Ju 87 Stuka GB

Finished her up this morning. Will be posting pics today!!

Would that cable not be attached to the headset and plugged into the box by the wearer. There should be wires that go from the radio's to the box on the right hand side, the gunners left as he is facing backwards. I would think it goes in there so he is then plugged into both radio's.

Can't find anything in photos of the gunner area but it seems to me that there should be a communication long cord plugged into one of the radios for the gunner head phones and rolled up loose somewhere. (I'm thinking back to my C-130 days). Yea or Nay?

Bish,,,,RB includes only one shoulder and lap belt per package, having used a set on the FW-190 I knew I had to buy two sets to complete the Stuka but I will use the spare shoulder harness straps to rig up a restraining harness device behind the pilot seat. Being that it looks like the area behind the pilot seat is viewable, it will fill it in some.

These scale does take up some room, I can only imagine what the 1/24th Mosquito must look like on a display table. But if someone were to come out with a F-4J Phantom in 1/24th I will find room for it.

Shooter, as I just looking at that pic of the RB packaging and noticed it said He 111 and Ju 88. Now they would be something to see. Sounds like you some good ideas for the back strap. I guess that strap is something that's easily overlooked. Was there enough to get the gunners lap strap out of one set or did you have to get two.

1/24th looks and sounds like a blast, Shooter. I'd go happy-nuts and get hooked, but alas no place to put any (not to mention selling the idea to my relatively new managing domestic partner....she already thinks I'm goofy with my 1/48th kits). This however may change, as my eyesight is a struggle too. And the fun of just building one might win out over my frugality one day.

In the meantime, will be a hoot watching yours come together!

Bish....true, if RB was making the Luftwaffe set and the sheet does say Ju-87 along with the other type aircraft then it should have included the gunner strap. Looking at the Airfix part closely I now see that it is a strap but way too thick. I used duct tape to make the pilot seat cushion and may try that or, I have a very old leather flight jacket and may cut out a piece and see if that works. The RB sheet depicting the leather pieces for the harness assemblies had enough material left on it to make the rudder pedal straps.

Greg....It is fun working in this scale, I usually build 1/48th or 32nd scale kits. With my old eyes it does help. With some of the wiring I can drill in holes which makes it easier to install them, and the decal placard cards are easier to make out from among the cockpit components. I been searching Ju-87 cockpit pics on the internet which is very helpful in trying to detail the model.

That cockpit looks good, Shooter.

Also, selfishly is good for me cuz in your 1/24th scale I can see what some stuff is supposed to look like on my 1/48th kit. Helpful as this is my first Stuka.

Indeed, the part behind the gunner was a strap. I guess that's the one problem with that RB set is that its a general one and so does not include this very specific piece. What do you plan on using to produce that.

Bish thanks for the info. The set up in the eduard pdf was something I had in mind so I will go ahead and attach them to the seat back like that.  One thing I noticed in the eduard instructions is that part #13 for the gunner section is a strap, Airfix has it as a solid piece of plastic. Makes sense being a strap, imagine being bounced around back there and bumping into a hunk of metal, will change that item in the build.

Got the instrument panel glued to the cockpit assembly and a test fit shows everything so far fits good which was not the case with the Airfix FW-190. Boy I'm going hate to close the fuselage halves which will hide some of the details and I still have the engine to do. The major parts of that is done, just needs painting and detailing.

Shooters, that's looking really nice. My understanding is that the seat belts on the early aircraft went over the top of the seat back and each was attached on it own to the back of the seat. Its almost impossible to see in pics, but the best thing I could find was a set of eduard instruction.

www.eduard.com/.../32564.pdf

If you scroll down to page 2, part 11 attaches to the back of the seat and the belts attach to that.

Shooter...gorgeous work!  Beautifully done... (he said wistfully).

Doug

Those belts really do look cool, I have a Trumpeter 24th ME-109G6 in the stash and will get a set for it.  I used tacky glue in assembling them. I used a pin vise to drill holes in the seat buckets then 26 guage craft wire to pin the belts to the seats with a touch of super glue on the pins.

