Fieseler Storch in 1/72 from Academy

In my last post, about the LRDG test-game, you saw an unfinished Caproni-bomber on the airfield, belonging to Laffe.

A couple of mails, initially about who would get, and not get, what from the Winter War Kickstarter, got the snowball rolling. No one wanted the Finnish bicyclists, and by the way, I had started on my Fieseler Storch.

One thing led to another, and a competition was on.

The rules:

The one (me or Laffe) to e-mail a picture of the finished plane to the others was the winner of the competition.

The quality of the paintjob should be good enough to post on our blogs

To avoid a decisive victory the looser has 24 hours to finish his model. If he achieves that, the victory is deemed a minor victory.

Prizes:

Decisive Victory: The looser gets the bicyclists and must paint them within 3 months. Bragging rights for the winner, and he also gets to choose the next competition.

Minor Victory: The winner gets a limited bragging right. Thomas gets the bicyclists and can choose the next competition.

Well, I’m going to brag now. Guess who won. Yep, I don’t have to paint bicycle troops, and I will decide the in-group Painting Challenge II. That challenge will see Thomas participating also.

This turned out to be a great way to finish a prioritized model in record-time. Within 24 hours of me posting my picture, Laffe sent a mail of his Caproni. Newly painted. He took the advice from Thomas, and took a pic of what was ready. Turned out the underside wasn’t finished yet, so he swallowed the shame and admitted humiliating defeat.

A, sweeeeeeet.

Anyway. The winning model, from Academy, is a Fieseler Fi. 156 Storch (which can also be built as a Morane Saulnier MS 500/502 Criquet, used in Vietnam for example) in 1/72.

A straight-forward build. Some of the smaller details are on the thick side, which is good for our wargaming uses. The canopy is a bit tricky, as it is made from five clear-plastics pieces. I didn’t get a perfect fit and had to use some green-stuff.

Paints used (Vallejo):

Inside cockpit – 973 Light Sea Grey

Top – 929 Light Brown

Underside – 971 Green Grey

White band – 883 Silver Grey

Propeller – black

A dusting of sand-coloured pigment overall, and some black pigment from the exhaust.

Good enough, but won’t win any prizes… well, actually, it did J