This is Tamiya's 1/48 B339 kit that highlights the late model Buffaloes sold to foreign nations who, at the outbreak of war in the late 30s/early 40s, needed fighters in a hurry, especially in the South Pacific. There were four marking options available: two Brittish examples, a Dutch East-Indies aircraft, and a U.S. Navy airframe in overall grey scheme. Because of the less-than-usual nature of the Dutch markings, I chose to model the aircraft flown by Lt. August Diebel. This was perhaps the most successful B339 airframe, Lt. Diebel having scored four kills in it. The Finns were more successful with the B139 Buffalo, which was much lighter and faced inferior aircraft than those fighting the Japanese in the South Pacific.
For the bare-metal finish of the undersides, a used Tamiya Silver from a spray can sprayed into a cup and then transferred into my airbrush cup over a gloss-black primer coat. Once dried, this made the base over which I could mask the other colors. To simulate different panels, I used various mixtures of Metal Master Aluminum and Stainless Steel Metalizers as well as MM Aluminum to simulate a silver laquer painted onto the fabric ailerons and elevators. The upper surfaces were MM Military Brown and MM Khaki Green. I have no idea whether these were accurate to the scheme that the Dutch used because in my research I haven't seen a single source that agreed with one another. Nevertheless, I like the way this scheme turned out which is most important.
The Tamiya Buffalo kit is a little dated, doesn't have enough detail in the landing gear bays, and the instrument panel looks a bit hokey, but overall I really like the kit. Straight from the box, this kit looks good to me and was fun to build. I'm not looking for it to win any awards anyway.
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