Ju 87 Stuka GB

I finished a week or so ago before I smashed my wrist.  I haven't taken any pictures till now. 

That don't sound good, any idea what caused it.

Well had a problem last night.   Putting decals on.  The upper balkenkruze on both wings started fogging the clear coat.  Had to strip and repaint part of the wings

I'll be darned.

Thanks Reasoned and Bish.

Looking nice Greg. Those bits at the end of the stabilizers are balancers for the elevator and I think Reasoned may be spot of as to why they look like that. The shape possible deflects the air in a dive stopping the elevators being moved. But I can't find anything definitive on it.

Not sure Greg but my guess is a weight of some sort to help keep the flap "stable" when in a dive.

Nothing to really look at or comment on, just proof of life (IOW, I haven't given up on this hair-puller-outer yet). Please excuse bad cell phone shot taken in the dark. (it's grey, not pink.....honest)

Just shot some Mr Surfacer everywhere except cowling where I have some more grinding (ha ha) to do and masking to figure out how to do.

Can anyone tell me what those odd-looking contraptions at the outboard ends of the horizontal stabilizers and elevators were for?

Thanks, Bish.

Yes, a sad tale--

Will post some photos soon, I hope.  Already finished most of the sub-assemblies.

shiny shiny. Be nice to see the markings on Johnny.

check, sorry, I did read that post before but missed you out in my reply. Ouch, that sounds like one Stuka that didn't pull out of its dive. But glad to hear your staying with us. Will up date roster tomorrow.

Greg

CMK, sorry to hear about the drop disaster.

tempestjohnny

Had just sprayed the future to shine it up for decals going on.

Yep. The fun is about to begin now. span="" id="mce_marker" data-mce-type="bookmark">

(I wish the 'party' emoticon worked)

Had just sprayed the future to shine it up for decals going on.

Tempest.....looks like she's shinny and now ready for decals. Mine always look like that then I spray on Micro Dull coat and all is right.

Scott

It's shiny

Zvezda, your patience and techique surely paid off. Thanks for sharing more about how you dealt with that cowl.

Steve, thanks for the input on that fragile bomb  rack.

CMK, sorry to hear about the drop disaster.

Well Steve, I am sure we all have those kits. All we can hope for is that the next one isn't another.

Johnny, I have seen those warnings on the news. Stay safe and stay warm.

Steve: Man that paint job on your Stuka came out great !!!

Steve...Congrats on finishing your bird. You did a fine job on that splinter scheme.

Scott

I don't have any progress to report. Was winter camping this weekend with my son's boy scout troop. Got about 5 inches of snow Saturday. Had a great snowball fight.  Supposed to get a huge storm Monday throughTuesday into Wednesday. Could be up to 2.5 feet

Bish

Steve, really nice job on this. It certainly seems it not an easy build, and it happens to us all. I have the same feelings for the F-16 I am doing now. You get to the stage where you just want it finished no matter what it looks like. Well done for sticking with it and for including it here. All Stuka's are welcome in my world, they all need love.

Front page has been updated.

Thanks Bish, I appreciate that. Yeah, I didn't want to say it but this definitely became one of those 'get it done and move on' kinds of builds. I know some good will come of it as Zvezda said. I at least know that I've learned the importance of planning my steps in advance! Thanks also to Zvezda and CMK for your kind words.

Greg, I had a couple of minor issues with that bracket/bomb assembly (I did find and repair the broken piece, by the way). The bomb attaches to the triangular piece in the fuselage that you had to cut a hole for and glue in an earlier step, but you may find (as I did) that you have to deepen the indentation in the bomb for it to sit flush against the fuselage. It also seemed to me that the bomb itself didn't have holes in it for the bracket's pins to attach to, if that makes any sense. Hope that helps you a little.

Nice looking Stukas, all around.  Congratulations to all of you for doing so well.

Had a major disaster a couple weeks ago.  I dropped the Revell Stuka while sanding the major fuselage seams--and of course it broke in pieces.  Many pieces.

