These are supposed to be easy builds, so I thought it would be a good change of pace after the PM Fokker D.XXI that required so much fitting, filling, sanding, and scratchbuilding. I was right. Simple construction and nice fit and finish leads to a smooth OOB building experience, even if some kit detail is sacrificed. Still, comapred to the PM Fokker, this thing has TONS of detail! This is only model number 2, and I am learning a lot – all comments and criticisms welcome.
I posted this one in the OTS 2016 group build as well. I’ll be trying to model MS318, one of the 30 airframes that France sent to Finland in early 1940. The Finns later got a bunch more from Germany, who captured them in France. I wanted to model one of the Winter War birds that the Finns pressed into service so desperately, painting their own insignia right over the French camoflage. There is a period photo of this plane, “yellow 3,” showing a single star on the rudder, which is the only known victory marking from the Winter War period.
Of course this puts me into a pickle already with regards to the decals, as the planes arrived with French-painted Finnish serial numbers which were a different font than the standard Finn numbers. Looks like I’ll be experimenting with printing my own this time around. There are also only a handful of period photos of these Winter War Ms.406s, as they were repainted into standard Finnish colors over time as they cycled through the Finnish repair depot.
The kit decals look real nice, bright colors and sharp edges; but the Finnish ones look like a major bear to use – the yellow Eastern Front stripe is integrated with the serial numbers and wing roundells! The shark mouth is cool but of dubious historical accuracy, and in any case these are all too late for my subject. I’ll only be using a few, if any: the French serial number, maybe some stencils.
Here’s how the HB “easy assembly” kits are boxed, for the curious.
Detail is pretty good, if a little exaggerated. A little flash on the seams.
Parts out of the box. About half of these are extras.
Cockpit interior is one part. I did not add any detail except for the seat cushions and harness (made up design) out of masking tape. Interior is French grey/blue and a grime wash with prismacolor pencil for highlights. I later found out that there is a PE cockpit set for this scale. I’ll try it on the next one (I’ll do another Ms.406 in Continuation War colors eventually).
Canopy clarity is pretty good. Fit is so-so. I hate masking!
Buttoned up. Some filler required at upper wing root and rear lower fuselage.
Tail assembled and a guide coat on, which revealed some seam lines to be removed from the wing MG bulges and some touch up around the compound seams of the nose.
The undercarriage is very basic and visible, and since it’s a distinctive feature of the Ms406 I decided to do just a little enhancement here. First is cleaning up injection marks and thinning the doors a bit.
Then I added some struts and hoses per a really excellent period photo.
With paint.
Decided to try preshading on this one. Figured if I don’t care for the look, I can just apply a heavier topcoat.
Bottom color applied (2 parts XF23 light sea grey to 1 part white). Preshading almost invisible. That’s the idea, right?
Prepped for top camo colors, before masking. Did I mention that I hate masking?
And colors applied freehand. Used the Tamiya French color mixes from the instruction booklet from their Dewoitine D520.
Here’s where I need some opinions from you experienced modelers. I am not sure I care for the soft airbrush edges here. I am afraid they are too wide and ruin the scale effect. What do you guys think? The real aircraft were each painted with a unique camo pattern (different from, say, the perfect factory RAF camo schemes) and period photos show a lot of variation in shade and edges.
All comments/constructive criticism welcome, and thanks for checking in.
