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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:07:09 GMT -5
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:07:43 GMT -5
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:08:10 GMT -5
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:08:33 GMT -5
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:08:59 GMT -5
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:09:36 GMT -5
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:10:05 GMT -5
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:10:33 GMT -5
The Westland Lysander was developed as an Army co-operation aircraft used for artillery spotting and liaison including message and supplies dropping along with a peripheral role in ground attack. It entered service in 1938 and would see action in the Battle of France in 1940 where it was found to be utterly unsuitable and suffered a terrible attrition rate even when escorted by fighters. After the fall of France it was deployed as a coastal patrol aircraft tasked with attacking German shipping and the beach heads in the event of an invasion however it was to find it's forte in two roles, air-sea rescue and special operations in occupied France. Due to it's extremely low stalling speed and ability to to land and take off in very small spaces it was found to be ideal for the dropping off and recovering agents and also recovering downed Allied aircrew which it performed with aplomb throughout the war both in Europe and the Far East. Just under 1800 were built and 14 survive to this day or which 3 are airworthy and 1 is being restored to flying condition. Italeri Testors 1/48 - Westland Lysander - 239 Squadron RAF 1941   |
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:11:20 GMT -5
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:12:54 GMT -5
Arguably the best British aircraft of World War II, the de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a twin engined multi role combat aircraft that unusually had a most of it's frame constructed of wood, leading to the nickname the Wooden Wonder. Originally conceived as an unarmed fast bomber it would serve as a day and night fighter, low and medium altitude tactical bomber, a high altitude night bomber, pathfinder, daytime intruder, photo reconnaissance, maritime strike aircraft and also as a high speed transport operated by BOAC to carry cargo in and out of neutral countries. The initial bomber variant went into service in November 1941 followed closely by the fighter version that was armed with 4 20mm cannon in the belly and four 303 machine guns in the nose plus a gun camera and flame dampers in the nose plus a night fighter version that added radar. No.157 Squadron were the first to take delivery in January 1942 and would begin operational sorties against Luftwaffe raids in mid 1942, then expanding to targeting Luftwaffe airfields and finally as an escort to RAF heavy bombers and the fighter variants would account for 487 Luftwaffe aircraft over the duration of the war, the vast majority of which were night fighters. I've modelled and early NF Mk.II as flown by 157 Squardron, and 466 of the type were built but such is the speed of development that by the end of 1942 it had been superseded by the NF MK.XII with improved radar and 4 more versions would follow during WWII and 2 further post war. Tamiya 1/48 - de Havilland Mosquito NF Mk.II - 157 Squadron RAF - 1942   |
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:13:14 GMT -5
The Sherman Firefly was a British development of the M4 Sherman that mounted the Royal Ordnance QF17 pounder anti tank gun in place of the standard 75mm gun and was intended as a stop gap until the latest British tank designs entered service. The QF17 Pounder was a much more powerful gun capable of penetrating all but the thickest armour and consequently the Sherman and the gun itself required considerable modification to fit including cutting a hole in the back of the turret to mount a box for the radio gear which had to be moved to allow for the recoil, plus the cutting of new hatches as the new gun partially blocked the existing one, a complete re-design of the recoil system, a new gun cradle, a new mantle and removal of the hull gun to allow more space for the much larger ammunition. Production stared in January 1944 and by D-Day, 342 had been delivered allowing for one Firefly in each troop of 4 tanks and overall some 2100 would be built by war's end. They first saw operation in Normandy and would be the only Allied tank able to penetrate the frontal armour of German Panther and Tiger tanks and in one of those fortunate strokes of war, the only Allied units who had them ended up facing over 70% of the German armour which had been placed to defend Caen. The much longer gun and massive muzzle flash which would set the the surrounding foliage on fire plus throw up an huge dust cloud made the Firefly easily identifiable and the Germans would accordingly target them as they knew how dangerous they were. British tank tactics mainly due tot he value and scarcity would be to use standard Shermans to flush out the German tanks and then use the Fireflys to knock them out at long range. The most famous encounter and also the tank I have modelled was between 101st SS Heavy Tank Battalion commanded by Michael Wittmann and the 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry, specifically the 3rd Troop of A Squadron whose 4 tanks met the Tigers head on. Velikye Luki which incidentally had a radio operator, who had never fired his gun in action, standing in as gunner was able to destroy 3 Tigers and a Panzer IV in the 12 minute battle including Wittmann's killing him in the process before it was in turn hit and destroyed but it was enough to stop the German attack. Rye Field Models 1/35 - Sherman Firefly VC - 3 Troop, A Squadron, Northamptonshire Yeomanry - Saint-Aignan-de-Cramesnil, France - 8th August 1944     |
