Reich Defenders IV Group Build: Strike From Above

No worries. From the looks of it, the Fujimi guns just have two pins, one at each end, to fit the gun.s The Academy kit has the proper mounts and it very well detailed. In fact its just as good as the resin guns i replaced it with. The only differnace is that the resin ones come with the body inside the covers and these covers can be posed open which was ideal for my dio. If it hadn't been for this, i wouldn't have bothered replaceing them.

Hi Bish -- radio boxes! Great, yes please! The Fujimi has nothing in the rear section but the seat, it's a grey pit indeed... No worries re the guns, that's a good approach. I notice the real aircraft seems to have the gondolas standing clear of the wings on shackles of some sort, but at this scale that might be asking a lot, so superglue will probably be doing be honours...

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Looking nice Mike. Just a note on the cannon mounts. The Academy kit has three on the front mount and two on the back. With mine, i painted the aircraft and then added the guns at the end. If you doing this, it might be worth filling the holes for the cannon. I can't be sure the mounts on the Academy kit with line up with the mounting holes on the Fujimi.

On the piece behind the pilots seat, is there anything to go on there. If not, i'll send you the radio's that should go on there. Other than those, the Fujimi pit looks about the same as the Academy, but having the radio's will certainly help fill that out. It should fit in there with the fuselage closed up.

Hi all,

Progress today, the Stuka is pretty much along to her punctuation point. The subassemblies have been brought together -- first, the cockpit mated into the fuselage (note the tape belts):

Then the subassemblies: engine cowling, fuselage and wing ready to come together:

The seams on each subassembly were dressed before they were brought together:

At this point all that remains are a couple of spots where the wing to fuselage joint could do with attention, these being at the fore and aft corners -- the fit of the rest of the parts I can only call superb, other than the tailplanes which could have done with a positive locator for the lower end of the struts to lock the angle. The three radiators were prepainted and masked, and the base of the spinner has been added, as required, but the rest left off as yet, to possibly facilitate a separate application of the spiralschnauz decal.

I'm now waiting on the Eduard mask set and RLM paints to arrive at my LHS, which could be any time in the next couple of weeks, at which time I can resume this bird. The cockpit is very sparse but this kit builds sweetly, and a closed canopy should be forgiving.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Hi Bish -- most generous! If Academy have fined down the sprue gates, perhaps by using higher pressure moulding, they might have avoided the problem. Will PM you!

I assembled the fuselage, wing and engine cowling yesterday, and am hoping to have main structure done today...

Cheers, MIke/TB379

Nice start Mike. As far as i know there are no 72nd barrels for this, i couldn't gind any. I think you have two options. You could get the Aires resin guns. They are meant for the Academy kit, but would also work on this. Or i can send you the guns off my Academy kit as i didn't use them. The sprue attachments are pretty fine and should cut ok.

Hi guys, here's a small progress report. The Fujimi kit has very little cockpit detail, so I started with dark grey (all Tamiya Acrylics), drybrushed with silver, used redbrown for the leather areas, and applied the instrument decal over the panel. The instruments are in raised relief but too low to drybrush without a bit of luck. I used satincoat on the panel first and it took about five rounds of MicroSol to get the decal to pull into the surface. Future was applied to create lenses.

The only detail I have added is harness from slivers of tape, painted Deck Tan.

I'll paint the sight pad as leather and get some grey on the back of the panel as it's exposed in the coambing, then I can bring the fuselage together.

I assembled one of the canons and while the fit is okay the sprue gates are so heavy that cutting the parts free snapped the barrel of each half. I had a look for metal replacements but have not found them in this scale yet. The repair is straight but far from invisible...

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Welcome aboard, Bob, will update p1!

Hey all-I'd like to join this party but it might be a few months before I get started.

Unless something changes, I'll be working on a 1/48 Fw 190F-8...Hasegawa kit.

Good point, it's inviting a strikethrough situation. I've painted the 04 on previous projects, such as a Fw 190 F-8, and I have a Bf 109 F in Werner Molders' markings, with five yellow areas, in progress. I would have finished it long ago except I had a situation with bluetac used for soft masking and have not yet been able to clean away the goop on one side...

M/TB379

The Academy kit has decals for that as well. But i just don't trust yellow decals on such a dark background.

Bish -- yes, I'm thinking about painting them, I have 04 on my order list. Fujimi supply them as decals but the paint option seems preferable if practical.

