April Warbirds (1 Viewer)

[Gunn Miniatures]

WOW455 Bolton Paul Defiant 'Fred Hughes'

The Bolton Paul Defiant was a two seat interceptor that served with the RAF during WW2. It was unique for its time in that it had a rear turret containing the aircraft’s armament of 4 x .303 Browning machine guns. Unfortunately it had no forward firing armament which proved to be its Achilles heel once the Luftwaffe found this flaw. However during its early career it scored notable successes against the Luftwaffe who often mistook it for a Hurricane and attacked it from the rear, often with fatal consequences for themselves.

Withdrawn from front line day time duties, the Defiant found its forte employed as a night fighter, where in the right hands it was a formidable opponent as German bomber crews found out to their cost.

Our 1/32 scale Mahogany Defiant is one flown by Ace Fred Hughes who ended the war with 18 confirmed kills.
The K&C/TG figures & accessories are shown for scale comparison purposes only and are not included.
We have 2 x Defiant's available at $850 plus postage and packing.














That's all for this month's Warbirds, we sincerely hope you enjoy the pictures and would love to hear from you if any of these magnificent models appeal to you. They are all now on our website www.tomgunn.co.uk and can be paid for upfront or over an extended monthly period.

All Gunn Club members qualify for a 5% discount on the website listed price, joining is free so well worth registering.

Best wishes The Gunn Team

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

We also have a new version WOW454 of our Me. 410 in a stunning mottled camouflage scheme and armed with bombs instead of the cannon equipping our other variant.

Once again priced at $950 plus postage and limited to 3 Mahogany models worldwide.

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

WOW151 Me.410 Bomber Interceptor Version The Me. 410 was a follow on design from the unsuccessful Me 210, but the design changes were significant enough for it to be given a new serial number. Its predecessor the Me 210 story reads like a Greek tragedy, with the flawed main character contributing to the suicide of Ernst Udet and the wasted lives of many German airmen. It was the subject of ongoing bureaucratic interference and clashes between high profile political, military and political personalities. Perhaps most importantly, this flying cul-de-sac diverted limited production resources away from proven defensive aircraft in the critical mid and late-war years. However the Me. 410 was a much more successful breed and was initially used in a photo reconnaissance role over the UK. Seeing its load carrying potential the Luftwaffe converted the Me. 410 to a bomber destroyer and used it with some success against the USAAF daylight bomber formations. It could be fitted with several variations in armament, including a pair of 30mm calibre MK 103 cannon, 2 x 20mm cannon or the very sizeable BK 5 50mm cannon, of which our version portrays. Our model WOW151 is one operated by ZG 26 which is reputed to have downed 129 Flying Fortresses and Liberators during a series of 5 or 6 interceptions, whilst losing only 9 of their own aircraft. Initially as just described, the Me. 410 was very successful against unescorted Allied bombers, which reputedly lead it to becoming one of Hitler’s favourite bomber interceptor aircraft. However with the introduction of the Mustang operating as a bomber escort, the Me. 410 soon became a target itself sustaining losses equal to the number of bombers they downed. From mid-1944 the Me. 410 was withdrawn from the bomber interceptor role and used in the night-time reconnaissance role only. The Me. 410 had a wing span of 53ft making it equal in size to the Me 110, it also makes it a large 1/30 scale model! Because of the complex glass canopy and frontal observation port this model took something approaching 2 years to manufacture, as some collectors who were aware of its development can testify. Its often joked that we could make the real thing quicker than some of these models! The price for this model is $999 plus $150 postage, which is reflected in the banner price. There is no free postage on warbirds due to their large size.

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

WOW451 W.12 Hansa 'Christiansen' Variant Our second Hansa this month '1183' was flown by Friedrich Christiansen, a 13 kill Ace who shot down the British airship C-27 and was also responsible for inflicting damage on a British submarine in the Thames Estuary, he also shared in another 8 aerial kills. He was the only seaplane pilot to receive the Pour Le Merite during WW1. Limited to 3 in number, this is also priced at $650 plus postage. Above picture shows all our Hansa's so far, serial number 1410 unfortunately sold out as we only had 1 into stock.

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

WOW310 Hansa W.12 Brandenburg Seaplane

On a recent trip to one of our factories in the Philippines we visited an 'old' factory with the idea of securing new business from them. During this visit we saw some of our older models hanging there and immediately purchased them as we knew there would be a demand from collectors who had missed out on the first release. It is with great pleasure we can therefore reintroduce WOW310 W.12 Hansa once more into the fold and available in limited numbers. For those of you not familiar with the W.12 here is some history:

The Hansa-Brandenburg was a twin seater reconnaissance/fighter floatplane that entered service with the German Navy aviation wing in spring of 1917. It was a successful aircraft and performed well in its role. Its large monoplane design made it very stable and its Benz engine was reliable giving it a good range for its day. A total of 146 were built before being replaced by the W.29 which was a monoplane version of the same aircraft.

This particular model was flown by Lt's Urban & Ehrhardt who flew out of Zeebrugge naval seaplane base during the Fall of 1917.
This 1/30 scale Mahogany warbird is priced at $650 plus shipping, a small water jetty mat is included free with this model, 2 models available in stock.

The TG, K&C, JJD figures are shown for scale comparison purposes only and are not included.

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

​

Dear all, welcome to our April 2023 Aircraft newsletter featuring a small selection of our latest warbirds. We are expecting delivery soon of a large shipment by sea, which will include the long awaited Mussolini SM.82 amongst others.

All our hand carved Mahogany aircraft take in the region of 250 days to manufacture plus many more hours of drying time. For this reason we only make small numbers of each model and every aircraft is a unique piece.

For those of you who wish to spread your budget when buying our aircraft, please note we do accept stage payments where you can spread the cost over several months. If you require further details of any of the aircraft in today's newsletter, please email welcome@gunnclub.co.uk and ask for a quote.

A big thank you to Mark Dyer and others with their assistance in the research and development of these models, it really has been invaluable.

All our aircraft now come with their own stands and can be displayed in flying mode if required.

 

[tmanthegreat]

Beautiful selection of aircraft this month!

However, I’ve got a random question:
Are there any plans to revisit the Bristol Blenheim or similar RAF light or medium bombers? I always kind of regret not jumping on a Blenheim when they were available a year or two ago.

Thanks for any intel

 

[Gunn Miniatures]

Beautiful selection of aircraft this month!

However, I’ve got a random question:
Are there any plans to revisit the Bristol Blenheim or similar RAF light or medium bombers? I always kind of regret not jumping on a Blenheim when they were available a year or two ago.

Thanks for any intel

Yes we have Blenheims, Beaufighters, Hampdens and others on the way. The Short Stirling is now completed and on a slow boat to UK as we speak with the Mussolini SM.82 amongst others.

 

[tmanthegreat]

Yes we have Blenheims, Beaufighters, Hampdens and others on the way. The Short Stirling is now completed and on a slow boat to UK as we speak with the Mussolini SM.82 amongst others.

Awesome! Can’t wait to see what you’ve got in the pipeline

 

[Grey Heron]

I look forward Tom for when you showcase the Emily Flying boat..

Thank you.

Cheers,
Grey