Battle of Britain 109-E3 vs Hurricane Mk 1 (1/48 Hobby Boss)

[Nutspank]

I made this Battle of Britain project for the 85th anniversary last summer and thought I'd share since I had such positive feedback on my current (slightly different) BoB build. The inspiration was various oil paintings of the Battle and the vision was one of those paintings coming alive, not necessarily 100% historical accuracy (Polish squadron hurricane markings are legit, the 109 JG 3 Geschwaderkommodore is fictional). For once I wanted to recreate the "box art", not necessarily a reference photo.
Although I struggled with fit issue on the Hurricane, I thought both kits were great value for $ and together cost as much as the fancy frame
Used all Tamiya paints and oil weathering, pilots are Airfix/Tamiya leftovers. Base is made from aluminum foil, acrylic gel medium, and many layers of various blue, green, and clear blue/clear gloss coats. The bullet splashes are a combination of stretched sprue, UV resin, and more acrylic gel medium with cheap white acrylic (same as wave crests). Thanks for looking, critiques are welcome!

 

[BarleyBop]

Nice!
What a great idea... replicate the box art...

Love what you did, 'framing' the scene, putting the POV above!
... and each of the planes, lovely in their own right.

 

[VegasAWACER13]

Love it! So very cool.

Just an FYI if you decide to do something like this again: I've seen 3D printed clear props that give the impression it's spinning.

 

[Nutspank]

Thanks for the feedback! I seriously considered a spinny prop on a clear acetate sheet of plastic and although some modeleres are able to make them look great in photos, all the ones at my local modelling club look tacky to me in person. I did recently discover that PE parts have been available specifically for this purpose and I would be interested to give that a try.
I was also happy with the rather thin and accurate (to the eye) prop blades that the Hobby Boss kits came with.

 

[Ron2]

Very cool diorama! I saw an interesting article or comment, not sure which it was, about the use of spinning props. This person argued that your brain automatically adjusts for a static prop and sees it as a moment in time. As I don't like the look of the blurred disc, I like this hypothesis!