Scrapped it, and dug out my only-other Stuka, from Airfix (1/72).  Been working on that since the crash.

Unfortunately, now the computer is refusing to deal with graphics--probably something majorly wrong with it, and looking into a replacement.

In the meantime, I'll have to post progress photos from work.  Finally got the fuselage (on the Airfix version) closed up and am working on those seams.  Hopefully I will not drop this one.

Again, great looking Stukas here.  They are an inspiration, keeping me motivated.

Thanks for your kind comments fellows.

Raven this is a very nice bird and a hell of a paintjob.

Greg: This cowling has given us all many hours of sheer pleasure, I see

Seriously, in retrospect I love these tough situations, they sharpen our skills. 

What I did, since my cowling was painted final coat, I scrapped the interior surfaces graddually and test-fitting all the time, so as to create a 'step' on the back edge (like a locating bevel) and allow the assembly to 'float' when attached to the fuselage.

Then a coat of slow thick CA glue set it on place and the unavoidable misalignment was 'transferred' to the bottom of the join (some 0,5mm offset), where things are not so visible.

Yes, I admit I am a visual liar

Your result untill now by your method seems also excellent, I am looking forward to seeing it finalized & painted.

Outstanding, Steve. Can't tell all the problems by the finished product. I'm very impressed.

Now the pressure is really on me to finish mine somehow!

I have a question about the bomb rack. Will it snap into place after the flat center section is glued into place? I prefer not to have the rack hanging about, even taped in place because I know I will break it.

Steve, really nice job on this. It certainly seems it not an easy build, and it happens to us all. I have the same feelings for the F-16 I am doing now. You get to the stage where you just want it finished no matter what it looks like. Well done for sticking with it and for including it here. All Stuka's are welcome in my world, they all need love.

Front page has been updated.

Ok, I can finally call this one done. This was a tough build for me; the kit itself isn't the best, but I created a lot of problems for myself that I was at least able to overcome. There were, however, more than a few times that I was tempted to test the model's flight characteristics from my 2nd floor window.

Lots of little mistakes that are pretty obvious if you look closely enough. I had intended to weather the panel lines on the underside but found that the primer, paint, and gloss had made the recessed lines too shallow to take an oil wash. So we'll pretend she just had a bath. Also you can see the antenna wire is too loose, but with such an unsteady attachment point (the cowling antenna mast), there was no way to get enough tension in the wire to make it straight. As always, thanks to Bish for running another enjoyable GB! (Bish, I think I like the third photo the best for the front page - thanks!)

That's some good news at least Greg. And I am with you on sanding a filling. I think that's my worst stage and the one I like least.

Oh my gosh, Steve. I forgot we are building the same kit. Isn't the nose just fun??? I agree with your use of the word "atrocious" to describe the fit between the nose and fuselage. And no alignment guides. Yikes.

Bish, I stand corrected. I did as you said and things line up now. I have some gaps now due to poor sanding skills, but if those didn't suck, it'd be a rather nice fit all round.

I need practice filling, correcting stuff, sanding, etc. anyway. This isn't my favorite kit so far so a good one to practice with. I doubt it's all the kits fault, my attitude was off all last year.

I had the exact same problem, Greg. I puttied and sanded as best I could, but I couldn't get it to look right (not that it's impossible, I just couldn't manage it myself). The fit between the nose and fuselage in that kit is atrocious IMO.

On a brighter note, I'm rounding third and heading for home. I should have finished pics up tomorrow.

Bish

Greg, those covers were not hinged but removed completely.

Thanks for that, Bish. I think I'll just leave it off then. It's not the gap that disturbs me, it's the misalignment at the top. It is even more evident in person.

Onward, then.......

Greg, those covers were not hinged but removed completely. But looking at the gap along the forward edge, I am wondering if some sanding along the back on the bottom edge would not fix it. I can see a line of rivets, so you don't have much rom, but some off on each side might do it.

And you are not alone. I have lost count of the numbers of times I have seen a suggestion which just seemed obvious but I never thought of it. I kick myself every time.