Ju 87 Stuka GB

Don't mean to whine, but......

I was pleased to get the front end of this Italeri kit this far along:

To my dismay, there is a horrid fit at the cowling top as shown here:

Anybody know if it would be correct to fasten the top engine cowling cover in the opened position (there is no step on the port side, so I guess I could do that) ? Or would it have been removed and placed aside?

This isn't a deal-killer for me as I kind of wanted to show a bit of the engine anyway, just not sure the proper way to do that.

PS, now I REALLY think Zvezda deserves an award for the job he did on his! (same Italeri kit)

Scott (and Doug), thanks for sharing your hand-masking idea. I get in my 'got to do it this way" rut, and usually dismiss * easy, common sense solutions like these!

I like the stuffed tissue paper idea too. I've used that on wheel wells, never considering it for finished cockpit. Might just try that one first.

Edit:  I didn't mean "dismiss", makes it sound as if I'm 'dismissing' your ideas. What I meant to say is I tend not to think of common sense ideas myself!

That's what I usually do too Scott. Those annoying credit cards and such that come on a weekly basis are good for something! LOL... The only time I install Canopy while painting id if its critical to the paint scheme , and camo pattern.

Great work again on your paint... Splinter as simple as it looks can be a pain in the azz!

Doug

Hi Greg!

Due to the scale size, I can easily use one of those plastic junk mail credit like cards by holding it in one hand while spray painting the bird with the other. I see that more and more modelers have placed the masked off canopies on their kits prior to painting, something I have never done before but will try it on one of my other builds. On smaller kits I have simply tucked tissue paper gently into the cockpit area then spray paint the fuselage.

Scott

Looking good, Johny. This being my first splinter job, thanks for giving me a hit what I'm in for. :)

Shooter, that scheme is looking very good.

I have a dumb question. I notice your cockpit is not masked. How are you managing all that spraying without overspray? Reason I ask is for some reason I'm having a heck of time getting my cockpit masking to stay put on my Stuka (no idea why).

That sir is one wild looking scheme! I'm liking that one!

Me too

Now that looks nice Shooter, I like that scheme.

She is looking good raven.

Not much to look at, but here she is with splinter and Future, ready for decals (which I've started). So shiny! In hindsight, I wish I would have taken photos of her masked, but I didn't want any evidence in case I screwed it up!

I also, if you recall, tried using BMF for canopy masking and nearly had a nervous breakdown. It turned out pretty well, not great but not bad either. I had to do a bit of touching-up with a fine brush but not much. The worst part was the sticky residue, but a timely tip in FSM pointed me to a cleaning product called "Goo Gone", which did an admirable job of removing the sticky stuff but leaving the paint unmolested.

Nathan T

Zvezda, thats some nice work despite your troubles. I can't see any gaps or misalignments anywhere, and your Gelb paintwork is outstanding! I did not have major issues with my Italeri D-5. There is a natural panel join on the stuka where the cowl meets the fuselage, all the way around. I did have to carefully dry fit and glue the panels together a certain way. I had to sand down the bottom oil cooler a bit, and grind down the front of the cowling behind the spinner to make it slide over the engine and mate to the fuselage. I found that I had to chop off a bit off the length of one or 2 engine mounts to make the cowling align better with the fuselage. The B model may be giving you and Greg more trouble due to the larger radiator and overall more complex shape of the cowl over the D model. Good luck guys and don't give up!

Thanks for going over some things you had to do to make things fit, and for your encouraging words, Nathan.

tempestjohnny

Paint came out nice.  Except I forgot to mask and paint the horizontal stabs  will have pics soon

I only just noticed they are not fitted. I usually add mine before painting but masking the supports is a pain in the butt, I might try leaving them off next time.

Of course, I must remember to mask and paint them.

tempestjohnny

Paint came out nice.  Except I forgot to mask and paint the horizontal stabs  will have pics soon

Great paint job Johnny. LOL that happens to everyone one time or another.

Paint came out nice.  Except I forgot to mask and paint the horizontal stabs  will have pics soon

Zvezda, your Stuka looks fantastic to me. I wish mine looked as good as yours, and I can only imagine how hard you worked to get it to look like that. Excellent work

Nice masking Johnny

tempestjohnny

Ready for the RLM 70

Nice sharp masking John. That will look sweet for sure when done. 

Zvezda, thats some nice work despite your troubles. I can't see any gaps or misalignments anywhere, and your Gelb paintwork is outstanding! I did not have major issues with my Italeri D-5. There is a natural panel join on the stuka where the cowl meets the fuselage, all the way around. I did have to carefully dry fit and glue the panels together a certain way. I had to sand down the bottom oil cooler a bit, and grind down the front of the cowling behind the spinner to make it slide over the engine and mate to the fuselage. I found that I had to chop off a bit off the length of one or 2 engine mounts to make the cowling align better with the fuselage. The B model may be giving you and Greg more trouble due to the larger radiator and overall more complex shape of the cowl over the D model. Good luck guys and don't give up!

