SPA Modeler

Last summer I started "seriously" to build Eduards 109 G-2, my intention was to participate in a competition. That was my goal.
Needless to say, it's still half-ready, or actually not even 1/10 ready... poor it...

Kennys wonderful 109 builds gave me a kick to share a few pictures of my "competition" build.. that perhaps one day can still become something, who knows.. These pics are all from last September..

I started the build, interestingly, with the gunsight.. Eduards 109 gunsight, made of transparent plastics, always causes hassle to me. Difficult to glue, difficult to keep it still, difficult to make it straight etc. Therefore I decided to "reinforce" the gunsight with a piece of metal wire

Drilling the hole for the piece of metal wire


Attached


Drilling a hole into the instrument panel


Connection!



After this tiny detail, I jumped on the cockpit

- Kari

OBOY!!!!!! Post more pics!!!!!

Also- I need to mount my gunsights like this from now on.

KennyX wrote:Also- I need to mount my gunsights like this from now on.

It's really a simple measure, but makes the tiny piece so much more robust. With my F-4 I added a metal wire in the antenna, making it "extremely" robust!

Then the actual paintwork of the antenna did not look that good...





- Kari

Is this in context Finland, 1943? I would like your context, too: subject, date, if possible, the why behind the what as well, always curious... always asking questions...

speedgraflex wrote:

Is this in context Finland, 1943? I would like your context, too: subject, date, if possible, the why behind the what as well, always curious... always asking questions...

Bingo !

Indeed, the picture is highly probably from Spring 1943.
MT-213 had actually number of incidents.
Total flight time 158 hrs, final crash while trying to airborne but stalling due to too slow speed on 18th of July 1944, the pilot 2nd LT E. Hällfors was hurt. Removed from the inventory 30th August 1944.
In total MT-213 got 10 victories (source: Suomen Ilmavoimien Historia part 06 / Kalevi Keskinen, Kari Stenman & Klaus Niska)

My competition build was supposed to be a Finnish one, had bought AM decals, but had not decided which of those 4 versions would have been my build. Probably the "red 7", MT-217



It's always a little bit "risky" to build a Finnish airforce airplane (before 1945) due to the swastika. What people do not always know, is that the blue swastika that Finnish airforce used, was introduced already 1918, in other words 15 years before the nazis came into power in Germany and introduced their "version" of the swastika.
It's always as exhausting to need to explain and explain and explain... So easier to just skip it.. But this time I had thought, I will give it a shot..

Below the first airplane of the Finnish airforce, a Thulin D, donated by Sweden, with the blue swastika



- Kari

I see why you post the last image, Kari. That is a great photograph, as well as a beautiful plane. I like the feeling of period in the clothing details! However, the snow is best left somehow “unfelt,” to be looked upon as blankness, perhaps! Really it must be so cold!



Beautiful restoration! I want one... the textures...

Thank you for explaining the swastika in its context. I appreciate this. It is possible now to set aside the contradiction and its non connection as a result. I struggle with Axis subjects due to family history, one day I will build the Red Baron’s a/c and step free of the confines of history!



The End? It’s a Thulin D. I’m not sure if it is this Thulin D, though.

With my track record, “Robust” is exactly what I need!

And the Buddhists have been using the "swastika" for a lot longer than that!

I personally dislike gun sight pieces molded in clear plastic. The reflector glass is too thick and it's hard to get rid of that mold line in the middle. I usually replace with an aftermarket part or snip off the clear pieces and add my own reflector glass pieces using clear acetate. Kind of a pain in 1/48 scale though.

speedgraflex wrote:
The End? It’s a Thulin D. I’m not sure if it is this Thulin D, though.

Yup, it's the end and it's precisely the one that Sweden or actually an Earl, Carl von Rosén donated to Finland.

What you see is the left overs of the Thulin D, with markings F1 (F from probably from the swedish word "Flygplan", which means airplane), not to mix with english word fighter or so.
By the way, still one detail of the blue swastika, it was the Swedish earls favorite symbol, so he actually decided Finnish airforces symbol going forward!

Finland received this plane on March 6th 1918, which also is the birthdate of the Finnish Airforce.

The unlucky Thulin was only in active use for a little bit more than one month. On Tuesday April 16th the same year, the plane was taken on a test flight, as the previous day the engine had not worked well and a therefore the engine had been checked and cleaned up thoroughly. While flying about on a hight of 1000 meter above a Finnish city called Tampere (my childhood city and my parents live there still), the pilot switched off the engine and started a smooth glide.

But what happened then (told buy eye witnesses), while gliding in a not too steep angle, the pilot started to straighten the Thulin back into a horizontal position, the weak wing construction could not handle the stress caused by this maneuver and they broke a part! The Thulin crashed on the ice of lake Näsijärvi, catapulting both flyers about 10 meters away from the wreck. The pilot (a Swedish citizen and volunteer) died instantly, the flight mechanic died 10 minutes later on the ice. These two airmens where also the first casualties in flight military history for Finland.
But the history does not tell, if the pilot even started the engine or not.

Below a memorial stone from 2004 regarding the accident



This year Finnish airforce celebrates of course round birthdays! And are planning to upgrade it's current F/A 18:s with something more modern...

The other picture is a replica of Thulin D, hanging in the roof of the airplane museum in Tikkakoski, Jyväskylä. A museum I have only once visited, 32 years ago!

- Kari