1/72 RE2000 – Winter War / Eastern Front WWII

[parsifal]

Username: Parsifal
First name: Michael
Category: beginner (still)
Scale: 1/72
Manufacturer: italeri
Model Type: RE2000
Aftermarket addons: Possibly Eduard cockpit and harness and possibly canopy masks. i have yet to perfect a way that works for me regarding mottle paint schems

This model represents my first attempt at mottle colour schemes and will be a real challenge for me. The odds are firmly stacked against me on this one, but i really want to give this one a go.

Whilst i am entering this model now, i still have my PBY seaplane to complete, (its nearly finished), and have only just started my second entry for the seaplane build. i have yet to develop and test my theories on painting this scheme, which 1/72, using airbrush is really daunting for a novice.

 

[parsifal]

ive done this as anormal thread, but it should be a sticky i can see. Dont know how to fix that

Amy way, some images of the kit

 

[parsifal]

The history


The design of the Reggiane Re.2000 owed much to the US Seversky P-35 and it certainly looked very similar. It apparently out-performed the American aircraft but was not accepted by Regia Aeronautica (Italian Air Force). However, it was successfully sold to both the Hungarians and the Swedes and an order for 300 was placed by the RAF but this order was canceled when Italy entered the war. The airframe was later adapted to license built German V-12s producing the Re.2001 and Re.2005 which were much more successful.
The Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légierő, Royal Hungarian Air force, was the main operator of the Re.2000. Hungary bought 70 Reggiane Re.2000 Falco Is and then also acquired the licence-production rights for this model to produce a total of 200 aircraft, known as Héja (Falcon) II built between 1940 and 1942. The hungarians used the opportunity when organising indigenous production of the RE2000, to overcome a number of glaring problems they had encountered with the italian produced versions. The engine was changed, landing somewhat strengthened, new canopy fitted and later additional armour for the pilot worked onto the design production numbers vary, but according to most sources Hungarians built 170–203 aircraft. The II series was the same aircraft with a different engine and Hungarian machine guns. The Hungarians used the Re.2000 fighters to serve on the Eastern Front. The first aircraft received from Italy were sent to Debrecen to strengthen the fighter defences, as there was danger that the growing crisis over Transylvania could lead to a conflict with Romania. Conflict was avoided and the Reggianes were used in the war against Soviet Union.

Combat performance against the Soviet Air Force was quite satisfactory, and for the first two years of the war, Italians, the Hungarians and the Rumanians provided just under 50% of the air support on the southern front (Axworthy – 'Third Axis Fourth Ally') . The first Hungarian ace of the war, 2/Lt Imre Pànczél, claimed his first air victories while flying the Re.2000, three of them in one sortie, in 1942. Hungarian fighter pilots flew Fiat CR.32s before, and as the Re.2000's flight characteristics were markedly different (being much more prone to stall and spin), it was not popular with all pilots at first, who were inherently conservative flyers. The Re.2000 was subject to a high accident rate, due to reliability issues and handling difficulties as well as the frenetic pace of operations. When the first squadron deployed to the Eastern front, all 24 Re.2000s had suffered accidents (minor and major) within a month after combat deployment. Landing and takeoff accidents were common on the rudimentary Russian airfields and due to the Re.2000 not having a rugged landing gear compared to that of the CR.32 that also flew in the same theatre, this type suffered a higher proportional accident rate. After a steel plate was added behind the cockpit to protect pilots, the shift in the aircraft's center of gravity led to more frequent accidents. In a much publicized accident, István Horthy (the son of the Hungarian regent Miklós Horthy, and the subject of this build), serving as a fighter pilot with the Hungarian Second Army died on 20 August 1942, flying his Reggiane. He was on his 25th operational sortie with his Re.2000 V-421 from 1/3 Fighter squadron (in this respect the information in the kit notes are incorrect 9it says the air unit is the ½ sqn, but it was the 1/3) . A pilot flying above Horthy asked him to increase height, he pulled up too rapidly, stalled and crashed to his death.

