IPMS South Africa - Liberator

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Liberator

Written by Phil Cater - SAAF SIG UK

Friday, 03 May 2002

Even in my (by now) fairly comprehensive SAAF library, there isn't a huge amount on the Liberator, and amongst the non SAAF specialists, it's not widely known that the SAAF flew them.

However, Aircraft of the South African Air Force (Potgeiter and Steenkamp) has a nice general shot showing typical weathering and overpainted USAAF markings, and a noseart closeup appears in Wings of Eagles (Becker). That photo was taken to mark the retirement of the machine at 500 hours. And SAAF at War suggests white spinners, which sounded great...

At the time of writing, and immediately after the model was finished, I was advised that info on the SAAF Liberator will feature in Vol 1 Number 4 of the excellent South African Colours and Markings series. (Schalkwyk, Marshall, Bouwer). Of course, Old Scrotes Third Law of Modelling clearly states 'Thine Definitive Reference Shall Always Turneth Up', (Yea Verily), But only after the Model Is Finished. Luckily, Stefaan Bouwer reassured me the model as finished was OK, so that's all right then!

The Kit:

As I couldn't find an Academy version, the kit is the old Airfix one, going cheap (well over here in the UK) so I was tempted as it appears basically sound, apart from those crude turrets. Despite a ton of nails inside, it's still a tail sitter, so it’s just as well it has a rear crew ladder. The only modifications are removal of the front turret guns, and four guns on the rear turret, as per references. The first coat of paint was a light spray of silver, after that a green that didn't looked exactly right, so I used Revell matt 46 which looks a really good olive drab to me. The lighter 'iffy' green was used to crudely overpaint the USAAF stars and bars and tail serials. The other weathering was done by light sanding down, scratching with a blade, thinned down paints and applying powdered graphite. Last time I built an Airfix Liberator, I was 9 years old. But hell, I actually painted that one too! Dark green upper surfaces, unpainted lower, and gloss brown(!) tyres....

The nose art was half hand painted. The bomb tally and 'Z' code are from the Matchbox Marauder sheet SAAF option. Surrounding the bomb tally are parachutes for supply drops, these were yellow decal stripe over painted. I couldn't decipher the name on the photo - '(something) special' so that's just squiggles to suggest it. (Never let ignorance get in the way of completing a model, that's what I say.) The 31 Sqn badge was from bits of decal and hand painting.

I'd like to finish, by dedicating this one to the memory of my good modelling mate Fred Schofield, who passed away during 2001. He recently built a Liberator (1/48th, in the desert colours of "Strawberry Bitch", now resident at the USAF Museum). Some of the many hints and tips Fred willingly passed on to me feature in my own model, and I'd have really liked him, to have seen my model.

Author's completed model of a SAAF Liberator.