1/72 Airfix de Havilland Chipmunk

by Catherine Vickers

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The Airfix de Havilland Chipmunk is an old, but nice, little kit which I very much enjoy building, helped by the range of colourful paint jobs on offer.  Having previously built one in the original RAF scheme of silver with yellow trainer bands (featured on ARC back in 2004), I decided to do this one in the Canadian scheme also offered in the kit. 

Since I’d built the kit before, it went together without any problems.  I built it pretty much OOB, though I replaced the seats with a pair of Aeroclub white metal ones which were much more convincing in shape & fitted etched harnesses to them.  The only other mod was the undercarriage legs – whilst Airfix offer the frameless Canadian canopy in the kit, they don’t supply the unfaired undercarriage legs of the Canadian aircraft.  I cut the locating lugs from the kit legs & glued them into the holes in the wing, added a spot of filler, sanded the area smooth & then drilled new locating holes for a pair of more appropriate legs from the spares box.  I’m told they’re from an Airfix F-86D Sabre, but they’re the right length & thickness & did the job nicely.  

Once the filling, sanding & priming was complete, I commenced the paint job.  All the main colours were done with Halfords automotive touch-up aerosols – Fiat Golden Yellow, Ford Radiant Red & generic satin black for the anti-glare panel.  Being car paints they dried with a hard glossy finish, so I could apply the kit decals with no need for a gloss coat.  I’ve said before that Airfix decals are much better than people give them credit for, assuming you get a sheet that’s in register, & this was the case again, the decals all going on without a hitch.  They were, however, rather flat & a little on the thick side, so I brushed on a considerable number of coats of Future to gloss them up & help conceal their thickness. This produced a deep glossy finish to the model, of which I was extremely proud.

Once the canopy was de-masked, I brush painted the undercarriage legs & fitted the pre-painted wheels, exhaust & propeller. 

I’m delighted with the finished product, which looks great & contrasts nicely with my RAF version.  

Catherine 

 

Photos and text © by Catherine Vickers