Reich Defenders IV Group Build: Strike From Above

I feel your pain... Here's hoping this is the very last snag!

M/TB379

Hey guys, remember my P-47?

I had a bunch of decal problems again. The decals for the fuselage and wing codes were ripped off by the de-tacked tape I used to mask off the crosses while respraying them. The most interesting thing is, however, that the decals didn't go off completely like you would expect. Only the damn paint and the clear coat on top got removed while the carrier film stayed on the model!!! That was simply too much for me to handle, so I set her aside for a few days to not get too frustrated and ruin the model. I've been working on painting on all the codes line by line and weathering the panel lines with flory washes. The only thing left to do now is finishing the landing gear, propeller and bombs and glue all of them in place. Then a little bit more fine-tuning on the overall weathering in form of additional oil streaking and grime on the yellow lower surfaces as well as the exhaust staining and she's done. I should be able to do all of that untill next weekend if I don't run into any more decal problems, which is almost impossible because there are only 3 very small LF-Models decals left on the model. Everything else has been repainted... (never again!)

Oh, man! I truly feel your frustration -- to be chasing your tail to get a particular set of elements to conform to your intentions and have them defy you so consistently... It's thankfully rare in the hobby! I salute your persistence, and look forward to the finished project, which I know will be spectacular!

Mike/TB379

Yeah, this Jug is the most enjoyable project I worked on so far if it wasn't for those decals. I want to build her sister (T9-LK) at some Point, but I'll just go with a set of miracle masks for that one... The finish won't be perfect as you can still see where I sanded down the decal wrinkles in a few spots and the paint suffered a bit under the repeated applications of micro-sol and the constant handling to get the markings to look good, but I think it's going to look good enough once all the weathering is done and the final dullcoat is on.

I have a really dumb question: Were German bombs mounted the same way as American ones? Because the SC500 bombs for my Jug are about the same size as the bombs originally fitted to the P-47s pylons and the holes for what I think should be mounting pins have almost the same spacing. I think I can get away with simply mounting the bombs to the original brackets supplied with the kit and don't have to come up with something clever myself. Do you guys have any info on that?

Regarding the next round of RD:

Looky what I found at ma LHS on Saturday:

This beauty was just too awesome not to buy, so I brought her home with me

I don't know how many parts there are in total, but one of the engines alone consists of over 60 parts! My Tamiya P-47 in comparison only has a bit less than 200 parts for the entire model...

The cockpit is also the best OOB office I've ever seen. Everything is finely detailed and the canopy parts are very thin and perfectly clear, so everything of it will be visible on the completed model.

The kit comes with 2 seated resin figures and position lights made out of colored resin as well as metal landing gear struts and a nose weight.

Well, I guess we're doing nightfighters then -- it's a great theme! That's a seriously fantastic kit and I look forward to having one in due course, until then I'll make do with the Tamiya 48!

I guess the question is when you'd all like to start -- mid-year or later??? Who's in???

Cheers, Mike/TB379

I'd prefer to start later. I have a lot of projects to complete before getting this monster of a kit on my bench.

I'm in how about sept-oct start

The Jug is finished!!!

I might ad some more chipping at the wingroots and access panels, but otherwise I'm quite happy with the way she looks consideing all the problems I had. I can't post pictures yet though because I have to take her to my LHS (they have a better photo setup than me).

Terrific! I was hoping she was going to make it across the line! I look forward to the pics, as I'm sure we all do, it's a rare bird alright!

M/TB379

Hey Guys, I don't have any pics of the completed Jug yet, but here's a little teaser:

This little gem was probably the most time consuming part of the build (the only thing that took longer were those damn decals). I had to add a pushrods and scratchbuild ignition wire harness as well as the 36 wires (2 for each cylinder) themselves, but I really enjoyed every single step. You can't really see a lot of the engine (including most of the wiring), but it was worth it IMO.

Really nice engine SS!!

Mike - I'm in for a night fighter build!  Sept-Oct sounds like a good start date.

Steve

Hey Mike... (ThunderBolt) Night Fighters??? If your putting out feelers, I'm in!

Take care!

Doug (RR)

I finished this one earlier in the Pfeil Do335 build with Clemens and am looking forward to another! (Pfeil and some other type) of Night fighter!

