Through the summer, and approaching the ESNG show, live has been rather busy, and the railway modelling mojo has been low.  So to get things going again I decided to fish out a couple of my plastic kits from my stash – these being 1/48 aircraft.  Here are the end results….

First, the De Havilland Hornet, one of the fastest piston engined fighter aircraft, that was just too late for WWII service, but saw active service in Malaya.  And it’s one of the prettiest aircraft ever.  Wikipedia says….

The de Havilland DH.103 Hornet was a twin engined fighter aircraft that further exploited the wooden construction techniques  pioneered by the de Havilland Mosquito. Development of the Hornet had started during the Second World War as a private venture. The aircraft was to conduct long range fighter operations in the Pacific Theatre against the Empire of Japan but the war ended before the Hornet reached operational squadron status.

The Hornet entered service with RAF Fighter Command where it equipped several day fighter units and was commonly stationed in the British mainland. It saw combat in the Far East, being used as a strike fighter as part of the British military action taken during the Malayan Emergency. A naval carrier-capable version, the Sea Hornet, had been envisaged early on and was procured by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy.

My model is in the lovely photo-reconnaissance colours.  It shouldn’t really have red spinners, and the ‘N’ code is wrong (but what I had available.)  But it looks the part.  It’s a Trumpeter kit, and goes together perfectly.  Experts will say that the canopy is not quite right, but it looks like a Hornet to me.

Secondly, the Mitsubishi Ki-46 ‘Dinah’.  Another favourite of mine, this version with the glasshouse nose was again the unarmed reconnaissance version.  The RAF Museum has one, and says…

One of the most elegant aircraft of World War Two, the ‘Dinah’ was so successful that Germany tried (in vain) to acquire manufacturing rights from Japan. Although fighter and ground attack versions were developed, it was in the high-altitude photographic reconnaissance role that the Ki46 excelled. Given allied codename ‘Dinah’, this aircraft combined high speed with long range and was able to cover the entire Pacific theatre of operations with little opposition.

Having first flown in November 1939, performance trials showed the prototype Ki46-I’s top speed to be 64kph (40mph) lower than the requirement, although at 540kph (336mph) it was still faster than the latest Japanese fighters! Ki46s were first used operationally over China, their speed enabling them to avoid interception by the few fighters available to the Chinese.

This is an old Tamiya kit, but despite its age is well detailed and fits together well.

I’ve actually learnt some useful modelling techniques from these builds.  Externally they are spray painted with Tamiya rattle cans.  I bought pre-cut masks for the glazing, that gave a perfect finish.  The Dinah also used a lot of masking tape to separate the upper and lower colours and paint the white and yellow bands rather than use decals.

I improved my seam filling skills, and found how good black superglue is for gap filling.

I also had an accident with one undercarriage leg.  I drilled small holes in the two halves of the leg, used a length of wire to stiffen the join, and superglued the lot together – strong and not noticeable.

Neither model is perfect, but both have been relaxing and fun to build.  Now I’d better get back to railways before Stuttgart looms on the horizon.