Spanish Civil War Whifs

[nighthunter]

Speaking of SCW whiffery, I'm adding a Curtiss Halcón to their rolls

[stevehed]

The more the merrier. I had to look it up but very impressive.

[stevehed]

A little bit of progress which has mainly been getting ready to install the top wing. The side window and the cockpit windscreen both required a touch of Glue and Glaze as neither was a tight fit. Tiny bits of rod have been fixed around the upper gunner positions to support the gun rings and an old Harry Tate gun mount has been shanghaied for the lower gun mount. Other than that I've been painting. As a civilian airliner I thought aluminium dope would be usual and the engine nacelles and rings have been painted black as the company colours. Arrived in Spain in this format to which I will splash some camouflage on top.

[NARSES2]

I like where this is going

[TheChronicOne]

Sweet.   

[stevehed]

Thanks Guys. I've added green to the alu dope as the Republicans were wont to do early in the war. I'm in two minds whether or not to add a layer of sandy brown into the camouflage mix. The inner struts sit on top of the engines and dry runs showed the wing would be misaligned. Easy fix as enlarging the holes on the port nacelle straightened everything. Once the wing is in place the next task will be to sort out an undercarriage design.

[NARSES2]

Coming along nicely 

If it's early in the War then I'd just stick with green as it is now.

[stevehed]

This is the Heller Morane 225 French fighter of the 1930's. I bought it years ago and always intended for it to end up in the SCW. Dizzyfugu's Swedish version was the catalyst and while paint and glue dried on the Condor I started the Morane and repaired an old Dewoitine 510 for use in Spain. I mention the Dewoitine because it was an attempt at political machinations that gave me the idea for a back story. The Spanish Dewoitines were designated 510 TH which appears to be a civilian identification. They were exported via Turkey and Saudi Arabia. It appears eight Morane 225's followed a similar route. They were ordered to create a civilian display team operating on behalf of one of the Saudi petty kingdoms. As such they were stripped of military equipment and despatched to Turkey. Here they met up with a team of Spanish engineers who had arrived to install more powerful engines. The 500hp Gnome Rhone Jupiter radial engines were replaced with the Mistral version quoted at over 600hp. The shipment arrived at Barcelona in mid 1937. The shortage of synchronizing gear saw wing mounted pods as replacements. As only eight aircraft and spares were acquired they were sent north to the Aragon sector. Very few records exist of aerial activity in this area although both sides felt it prudent to keep an eye on the other which would have led to conflict. The lack of any references to the Morane in enemy combat reports is probably due to the similarity to the Dewoitine 370's operated by the Republic.






There are three minor alterations but otherwise the build is OOB. Thin card was cemented over the machine gun slots to act as panels. An Aldis sight was made from plastic rod and the wing pods are laminated card filed to shape with a hole drilled to accept the machine guns. I used the kit Vickers as such adaptions occurred in Republican Spain.  As for the Condor the top wing is on and I'm adding some very basic rigging. Sticking with the green camouflage and have sorted the undercarriage. Not far to go now.

Regards, Steve

[NARSES2]

That's come out very well Steve 

As for the D.510. They seemed to end up everywhere. Every time I thought I had an idea to whif my new KP one I found that country actually had a couple    Still think I've settled on an operator now.

[stevehed]

Thanks Narse2. The Morane was a lovely kit. Looking forward to the Dewoitine. As for El Condor all done. Wings went on without any major problems. Gun rings are brass wire shaped around a dowel and the mgs are discarded spares made to look like Lewis guns or something similar, probably French. The undercarriage was made from the alternative float option strut material. The V's were practically custom made for the job and the support legs were reduced to fit. Wheels are OOB and most of the bombload is internal. Should be capable of 1000lb and have scribed bomb doors along the underbelly and added a couple of British WW1 112lbers under the wings. Spanish used British aircraft during the 20's so reckoned on stores of war surplus still available when SCW started. Served along side the Fokker 3m as night bomber/transports.

[JayBee]

I LOVE the curtis.
That is an aircraft I have wanted to build for years, but now that one is superb 

[Old Wombat]

 

[NARSES2]

I LOVE the curtis.

As do I, you've done a terrific job 

[zenrat]

Excellent.

[Wurgerman]

Cool looking Curtis, I had one but it never got finished. (In the days before whif)

Wurgerman