1:72 Brewster ‘Buffalo’ Mk. II; Royal Navy FAA 804 Sq.; Skaebrae, 1941

[Dizzyfugu]

It's early, yes, but I commit myself with a whiffy FAA Brewster Buffalo (Hobby Boss kit). We'll see how far it proceeds. 

[Dizzyfugu]

Things started moving. 

[Rheged]

An interesting choice of subject.  Skeabrae, originally  HMS Tern, later became an RAF airfield.  Identified now  as a site  for housing, it's only a stone's throw from the Orkney Brewery.............whose products I can wholeheartedly endorse.


This site https://www.abct.org.uk/airfields/skeabrae/  may be of interest to fellow whiffers

[Dizzyfugu]

First content to share. The build is based on a story constructed around the Hobby Boss F2A kit, which is a mix of an early F2A-1 (of which only a few were ever produced for the USN) with the cuffed propeller from the later F2A-2 – a combination that did not exist in real life. So, I spun the story of a F2A-1 production batch that was handed over to allies, in this case to the British Royal Navy, because I wanted to build the Buffalo in a classic FAA scheme.

The kit was built mostly OOB, even though with a few, rather cosmetic changes. These include a life raft and details behind the pilot seat, together with a headrest, and I added a dashboard.


1:72 Brewster 'Buffalo' Mk. II; 'A/JS853 (City of Winnipeg)' of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm 804 Naval Air Squadron, flight leader Lieutenant Commander (A) George Forsythe; RNAS Skaebrae (Orkney Islands), early 1941 (What-if/Hobby Boss kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The propeller received a metal axis and a matching styrene tube adapter was added inside of the front fuselage.


1:72 Brewster 'Buffalo' Mk. II; 'A/JS853 (City of Winnipeg)' of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm 804 Naval Air Squadron, flight leader Lieutenant Commander (A) George Forsythe; RNAS Skaebrae (Orkney Islands), early 1941 (What-if/Hobby Boss kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[Dizzyfugu]

Was a long evening yesterday, but I think that most of the building phase can be finished today. Timing looks good.   I am just not certain how well it will proceed, because there's a new heatwave building up and I am not certain if I find enough mojo to keep things moving. But it's still early and just day #2.

[Dizzyfugu]

Pressing on, using the Sunday as good as possible to get the hardware done. The relatively thin canopy was cut into three sections for open display, and the opening in the windscreen for the simple American "pipe sight" was closed with Clearfix and a reflector sight added to the dashboard, to bring the aircraft up to British standards.


1:72 Brewster 'Buffalo' Mk. II; 'A/JS853 (City of Winnipeg)' of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm 804 Naval Air Squadron, flight leader Lieutenant Commander (A) George Forsythe; RNAS Skaebrae (Orkney Islands), early 1941 (What-if/Hobby Boss kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


The tall original antenna mast on the cowling was removed and replaced with a stub mast on the left wing – a real-life modification that was made to some USN machines that were used as trainers. From these aircraft I also imported the idea of an external gun camera, which was scratched from styrene profile material and a superstructure piece from a 1:700 ship model.
Under the wings I added conformal slipper tanks, for a different look – these are actually camera pods from a post-war Spitfire, from a Special Hobby kit.


1:72 Brewster 'Buffalo' Mk. II; 'A/JS853 (City of Winnipeg)' of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm 804 Naval Air Squadron, flight leader Lieutenant Commander (A) George Forsythe; RNAS Skaebrae (Orkney Islands), early 1941 (What-if/Hobby Boss kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Brewster 'Buffalo' Mk. II; 'A/JS853 (City of Winnipeg)' of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm 804 Naval Air Squadron, flight leader Lieutenant Commander (A) George Forsythe; RNAS Skaebrae (Orkney Islands), early 1941 (What-if/Hobby Boss kit) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr