1945 GB

Liking that Andrew, that's a nice job on the weathering. Looking forward to seeing it wrapped up.

Having put a push on for the last two days, I think I can call my Stuka finished off now. This, of course, representing Hans Rudel's G2 from SG2 in Germany May 1945. 

I spent two days working on painting and weathering an Eduard wooden airfield surface

Just this morning finished my matte varnishing, attaching MG sights and lifting canopy masks.

Fine EZline made up my antenna wire.  I was impressed that I was able to thread it through my anchor in the tail and the antenna, and then glue it back to itself.

The exhausts are ultracast, painted with Alclad and treated with oils.

I spent a bit of the morning researching photos as to how the gun sights are supposed to rest, figuring they'd be attached to the MG, yet the bead sights would prevent them from retracting into the canopy.  At last, I figured to attach them to the sliding gunner's canopy, thereby making life easier in feeding through the gun sights.

I'd like to thank both Bish and Stickpusher for hosting this group build, very nicely done gents.  It was fun.  Not to mention the beautiful work that's been done for this build.  A bombphoon, Rigidrider's gorgeous auto.  Really nice pieces.

If you gents are doing a front page photo, I'm not picky about which one gets posted.  Thanks again for the hosting gentlemen. 

Andrew, that's a lovely looking Stuka. As you have probably guessed by now, I am a huge Stuka fan, and especially like to see anything flown by Rudel. This is a real joy to see. You are right about the sights, the MG's simply slide into them when pushed out of the cockpit, took me a while to work that out.

I certainly need to ad one of these to my Rudel collection, thanks for building it here and sharing it with us all. I do like that base as well, is that PE.

No, the base is simply injection molded styrene.  It comes as a black piece, so after a layer of primer I took three different Vallejo wood shades, new and old woods, then mahogany.  After that, it was dot filtering with umber, sepia, yellow and payne's grey oils.  I tired to use the three shades of wood to make up the colors in the battle flag.

really, now that sounds ok. I have seen cardboard bases like this, but they are just to flat. I didn't know Eduard did anything like this, I am going to have to see if they do it in 72nd. thanks for the info.

you're welcome

Nice job on Rudel's Stuka, Andrew.  Looks like a veteran, with very effective weathering.  Well-done base.  Never encountered one of these before.

Thanks, Checkmate.  It was a fun build, and aside from fixing the wingtips, which wasn't too hard, an easy one.

Andrew , sweet work on the Stuka!

Had you not mentioned the flag on the base, I would of never noticed it - very cool!

regards,

Jack

Thanks very much, Jack.

I didn't notice the flag either, I thought it was some strange mark on the base. I rather like that, how did you do it Andrew.

Well, Bish, it was the three layers of wood shade, as I mentioned.  I printed off the flag three times, and basically cut paper masks out from the print.  I used the mahogany as the red in the flag, as it has a red tinge.  I used new wood as the white, and old wood for the black.  The old wood shade by Vallejo has a dark tinge to it.  A little blue tack held the paper down, and then just really light sprays.  I wanted to keep it very understated.  After that, it was dot filtering with oils to break up the finish a bit, make it less monotonous.  I find the oils also help create that 'realistic' wood.  It's more understated in the photos than it is in natural light, though not much more pronounced in natural light.  

The bases from Eduard generally come unpainted, so I like playing around with them a bit.

Andrew, your Stuka looks great! I have added her to the front page. I do like that stand and the final effect you achieved on the wood planking.

Some progress here. Not much to show, just a set of Sherman wheels.

Moving along with the JPIV although the real world is not cooperating. Kit's pretty much a wrap. Might fiddle a little more with the pigments. Then we need some proper foliage and a simple base. And I'll start building road wheels (Zen modelling that requires so little brains that I have much left for listening to Bach - or maybe Haydn's "Emperor Quartet" - the inspiration for Deutschland Uber Alles and supposedly the last song played by radio Berlin in May 45) for the Stalin tank.

Eric

Thanks very much, Stick.

I haven't posted anything in a bit but I'm working on the base for my WR360 Loco and Schienenwolf. The first photo is the base with ties and the second is all the cleat with rails. 

