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Hawker Demon, Malta Camouflage


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This was begun in early June, but is still well under wire for entry here....

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During the Abyssinian Crisis in 1935, a force of Hawker Demon two-seat fighters (later designated 74 Squadron) was sent to defend Malta. These machines were painted in a camouflage finish, as shown below:

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There are a lot of misconceptions about this finish in circulation, but there are documents relating to it that describe it accurately and adequately. I am very grateful to Mr. Edgar Brooks for sharing his researches on this matter with me.

Not much of the kit is likely to survive into the finished model. The wings of the kit manage to be both one of the worst instances of 'starved cow' ribs I have ever seen, and too thin by far. If the ribs were sanded flat, there would be practically nothing left of the wing. Accordingly I am scratch-building new wings, from 3mm sheet for the upper wings, and 2mm sheet for the lower wings.

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Another area where the old kits badly needs improvement is the interface between the crew positions, and the gun ring. There is a crisp, thin partition, pierced by some cut-outs, behind the pilot's seat, and the gun ring is set too far back on the kit piece; it must be moved forward a bit.

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Glad to see your models in this GB, your builds are very enjoyable and inspirings in these kind of subjects. Specially improving some inaccuracies in kits like this Airfix Demon.

Bye for now!

Thank you very much, Sir!

I have a special fondness for the Hawker Hart and its derivatives. While there are some usable limited ruin kits of these out now in 1/72, no kit that does not really need quite a bit of work to do up right is available yet.

It is a damned shame what they did to the wings on this, though. Airfix first released a Hawker Hart kit, back in the late fifties; they discontinued it, then revived it in the seventies altered into a Demon, and in doing so, did horrible things to the mould for the wings (as well as making a sloppy job at the cockpit). Airfix Hart kits are collector's items; I have not seen one ever selling for less than about $50 (US).

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Another great subject !

It seems this camouflage is preceding by some years the Munich Crisis.

Patrick

Indeed, Sir, this is the earliest field use of camouflage by the R.A.F. in the inter-war period. It was peculiar to Malta; Demons and Bulldogs sent to Egypt and Sudan in this period remained in 'silver wings' finish. Malta being so close to Sicily, major aerial attack had to be expected if hostilities broke out, and so concealment, particularly on the ground, would have been an important consideration. The RAF had begun considering camouflage schemes during 1934, with patterns circulated in illustration form in January, 1935.

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During the Abyssinian Crisis in 1935, a force of Hawker Demon two-seat fighters (later designated 74 Squadron) was sent to defend Malta. These machines were painted in a camouflage finish, as shown below:

maltademon.jpg

There are a lot of misconceptions about this finish in circulation, but there are documents relating to it that describe it accurately and adequately. I am very grateful to Mr. Edgar Brooks for sharing his researches on this matter with me.

Interesting. There appears to be no common pattern to the camouflage or roundel (1 roundel only???) on the wing top.

Excellent subject choice!

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  • 4 weeks later...

A good deal of progress on this, Gentlemen, amid the work on other builds. Interior has been constructed, and the fuselage closed.

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The fuselage was greatly thinned out from the inside.

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Here is the basic side-wall detail...

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Here is the sidewall more fully developed, and the pilot's perch and basic instrument panel.

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Here is magnified detail of those last elements. The instruments are Mike Grant decals.

Edited by Old Man
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Here are some shots of the closed fuselage, with views into the cockpits from several angles. I expect to be re-doing the panel lines, and there are some protrubances that need to be restored on the nose.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

More progress on this one, Gentlemen.

Here a look at the nose, with all the various bits and bumps added, back or de novo....

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The tear-drop fairings are made by cutting rectangular bits of sheet to the right size, tacking these onto a piece of heavy sheet with a little CA gel, and then shaping them with knife edge and emery sticks. Once shape is right, they are popped off the heavy sheet by slipping a knife's edge in at the seam. The little louvrings are .25mm x .5mm strip, heavily sanded down and trimmed. Fasteners are pin-pricks.

Here are the scratch-built radiator and oil-cooler....

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Radiator is basically just a cube with an open face, assembled from .30" sheet. Oil-cooler is assembled from lengths of 1.5mm x .25mm strip, sanded thinner, and a couple of lengths of .6mm rod. Once rods had been set to the bottom element, a strip with properly aligned holes was made, and this used as a guide for putting holes in subsequent strips. There are five elements, though probably there should be seven,but as things are a hair over-scale in thickness, really, the five are about the same height as a seven element cooler would be. Looked at square from the side,you can see daylight between the elements.

Here are the lower wings, set in rough position against the fuselage....

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Here are pictures of the tail surfaces, and the rear of the fuselage....

