In 1940, the British Purchasing Commission went to the United States to acquire American planes to supplement domestic aircraft production. The Buffalo caught the attention of the Committee and the remaining machines ordered by the French, suspended after the fall of France, were passed to the UK. The RAF acceptance personnel criticised the Buffalo for its lack of armament and armor, poor high-altitude performance, engine overheating, cockpit controls and maintenance issues whilst praising its handling, roomy cockpit and visibility. With a top speed of 520km/h at 6,400m but with fuel starvation issues above 4,600m, the Buffalo was considered to be unfit for Western European service. But with the shortage of fighters in the Asia-Pacific theater, the UK ordered additional 170 Buffalos using type specification B-339E to equip RAF, RAAF and RNZAF units in the region.
The Type B-339E, also known as Brewster Buffalo Mk1 in British service differed from the B-339 by having the arrester hook and naval life raft container removed. New items, including British gun sight, gun camera, larger tyre for the tail wheel, fire extinguisher, engine shutters, a larger battery and reinforced armour plating and armoured glass behind the cockpit canopy were added. These added some 400kg to its weight and the larger tail wheel added more drag, reducing speed at typical combat altitudes from 520km/h to 504km/h. To make matters worse, the Buffalo Mk1 was powered by Wright R-1820-G-105 Cyclone rated at 1000hp, 200hp less than those which powerd the F2A-2 (B-339). In addition, many of the Wright Cyclones were actually rebuilds from civilian Douglas DC-3s. So bad was the performance of the Buffalos that at least one RAF squadron threw out the armour plate, the armoured glass, gun camera and even the radio plus replacing the 12.7mm MGs with 7.7mm ones in order to improve the performance. Too add further insult, the pilots were inadequately trained and experienced in their mounts. The Japanese aircraft were of unknown quality and the best tactics to counter them were not yet developed (despite the American Volunteer Group's experience in China)
When hostilities began on 8 December 1941, the Buffalos performed adequately against the main Japanese fighter, the Nakajima Ki-27 Nate, scoring a respectable number of kills. However when confronted with the Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar, the Japanese soon overwhelmed the Buffalos. The Buffalos also suffered from engine overheating in the tropical heat, spraying oil against the windshield causing missions to be aborted and allowing greater freedom to enemy aircraft. By the end of the Malayan Campaign on 15 February 1942, the Buffalos claimed 80 kills, most of them bombers whilst losing at least 60 in combat, 40 on the ground and 20 in accidents. Surviving aircraft were withdrawn to India and Java. The Buffalo's performance in South-East Asia and during the Battle of Midway cemented its reputation as a hopeless fighter aircraft despite the fact that the Finns, who operated the better performing F2A-1, scored large number of kills against the Soviets.
The Kit
Tamiya released the B-339 kit in 2004. It wasn't new though - it was a re-release of the kit originally hitting the market in 1974. The original offering included parts and decals to build US, RAF and Dutch machines. The kit was already out-of-production by the time I started this hobby in the mid-1980s. Tamiya did a previous re-release in 1998 but one can only build the US F2A-2 version. The 2004 version returned the parts needed to build a B-339 such as the tailcone, British gunsight, and the larger tail wheel. The kit came in four dark grey and one clear sprues, a decal sheet and a painting mask (not precut though). Considering the age of the moulds, the details (both engraved and raised) are still sharp. The decals were printed by Cartograf , providing markings for four Buffalos (2 RAF, one Dutch East Indies Air Force and one US Navy) and looks very good indeed.
Construction
As usual the pilot's office gets the first attention. Tamiya suggested British Interior Green for its colour although being a US-build plane, I suspect that it should be US Zinc Chromate. Anyway, I succumb to the instructions and paint it British Interior Green using a mix of Tamiya XF-5 Green, XF-21 Sky and XF-65 Field Grey. Details were painted in Flat Black and the seat in XF-16 Flat Aluminium. The instrument panel is made up from plastic base and decal. The Buffalo, like the F4U Corsair, is of 'floorless' cockpit design and (in the model form) the seat is hung from the rear bulkhead. There is not much detail inside the cockpit and the fuselage halves were closed up. However there is some fit issues here especially on the decking behind the cockpit but nothing a reasonably competent modeler cannot do. The upper and lower wing halves were mated and the sub-assebly mated to the fuselage. The horizontal tailplanes were also added at this stage. The engine was painted Mr. Color 28 Steel and drybrushed Mr. Color 8 Silver and cemented to its slot. The cowling halves were then mated together and fixed in place.
Before I glued the canopy, I added the remaining cockpit parts. The roll bar however broke when I cut it off the sprue. I should have glued the broken parts together but one of the halves were lost to the carpet monster. Then, I should have cut the broken arm off and replaced it entirely with plastic rod. But what did I do? I just glued a bit of plastic rod to the broken arm and it ended up looking real bad! The canopy and the ventral window went next. As mentioned before, Tamiya includes masking tapes for these items. They are not precut like Eduard's but using a fresh blade and having a steady hand helps in cutting out the shapes. Looking at the painting diagram (I chose the 488 Squadron RNZAF scheme) there is no need to mask the ventral window as it was painted over. As usual, the fragile parts were left off until after painting is done.
Painting and Decaling
Tamiya gave you four marking options: 488 Squadron RNZAF, Kallang Singapore, December 1941; 67 Squadron RAF, Mingalodon, Burma, 1941; 2-VLG-V, Dutch East Indies Air Force, Java 1942 (before the fall of Singapore, it was also based at Kallang) and VS-201, USS
Long Island (AVG-1), 1941. I chose the 488 Squadron option as it featured a nice dragon nose art. The upper camouflage pattern was painted using Gunze Aqueous RAF Dark Green and Dark Earth. The Dark Green used is actually for post-war aircraft but since that's the only shade available, I had to use it. Whilst the Dark Earth is of the right tone, I believe I added too much white (for scale effect). The bottom of the aircraft was painted XF-69 NATO Black and XF-21 Sky. On this particular aircraft (DW-O), the front of the engine cowling was taken from another aircraft, so the underside is painted wholly XF-21 Sky and the upper camouflage was painted with a slightly different shade of the respective colours. Once the paints were cured, it was decaling time. For the dragon nose art, Tamiya included white underlay decals to avoid underlying colours from bleeding through. The decals went on without any problems and responded well to Mr Mark Decal Softer.
The remainder of the parts such as landing gears, aerials and propeller can now be added to the model. I however left off the bombs and their pylons off as Commonwealth Buffalos in Malaya and Singapore were used in air-to-air combat only. The model was then subjected to sludge wash and a final spray of Flat Clear. The masks were then peeled off and I can declare the build completed. Some time after I finished this model, I came across an internet discussion forum. A member of the said forum pointed out inaccuracies of Tamiya's marking instructions namely:
- the dragon nose art is on the left side only
- portside underwing roundel did not have yellow outer ring
- all wing roundels placed at the very tip of the wings
- code letters in Sky
- ventral window not painted over
Oh well.....
Conclusion
Tamiya's Buffalo has stood the test of time, considering the general state of model kits in the 1970s. The parts still fit very well (generally, that is) and the panel lines are crisp, it would be even better if the remaining raised panel lines (where appropriate) are engraved. The inclusion of painting masks is very welcome indeed. The decals are rather thick but have good register. The only downside is that decal placement instructions.....
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