Brewster Buffalo

by Bill Arnold

Brewster Buffalo

Hasegawa's 1/72 scale Brewster Buffalo is available online from Squadron.com

This is the Hasegawa Brewster Buffalo in 1/72 scale. It was a gift from a friend in California. Thanks Dan!

I have always been intrigued by this aircraft - a stubby little cigar-shaped plane that always seems to be depicted in Finnish markings. The Hasegawa kit supplies decals for two different Naval versions. I wanted something totally different.

I opted for the U.S. Army Airforce version. I have always loved the brown and green camouflage of this early war scheme. My reference shows that this plane was used in Australia during mid 1942. The serial number in the pictures was 3119, however I didn't have enough number ones on my aftermarket sheet, so I made it the next consecutive serial number. Hey, its a possibility!

I intended to build this kit straight from the box.. It fitted well, and only a small amount of superglue was used as filler.

I used Floquil USAAF Khaki and Model Master European Dark Green for the upper surface camouflage colors. Model Master Light Gray was used for the bottom. RLM 66 was chosen for the tires.

The interior is painted with Model Master Interior Green. A coat of Future and an oil wash were applied to bring out the details on the True Details resin replacement seat, and the kit supplied floorboard. This was then drybrushed with flat yellow and flat white to show wear.

The entire plane was given a coat of Future before applying an oil paint wash to enhance the panel lines

National markings are from the spares box. Pastel chalk was used for the exhaust stains after a coat of Testor's Flat was applied.

The landing and formation lights were then painted Model Master chrome, and then Tamiya clear red and clear blue were applied.

The entire project took nine days. I found this to be an enjoyable build.
 

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Model, Images and Article Copyright © 2002 by Bill Arnold
Page Created 12 July 2002
Last updated 04 June 2007

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