#7 Battle of BritainDiscuss **** DONE: 1/48 Hurricane Mk1 V6555 S/L RR Stanford Tuck BoB GB in the Group Builds forums; Robert Stanford Tuck Battle of Britain Day by Day
Tuck was a regular who joined the air force in 1935. ...
Tuck was a regular who joined the air force in 1935. He came from a Jewish family and had a not particularly brilliant record at school, however, in 1935 having achieved his pilot wings, he joined 65 Squadron and remained on it until 1940 when he joined 92 Squadron.
He experienced his first combat in the Battle of France and his first success over Dunkirk, opening his score with 3 German Me109s shot down all on the same day. He went on to score a number more kills for which he was awarded his first DFC. He participated in the Battle of Britain, with a string of further victories. These were not without incident.
In mid-August, damaged by return fire from a Ju88, Tuck had to bale out. He then suffered another incident when attacking a Dornier 17. He ended up with a dead engine, 10 miles out over the Channel, but succeeded in gliding back to dry land, where he crash landed his aircraft but emerged unscathed. On 11th September he was promoted to Squadron Leader and was made Commanding Officer of 257 Squadron which was flying Hurricanes. During the Battle he was awarded two Bars to his original DFC and finally in January 1941 he was awarded the DSO.
After the Battle, indeed the next year, in 1941 Tuck was shot down in an engagement with a German fighter over the Channel, but was rescued by a coal barge which, having seen him descend by parachute, went out and brought him to dry land. Later that year, he had an unfortunate incident when he chased a German bomber flying towards Wales. Under attack the bomber jettisoned its bombs. One of them fell on an army camp, and by an appalling coincidence killed a soldier who turned out to have been married to his sister. In other words, his brother-in-law. However, in July 1941, he was promoted to Wing Commander at Duxford. It was on a mission leading his wing across the Continent that he was shot down in January 1942 by ground fire. He remained a prisoner of war until February 1945 when he escaped and subsequently fought briefly with the Russians.
Stanford Tuck left the RAF in 1949, with a final number of kills to his name of 27 enemy aircraft. He was one of the pilots who advised on the making of the film The Battle of Britain. He had a reputation as an extremely courageous and successful leader. He subsequently became a friend of the German ace fighter pilot, Adolf Galland. Indeed, Galland had asked Tuck for dinner when he was shot down. He died in 1987.
Thanks Harrison, that's a great bio, and a picture of Tuck himself I hadn't see before.
I made a start this week end and this is the progress so far.
Pic 1 Comparison of resin seat and armour plate with the gray plastic originals. Seat is far better, with finer detail. Plate isn't much different, but it comes in the set.
Pic 2 This piece of resin sits behind the armour. It replaces the integral filler panel molded on the fuselage. It's a much better shape than the incorrect original, but you have to cut the old one off to replace it.
Pic 3 Here's the Hasegawa version in place.
Pic 4 Here's the Hasegawa version removed. I'll need to wait to a later stage to glue the new piece in.
Pic 5 The fuselage halves are molded in two pieces. The break is just in front of the cockpit. I think Hasegawa do this to make multiple versions, so I usually join these first, and then join up both halves when I am ready to. I find getting the alignment 'right' easier if you do it this way.
Pic 6 I painted the interior a dark green to start, but will tone that down with Humbrol 78 'Interior Green' later.
Pic 7 I added wiring and cables with some fine wire I had laying around.
It's a nice looking kit Pete, making my 2 bob Hurri look just what it is, a lump of plastic that has nothing in the cockpit but a seat and control stick. BTW, Love your cockpit detail.
Thanks guys and Vic, I have only started the cockpit detail, more to come in this update.
Pic 1,2,3
Constructed the photo etch instrument panel. This Eduard colour etch look the biz, and it's easy to get a good result. A few more smaller pieces of etch will complete the panel from here.
Pic 4,5
The tops of the rudder pedals are leather straps and you need to cut off the top loop and replace with etch straps. I also cut away the chain pulley from the control column as this gets replaced also.
Pic 6,7
The interior gets a thin coat of Humbrol 78 interior green. Hard to see in the photo, but the edges and creases look a little bit darker as the base coat shows through. I then picked out various equipment in black according to interior photos I have, a light wash followed, and then a dry-brush with interior green lightened 50/50 with white.
Pic 1, 2
The seat was painted and belts were highlighted with brass buckles. Oxygen tube was painted semi-gloss black.
The whole seat and armour plate joined and dry-brushed with a lighted green.
Pic 3
Painted cockpit floor and control column. Added Etch. Made a bit of a mess with the super glue on the right hand side pedal run. Maybe it will pass for collected 'dirt'. Gun button painted brass.
Pic 4
Tyres were painted a special mix of colours that I now forget, but it's a blackish, brown colour. Centers are silver and they both now await a wash to highlight detail and reflect some use.
Pic 5,6,7
Painted the prop. Start with white, then yellow for the tips, and then with semi gloss black. Will probably reduce the shine a little with future later on.
Pic 8,9,10
Got the cockpit together, and this is how it's looking now.
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