SMER (Heller) 1/72 Dewoitine d501

[yak face]

Heres something i got off ebay last week and decided to run it alongside the tigercat build. Its the SMER reboxing of the Heller Dewoitine d500/501. A lovely looking thing that was very advanced for its time , being one of the first all metal, stressed skin monoplane fighters . It first entered service in 1935 but soon got overtaken by the speed of progress in the early war years. Nevertheless it was still being used up to 1940. The kit is typical mid seventies Heller , lovely surface detail ( raised but i dont mind ) ,razor sharp trailing edges but not much interior at all- Im going to bung in a pilot to sort that . The one big drawback with Heller kits of this era was the decals , they were VERY matt and always had yellowish carrier film , no such problems here as the newer SMER kits have excellent decals by propagteam. Heres some sprue shots

[yak face]

A couple of hours on this today saw the interior just about done. I decided to put in a pilot from the spares box, ive got quite a few 1/72 ww2 chaps but most of them have the lifejacket on , i wanted one without to depict a mid thirties french pilot . Managed to find this guy but had to amputate and refix his lower legs so he would sit right :flushed: and put a cushion under his bony arse so he could see over the nose ! The interior of the fuselage is bare but once the Monsieur is in youll not be able to see any of it , I still improvised a few bits just in case though. He's now painted and sat in his seat , strapped in with some painted tape belts . A test fitting revealed the control column was fouling the instrument panel , and it was too big anyway ( like a 4”x4” fence post sticking up between his legs!) so I replaced it with a thinner one using wire. Hes now nestled in the fuselage while the cockpit floor glue goes off .

[papa 695]

Very nice work Tony, he looks like a Japanese pilot to me, but like I said very nice work.

[Guest]

Interesting to see this built. I’ve got a French book from the 1970s about French aircraft of the war, and it also includes information on building the Heller kits of them — though IIRC they’re never mentioned by name (maybe it would have counted as advertising?). I could see if this one is in it too, if you want.

[Jim R]

Hi Tony
A golden oldie, dates back to the late 70s. Not a lot to it but nicely done. It is a good looking aircraft and as you say - 'advanced for its time.' You're off to a great start and I'm sure you'll make a fine model out of this.
Jim

[Tim Marlow]

Fine start Tony. As you say, the pilot hides the missing cockpit detail. Lovely lines to this aircraft as well.

[adt70hk]

Tony,

Coming on very nicely. Very well done.

Andrew

[yak face]

Interesting to see this built. I’ve got a French book from the 1970s about French aircraft of the war, and it also includes information on building the Heller kits of them — though IIRC they’re never mentioned by name (maybe it would have counted as advertising?). I could see if this one is in it too, if you want.

Cheers jakko , that would be great , theres very little useful info to be found on the net , just a few black and white photos .

[Allen Dewire]

Wow Tony,

You always seem to come up with some really great off the wall wing thingy's to build and always do a smash up job on them. Looking great so far Sir and a very interesting 30's design too. Way to small for my old peepers though...........

Prost
Allen

[Guest]

that would be great , theres very little useful info to be found on the net

This is the book:

[ATTACH]427569[/ATTACH]

Actually Belgian, not French, published in 1973 by Rossel Edition, Brussels.

Unfortunately, though, the only Dewoitine in it is the 520, sorry

[colin m]

What a quirky, unusual odd ball looking aircraft - perfect, I like it loads already. Ian's not the only one who thought the pilot looked a bit Japanese.

[yak face]

This is the book:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n[/ATTACH]

Actually Belgian, not French, published in 1973 by Rossel Edition, Brussels.

Unfortunately, though, the only Dewoitine in it is the 520, sorry :sad:

Thanks anyway jakko , looks a good book though. Interesting to compare the top 2 aircraft , the bloch mb152 having the cockpit very far forward and the dw 520 underneath having it very far back !

[yak face]

What a quirky, unusual odd ball looking aircraft - perfect, I like it loads already. Ian's not the only one who thought the pilot looked a bit Japanese.

Thats probably just him squinting at the location of the cocktail stick !

[Guest]

Thanks anyway jakko , looks a good book though.

It does seem to be. My French isn’t as good as I would like, but for a 1970s book it seems pretty thorough, covering both the main aircraft used by the French Air Force and models of them, plus camouflage schemes and markings for all of them.

Interesting to compare the top 2 aircraft , the bloch mb152 having the cockpit very far forward and the dw 520 underneath having it very far back !

When they’re shown like that it’s very striking, yes. The top one gives the impression of being a post-war two- or four-seater civilian aircraft, really. A Dewoitine 520 would probably look good standing next to an F4U Corsair

[yak face]

Got the fuselage together today and the bottom section of wing. The engine cover and nose will be added after ive sorted the seam in front of the cockpit , i dont want to lose any detail on the engine cover. Speaking of which , the kit supplies 2 different engine covers and nose pieces , one with the two machine guns and a lower nose and the one without ( the one im building) . Ive also glued the spats together and sorted the seams . The stub axle on the v shaped undercarriage struts goes through a hole at the back of the spat and through the wheel during construction but ive cut a V in the wheels so I can add them last off and save having to mask them up.
The prop has also been painted. For this I first gave it a coat of grey primer, then a base of buff . This was followed by a rough streaking/ striping with a dark earth colour. Once fully dry a good coat of Tamiya clear orange was quickly brushed on ( Tamiya paints dont like being brushed at the best of times but the clear colours are VERY fast drying so youve got to be quick , generous and not overbrush it ) the silver hub plate will be drilled for the 20 mm cannon and painted silver later .