#40...Heavy Hitters

[Jeff Hunt]

I know it is early as this build does not begun till November 01st but I have a question.
A number of years ago I was given a 1:72 scale Matchbox Halifax kit that can be built to Mk.II configuration.
My father's brother, my uncle Clarence Hunt flew in these with 158 Sqdn. His last mission was flown Sept. 13/14 1942.
On that night he and the rest of the crew took off for Bremen at 23:54 hrs. Their mount was BB205 with squadron markings of NP B. BB205 was built between January and July of 1942 by London Aircraft Production Group and was one of 446 aircraft to take part on the raid. Many aircraft taking part on this raid were drawn from training units.
At approx. 04:30 on Monday September 14th while returning she went down over the Netherlands. All seven crew members were able to jump from the ship and all ended up as prisoners of war. She was one of 26 aircraft that failed to return to England that night.
A number of years ago I made a very brief start on the cockpit section of this model. I am seeking the GB community official Okie Dokie to build this kit in GB#40. Should there be no issues from anyone I will source the required decals to complete this build as part of the group.
Thanks in advance for any and all thought.

Cheers,

Jeff

 

[Airframes]

No problem Jeff, get to it (when the GB starts !).
BTW, those aircraft built by the LAPG had seat covers in a green 'leatherette' material, the same as found, at the time, on London Transport buses and 'tube' trains.

 

[Jeff Hunt]

No problem Jeff, get to it (when the GB starts !).
BTW, those aircraft built by the LAPG had seat covers in a green 'leatherette' material, the same as found, at the time, on London Transport buses and 'tube' trains.

How in little green apples name do you know this stuff? Dark green, lime green, sage green, kelly green, pea green?????????? Of course I will now have to make a few corrections to the paint I applied but that is pretty cool to know all ready. Thanks Terry.

There is some confusion as to how the bomber went down. It is the belief of some that it was shot down by Ludwig Becker. Becker, before he was killed on ops had 46 kills to his credit, all at night. An eyewitness believes the engagement between the two aircraft took some 20 minutes in total time. Becker is credited with the first radar guided intercept that resulted in a kill. ( separate from this engagement)
A more recent investigation by a Dutch chap from the area suggests the aircraft simply was the victim of overheated engines and the crew was ordered to bail out.
Sadly my uncle is 35 years deceased as are all of his siblings so I have no way of confirming the method of the loss. I do remember my parents referring to my Uncle as having been shot down but that is hardly proof.

Cheers,

Jeff

 

[Airframes]

The colour of the 'leatherette' was somewhere between Emerald Green and Bottle Green - from my memory going back to the 1960s, when some of the old trains and buses were still in service !
The information was published in an article in Scale Aircraft Modelling magazine, when the 'Matchbox' Halifax kit was first released in the early 1980's, and confirmed to me by a neighbour (now deceased) who flew Halifaxes.

 

[Wurger]

Also I'm fine with that. No problemo.

 

[Crimea_River]

Love to see you do this one Jeff, go for it. I have a Canadian Wellington earmarked for this GB.

 

[Jeff Hunt]

Love to see you do this one Jeff, go for it. I have a Canadian Wellington earmarked for this GB.

I have the Trumpeter 1:48 Mk. I that I considered as my uncle.trained on some old beat up Mk. Is while moving onto heavies. That will have to wait though.
Cheers,
Jeff

 

[fubar57]

Looking forward to these. I have all the large Monogram kits and a Mistel with a Ta 154/Fw190(shudder). I would like to do the B-24D as an assembly ship

 

[Airframes]

If I can find the time, and the space for display, I might do either a 1/48th scale Lancaster or B-24H diorama ....... need to see what size display base and clear case are required though !

 

[Jeff Hunt]

In the stash I also have a 1:72 Lancaster and B-17D as well as 1:48 B-24J, Lancaster, Betty and the aforementioned Wellington.

Jeff

 

[parsifal]

I have no objection Jeff


I will probably pass on this one myself. no suitable material in the stash, and I really want to get back to my HMAS Sydney for a couple of months

 

[N4521U]

Heck no, no objection here.
I've got a 1/72 B-25, "Yankee Doodle Dandy" for #40.
Only one question. Do you need the red side codes for his A/C?
I have some from a Halifax I repaired for a mate. The sheet contains your letters!!!!!

 

[Jeff Hunt]

View attachment 506716 Heck no, no objection here.
I've got a 1/72 B-25, "Yankee Doodle Dandy" for #40.
Only one question. Do you need the red side codes for his A/C?
I have some from a Halifax I repaired for a mate. The sheet contains your letters!!!!!

My looking into this has revealed that the RAF changed from grey to red codes in July 1942 so I am going to say I.will be using red.

Jeff

 

[Donivanp]

Will love to see Jeff's plane done. It is a wonderful thing when we can have a connection to the history of the kit. As a side note, my question to this build would be are we going to limit to operation WW II aircraft or can we expand to those on the blueprint table as in the the XB-35 or B-36. Both were in the early design/testing phases and were to have been put in place should the US have had to fly from US to Europe on bombing raids. What think ye all?

 

[N4521U]

My looking into this has revealed that the RAF changed from grey to red codes in July 1942 so I am going to say I.will be using red.

Jeff

So, would you like to use the codes from the sheet I posted?
I can send them to you so tou don't have to buy the whole sheet.
I have serials size red as well!!!!!!!

 

[Jeff Hunt]

So, would you like to use the codes from the sheet I posted?
I can send them to you so tou don't have to buy the whole sheet.
I have serials size red as well!!!!!!!

That would be very generous of you. I will send you a PM.
Just another reason why this is such a great site.

Cheers

Jeff

 

[Crimea_River]

...... are we going to limit to operation WW II aircraft or can we expand to those on the blueprint table as in the the XB-35 or B-36. Both were in the early design/testing phases and were to have been put in place should the US have had to fly from US to Europe on bombing raids. What think ye all?

My personal thoughts are that we have such a wide range of possibilities for WW2 bombers so there would be no need to include prototypes or post war stuff - but that's just me.

 

[N4521U]

I think the lines get to blurred if we venture outside WWII....... Eras are pretty well covered.
Perhaps a "proposed/prototype" WWII build would be cool!!!!!

Just sayin.

 

[Crimea_River]

Been done already.

 

[N4521U]

Oh.