#741 Gloster Gladiator

Building the Airfix 1:72 Gloster Gladiator Mk II over St. Inglevert, Northern France, December 1939. No electronics in this one.

Build

Notes

The Gloster Gladiator is a British biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s.

Developed privately as the Gloster SS.37, it was the RAF’s last biplane fighter aircraft, and was rendered obsolescent by newer monoplane designs even as it was being introduced. Though often pitted against more advanced fighters during the early days of the Second World War, it acquitted itself reasonably well in combat.

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 used it in 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). Other countries deploying the Gladiator included China against Japan, beginning in 1938; Finland (along with Swedish volunteers) against the Soviet Union in the Winter War and the Continuation War; Sweden as a neutral noncombatant (although Swedish volunteers fought for Finland against USSR as stated above); and Norway, Belgium, and Greece resisting Axis invasion of their respective lands.

References

Gloster Gladiator Mk.I 1/72 Airfix - PLASMO

Airfix 1/72 Gloster Gladiator Mk I/II Build and Review

Marking Schemes

Scheme A (selected scheme)

Gloster Gladiator Mk.II No.615 (County of Surrey) Squadron, Royal Air Force, St. Inglevert, Northern France, December 1939. (A)

scheme_1

Feature	Color	Recommended	Paint Used
engine inlet pipes	Silver - Metallic	Humbrol 11
engine block	Black - Gloss	Humbrol 21	H18
	Trainer Yellow - Matt	Humbrol 24
upper camo.	Dark Earth - Matt	Humbrol 29	H72
upper camo	Dark Green - Matt	Humbrol 30	H64
cockpit details	Black - Matt	Humbrol 33
under camo	Black - Matt	Humbrol 33	H12
under camo	White - Matt	Humbrol 34	H11
engine cowling	Gunmetal - Metallic	Humbrol 53
cockpit interior	Aluminium - Metallic	Humbrol 56
	Flesh - Matt	Humbrol 61
cockpit upper	Cockpit Green	Humbrol 78	H320
	Cream - Matt	Humbrol 103
compass	Ocean Grey - Matt	Humbrol 106
lower camo	US Light Green - Matt	Humbrol 117	H303
lower camo	US Light Earth - Matt	Humbrol 119	H310

Scheme B

Gloster Gladiator Mk.I 1 Escadrille, 1 Groupe Belgian Air Force, Schaffen Air Base, Diest, Belguim, 1938. (B)

scheme_2

Feature	Color	Recommended	Paint Used
	Black - Matt	Humbrol 33
	Gunmetal - Metallic	Humbrol 53
	Aluminium - Metallic	Humbrol 56
	Matt Mid Green	Humbrol 101
	Matt Pale Stone	Humbrol 121
	Matt Olive Drab - Matt	Humbrol 155