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There are some tricky elements to the tail assembly of Hawker biplanes in this period. The horizontal surface had variable incidence, pivoting on its front spar, so when it is set in neutral alignment, there should be a wedge of daylight underneath, between it and the fuselage, and above it, between it and the fin. The vertical fin was offset a bit, with the leading edge a bit to starboard, as torque compensation. No kit I have yet seen gets all of this right, at least in 1/72. The Airfix kit simply lays the horizontal stabilizer across the rear, but the turtle-back has to extend a bit, covering the very front of the horizontal tail-plane structure.My piece is notched a bit on its under-surface, as well. Both tail surfaces are in blank form as yet, without any ribbing or other detail put in.

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Lower wings are now attached, Gentlemen, and the thing given a preliminary shot of primer; it is beginning to look like an aeroplane....

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I must say I am reasonably p;leased with how the surface detail came out --- you never really know till it is under some paint. Looking close there are a couple of small bits I will be tending to, but that is all.

The wings are simply butt-jointed, it was a case of tacking on with a little CA gel to get the alignment and dihedral right, then tightening things up with bits of shim and more CA gel.

Here is a look, somewhat magnified, into the cockpits....

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Next steps will be attaching the tail surfaces, radiator and oil cooler, dealing with the undercarriage structure, and detailing the upper wing: in short, getting the decks cleared to begin painting....

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Further work on this, Gentlemen, was one of the means I employed in 'putting off doing the ####### windscreen' on the other two builds....

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As you can see,the radiator has been detailed and attached, and the oil cooler fitted, while undercarriage and struts and most of the tail is in place. I have made a new oil cooler, with seven elements,using .005" strips, but only because I managed to mis-place the first one I had made. The rear legs of the kit undercarriage struts have to be trimmed about a millimeter and a half, and some work done where the axle is fitted. The axle is scratch-built. Kit interplane struts are employed, and cabanes are scratch-built: lengths of .5mm x 1mm strip, scraped to a proper section.

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Note the fin is off-set slightly to starboard,in a manner that would turn the machine to the left; this was to offset torque of the big Kestrel motor. The picture below shows some of the further detailing on the tail....

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The rod showing through the openings is the jack-piece which moved the rear spar of the horizontal stabilizer up and down, and the fuselage opening is where rear bracing strut attaches, while the fin opening is where its upper bracing wire attaches, so that these moved in tandem with the adjustment of the tail-plane incidence.

Here are a couple of pictures of the upper wing at present....

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The fuel tanks and aileron workings are indicated with 'foil tape' got at a local hard-ware: it is about twice as thick as kitchen foil, but still thinner than .005" sheet. I do not mind admitting the actuators for the Handley-Page slots on the undersurface were a true pain.

This is pretty much ready to paint now, which will be the fun part of the project....

Edited by Old Man
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After further cleaning up and re-priming, painting is underway, Gentlemen! The pattern is modeled on the second from the bottom in the picture of 74 Sqdn machines in flight above. Colors are Light Green, Dark Green, Light Earth and Dark Earth. By comparing a photograph with color fields identified with a plain black and white version of the same picture, it seems that the lightest shade of grey is light green, the middle shade light earth, and the darkest shade dark green or dark earth; the annotated copy,plus comment in documents, suggests very little dark earth was used, and that mostly on fuselages. Under-surfaces were left aluminum dope. Metal panels on cowling were painted grey; this was intended as a primer, but the camouflage dopes ate the paint, and the annotated photograph indicates grey was then employed as final finish on metal surfaces. Tones on upper-surfaces are not final, this is still a preliminary stage of painting the thing.

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Having the cabanes on was too delicate, so I have removed them, and will attach them again when the upper wing is on the interplanes.

Here are a few more pictures showing the nose details, the profile, and a close-up of the tail workings....

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Edited by Old Man
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  • 3 weeks later...

A good deal of further progress on this, Gentlemen. I held the 'putting off doing the ####### windscreen' stage to a minimum, and have the upper wing on, as well as such items as tail-plane struts and gunsights and exhaust pipes. Color tones have been finalized (the dark green drabbed down, the light green greyed a bit, and the light and dark earths yellowed out somewhat),and the roundel decal applied.

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Cabane bracing wires and aileron control wires have been 'pre-positioned' (attached at one end to the fuselage and the upper wing,rspectively). These wires will be finished before the cabane struts go on. That, and the rest of the rigging,will be the next steps,but I will not be at the bench till after Thanksgiving. Still, this is getting pretty close to finished.

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Further progress here, Gentlemen. Cabanes have been added, and rigging, wheels and such, are done. The wheels are from the spares box, and originated with a Smer Dewoitine 510; they match,with a little bit of work, the wheels on the tinted photograph of a Demon at Malta than the kit's wheels do.

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There was a bit of a set-back, but it has been over-come, and there is no point in raking over the sordid details. I will say that I should have used five thou card for the aileron works on the underside of the upper wing rather than the foil tape, which does not provide a secure anchor for struts, especially if CA accelerator is employed.....

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Rigging on the tail employed .004" tempered brass wire, which is working its way into the rotation pretty solidly for small-length rigging.

Completion is pretty near now on this; propeller and gunner's Lewis, and some touchings-up, is about all that remains.

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