Now a question for you Stuka expertens....How should I anchor the shoulder straps on the pilot seat?

The pilot roll-bar like frame assembly connects to the canopy frame in one of the last instructions steps so that may be out. I thought just pin them shoulder length apart around midpoint at the seat back. Then one thought was connect the two harness straps to a single one (Y-strap) and make sort of a rough harness retention system. So I'm open to suggestions.

Those belts look awesome!

Mikey: My sig is actually a quote from a P-47 pilot. I thought it was a great way to describe the Jug: Very tough, good armament and a pretty good fighter, but simply not as elegant as the Mustang in the eyes of a lot of people.

Nice job on those PE belts, Shooter!

Hey Joe... man your going back a ways! SS Kresges... what a good memory, used to go there with my Grandma when just a wee lad, they had the best soda fountain. They later became K-Mart... Cool looking kit! Congrads with your procurement.  Take care...

Doug

Finally completed the seat belts, boy hate to try that in 1/48th.

I order the RB sets from Ultracast, they're based in Canada and I give them a thumbs up for great customer service. I used this RB on my Airfix FW-190 so things went together faster this time and the carpet monster didn't get any of the metal buckles this time.

The completed pilot harness.

And both crew members sets.

Now to attach these these to the seats and press on.

This Bandai kit is awesome. I'll take some pics and post them here so you can see for yourself. Hell you may even want to get one. It will be interesting to see how Tamiya stacks up against  the Bandai kit because the Bandai kit is a good one.

Mikey, no apologies need, perfectly fine with me.

Joe, I have not heard of that company before. Another one that's a sad lsoss is Esci, they did some great 72nd vehicle kits, even came with indy link tracks, which must have been quite novel back then. And they did a large scale German bike, I think 1/9th scale. Now that would have been nice. Been interested to see how yours comes out, would look nice next to a 48th aircraft.

Bish

Joe, you are building something without wings. Are you ill.

  This thing is one helluva kit too. Too bad these guys are no longer in business. I have a Tamiya kit in the same scale on back order. Just wondering how it's going to stack up against this kit.

My comment has nothing whatsoever to do with Stukas but...Spartan, I've read your quote before :

"If you want to send your sweetheart a picture of you flying your plane, you want to fly the Mustang.

If you want to fly a combat mission and come back in one piece, you want to fly the Thunderbolt" 

The truth of that is so astute I had to thank you for putting it out there. Just wondering they were your thoughts or a quote by someone else? Either way it's brilliant! P.S. my apologies to Bish for not keeping this Ju-87 related

You and Herman feel free to pop in when ever you like.

Joe, you are building something without wings. Are you ill.

well Reasoned, better get it finished

Look forward to seeing that pit done and fitted shooter.

I finally got around to starting work on putting the RB Production seat belts together, got one lap belt set done and it looks good. Will get the other one and the shoulder harness tomorrow and post a couple pics. Still adding some wiring to the cockpit area before I close her up. Believe once the fuselage is together everything will move a bit faster.

Great work going on in here. Somewhere on my bench lies an almost completed Stuka.

Herman heard about this group build so he nosed around a bit... Fantastic work all!

I dunno yet. I have a 1/48 Bandai BMW R75 w/ sidecar in the mail en route at this time and may venture off to that. I had one about 10 years ago and it got broken in a move........still in the box. I found one last Thursday and ordered it on the spot! I also have a Tamiya BMW R75 w side car on back order.

Looking forward to it Joe. have you any plans for your next build.

Hey gang! I'm fairly close to finishing mine and won't bother posting any pics until I git this thing done. I've only got the rear gunners seat back strap, canopy sections, mast antenna and aerial antenna left to go and this puppy will be home. Jeez! It's taken what seems like forever to get to this point but am looking forward to seeing a finished build out of this.

Shooter... Excellent work on the pit! Just beautiful...

Joe (lawdog) another amazing build from you! Fantastic finish...

Doug

I know what you mean about the 88 Joe. I was hoping that with the Revell A-4 being produced as it is, there would have been some early 88's, but no luck yet.

There's always the 32nd kit.