' thread.

[Nick]

As Nev seems to have locked the thread down a bit sharpish, here's the finished item!

[Mossie]

Looks very good Nick, & in double quick time too!

[nev]

As Nev seems to have locked the thread down a bit sharpish,

Was stated quite clearly in the rules mate

Group Build runs from 1700, 04 July => 0800, 14 July (all times GMT).  I shall be checking for completed entries on the morning of the 14th July, and not looking too hard at times Wink (for our N America West coast types)

Good job I'm a generous old soul eh?

[NARSES2]

I like that Nick

[cthulhu77]

Slick little jet, dig the markings and camo big time.

[Ed S]

Dang!  I struggle for 10 days getting that TSR.2 built and then I turn around and you turn out something that looks like this in a day.  Very nice.  

Looks good in Finnish markings.

Ed

[Chap]

Great work Nick, the Flitzer has been a long time favorite of mine. Even more amazing is that you finished it in 12 hours!

~Steve

[Brian da Basher]

You've done a tremendous job executing the Finnish camo, Nick! It's amazing you were able to pull this off in such a short amount of time!

Brian da Basher

[Nick]

I should explain that I started this at 10am Saturday morning after sorting out the table and tools. I had to do some DIY in the garden on Sunday which meant a trip to the DIY stores on Saturday evening but that was OK cos the glue and paint was drying. Took me 3 hours to build and set up the bamboo logs for the shade in the hot sun followed by a trip to Tesco for more beer

Toughest part was working out the best paints for the camo scheme .
Nowhere does it say "use Humbrol no.XX or Tamiya Grey spraycan", just a bunch of foreign names and FFS numbers. Colour references online are minimal so it's a case of do your best and hope.
I used Tamiya Light Grey spray for the underside, Tamiya Olive Drab spray for the top side and Tamiya Flat Black was brushed on top of that. Various other Humbrol, Xtracrylix, Revell and Tamiya paints were used for smaller jobs.

Looking at it in the sunlight this morning while taking pictures revealed a few flaws which I might tidy up later. There's a few paint runs to clean up and I might try to do some more decals. What it really should have is a serial number such as FL-024 (FLitzer 024) but that's hard to arrange in the correct style.

The kit is easy to build as it should be with less than 40 parts!
It is awkward getting the rear booms to sit correctly and the fuselage to go together without a gap but adjusting the exhaust puts that right. There are some (typical) poor clues in the instructions such as wrong numbers for some decals and the landing gear setup is hard to work out, you'd think it was written by Escher!

[lancer]

Very nice little flitzer Nick, she surely does look good wearing those colours.