Remember my quandary over whether to splash out the cash for the lovely Fox One 1/144 Westland Lysander? Well I solved this problem when I found a far cheaper alternative in the World Tank Museum's 1/144 Fieseler Fi 156 Storch.
This little recce plane is for my Rapid Fire! based Finnish (late war) army group and under the RF! rules I just need one unarmed observation aircraft. The Lysander would have been great but at £24 plus postage from Japan it would have cost double the cost of the rest of my 1/144 Finnish air group put together! Luckily I came across the World Tank Museum Storch on eBay at just £6 and after a quick check I confirmed that the Finns did have two of these German aircraft in their inventory.
It's a bit of a fudge - the Storch being a liaison and not specifically a recce aircraft - but the price sealed the deal for me.
The only slight issue with this model is that it comes in a snazzy German camo scheme and decals, but I reckon a quick over-spray will soon sort this out. The other issue is that I cannot find any colour reference for a Finnish scheme for this type - not surprising as there were only two I suppose.
What I will do is use the generic Finnish 3 colour - dark olive, green and sky blue - camo that seems to have been their default scheme (based on Signal's 'Finnish Air Force 1939-45' colour plates).
The WTM model itself is a lovely little thing (for £6), and though you can pick up a Zvesda or Revell 1/144 kit for just £3 I don't begrudge the extra money for this ready made model. There are a few little seam marks but nothing too bad. Overall I am very pleased.
NEXT: A bit of sanding and then over-spraying.
UPDATE: Happened to find this (confirmed by another shot I found of a museum example)...
Just plain olive drab on top then.