While Hungary wanted an additional 50-100 Re.2000s without engine and armament (that could be locally manufactured), although other countries expressed interest including Finland (100 each), Portugal (50), Spain, Switzerland and Yugoslavia (with license production), no Reggianes were exported to any of them. Hungary continued to produce licence-built Hejas: 98 were completed in 1943 and 72 in 1944 although the variant was regarded as no longer suitable for combat against the latest Soviet fighters. The hungarians claimed their hejas were far more airworthy than the italian product. Chiefly the italians used a wet wing, but the wing mounted tanks reportedly leaked profusely and the guns frequently jammed. The Luftwaffe was reluctant to re-equip the MKHL as German aircraft production was designated for front line use while the danger of a Hungarian-Romanian conflict still existed. Moreover, Adolf Hitler held a bad opinion of Hungarian aviators. In autumn 1942, he had replied to a Hungarian request for fighters:
"They would not use the single-seaters against the enemy but just for pleasure flights!... What the Hungarians have achieved in the aviation field to date is more than paltry. If I am going to give some aircraft, then rather to the Croats, who have proved they have an offensive spirit. To date, we have experienced only fiascos with the Hungarians."


This bad opinion led to disparate opinions of the hungarian `AF, completely unjustified, but a perception that still exists for some

In April 1944, the Hungarians still deployed four Héja IIs in 1./1 Fighter squadron and four Hejas II in 1/2, all of them based in Szolnok for Home defence duties, along with about 40 Bf 109s and Messerschmitt Me 210s. The last sortie, for the licence-built Reggiane Re.2000, occurred on 2 April 1944. That day, 180 bombers from the USAAF 15th Air Force, escorted by 170 fighters, bombed the Danube Aircraft Works and other targets in Budapest. The Hungarian fighter control centre in the Géllert hill, near Budapest, scrambled one wing of Hejas from 1/1 Fighter squadron, along with 12 Bf 109G-4/G-6S and a couple of Messerschmitt Me 210Cas-1s from the Experimental Air Force Institute (RK1). The Hungarians reported 11 aerial victories, of which six were confirmed, while USAAF pilots claimed 27 MKHL aircraft shot down; later records showed only two Honvéd pilots were killed. There were no losses in the hejaqs that participated in that final combat.

 

[fubar57]

Wojtek stickies them for us Michael. Italeri sure doesn't give you a cowards way out do they, mottle or nothing(all my too be built in the future Luftwaffe decal sheets have at least on aircraft without mottle), and V409 looks insane. I wish you well in your endeavor.

Geo

 

[Wurger]

 

[imalko]

Cool choice.

 

[destrozas]

nice

 

[Jeff Hunt]

I have looked and looked at getting this kit so I will keep a close eye on this build to see how it goes.

Cheers,

Jeff

 

[vikingBerserker]

Very cool choice!

 

[Lucky13]

 

[Crimea_River]

Good luck with the camo Michael.

 

[rochie]

Nice choice.

 

[Wayne Little]

Like your choice Michael

 

[N4521U]

Another brave paint job coming up.

 

[parsifal]

Here are some shots of my test wings as i try to perfect the dapple scheme used in this aircraft. in my opinion, the stencils ive made dont apply the red-brown, and green elements at enough density. there is too much gap between these colour elements. i think i can rectify that simply by increasing the hole density on the stencils......still worth having a look at I think...

 

[Wurger]

I like the idea Michael. But if I could suggest.. I would make two separate stenciils both for the green and brown colour. Do you have the camo scheme from the kit instruction?

 

[parsifal]

I have a stencil for the red/brown, and another for the green spots. i enlarged the kit painting diagram to 1;1 scale, and then pasted that onto the stryene card that i used for the stencils. I used the dremel engraving tools to make the shapes. Ive put small spacers to the underside of each stencil so that I get the fade in effect....the stencils are sitting about 1/8 inch above the t4est wing when i apply the colour. im trying to make the paint mix thin to increase the spatter effect. i dont know how successful that is, and i dont know how attractive the pettern is either......

i dont know quite why, but the sprayed on stencilleed images are coming up smaller than the images on the pattern diagram. plus i may have missed a couple of blotches here and there...at least that looks to be the case. I didnt wait for the test cards to dry properly before switching the stencils, and thats led to some damage on the images stencilled onto the fake wing. I can see that there is a good fade

 

[Wurger]

I see. It sounds you are on right path. These smaller spots are because of the thickness of the styrene card you used for the stencils. I would suggest making paper masks instead of the plastic.

 

[parsifal]

thanks wurger, i will try that and see if it improves the result. i was thinking of simply photocopying the paint scheme and then make the holes as required for each colour. simple method but a little time consuming

 

[Wurger]

This is the easiest way for making the camo.