1/48 Brewster Buffalo – VS-102

This build is the 1/48 scale Tamiya Brewster Buffalo. I will be building it as the US Navy F2A version. The aircraft will represent VS-201 that was aboard the USS Long Island AVG-1. I will be adding a resin engine from Quick Boost as well as Eduard photo etch set. Starting with the cockpit I detailed the side walls and then the seat and dash. The rear bulkhead had 2 injection areas. Not sure why they set it up for the front side instead of the back, but a little putty solved the issue. After the seat and dash were done I detailed the pedals and then assembled the cockpit into the fuselage and put the fuselage together. The fit was good and only required a couple of areas to be filled with putty. Next up will be the building and detailing of the engine.

This week I used the Quickboost resin engine in place of the kit engine. The first thing I did was use 32awg wire to add the ignition wires. They were then painted dark brown. A 28awg wire was added to represent the hub oil line and some photo etch engine labels were added to the hub. The engine was detail painted. Finally, for the pushrods I used 32awg wire but did not strip off the black sleeving.  A quick light dusting with black chalk was added to give the engine a little grime. The engine was then mounted into the fuselage. For the cowl I had to trim down the upper and lower cowl ducts so I could add the photo etch grates as the resin engine is a little thicker than the kit engine.

The wings and main landing gear assembly were assembled which includes the floor of the cockpit. Next up is putting wings and stabilizers on and painting the basecoat.

This week’s update covers the final assembly as well as the completed build of the Buffalo representing VS-102. The fuselage was assembled and detailed. The prop was assembled and painted and the light gray was base coated. I applied the decals which were not bad. A little thicker than I like but they laid down and conformed to the surface well. The canopy was polished and painted as well as the underside windows. And this is negative side of this kit. The windows on the belly are a very poor fit. I filled the gaps with styrene which makes it less noticeable but once the gaps were filled it still sits a little under the surface of the fuselage.

Finally I added the antenna wire using EZ line fine. The large spinner for the prop does limit the engine details a little but I am happy with the overall aircraft. This kit was a nice kit to work with the exception of the underside windows.  Due to its small size the build moves quickly, especially with the current situation.  Thanks for following along.