1/48 Hasegawa Ju-87 B-2 "Stuka" (FINISHED)...
Hello all, I decided to shelve my Dauntless temporarily and switch gears to perhaps the first legitimate terror weapon, the Ju-87 Stuka. Its one of those subjects I've always wanted to build, particularly a Battle of Britain version complete with the "Jericho Trumpet". It may have been no match for them Spits and the Canes, but it sure looked (and sounded) menacing. Bish's Stuka Group Build prompted my enthusiasm about this subject and I found one on E-bay reasonably priced. So here I go. I figured not everyone followed the Group builds (guilty 
), so I would post a WIP thread here as well.
For this project I procured a Quickboost seat(s). I may still add wheels and guns....we'll see. I procured Superscale sheet (#48-0833) which has two B-1s and a B-2 from the summer and fall of 1940. On a side note, I'm curious as to why most Stuka decal sheets represent B-2s from the Russian front? Was the B-2 not used over England in 1940? If not, Perhaps I'l back date the kit. My research said the main difference is the exhausts and the radiator flaps under the chin. I also read that "late B-1" Stukas had the exhausts upgraded to the B-2 versions? Any help here would be great for I am not Stuka expert. Understand that "close enough" is good enough for me, so I'm not too worried about a panel line here or vent there.....
I thought the cockpit on the kit was okay...not great, but okay. I've seen much worse. Lately I've been on a trend of using out of the box 'pits that are hard to see, perhaps to save time, dough and energy. The Dauntless, which is similar in design, proved this to me. I wsn't gonna spend more than I paid for the kit on an Aires cockpit (I just called you out Aires...lower those prices....100 bones for a P-51 detail set is just silly...I'll stick with True Details and Ultracast....end of tangent rant
). Besides,careful painting could go along way right? I figured with this guy I would just replace the seat and be done with it. Its the main focal point of the cockpit anyways. There is a kit supplied decal for the instrument panel. I decided I would use that too. Here I laid out all of the cockpit pieces before I dove in..
I got alot of positive feedback on my step-by-step cockpit detailing on my recent Dauntless WIP thread. I figured I would do the same again, except with a German cockpit this time.
I started by spraying everything XF-1 Flat Black. This allows for shadowing when the interior color is added. My research showed that German 'pits were RLM 02 during the Battle of Britain then changed to RLM 66 sometime in 1941. I used Gunze Aqueous RLM 02 thinned with X-20 for this.
Then its detail painting time. My method involves Tamiya paints dipped into 91% Isoprophyl. The alcohol makes it dry very fast and prevents streaking. Here I painted the boxes and such XF-69 NATO Black.
Here you can see that the Quickboost seat(s) are very nice. I painted the seatbelts XF-57 Buff and the hardware with Floquil Bright Silver on a fine brush. Sometimes I use a silver Sharpie for the silver.
Here's the 'pit is drybrushed with Floquil Bright Silver (Enamel) detail painted, to include some knobs and switches picked out in red,yellow, and blue. It now gets a coat of Testor's Gloss Coat for a wash barrier.
Once dry, perhaps an hour or so, it gets a Detailer wash. I use a brown and black mixed. I think this stuff is the best thing since sliced bread. Just slop it on...wait a couple of minutes.....then rinse it off with water to your liking.
After the wash has been removed. You can scrub off as much as you want. To my eye, this is about right. As a side note, I lost the gun sight and dash handle bar thingy somehow, so the replacement sight is from a Hasegawa Bf 109 and the bar thingy was scratch built from styrene (see lower right below)
Sealed with a Testors dull coat thusly..
....and after a light post shading, we are finished. The instrument panel is the kit decal soaked in Micro Sol. After the dull coat, I added a drop of epoxy to simulate the glass lenses
The nice part of out of the box 'pits......the fuselage usually closes without a fuss
. Here's a test fit.
......and there's my Luftwaffe cockpits in a nut shell.
More to come soon.
Joe