Hellenic Hero:
Building Mirage's PZL P.24F of the Greek Air Force in 1/48 Scale
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History
The PZL P.24 (PZL - Panstwowe Zaklady Lotnicze - National Aviation Works)
was a descendant of the earlier PZL P.7 and P.11 fighters developed by
Zygmunt Pulawski in Poland. All featured the "Pulawski Wing"
design, a high gull-wing structure with chordwise corrugated surfaces.
The P.24 Series were only developed for export, because the P.11 was powered
by a license-built Bristol engine, which could not be sold abroad. Gnome
Rhone powerplants were adapted to the design instead, resulting in the
PZL P.24 Series. Hence, none flew with the Polish Airforce.
 The
aircraft was displayed at the Paris Airshow in November 1934, raising
considerable international interest. One reason for this was that the
aircraft was among the first that could be equipped from the outset with
two 20mm cannon. Orders were placed by Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, and
Greece.
Greece obtained twelve P.24F's and twenty-four P.24G's, the difference
being that the F's were armed with two 20mm cannon. The aircraft were
initially delivered in natural metal or silver finish, but were painted
in camouflage colours shortly after Italy's Army of Albania invaded Greece
in October 1940. The P.24's of the Royal Hellenic Airforce gave as good
as they got or better, putting up a spirited and stubborn defense, contributing
in no small way to Nazi Germany's intervention on Mussolini's behalf.
Despite overwhelming odds, Greek pilots flying P.24's downed 40 enemy
aircraft prior to the Greek surrender in April 1941.
Construction
This is a multi-media kit including styrene, resin, and photo-etched
(PE) parts. Instructions are of the exploded view type on one side of
a folded 11 x 17 inch sheet in nine steps, the other side has a history
in Polish, Greek, and English as well as color schemes and markings for
two options. Color call-outs include Humbrol and the new Vallejo line
of acrylics. For a further description of the kit's contents, see the
First Look Preview by Chris Banyai-Riepl in the May
2004 issue of Internet Modeler.
 All
sprues were first washed thoroughly by spraying with Windex ammonia cleaner
and rinsing in cold water to remove any release agents. This step is especially
important when dealing with kits from Eastern Europe. The kit was built
in sub-assemblies more or less at the same time, and everything was eventually
brought together. The kit is molded in a fairly soft, gray plastic that
responds well to liquid cement and sands and cuts easily. A word of caution:
you really need a primary reference while building this kit. The instructions
actually recommend it.
The wing was one of the first items to be assembled, as it was the easiest.
Everything fit well, with only a little filler required at the front of
the 20mm gun pods. The joints were cleaned up with sanding sticks and
this assembly set aside.
While preparing the fuselage halves, I noticed that the left half had
a crack in the styrene at the aft corner of the cockpit opening, and the
right half had a crack at the top of the vertical fin. These were repaired
easily with Tamiya Extra Thin Cement and sanding sticks. The cockpit interior
was painted with Citadel Chain Mail (silver) acrylic. The floor complete
with stick and rudder pedals and the seat were assembled and look very
convincing (sorry for the poor photos). The seat's PE braces were replaced
with lengths of Evergreen strip. The seat was painted Testors Acryl Burnt
Umber, then drybrushed with a little Burnt Sienna to simulate leather.
The PE seatbelts were painted Testors Acryl Field Drab with silver hardware.
The floor mounts on the fuselage halves do not come out far enough, so
bits of Evergreen strip were used to shim the floor to fit. Part 6B, some
kind of cylinder, is not shown in the instructions, though my references
show it to be there. This was painted a copper color and mounted on the
pins provided inside the fuselage. A valve assembly on the right side
was painted brass. All the interior bits were given a light wash of Raw
Umber oil color to  accentuate
the detail. The instrument panel is of the PE and film type. The back
of the film was painted white and then the PE panel was glued on with
clear gloss acrylic after a coat of Testors Aircraft Interior Black, with
yellow knobs and silver placards. Drops of clear gloss simulated the instrument
glass. This assembly was then mounted on the styrene panel provided. The
fuselages halves were cemented together and the joints cleaned up with
sandpaper and sanding sticks and any damaged panel lines rescribed. Various
PE panels and details were added to the exterior. A canopy release handle
on the left side was made with a short piece of stretched sprue, instead
of the PE part provided. The air scoop was added to the front lower center
after this item was dug out with a drill to give it a hollow look. I broke
off the tailskid extension, which was replaced with brass rod of the same
length. Two very nice resin radiators are included in the kit that go
on the left side behind the engine cowling. One had some air bubbles along
the front side, but this was filled with white glue later on. The radiators
were painted black and drybrushed with brass. These were left off for
now. The wing assembly was now glued on, with a little filler needed at
the junction of the lower wing and fuselage.
 I
thought that the wing struts were a little too oblong in section, so I
replaced these with lengths of Contrail strut material. I also replaced
the kit MG and cannon barrels with appropriate lengths of telescoping
brass tubing. I think the result is far better than what the kit provides.
The very small aileron hangers, part PE15, were added at this time. The
instructions are not altogether clear as to their location, and my references
were a little sketchy, so I took my best guess.
The horizontal tail was installed. This takes some care, as there are
no positive locating points. The stabilizers go right through the fuselage
sides and meet in the middle, so careful alignment is required. There
was also a fairly large gap that had to be filled using my good old Squadron
Putty and Cutex method. Just smear on some putty, and then wipe away the
excess with a cotton bud soaked in Cutex nail polish remover. Most of
the offending joints on this model were treated in this manner.
