This page displays the current status of my various WW2FAT projects.

The most recent update is shown directly below - scroll down for earlier updates.
Older material has been incorporated in the relevant Theatre project pages
which are accessible here. A complete index of the various different
aircraft types I have currently modelled is available here.

Announcement

I'm back again! Following a catastrophic computer meltdown last year, I invested in a brand new custom-built pc. Shortly after, some unknown individual who felt their need was greater than mine promptly relieved me of it. Not only that but for good measure they also took all my back-up drives which contained many years of accumulated research material and all my modelling files. My initial reaction was to give it all up as a bad job and find another hobby. However, I persevered and eventually found a  data recovery specialist that didn't charge the earth and who was able to salvage most of the contents of the hard drive from my old dead computer. So I'm now up and running again. I'll start off by showing what I had originally intended to publish back last year. BTW, anyone out there who has wondered why I failed to remain in contact with them during the past year should understand that I also irretrievably lost all of my e-mail files and contact list along with my computer equipment.

alan.hutchins@hotmail.com    
 30th June 2013         

                       1st September 2013

This Fiat BR.20 pretty much completes my repertoire of Air Battle for Malta aircraft ►

MORE TO FOLLOW SOON...

          

                       11th August 2013

No Malta project could ever be complete without including the Gloster Gladiator ►

I will be offline for a couple of weeks whilst away on holiday.

                       4th August 2013

Bristol Blenheim IV, once again another part of my Air Battle for Malta project ►

                       28th July 2013

Vickers Wellington, yet another part of my Air Battle for Malta and in readiness for a forthcoming Bomber Command project ►

                       21st July 2013

Douglas Boston, another part of my Air Battle for Malta project ►

                       14th July 2013

Fiat CR.42 'Falco', also as part of my Air Battle for Malta project ►

                       30th June 2013

Macchi M.C.200 'Saetta', as part of my Air Battle for Malta project. It would also work as part of a Russian Front project as the Regia Aeronautica deployed a number of squadrons of Saettas there with the Axis air forces, mainly in the ground attack role ►

                       17th May 2012

As part of my P-51D project, and in the pursuit of continuous improvement, I have devoted some time to further upgrading my pilot figure ►

For the benefit of those who like facts and figures, my USAAF pilot is wearing a gabardine Type L-1 Flying Suit, A-2 leather  Flight Jacket, A-6 Flight Boots, and A-11 flight helmet with B-8 goggles and  A-14 oxygen mask. His life vest is an RAF-issue 1941 pattern which was much prized by US pilots. The parachute is an S-2 seat type ►
 

The pilot figure is fully articulated and will soon replace the existing version in my bail-out model ►

                       30th April 2012

Continuing on with the progress of my new P-51D-10-NA, I have now completed the cockpit construction  ►

A couple of views from the cockpit. Here the ailerons are being operated and the flaps are down ►
 

The control stick moves in the correct way and operates the control surfaces in the appropriate manner ►

                       16th April 2012

This week I want to reveal my first new scratch-built model in more than a year. It's a North American P-51D-10-NA  ►

My model is finished with the colours and markings of an aircraft flown by Captain Ted Lines of the 335th Fighter Squadron, part of the 4th Fighter Group based at Debden, Essex, from April until October 1944 ►


 

Captain Lines adopted the Navaho Indian's Thunderbird god emblem as his personal insignia. He scored 10 kills in just five months and his tally on the port fuselage is in the form of swastika arrowheads hanging from the arrow device ►

                       6th April 2012

Wrapping up my revisit to the P-47D family, I have created one more new skin, that of an earlier model P-47D-25 of the 62nd Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group based at Boxted, Essex, in July 1944.  Boxted was the base for the two most successful USAAF fighter groups in WW2 air-to-air combat, the 56th and the 354th ►

The P-47D-25 model is recognisable from its lack of tail-fin extension along the top of the upper rear fuselage ►