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Terry

Well, I got started on the Eduard 1:48 Spitfire Mk. VIII that came out in March. Since it's new, I'll give a mini review here.

I was excited to get this, and I have to say that it's one of the single best kits I've ever seen in this scale at first look. The recessed detail is crisp and subtle, much like Eduard's Bf-109 E series in 1:48. There are markings for six aircraft, and I am opting to build the Aussie one because I have a few Brit Spits already and I like the shark mouth. The color PE set is typical Eduard, and is very nice.

As I began building it, it was really apparent that this thing is well-engineered. The wheel wells comprise 15 parts on their own, and they fit perfectly. The cockpit is nice, and even if you don't have the PE set, there are nice touches like the armor plate having a tapered edge to give it the impression of scale thickness. Control surfaces are molded separate from the wings, and while I don't care about that with the ailerons, it's really nice for the elevators, since Spits seem to always have them dipped down (in the dive position) when they're on the ground. Flaps are molded into the wings.

The wings themselves are great - no random open panel options to complicate the building. There are options for three different wingtips, and the LF (clipped) wingtips are molded in both solid, and clear - so you can keep the navigation lights clear.

Masks are included, which is nice since Eduard has you installing the under wind lights before the wings themselves are assembled. I'd still prefer to drop them in at the end, but this probably makes for a tighter fit.

So far, I've done most of the cockpit. There are a bunch of small PE parts for items like the compass, and Eduard gives you spares in case they decide to take flight on their own off the fret. I was able to keep all of mine, so I'll have a compass and a few other parts for my Tamiya Spitfire V that I have in the stash.

The exhaust pipes and cannon are out on the side, and Eduard has molded them with recessed openings, so you don't need to drill them out (I believe this sprue might be the one from their Spitfire IX).

The one complaint I have so far is that the hood is provided as two pieces that need to be joined, and I found it hard to have a consistent depth in the seam. I'll probably have to fill it and describe it so it doesn't look funky.

Decals are Cartograf, and there is no engine. I like that the tires are molded separate from the wheels so you don't have to be as careful painting them.

Here are a couple quick pics I snapped tonight.

I still need to hit some details, like the white handle for the throttle and a few others, but the cockpit is well on its way to being done. I can't wait to get to main assembly.

-BD-

Wow, Incredible pit BD and at 1/48 too. Nice  

Well, well, well, long time no post. Life has kept me very busy as of late.

Here is the forward superstructure, almost done. I still need to install 2 more single AA guns and the signal lanyards to the yardarm. After I get that I'll work on the aft structure,mast hangers and cats.

I'm getting there.

Steve

Terry, sorry, I missed that post. The base is looking nice, that's coming on well.

BD, nice looking pit. Sounds like a well detailed kit.

Steve, that's looking amazing. There is so much in just that one piece, lovely work.

Thanks, Steve and Bish.

Steve, that's great looking superstructure. I don't think I have the patience for ship modeling, but I do love the sleek lines of a warship. Can't wait to see more progress on yours.

-BD-

OK,

Jagdpanzer IV is done. I want to reveal it briefly in two posts. The pics below show the kit as it will stand - you can see bits of the base I concocted. However, I'm going to add some embellishments to complete the simple diorama: especially quite a bit of foliage. Problem is that when the foliage is on quite a bit of the kit will obscured. In the long run it doesn't matter to me. I have serious space problems and after a kit sits for a while on the one place where they're well seen, a new kit will kick it off a few weeks later. At that time the base will go and the JP will look as it does here. I'll post the final pics tomorrow. I'll also write up a build log for the armor section.

Eric

Best of luck. I know Eduard's reputation and I've built a few of their 1/48 fighters myself. I've found that they really look the part of a great model and all turned out well in the end. However, everyone has been worth a heart attack somewhere - I had one astounding misfit that required some really major surgery. Maybe it's been bad luck or driver error. I really like their accessories and Cartograf decals are tops. (Dragon is a little that way. Sometimes very fine parts will fit like a glove, the next day some fit will bite you in the face. Like Eduard DML are very well priced and that's worth something considering the detail involved.) I have too many Spits in the stash, but if yours turns out well I'll send one to eBay.)

