1:48 Hawker Typhoon IB

The Typhoon with twenty-four cylinders under the cowling

The Typhoon was massive, loud and at first unreliable. An engine with twenty-four cylinders in an H layout gave it enormous performance close to the ground, but at altitude it ran out of breath. The British therefore redirected the type to attacks on ground targets and against low-flying raiders over the south of England, where it proved itself better than in the role of a high-altitude fighter.

Three commanders' machines

All three of the aircraft offered carry the code of a squadron commander and all of them come from 1943. The first belonged to a squadron operating from an airfield in eastern England in June, the second to a squadron on the south coast of the same month, and the third is a February machine of a famous unit made up of Belgian and Allied pilots. For each one the documentation gives the letter code, the serial and the name of the commander, so a particular period photograph can be traced.

What to watch out for

• draw the black and white stripes under the wing of the early machines from a period source, as the sheet does not hold them
• the large letter codes on the fuselage call for a straight placement, as a code stuck on crooked shows at first glance
• give the surface under a decal a gloss coat, as a rough matte finish creates air pockets under the film
• once dry, the edges can be evened out with a thin layer of semi-gloss varnish

The sheet holds neither a model nor paints. The combination of a green and brown upper finish with a light gray underside is typical of these machines, but the shades have to be looked up separately.