Erich Hartmann was born on April 19th, 1922 in Weissach, Germany.
He joined the Luftwaffe in 1940 and finished his flight training in 1942. After being posted to JG 52, he began to gather victories, until reaching in 1944 the tally of 301 aircraft shot down, while also receiving the Knight´s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamongs on August 25th of the same year. By the end of World War Two, Hartmann had gathered a total of 352 kills, 345 of them being Soviet aircraft, while the other 7 were American aircraft.
After being imprisoned in the Soviet Union, he was released in 1955, and by 1956 he was back in Western Germany´s Luftwaffe, becoming Commander of JG 71 "Richtofen."
Hartmann died on September 20th, 1997, in Weil im Schönbuch, Germany.

This model took me a week to build, from opening the box to adding the landing gear.
There´re 78 pieces in total, most fit really well, but the cowlings are a bit oversized for the area in which they go, so they should be trimmed.
I used Hasegawa´s painting instructions for this kit, and it shows because I missed adding the tail mottling. I should have checked photos of the real aircraft.

Aircraft in queue:
Airfix Bf 109E-4 1:48.
Hasegawa Fw 190A-6 "Sturmstafel 1" 1:48.
Pegasus Hobbies Fw 190A-3 1:48.
Tamiya J2M3 "Raiden" 1:48.
Revell Germany P-51C Mustang III 1:48.
Academy Bf 109G-2/G-6 1:48.
Revell Ar 555 1:72.
I need more Allied aircraft for my collection (aircraft I´ll be getting soon). I especially need a Spitfire, whatever mark´s available (maybe a I for the Battle of Britain or a IX with decals for Pierre Closterman´s aircraft).

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