This aircraft, christened "Miss Fire/ Rozzie Geth II", was flown by Capt. Frederick Christensen of the 62nd Fighter Sqn. He was eventually credited with a total of 22 kills, including six Ju-52s on the 7th July 1944. Interestingly this aircraft carried two different styles of kill marks on either side of the fuselage ►

Another peculiarity of this aircraft was its over-sized national insignia painted on both wing under-surfaces  ►




 

                       21st March 2012

This week sees my final update of the various external payloads for the P-47D. It's the turn of the AN-M65 1000lb General Purpose Bomb ►

 

The AN-M65 packed 530lbs of high explosive and was designed to be used against reinforced concrete bridges, steel railway bridges and medium cruisers. These bombs are shown fitted with AN-M102A2 tail fuzes ►

The minimum safe bombing altitude for the AN-M65 was considered to be 3,000 ft ►

                       9th March 2012

My subject this week is the 108 US gallon paper drop tank. These were made in the UK for the US Eighth Air Force by  Bowater Lloyd of Sittingbourne, Kent, and Spicer of Sawston, near Duxford, Cambridgeshire ►

 

These impregnated paper drop tanks were initially only fitted to P-47 aircraft in the 8th Air Force. After May 1944, when the available supply of 75 US gallon steel tanks in England became seriously depleted, the paper tanks universally equipped all P-47 and P-51 fighters throughout the ETO ►

The impregnated paper tanks were constructed in three moulded sections from glued and  laminated kraft paper, making a very rigid construction. The interior of the tank was coated with gelatine to form a petrol-proof barrier, and the exterior was cellulose-doped to prevent any moisture from delaminating the paper ►

The paper drop tanks had the advantage of being cheap to manufacture from plentiful non-critical materials, and could not be salvaged for scrap or reused by the enemy as they self-destructed on impact with the ground ►

               23rd February 2012

This week I have turned my attention to improving the standard 75 US gallon steel drop tank ►


 

The US-made 75 gallon (62 Imperial gallon) steel drop tank was principally fitted to the P-47 and the P-51 during WW2 ►

These drop tanks were in  use in the ETO until May 1944 when the supply in England became almost exhausted and they were generally replaced by the British-made 108 US gallon (90 imperial gallon) impregnated paper drop tanks ►




          

               14th February 2012

This update features my reworked version of the AN-M64 500lb General Purpose bomb ►

 

The AN-M64 contained 262lbs of high explosive and was designed for use against steel railroad bridges, subways, concrete docks and light cruisers. These bombs are shown fitted with AN-M101A2 tail fuzes ►

The minimum safe bombing altitude for the AN-M64 was considered to be 2,500 ft ►

               2nd February 2012

I've kicked off this time with, not another new model, but a makeover of a previous project, my P47D-27. When I first created this model three years ago I intentionally left it without formation markings as I hadn't then decided to which USAAF unit it should be assigned. As my interest in the P47D had been recently rekindled, I  researched the type again and decided that the Italian Campaign would make for an interesting project. This aircraft bears the markings of the 346th Fighter Squadron, 350th Fighter Group based at Pisa during the early months of 1945. The formation code, 6C7, identifies this aircraft as that of Lt. Charles Eddy who called the plane 'Chickenbones' after his pet-name for his very slim wife, Carolyn ►

In addition to the new paint job, I have made several improvements to my original model, including the Curtiss Electric 'paddle-blade' propeller, and hi-res main landing gear wheels and inner doors ►

Another upgrade has been the addition of my hi-res US pilot figure that I developed for my P-39 and P-40 models. The two kill marks visible below the cockpit relate to Lt.Eddy downing an Italian-piloted Bf 109G-10 of 1° Gruppo Caccia, Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana, on March 14, 1945, and another of 2° Gruppo Caccia on April 2, 1945 ►

I have also added the underwing external stores pylons to this model. Note the many bombing mission stencils on the starboard fuselage below the cockpit. Bombing and strafing missions were the main role in which 346th Fighter Sqn was employed as the Allies pursued the Axis ground forces up the Italian peninsula ►

Yet another improvement is the higher-res gunsight reflector glass ►