gloster gladiator
Scale: 1/72 | Manufacturer: Airfix | Kit nr: No. A02052B | Scheme: No. 1401 (Met) Flight – RAF Coastal Command (1942)
about the gladiator
The Gloster Gladiator is a biplane fighter aircraft designed and produced by the British aviation firm Gloster Aircraft Company, Ltd.
It was the last biplane fighter to be flown by the Royal Air Force (RAF) as well as being the first to be provisioned with an enclosed cockpit.
The Gladiator saw action in almost all theatres during the Second World War, with a large number of air forces, some of them on the Axis side. The RAF deployed its Gladiators into front line combat on numerous fronts, including France, Norway, Greece, the defence of Malta, the Middle East, and the brief Anglo-Iraqi War (during which the Royal Iraqi Air Force was similarly equipped).
Somewhere in Britain, RAF pilots scramble to their Gladiators. The RAF tried to keep its Gladiators away from the Luftwaffe’s much superior Me-109. (IWM HU 106295)
regarding the build
A great little kit, where I challenged myself to do something new, rigging an airplane. I first tried utilising my fishing thread, but I needed something sturdier, yet flexible, so I used the ‘stretching sprue method’, normally used for antennas for my tanks.
It took some patience, glueing the anchor point of one end, and then trimming and test fitting the end points. The transparant stand comes from the Airfix range. By drilling out two holes in the bottom of the fuselage I could slot the stand in the plane.