 The
engine in the kit is a little soft on detail. The cylinder fins are understated,
and the front and back molds were out of alignment considerably. The pushrod
covers are of a square-ish cross section, so these were replaced with
bits of Evergreen rod. I also made an ignition conduit out of styrene
rod bent in a circle and dipped in hot water while jammed in a circle
template. This was added together with harness made from brass wire. The
cowling was assembled and detailed with latches made of strip, instead
of the very small PE parts. The engine and inside the cowling was painted
with Citadel Bolt Gun Metal (a steel shade) and given a wash of flat black
mixed with burnt umber enamels. The resin exhaust collectors were prepared
by cleaning off a fair bit of flash and painting a dark brown. These have
to be trimmed very carefully to fit on the cylinders. The finished engine
assembly was set aside until later.
 I
decided I wanted to have the fairings on the main wheels, even though
these were removed shortly after hostilities commenced with the Italians.
I just liked the look of them, so decided to keep them on. The wheels
were painted completely and installed between the spat halves. The main
gear struts have a very positive attachment to the fuselage. Each gear
strut has a rod attached to the axle that goes into the fuselage, I believe
to a snubber or shock absorbing device within. The instructions would
have you attach them on the same side as the struts, but in fact they
go to the opposite side in each case. Check your references. I used brass
rod for these items, instead of the two-dimensional PE ones. The spatted
wheels were mounted on the gear struts. These joints were reinforced with
thin superglue.
The canopy pieces are clear and the framing well defined. These were
masked with Gunze Mr. Mask Sol and cemented in place with white glue.
I usually keep the canopies open on my models, but in this case I did
not want to break up the unique outline of this aircraft.
Exterior Finish and Decals
I decided to finish this P.24F in the markings provided in the kit for
D106 of 22 Mira Dioxe (Fighting Squadron), based at Thessalonika. I matched
up the colors I had on hand as best I could  to
those described. The model was painted with Testors Acryl RLM 78 Light
Blue underneath. These surfaces were masked as required with Tamiya tape
and a coat of Testors Acryl RLM 78 Sandgelb applied to the upper surfaces.
These paints were sprayed on with an Aztec 470 airbrush using the white
acrylic (medium) tip. The camouflage pattern was applied with Pollyscale
RAF Dark Green applied free hand to get a feathered edge, again using
the Aztec but this time with the black (fine) acrylic tip. The pattern
in the instruction sheet was used as a guide. A brush was used in a few
areas to touch up as required. The cowl ring and nose cone were treated
in the same way. The propeller was hand brushed with Testors Acryl Interior
Black, with the tips masked off and sprayed Insignia Yellow. Some paint
chipping was added at this stage with a silver Berol Prismacolor pencil
crayon. After all painted surfaces dried overnight, the model was given
several coats of Future thinned with rubbing alcohol to get a glossy surface
for decals. The decals, by Techmod, have good color density and are in
perfect register. The lower wing roundels appear to be too large compared
to some of my references. The blue roundels have a very narrow film around
them, minimizing the risk of silvering. I found them to be a little thick,
however, and they were reluctant to conform to the corrugated wing  surfaces
and panel lines without generous applications of Walther's Solvaset and
pressure with a hot wet cloth. A unique feature visible in the color illustration
on the box as well as in some photos I examined, is that the lower roundels
appear to have been oversprayed with blue paint, I suppose to make them
less starkly visible. This was recreated using a thin coat of the RLM
78 blue mixed with a little Future to get a transparent effect, sprayed
on in a random blotchy fashion. The decals were sealed with another coat
of Future applied with a brush. A thin wash of Raw Umber and Flat Black
enamel was applied to panel lines and recesses. I had to be careful not
to overdo this stage, as the corrugated wings wanted to soak up the wash
considerably. Finally a few light coats of Testors Acryl clear flat acrylic
varnish was applied to seal all surfaces and to kill the shine.
Final Assembly
 The
engine assembly was mounted inside the cowl ring and cemented in place.
The fit was fairly tight, and I damaged the silver finish slightly during
this maneuver. This was touched up with a bit of silver on the brush.
Call it hangar rash, I guess. The nose cone was cemented on followed by
the resin exhaust collectors. The completed powerplant was glued to the
front of the fuselage - now the model was looking much more like its sinister
prototype. The resin radiators were installed on the left front fuselage
with superglue gel. The final step was adding the brass PE gunsight and
ring. Each is composed of a very small triangular piece and the ring or
sight. The holes in the wing for these are very large. I filled them with
white glue and attached these very fragile parts. Right after all the
photos were taken for this article I promptly squashed the ring sight
with my ham-fisted handling. Sheesh! Oh, and don't forget to add the propeller!
Conclusion
 While
this is not a kit for the beginner, it certainly builds up into a fine
model as long as one does not mind a little extra work. As mentioned,
references are a must if one wishes an accurate model of this unusual
aircraft. The use of photoetched and resin parts adds a challenging aspect
to the build while enhancing detail. In some areas, I found that the PE
could be better replaced with strip or rod, as I find this much easier
to work with, with similar results as far as detail goes. Subsequently
I ended up using only about half of the parts on the fret. The finished
model looks good, though, imparting that sinister gull-wing aspect that
must have chilled the blood of many Italian (and some German) airmen.
Thanks to Squadron Mail Order
for the review sample and to Chris Banyai-Riepl and Matt Bittner for the
opportunity to build this kit. All errors are mine.
References and Further Reading
Books:
 PZL
P.24A-G Monographie #7 By Andrzej Glass, Kagero, 2004. Excellent "One
Stop" resource for the type. Contains drawings, photos, and decals!
On the Internet:
An overview of the P.24G, with some photos and drawings. Also a build
up of a 1/72 vacform kit by Modelland. By Lukasz Kedzierski.
An excellent website devoted to the history of the P.24 in Greek service
in particular. Contains some photos and well executed profile illustrations.
A superb overview. By Kristjan Runarsson.
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