1/72 Danish Hatchet fighter

[Brian da Basher]

For those of you who didn't make it over to see the great work for the 1 Week GB , here's my entry, built as a tribute to one of our favorite Danish whiffers, Hatchet. This gent was so wonderfully patient during a recent trade that I thought he deserved something more than the 43 pilot figures he got for the P-51 kit I used on this project.

Here's the first of a bunch of pics.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

Here's the backstory:

With war clouds gathering like a thunderstorm over a vast, remote Canadian lake, the Danes sought to modernize their air arm in early 1937. Unfortunately a trade war with the Netherlands over Gouda Cheese and Lemon Danishes made the desired Fokker D.XXI fighter unavailable. The Danes then attempted to import Curtiss Hawk 75s from the U.S. but unfortunately, the 43 pilots sent over to help train the Danes were held up indefinately by bureaucratic red tape and never did clear Danish Immigration. A way to bring the Danish Air Arm up to the standards of the day had to be found and found fast. Fortunately for Copenhagen, the native firm of Berg Aviation out of Horsens came up with a design that incorporated the best of the Fokker D.XXI and the Curtiss Hawk 75 and the Hatchet was born. This aircraft had the incredibly heavy armament of six .303 guns in the wings and two .50 cowl guns. The advanced laminar flow wing and cool-beyond-words spats were the envy of every air force on the continent. The Danes managed to produce a staggering 350 Hatchets by the eve of W.W. II and were able to hold off the German onslaught long enough so that the Danish peninsula was used to launch the much lauded Third Front which brought down the Nazi regime in late 1944 and forced Adolph Hitler to abdicate. The Little Corporal spent the remaining 13 months of his life in exile in the Duchy of Grand Fenwick and the Hatchet is credited by historians as being one of the most important fighter aircraft of the war, alongside the Spitfire and P-51 Mustang.

Oh and another pic...

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

As I mentioned before, the base kit for this build was a 1/72 P-51 Mustang. I chopped off the useless Packard/Merlin engine and sliced away the superfluous belly scoop. I extended the fin by means of a cleverly cut plastic bread bag clip and liberal amounts of putty. The canopy is from my Su-5 Vac kit, the prop, engine, cowling and exhaust stubs were from my Airfix Devastator and the spats (I love spats! ) came from a CR-42 Falco. The prop spinner is from some long-forgotten 1/144 kit and I scratched the cowl guns from leftover sprue gates.

Another pic...

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

The undersides (which you won't see here due to the Frankenstein manner in which I filled in the gaping hole) were painted in Testor's Light Gull Gray and the uppers were painted in Polly Scale Light Green and Testor's Olive Drab. The decals came from my vast collection. I really like the little hatchet decal and I couldn't find a more fitting project to use it on.

Next to last pic.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

Here's the last pic which shows off those mean looking cowl guns and the spats.

I love spats!

Brian da Basher

[K5054NZ]

Holy mother of God, Brian, I am absolutely gobsmacked!


AMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZING!





I'm still gonna lynch you for carving up a 'stang, but still, WOW! FANTASTIC! AMAZING! I WANT ONE! WOOHOO! WOWZA! COOLIO!


 B)      B)    

[The Rat]

Another stunner Brian, and spats too!  

I extended the fin by means of a cleverly cut plastic bread bag clip ...

Ain't those things incredible?! I love working with them, and they're a lot cheaper than sheet styrene.

[Hatchet]

Aww, thanks mate

Looks very good Brian. My first thought was "I didn't send him a D.XXI "

The spats look good mate


Martin

[B777LR]

Wow, how could i miss this one! Cool!

[cthulhu77]

"Danish Spats"...sounds like a porn flick.  Hey, that is one sexy beast of a plane, after all !!!

[sequoiaranger]

Wasn't this plane the first to employ "laminar flow spats"? 

I missed this project back in August when I went to Europe (and the Hendon air museum!). Glad someone brought it back up. I'm going to Denmark this summer---I'll be looking for it when I get there!

[Daryl J.]

That came from a Mustang!?!  LoL.  That's great.


Daryl J., who somehow missed this one too.

[kitbasher]

Thank heavens, Brian!  I thought you'd lost the use of your hands this year, you've been so quiet (by your prolific standards). 

[Brian da Basher]

Thank heavens, Brian!  I thought you'd lost the use of your hands this year, you've been so quiet (by your prolific standards). 

Sorry I've been a bit absent lately. Work's been absolutely nuts. This one's actually from 2006 but I'm glad you like it. I've got some flying boat projects in the works which will hopefully be done in another month or so.

Brian da Basher