Eric

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.

Here's tonight's work, I got the signal lanyards, missing AA guns and the bridge windows darkened, at least I think it's the bridge. Since the bridge windows were rectangular I just painted them rather than drill like I did for the portholes. Now to put the assembly in a safe place until I need it later.
On to the aft structures.

Steve

Really nice build there Eric. Is that a home made tree in the background.

Eric - GREAT job on that JP IV! I like the finish, and I think you nailed the storage.

Steve - Definitely coming along. Nice progress.

-BD-

Well after posting this last night, I went back to the bench and kept telling myself, "Ok, one more thing" until I realized I had the fuselage halves together and the wings ready to accept them.

There was a somewhat-significant gap in front of the instrument panel. I believe this came more from my trimming it too much than from any fault of Eduard's, but I can't remember. In any case, I masked it and filled it, then let it dry overnight.

Today, I sanded it smooth, finishing it with 12,000-grit micro mesh.

I then fitted the fuselage into the wings. The fit is so tight that I really didn't need any glue, though I of course did glue it. 

Seams on the bottom were minimal, mostly consisting of the rear wing-to-fuselage joint that is a common fill spot on Spits.

The one issue I really have with Eduard so far on the design of this kit is the way they made the hood (or bonnet, I suppose) two pieces.

As we cn see below, the Spitfire Mk. VIII didn't have a seam down the centerline of it.

So I don't know why the kit version is two parts. Anyway, I masked it, filled it and pulled the masks off. There is some subtle rivet detail uncomfortably close to the putty, but I'll lay down new masks before I go to sand it and hopefully avoid losing any (but really, I'm not counting them anyway).

The chin was also two pieces, and I kind of get it here, since it's probably more important to line up the joints to the fuselage halves with the detail there. Maybe that was the rationale on the hood, too, but the chin, having no detail on the seam, is much easier to work with.

I will let these dry overnight before I go back and hit them with the sandpaper. The wings were actually exceptional. The only spot I had to fill was one area on each wing where the sprue attached and I wasn't able to get it perfect with the knife. Each bit was literally about half a millimeter in diameter.

The only thing that has me really perplexed is the exhaust pipes. I prefer Tamiya's habit of making them push-in parts that can be added at the end of the build. The way these are engineered is that they are sandwiched by two pieces, giving great detail. I think I will brush them with the final color before assembly and just mask them entirely for the duration of the build. At the end, if there are any discrepancies between the mask and the paint line, I'll figure it out. Fortunately the one I'm building means one stack will be all ocean gray, and the other one will be 5/6 ocean gray with only the front pipe being surrounded by dark green.

-BD-

By the way - those gaps are way more narrow than the filler looks on there. We're talking narrower than a sheet of paper. I just haven't sanded them down yet.

-BD-

Kit: Tamiya Jagdpanzer IV (Lang) 1/35

Paints: Vallejo, AK, AK streaking

Pigments – Sennelier and Gamblin

Andrew, the Stuka has come out so well. The weathering is great, looking very realistic. The idea and execution of the base has come up really well.

Jibber, its coming along planning well ahead there. I'd have the model finished before I got the base started - which is why so few of my models are on bases.

Unlike Eric who has gone all out there. As you said a shame to cover up the model, but not many JPIVs would have been wandering around without good cover.

BrandonD the Eduard Spit looks good, watching this with interest. I have the 48th Hasegawa and a Ventura 72nd offering of the MkVIII. Neither look this good. Both will be RAAF planes in time. And I think you said this will be Bobby Gibbes's spitfire? I will do one of his other planes for the Aces GB.

And MC - That looks superb - I am inspired and intimidated at the same time - and am looking forward to following your build as it goes along through the year.

The Shinden comes along in bits and spurts. Weekends back at home are now required to do the camo. I tried masking and painting the red spots - I blame Andrew myself. But like anything to do with our hobby practise makes perfect.