Off to a great start as always. I really do need to add a Storch to the collection, great aircraft. Are you doing the one in the profile you posted, Rommels aircraft.

The Storch which took Mussolini didn't take off from the roof of the hotel but it was a very small landing area on the top of the mountain.

Look forward to seeing more of this.

Bish

 

The Storch which took Mussolini didn't take off from the roof of the hotel but it was a very small landing area on the top of the mountain.

 

 

Thanks for following along Bish. Yep, that exact plane. I’m not sure if it’s Rommel’s or not. The guy I’m building it for sent me that  picture and said “build it”!  

I read about that particular raid awhile ago and I must have messed up the facts. Perhaps I was thinking about something else.  Thanks for clarifying that. Did this thing ever land on a hotel roof? I swear I read that somewhere. 

It certainly would not be impossable given the short take off and landing of the Storch. It may be that some articles on the Gran Sasso raid may refer to it being on the roof of the mountain, so that combined with the passage of time can confuse things.

That’s a nice build of an interesting aircraft. Pretty iconic.

For the Gran Sasso raid, the assault was with 10 DFS230 gliders. For propaganda purposes Otto Skorzeny got a lot of exposure and most of the credit although paratroops did the bulk of the operation, not his SS troops.

Skorzeny wanted to use a FA 223 helicopter, but there wasn’t a reliable one available.

The Storck came in light. Mussolini was fat, and Skorzeny was a big guy. He insisted on riding out with Il Duce for the reason I mentioned, and they barely got off the ground.

They didn’t have to fly too far before transferring to a He 111.

The attacking force left by funicular railway.

Again a pretty cool model and it looks like a good kit.

Another great start LD!

the weathering and detail look great!

Looking great so far. Love the fact that they incorporated metal components when extra strength was needed. A few other kits could use that

Hey Joe,

Great start on the Storch! I saw one of these fly about 10 years ago at Fantasy of Flight down in Orlando.  It only needed about 30-40 feet to take off and land.  It was something to see.  

Fantasy of Flight is worth visiting if you get down to Orlando.

Steve

Another great and historic build.  I look forward to your completion of the Storch. 

Your friend, Toshi

Hi Joe! First thing I thought when I saw the post was, “He’s building a what?!” It’s cool you get to learn about a new subject, though.

As far as your build goes, it looks great as usual! Seems you lined up the IP decal a little better than the 109 that made you mad. I always struggle with that as well, gotta be the way the carrier film shrinks over the raised details. The drybushing looks great, your practice paid off. What paint do you use for that, surely not Tamiya?

I remember when this kit came out, there was a lot of fanfare and build up to the 100th 1/48 scale offering. And then the Storch was revealed. I think a lot of people were underwhelmed. But to be honest, I’m impressed they went with a bold choice for such a milestone kit. And they really pulled the stops for this one with a brand new molding technology with the clear and gray plastic, which I haven’t seen utilized much anywhere else. 

Take a look at this site to get a better idea of the 1/48 lineage. Not complete, but mostly there. https://www.tamiya.com/english/products/list/48plane/kit61001.htm

Thanks guys.  I'm glad to have you all along. 

I'm moving right along on this turkey right here.  This thing has been a breeze so far.  It will be a C-3 tropical version in a desert scheme, my first Luftwaffe desert scheme.  After I pre-shaded the panel lines in XF-1 Flat Black, I went with the Tamiya recommended colors of half XF-59 Desert Yellow and half XF-52 Flat Earth over XF-23 Light Blue.  I assume this is their idea of RLM 79 over RLM 78. I started with the XF-23 and added some white to tone it down a bit. I wanted it a little less blue.  

I taped off as much of the underside as I could but this was challenging. with all the braces and stuff. I figured I'd be touching up some overspray later.  Then I mixed the 52 and 59, which I cut it with Tamiya Lacquer thinner.  It went down like silk and I was pleased with the color. I added some white and faded the fabric areas a bit.  

I went back and dusted some straight RLM 79 mixture on to of the lightened areas to blend it in a bit. I was going for subtle.  Once satisfied, used some diluted XF-1 Flat Black and XF-64 Red Brown mixed together and post shaded a bit to give it a worn appearance without getting too crazy with it.  I'll give it an oil wash and some streaking later.  

Almost time for decals...

Nice progress LD, be good to see those decals go on.

Hi ;

 You know of course that Tamiya did another model with this molding technique ? They did the Two Tone red and grey on the Vosper Perkasa Torpedo Patrol Boat !

Thanks Bish.

Tank, I was unaware. I’m not familiar with boats unfortunately, although someone wants me to build them a Schnellboot eventually. Talk about out of my comfort zone, but interesting none the less.

Very nice work. The cockpit is really nice. Looking forward to the finished model.

The Feisler production facility is working overtime. Progress has been quick but outstanding. 

The paint job looks slick , what airbrush and settings do you use?

sanderson_91

Hey Joe,

Great start on the Storch! I saw one of these fly about 10 years ago at Fantasy of Flight down in Orlando.  It only needed about 30-40 feet to take off and land.  It was something to see.  

Fantasy of Flight is worth visiting if you get down to Orlando.

Steve

 

Steve

Fantasy of Flight is actually half way between Tampa and Orlando in Polk City, a few miles SW of Orlando. Kermit Weeks had his Museum in South Dade County at Tamiami Airport south of of Miami but Hurricane Andrew destroyed the museum bulding in August of 1992. He relocated the facility to Central Florida soon afterwards. This is trully an awesome place to visit.

Dog

Doing a spectacular job as usual.

I almost got a 96" RC model with working shock absorbing gear and flaps from a German Model Company back in the mid 1980's but it had a hefty pricetag.

TankerEasy

what airbrush and settings do you use?

Thanks Guys. 

Tanker, I have an Iwata Revolution CR that I've been using for about a year now.  I think it's their middle of the road brush.  I like it but it's a pain to clean the tiny nozzle. I spray around 15 psi for detail work and 20 psi for general coverage stuff (give or take).   

plasticjunkie

I almost got a 96" RC model with working shock absorbing gear and flaps from a German Model Company back in the mid 1980's but it had a hefty pricetag.

Cool!  I have a buddy who flies those.  I'd be too afraid of wrecking it. I'm better at building than flying...  

I went ahead and finished this turkey...er Storch up last night.  Although not even close to my cup of tea, it was probably one of the easiest kits I've ever built.  It practically built itself. Tamiya really did a nice job on this kit.  I wish they would give us a P-38 with this engineering.  Anyways, I digress, it's in Afrika Corp markings from the spring of 1941.  The unit is 2 (H)/14 and may have been Rommel's ride at one time.  I don't know much about the Afrika Korps nor will I pretend to. 

I concocted my own RLM 79 over 78 with my own mixes of Tamiya paints.  These truly are my favorite paints and I wish they would come out with RLM exclusive colors that don't need mixed.  I can never get them right to eye.  The decals are a mix of Avi Print and the kit provided ones.  I found the Avi Prints to be somewhat fragile and had to replace a few with Tamiya decals.  I must say Tamiya's decals seem to be improving in their later kits as they worked great (the crosses and Swastikas are Tamiya).  Weathering is a mix of Flory Washes and AK Interactive enamels.  I've been having success using them both.    

That's about it.  Thanks for following. The 1/32 Tamiya Mustang in Preddy's blue nosed markings is next.  I can't wait to tear into that one.   

Wow that turned out really nice.  Such an interesting gangly airframe.   Well done

That's a lovely job you've done there

She has come out great LD, really nice woprk on the weathering.

Will be looking forward to your Bodney Mustang.