1/48 Lindberg JU-87B Stuka - Completed

Hey Mike,

Just wanted to add my 2 cents.  Great job with this old tub!  You are really making it shine!  I've walked by that 2 for 1 combo pack and just couldn't pull the trigger on it.  It was probably the crappy box art and my fear of most things Lindberg!!  Really appreciate you sharing your build and showing us your different painting techniques.

That rear gunner's machinegun looks a little strange.  It reminds me of a British Lewis gun used on WWI biplanes and on Tamiya's LRDG trucks....Weird!  Checked out a few pictures on the web and it looked like the German MG had a dual drum magazine that straddled the weapon's breech.  Interesting interpretation......

Coming along great; can't wait to see it all decaled up!

TAD

Thanks, Jay. Painting it all over again would have been far more time consuming with all of the remasking in reverse. Adding a filter was the easier solution to the problem. If I'd gone with a red filter the color would've changed to brown, and a yellow filter would've changed it to an Olive color. Filters are fun. I changed the entire color of my 1/72 Churchill from green to brown with a red water color filter. It actually really easy to do if you want to change a tone or an entire color without repainting all over again.

Try it, you'll like it. lol

Solid exhaust pipes really detract from the look of a model. Its like leaving flash or seam lines on things. It may seem small and unimportant to the casual modeller, but its those small things that are the difference between a good model and a great one. Well, that's my opinion on it anyways lol. I don't always produce a great model.

If I can find the time I'm going to try to spray the bottom tonight. Big plans for the weekend and I have much to prepare lol.

Have a great weekend my friends. Happy modelling!!

That carving work to the pipes really add to the build. You are doing that old gal  justice.

Holy cow !

What an amazing difference with the filter added.  I probably would've started over with the paint job in error.  TY for posting this ,I learned a great deal

Alrighty then! I'm happy with these results. I used Veridian Green artist's oil for the filtering. In the picture below you can see the filtering applied to the tail section and the left wing. The fuselage and right wing are pre-filter.

Filtering complete; Indoor

and in daylight;

And a freshly sprayed clear cote;

I like how the contrast picked up and into the green spectrum. Just a simple operation of rub it on and wipe it off. Of course I went through a ransom of q-tips in the wiping off portion of the job, but they are fairly inexpensive lol.

I started adding a green oil filter to the tail. Its working perfectly. Pictures soon!  :D

Well I couldn't find a good splinter diagram so I went with my own. Its okay, but not very good. I might be able to get away with it though. After the second color went on and the masking came off I realized I lightened the black-green too much and the colors are almost blended together into one seamless tone. I'll have to use a filter over the black-green to bring it out better and up the contrast.

So all of that modulating and I still went over it with a 50/50 mix of Tamiya smoke and Vallejo clear matte to bring up the shading I was after. It looks good on the lighter shade and is about where I wanted it, but it only enhanced the modulation on the black-green and so its looking bad to me. Nothing I can't attempt to correct however.

Here are some pictures for thought and comment. I'd like to hear your opinions here. To me, the post shading is poorly done and the colors are off to my eyes. Both things I think I can fix.









Am I wrong? Let me know.

Apres? I don't know what that is.

I'm not sure what gun it is either. It doesn't look German at all. Looks like a French contraption to me.

M. Brindos

Yeah, Bish, its from the kit. I spruced it up a touch with some sprue bits on the drum mag and hollowed out the barrel tip, but its the kit piece. The only thing I don't like about it is the preportions seem to be too small. But as I've stated before some details are too thick or too small. It did paint up pretty though.

 

Thanks Mike, didn't know if you had got it from the apres, i am still trying to work out what gun it is. You have done a nice job on it.

Thanks Max! Appearently I have a knack for that. You're not the first person who has said that about me lol.

All I know is that I enjoy what I do. I like doing it and I press on through mistakes and failures. Eventually I end up with something I appreciate.

I guess I have a weird attraction to sub-par kits though. I'm always picking up something the rest of you have passed on lol.

Wow Mike, you really are making a silk purse from a sow's ear. I was skeptical.  Cool work so far!

Max

Thank you guys. Its the same technique I used on the Corsair. Modulating the colors to bring out highlights and shapes that would otherwise blend together. I've determined that I will most likely have to do some post shading to bring the camouflage together and unify the scheme for the look I'm after.

When I painted the Corsair I used about four different shades of that dark blue to give it a sun faded appearence, but that's not the plan for this build. I'd like to have a fresher look for this one.

I've also been looking for the correct splinter pattern for this aircraft. The best one I can find online thus far is on the Sprue Bros. web page. The pattern that comes in the instructions is ...incomplete, and I do not believe it is correct. Does anyone have a clear diagram of the splinter camouflage scheme for Rudel's Stuka? Those are the markings that come with this kit, minus the swas for the tail, which I will have to make a mask for.

Hi Mike,

You have me interesting in trying this technique.  I never done it before and looks like fun.  The Stuka is coming along great.  Good luck in the next steps. 

Excellent base coat!  The modulation of acrylic colors to bring out shading is an amazing technique.  

Toshi

Thank you! :D  That was my first time with a siphon feed AB. I didn't work all that well, but it got the job done.