Ready for the RLM 70

Zvezda, I think you should win an award for getting this far and making the cowl fit as well as you have.

I am struggling with the same kit, with engine more or less done and only vague ideas how to proceed. I echo all of your comments above. I thought it was just me thinking no locating pins anywhere on the cowl assy was goofy.

With upcoming fit issues, all I can figure out to do is fit the engine between the two lower cowl halves, attache the halves somehow with the engine just 'floating" in there, then cement the lower assy and the four engine mount attachment points at the same time. This will create a masking and painting nighmare later I think.

I wonder if Nathan had all this trouble with his D-5?

Were it not for not wanting to be the only one who failed to complete his Italeri here, and the expense of the aftermartket stuff I got, this might have been my first unfinished kit since back from Haitus. I'm hoping that doesn't happen but not so sure at this point.

Sorry about my own mini-ramble. Again, hats off to you.

Johny, coming right along.

Zvezda.

Take it from one picky modeler, your build looks great from here. All parts appear to be in alignment and unless you mention the shortcomings, no one would be the wiser. You have succeeded in rescuing an otherwise unfinished shelved model. You should be happy how it came out.  

That's some nice work there Zvezda.

Little more painting done this morning.  Canopy is just tacked in place

Zvezda, sorry to hear you have had to struggle with this. I do agree with Mike in that the fit of the cowl to fuselage does look good from here. As for the underside crosses, I have been checking some pics. Its hard to tell for sure as pics of the underside are all from an angle, but your actually look about right. I know it seems there should be more space between the bombs and the cross, but from what I could tell, there wasn't.

It is a pity about the engine, but its still a really nice looking build. Given that its bombed up, how about a dio of the crew climbing aboard.

Zvezda -- you've achieved a fantastic result from a dog of a kit! The fit of the cowling to fuselage you've finally arrived at is at least as good, if not better, than Hasegawa's, and the overall effect is notably good. Please don't short-change yourself over that darn engine -- okay, your plans didn't work out for a more ambitious display, but it's a very fine model indeed. I'd have been proud of it, and I rate it superior to the one I knocked out!

Cheers, M/TB379

Thanks for the comments fellows.

Bish that would be my first serious dio attempt

Unfortunatelly things did not go as anticipated.

Yesterday I started working on setting up the engine area to make it look right.

In brief:

Plan-A (Initial): Fully displayed engine: The engine, when placed on the plane looks disgusting. Nothing aligns properly, engine mounts are bent/distorted heavily when fit in place. Also from various photos I have seen, some engine parts are oversized, some undersized, some are missing, etc, etc. I attempted a series of cutting, trimming, squizing and similar operations, but the result was still unacceptable for a realistic fully displayed engine. So I proceeded to ...

Plan-B: Display with lower covers in place: Attempting to install the lower covers and excibit only the top of the engine, initiated the 'head banging on wall' period . Cover and engine are just not made for each other. Covers have a lousy fit on the plane. Engine has a lousy fit on the firewall and inside the covers. Combine the two and a monster is born. Having exhausted my arsenal of foul language (in the style of 'Italeri go '), I headed torwards ...

Plan-C: Engine covers fully installed - no engine display: It took about 3 hours to install and glue the fully assembled engine covers. They do not fit properly by any means. There are no locating pins/tabs, etc and whatever one may try, there are gaps and misalignments. I did not want to ruin the finished paintwork and after carefully attempting about 30 times, I ended up with the less ugly configuration .I left the model aside, got up and had a bottle of beer and a couple of smokes.

Another string of problems appear on the lower surfaces positioning of markings and airbrakes & bomb racks. I followed Italeri instructions and something is not right with the Blk/cross position (see photos).

Result: I do not like the result. I also do not wish (my broken nerves don't allow me) to start the heavy sanding, filling, etc required and do the painting all over again. This model is not worth a place in a diorama so it will just be completed and put on a corner for punishment.

I will transfer and apply the idea to another GB

I apologize for talking too much in this post, I tried to be as brief as possible.

Below some pics of the almost finished kit. An oil wash was applied and some panel post shading, rivets were highlighted with a soft pencil's tip. Also a crooked cross decal was placed from the spares box, Italeri provides none. Some small bits and the wheels are to be installed and some exhaust stains, leaks,some more dust,  etc to be recreated.

Cheers to all

Zvesda, your Stuka is looking great.

The CA in the eye scares me. Ouch.

PJ, looking good. I'm not even close with my pre-shading attempts. Your Stuka's underside looks great.

Thanks gents. I think it gives it that grimy weathered look underneath more visible on lighter colors.

That preshading looks spot on indeed! Definitely one of the many things I still have to improve on...