OTDAEABT Contest - Maly Modelarz PWS-A (BH-33)

[rlwhitt]

Excellent job shrike! A super clean build, great motor, interesting subject - it's got it all!

[shrike]

Originally Posted by John Bowden

Good job Shrike.................but

What the heck is that in front of the plane in the last picture??


john

A set of Polish wings

[shrike]

They show up better in the first picture of post #49

[Gharbad]

Originally Posted by boosed

Kuba -- There was a period in the 1920s and into the 1930s when a lot of Army aircraft were quite drab, including those of the U.S. Army, until they began painting the tops of the wings yellow for visibility in case of crashes. The silver RAF fighter and light bomber aircraft with bright squadron markings were an exception during that period.

Don

Interesting. What sort of environment is it supposed be for? Seems like it would only work on the ground, and wasn't dogfighting more common than being bombed on the ground in that time?

[shrike]

The Polish Air Force was almost exclusively a close support force at the time with only a few dedicated 'air superiority' forces. A classic case of being prepared to fight the last war over, as the PAF had been extremely effective in that role in the Russo-Polish war of 1920. The colour scheme reflects the intended low-level operational theatre

There are two kinds of aircraft camouflage, aerial (greys, blues et c.) and terrestrial (greens, browns, tans)

The former tend to be used by forces that have, or expect to have, control of the air. They make it more difficult to spot flying aircraft at altitude.

Terrestrial camouflage hides aircraft on the ground or at low levels, when you opponent is likely to have the greater control of the air.

A great study of this can be made by comparing Luftwaffe schemes through the course of the war - Pre-war green - BoB light blue-grey with the very top surfaces camouflaged in greys and greens - Midwar with mottles extending further down the sides - late war almost entirely green and brown.
Compare to the USAAC with OD and camo over overcast grey to finally bright silver no camo required

[B-Manic]

Very nice wings also.

[Gharbad]

Ah, makes sense. I never really thought about camo except that it confused me! Thanks for the info :D

[shrike]

One other thing you'll find on Polish a/c immediately pre-war; the national markings are asymmetric on the topside. One of them is offset by about 10% of the span.
Why you ask? The markings provide two definite reference points. One left one right so the fuselage (and pilot, fuel engine et c) must be centered between them, right?! Offset them and the attacking pilot will subconsciously change his point of aim thereby missing the important bits.

The RCAF has done something similar with their Hornets. They have a fake cockpit painted on the bottom of the fuselage. Since modern fighters (and their pilots really don't like negative g's, it can confuse a pursuer about which ways is up, and thus which way the airplane is going to turn. All it takes is a split second

[milenio3]

I found this build a very clean one!!

Is it really the actual paper of the MM kit?

[shrike]

Si , solamente papel originale.

I was lucky, the model is mostly square and the paper is a little better than usual. It still wanted to split on any curved piece though.

Oh, and it's all one colour too<G>