1:48 de Havilland Chipmunk In Civil Hands

A second life on civil registers

When the Royal Air Force began to withdraw the Chipmunks, they did not stay without an owner for long. A solid structure, cheap running and pleasant flying qualities made them sought-after machines for flying clubs, for private pilots and for glider towing. A good number of airframes still fly today, that is, more than seven decades after the type first took off.

The civilian career is a rewarding one for modelers precisely because no regulation bound the look of the aircraft any longer. Polished metal surfaces appear, along with bold two-color combinations with a dividing line running along the side of the fuselage, aerobatic frameworks and checkerboards, and machines renamed back into wartime colors as a reminder of their original purpose. The former serial numbers were replaced by registration marks, which tend to be conspicuously large on the fuselage and on the wings.

Practical notes on building

• aimed at private and flying club operators of the type
• 1:48 scale, the same as the military parts of the same selection
• large registration marks on the sides of the fuselage and on the wings
• suitable for models with polished and with richly colored surfaces alike

With gloss finishes the rule is that every irregularity under the film shows. It therefore pays to polish the surface with a very fine sponge before the work, to work with plenty of water and to draw the excess off so that the edge does not lift. Choose the final varnish according to the nature of the real subject: a polished private machine will take a high gloss, whereas an aircraft in the daily service of a flying club looks more convincing in semi-gloss. With registration marks running the whole length of a side it works well to mark the position lightly in pencil first.