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:13:36 GMT -5
Introduced for the 4th race of the 1973 season, the Lotus 72E was an evolution of the title winning 72D that had been updated with integrated side pods, amended wing mounts and a larger body to meet the new safety requirements for a deformable structures on the side of the cars. John Player Team Lotus would retain the services of it's young star Emmerson Fittipaldi along with new signing from March, Ronnie Peterson. Emmerson would take the win at the cars first outing in Spain but Ronnie would really find his form with the 72E securing 4 wins in the remainder of the season and although the two drivers won 7 Grand Prix between them in 1973 which gave Lotus the championship, they were both beaten in the drivers championship by Jackie Stewart. Ebbro 1/20 - Lotus 72E - 1973 F1Season - R.Peterson - 3rd   |
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:15:00 GMT -5
uch was the speed of development that two years after the introduction of a new kind of weapon, the tank, the British were onto the MK.V version which was the first real leap forward in tank design with a new kind of steering and transmission design which meant the driver could now fully operate both steering and gear changes on his own whereas previously this had required 4 men. Also there was much more space as the differential was now much smaller, a new far more powerful engine had been developed and it had better armament. 400 were built and the Mk.V entered service in July 1918 and would be immediately successful at the battle of Hamel and would fully demonstrate it's capability at the Battle of Amiens by breaking the German lines and more or less rendering trench warfare obsolete. It also the first tank the American armed forces used, who had 40, and they would go into action in September 1918 against the Hindenburg line. They were also supplied to the Russians and would see service on both sides of the civil war and when in 1941 the Germans invaded Russia they captured two from a Russian monument and shipped them back to Germany which were pressed into service in the defence of Berlin in 1945. Both were destroyed outside Berlin Cathedral Emhar 1/35 - Mk.V Composite Tank   |
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:15:21 GMT -5
The B3 Audi 80 was introduced in 1986 on it's own new platform breaking the link with the VW Passat. The following year would see 90 introduced as a more upmarket version of the 80 featuring in line five cylinder engines, very slightly different nose and tail treatments, extra exterior trim, upgraded interior trim and extra equipment. Top of the range initially was the 2.2E which this model represents which had alloy wheels, a sports interior and boot spoiler as standard and it could be specified in both 2 & 4WD. Fujimi 1/24 - Audi 90 2.2E   |
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Post by Scalainjridesagain on Apr 11, 2022 5:15:48 GMT -5
The Avro Lancaster was a 4 engine heavy bomber that was developed from the twin engined Manchester which had proved to be ineffective in RAF service when introduced. Powered by the Rolls Royce Merlin it had a larger wing to allow for 4 engines and proved to be a substantial improvement so that the remaining Manchesters in production were converted to Lancaster on the line such was the similarity. It entered service in 1942 and quickly proved it's worth being able to carry a large payload for long distances, and it could soak up considerable punishment due to it's strength and was more than capable of flying on two engines. With its 10 metre long bomb bay it could accommodate 6400kg of bombs as standard though various modifications throughout service meant that this could be increased to 10000kg and coupled with a range in excess of 2500 miles it became the primary Bomber used by the RAF for operations over Germany. It would remain in production until 1946 and 7377 were built in three different variants which differed only in the power plant used although there were substantial modifications relating to it's defensive armament, bomb payload and radio/radar/countermeasures as the war progressed and it would perform 156,000 sorties over Germany between 1942 & 1945 losing 3249 planes in that time to enemy action (7 men in each plane). The Lancaster was finally retired from service with the RAF in 1954. Only 35 Lancasters completed over 100 sorties each with the highest total being 139 sorties by ED888 from 103 Squadron which is the aircraft i have modelled. Unfortunately this aircraft was scrapped in 1947 however 17 Lancasters remain with 2 still airworthy, one with the RAF, and 2 that can taxi under their own power. Tamiya 1/48 - Avro Lancaster B.111 'Mother Of Them All' DSO DFC - RAF 103 Squadron 1943-47    |
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