As for this evening, I sprayed the first color of Black-Green over the fuselage. I may have to do a little correcting, but I think for tonight this will suffice.

I started with an overall coverage of the color right out of the bottle.

And then lightened the paint with a little white and modulated a bit. It gives me the same effect as pre shading.

I'm rather excited to see the next color go on. I'm going to clear it and let it dry until tomorrow evening before I start masking for the next color. Cross your fingers this will work as I hope it will lol.

M. Brindos

This build does bring up fond memories of long ago.  :)

Amen to that!!  And the Corsair is a beaut!

Funny you should mention Monogram. I have been thinking all day about seeing if I could have a second chance with ol' Detroit Miss! I loved that kit and I never was able to do it any justice lol.

What I didn't know then, that I know now, is that half of the Testors kits I loved back in the 90's was that they were rebranded Hawk kits.

I miss those as well, and I'm glad to have been able to build that F4U-1 kit again. It turned out pretty dang sweet. Its now featured on Testors web page http://www.testors.com/project-catalog/recreate-history/148-f4u-1-corsair/

This build does bring up fond memories of long ago.  :)

Mike, this is awesome!!  I cut my modeling teeth on Lindberg, Hawk, Monogram and Revell kits in the late 60s early 70s.  I have the canopy and one landing gear from this kit in a parts box. 

If it weren't for these classics who knows where the hobby would be?

Great job and inspirational as well.

Yeah, Bish, its from the kit. I spruced it up a touch with some sprue bits on the drum mag and hollowed out the barrel tip, but its the kit piece. The only thing I don't like about it is the preportions seem to be too small. But as I've stated before some details are too thick or too small. It did paint up pretty though.

Some nice progress Mike. Is that MG from the kit.

Thanks, Toshi. The masking is a little wonky in a few spots at the back where the framing isn't as pronounced as it could have been. I'll have some touch-ups to do later to fix it as best I can.

Thanks, Trey. I'm doing my best to whip it into shape. I think I'm doing okay so far.  :)

I finished up painting the ordnance last night. Big fish, little fish, one fish, four fish. Machine gun. lol



I think I've got everything in primer now. Just a matter of letting it all cure for a while before I head into some kind of marathon painting session.

Have a good one, gents!!

Great work beating this kit into proper shape, like the limited run kits these can be a challenge yet quite rewarding! 

The masking for the cockpit windows look first rate!  That takes time and patience.  The Stuka is coming along nicely.

Toshi

Thank you for the confidence boost, Toshi!  :D  I know you're going to like this kit when you decide to pick it up. It's just nice to build. :D

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Well I got that canopy masking all sorted out. I was up till around 1am finishing that up with a clear cote to seal around the tape edges and then a cote of grey for the interior color of the window frames.





This morning I started in on all of the small bits that go on this build. Speed brakes, bomb sling, tail wheel,Small bombs and their racks, and the MG for the back of the pit. Oh, and one thing Lindberg has provided that I think is neat is that there are little plaques for both the Stuka and the 262.






So all I have left are these little bits to clean up and it'll just be a lot of painting for a while.  :)



Thanks for lookin'-in! Have a great day gents.

Oh, I forgot!  The toothpick guns are ingenious!

Toshi

The Stuka looks fantastic, you're moving along very quickly in finishing your kit!  I will agree, masking the rear of the canopy can be challenging at best.  This kit in your hands will turn out to be awesome!

Toshi

For this evenings update it doesn't appear that I've gotten much done.  :/

I sanded the rudder, sanded and attached the ailerons and flaps, attached the footholds, painted up the wheels, the 500Kg bomb, and matched the blue on the spinner to the blue on the decal sheet. Lastly, I'm working on masking the canopy. Without one of the lovely Eduard masking sets you guys are always raving about, its taking a little time lol.


I left a bit of the sprue gate on the tip of the bomb and shaped it into the fuse after the glue dried. I then drilled the tip and used a bit of stretched sprue for the actual fuse. That turned out pretty good and I'm really happy with it. The wheels got various layers of mixed paint until I was happy with the resulting color. I then gave it a wash around the rims, gave the hubs a wash with Tamiya Smoke, and finally weathered the tires with Tamiya weathering sets. I really like the way that the "Oil Stain" (set D) looks when rubbed over tires. With a little mud and sand (set A) to get the tires looking like they've been in contact with a runway.


This is a virtual birdhouse of glass. The little triangles in front have given me a little trouble, but I'm really only worried about the back where the gunner sits. That's some complicated shapes to trim out.

Anyways, that's what I've got for you guys tonight. Getting near bed time and I have to finish up that canopy or it will slow up my plans for tomorrow. 

Thank you, Toshi. They do look a little better to me today. Some of the shiny-ness has worn down as the layers of paint have cured. I will not be starting the 262 any time soon as it will just remain in the stash for now.

lol! That mottling was just some practice tests with the AB. Since I switched out the last seal in my compressor for a piece of leather it has been working amazingly well.

A little update....

Canopy glass pinned for ease of masking and painting.

This should make it easier for me to not have to mask the MG and install it after painting.

So, yeah. That's a little progress. I'm working on the wheels today and whatever else seems like it needs be done at that time.