Dewoitine D.520

by Randy Lutz

This is another Tamiya 1/48 Dewoitine D.520 kit built basically out of the box.

The markings are a combination of Aero Master roundels and wing stripes from sheet 48-095, while the shadow-shaded white "1" is from an old Letraset sheet and the Grim Reaper emblem is from Aero Master 48-300.

The Aero Master wing bands are printed with a curve at the front to allow them to wrap around the leading edge of the wing. However, as given by Aero Master they are wrong, in that the way they are designed/printed and shown in the instruction, the blue stripe would be outboard. This is incorrect, as the red is supposed to be outboard. This meant that the wing band decals had to be reversed end-to-end to allow for the proper positioning of the colours. However, in doing this you lose the benefit of the shape of the decal. I find glaring errors such as this inexcusable, especially when it is so well documented in the references cited by Aero Master.

The model is finished in Gris Bleu Foncé, Kaki and Ombre Calcinée over Gris Bleu Clair, with just a hint of over-painted fuselage rondels. All colours are from the Xtracolor range of paints. It is weathered with chalk pastels, which I am discovering do not show up well in digital photography. This particular machine, serial No. 517 has often been noted as being in Italian service in various publications, but this is erroneous. No. 517 was not one of the Vichy Dewoitines captured and impressed into Italian service. As shown this D.520 was flown by Lieutenant Fabre of Groupe de chasse II/1, 3ieme Escadrille while based at Le Luc, France during August 1942.

I have four colour profiles of this Dewoitine in four different books and none of them match and none of them are right. It is commonly illustrated with a black spinner and sometimes a white spinner. However, photos clearly show that it is definitely not black and probably not white. Therefore, I elected to paint mine yellow, as this was a colour stipulated for Vichy aircraft and is a plausible choice based on the tonal values of photos. Note how the undersurface Gris Bleu Clair is quite high up on the nose. This is another area where the profiles are wrong. In my many years of modelling, I have learned that colour profiles should not be taken as gospel without photos as a backup. Remember the ancient Aircam series?

 

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Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2002 by Randy Lutz
Page Created 21 November, 2002
Last Updated 26 December, 2002

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