Thanks

Doug 

I've got 110's 88's and 262's oh my.  Just wish I had a 188

Did someone mention Night fighters. Been a while since we had one of those GB's. Later in the year would be ideal for me as well. I have 88's, 335's, 262's P.1101 amongst others, but I think this will be the excuse I need to do a 219. I doubt I will be able to do the Revell 32nd kit, but I have plenty of Dragon ones to choose from and a good chance to practice the camo scheme.

SS, be nice to see that ZM kit. I was in two minds but decided to opt for the Revell instead.

Bish: The ZM kit looks like it's going to be a great project. They supply you with 2 complete engines that look as nice as most AM engine sets do. A nose weight and metal landing gear are also included in the box, as well as a pilot and radar operator figure (seated)

My LHS had a built Revell 219 on display a while ago and I think there's something wrong with the canopy shape. It looks too wide and flat to me, which results in the whole nose-section looking kinda ugly as far as I am concerned. I could be mistaken of course, but you might want to check that canopy shape...

The ZM kit has 2 different canopies you can choose from: One is the classic approach of molding the frame and glass areas as one large part and the other one consists of the frame being one part and the glass areas provided as separate parts. So if the Revell kit really got the shape wrong I could send you one of the canopies (provided I don't break one and have to use both)...

Thanks SS. I had heard there was a couple of issues with the Revell kit. I don't mind paying the sort of money they want for the ZM kit if I thought it would be worth while. But aside from everything else, it seems like your paying for all that wing sparring, which for me, I wouldn't want on show anyway. I wil defiantly be looking out for their 335 and 229 and if Revell don't come out with kits, I will go for the ZM, but when there's a good alternative, I just had to go for that.

And thanks, it will be ages before I get round to the revel kit, but would the ZM canopy work, isn';t the A-7 slightly different to the A-0. I will have to dig the kit out and have a look, still not decided on what AM to get yet.

Hey Mike ( TB)  I think its time to put a feeler out for this. This could be huge. Reich Defender V --They only come out at night--.  Oh I can't keep myself from being giddy

I'm no Uhu expert by any means, so I don't know if the ZM canopy is right for an A-7. You don't really pay for the wing spars, but rather for the 2 engines (I've even seen some AM sets that look bad compared to them), a great looking cockpit full fuselage interior (including the "Schräge Musik") and gun bays. It really comes down to personal preference, but I just love my 1/32 birds stuffed with interior details... The only bad things with the ZM 219 are the tires (they look horrible compared to the rest of the kit) and the seatbelts (you get optional seats without them though if you want to add fabric or PE belts).

Doug -- that's one I've been interested in doing for years! Wow!!! yes, by all means, we're gathering squadron members for a nightfighters build, starting either later in the year or kicking off January 1st next year. It has loads of potential, and will be a great project!

M/TB379

TJ -- I think you're right! I'll draft up a feeler and get it onto the aircraft forum later today. This could be a very lively GB indeed!

M/TB379

I was at my LHS today in order to get some pics of the T-Bolt, but the owner didn't take the damn camera with him. I'll have to wait untill next Saturday to get those pics, but I'll post them as soon as I can get them up on PB...

ThunderBolt... Sounds good to me! I'll be watching for the start date... Thanks

Doug

I finally got the pics i promised you so long ago. I managed to damage the model while taking the pictures, so i had to go back and fix all of that. I'll post them later today...

Fabulous, buddy! It's such a frustration when you do damage along the way, I know what perseverance it takes to get there in the end. I look forward to the pics!

M/TB379

And Photobucket fails me again...

Here's the final update on my P-47:

Took me longer than I expected because life got in the way...

The only decals on this model are: 1 swastika, fuselage and wing crosses (they are painted over though, so i dont think they count as decals anymore), the number 9 on one of the wings, and 1 of the "T9" code segments. Everything else is completely painted on because those decals didnt behave at all...

Enough talking, here are some pics for you:

I have no idea where that black area on the cowl flaps came from, but it isn't there on the real model...

Engine before final assembly:

And after:

It's a shame most of it is hidden by either the prop or the cowling, but I still think it's a great addition to the Tamiya kit.

I hope it was worth the wait...

Cheers, Clemens 

Clemens,

Looks great; you must be very happy with the final outcome!  Totally worth the wait.

Quite odd seeing her in Luftwaffe livery, but great subject for modeling.

Congratulations.