Yep, January 31st next year -- I'll say that clearly at the next update of p1.

Oh, got the 66 onto the interior parts, and am doing a bit of detail work now...

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Nice, looking forward to seeing how your going to tackle the yellow wing markings. I was thinking about painting mine on when i get to it.

Mike, would i be right in thinking the end date for this is end of Jan next year.

Hi all, here's something to whet your appetite, a parts layout shot of Rudel's bird:

I'm thinking of getting the dark gray into the cockpit today, then I can go through a large part of the assembly. i have an order in for both a mask set and some paints at this time.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Thnaks for that comment Nathan. I just hope i can carry it on with my future builds.

Tony, those Fujimi box arts are very nice. I have quite a few of their Ju 87 kits, and they all have similar boxe's. I rather like unusal aircraft and variants. For the Me 262 RD GB i built the C-1a. And last night i won an MPM A-1a/U3 recon variant, anotehr kit i didn't realise anyone had ever done in this scale. Keep an eye out on E-Bay for the bomber version. There was one on there from the US a couple of months ago but i didn't win that, but they seem to be coming up every to often, and they don't go for that high a price. It will be a few months before i start on mine though.

I have the Itaerli 129B-2, so will be looking forward to your build.

Hi Mike,

Yep, I'm pretty sure it is an Italeri re-box.

Cheers

Tony

Hi Tony -- I would rate "the Reich" for our purposes as including the occupied territories -- the factories and manpower of those regions were utilised to support the war effort and Allied advances through those territories cumulatively eroded the power of the Third Reich.

Okay, will list your kit at this time -- I think it's an Italeri rebox, yes???

Cheers, Mike

Mike - That box art makes me want to start one of those Stukas too.  I'm thinking that I might build the Tamiya 1/72 Henschel 129B-2. It will depend on whether I can find a decal option in the kit or on a decal sheet that fits this GB. For the moment, put me down for that, and I'll investigate the options that I have. Just for my understanding, does defence of the Reich mean defence of Germany or defence of any country that they had occupied ?

Bish - I really like the different versions of the 262, I'll look forward to your build, and also to acquiring that kit myself. Hurry up with it man !

Cheers

Tony

Nice stuka there Mike. Bish has set the bar pretty high here in the 1/72 scale Stuka world. Looking forward to this.

Greentracker98 -- I can understand the sense of going to kit heaven when you encounter a motherload like that! No worries, the build runs a year, if you fancy coming aboard with an Axis ground attacker, you're more than welcome to sign up at any time.

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Okay, mandatory box art shot to start the ball rolling:

This sounds interesting. The only problem is I don't have anything Axis.Unlike most fellow modelers, I don't have a stash of kits. I built or am building everything I bought. Ya'll should see the basement of my local hobby shop. I bet he has literally 20 tons of kits and all kinds of spare parts and such down there. The first time I went down there, I thought I died and went to heaven.

All I can say right now is I might possibly sign on.

Done! I'm getting the itch to cut sprue already myself...

Ye, deffinatly. It looks a pretty nice kit. I am going to add an Aires resin cockpit, but i think that will be it.

Bish -- I have that one somewhere in my stash, I remember it being a most unusual piece -- great, shall I go ahead and list that one as your project?

TB379

The Academy G-1 is a nice kit, i used the eduard mask's and they were very useful with that type of canopy. Look forward to seeing yours, i have a massive soft spot for Stuka's.

I just got a kit today that in got on E-bay. Its an Me 262 variant that i have wanted for ages and only recently found out had ever been produced in 72nd. Its the MPM Me 262A-2a/U2, the one with the bomb aimer in the front. So i will probably do that one.

Bish -- yes, I have the Academy kit lined up as well, including Eduard masks, I might slip that one in too, you never know... A what-if? I see no reason why not, I have no grounded objection to speculation, and Germany came up with so many experimental and proposed concepts it would be impossible to catalog them... So go for it, it's all about fun!

Cheers, Mike

You got it! M

Sign me up Mike, I'll let you know in a little while what it will be.

Cheers

Tony

Look forward to seeing that. I originally got the Fujimi G-1 and G-2. But then replaced them with the Academy kits. As a big Rudel fan, i can't wait to ssee your build. I plan on doing his G-2 as well at some point.

Would German what if aircraft count, just so i know how many kits i have to consider.