De Havilland Chipmunk T10
Belgian Air Force 1950
Airfix 72
scale
In 1948 the Belgian Air Force
acquired a couple of De Havilland Canada Chipmunk for evaluation
purpose in anticipation of the replacement of the ageing Tiger Moth.
The belgian built Stampe SV4 won the competition and no additional
Chipmunk were bought. Our two examples remained in service until 1955
when they were offered as second hand on the civilian market.
The kit
This is the old Airfix model, the only one on the market to my
knowledge. Probably not the best of breed, but as there is no
alternative in my preferred scale, I decide to start this one. Our
Chippies received different liveries during their operational life
time, one of which is a bright orange, very suitable for training
birds. I thought this kind of model would be of the best effect on my
display shelves.
The cockpit needed some attention as by default it os desperately
empty, barely a floor with a kind of seat, two plastic bits joining at
a right angle.
I started the build scratching the interior trying to match as close as
possible the look of a chipmunk cockpit. Then the whole plane was
sanded smooth, fuselage and wings separately, and fully rescribed.
Various air scoop were perforated as well as the engine air intake was enlarged and sanded to a more correct shape.
The aircraft was then painted white in prevision of the coming orange
layer. The canopy remains in a flat black color as well as the
anti glare panel in front of the cockpit.
After a coat of Klir, decals were applied, then a second coat of Klir
prior to an oil wash to highlight the panel lines and the recribing
work.
here the result, hope you like it.
Fox 
One '2016
