Ju 87 Stuka GB

Excellent Doug!

Morning Bish... Yup thats right, its actually the Museum of Science and Industry in the Aviation and Flight wing... When I first saw the pictures I was taken by the patterns and had to give it a try. Wasn't sure how it would come out but over all I think I got it close. Thanks...

Doug

Looks damn well spot on to me, a big well done on that.

Looks good there Doug!

I have to start practicing with that mottling effect.

Good LORD Doug! That sir is nothing short of talent right there!

You are all very kind and coming from my very talented peers here, it means a great deal! Thank you all!

68GT... Not sure what type of equipment you use, but I've  found that with a DA suction gun I was able to get acceptable results (damn good actually) over the years, but since buying my first Gravity feed DA brush a while back, It opened up a whole new world of painting. I often on schemes like this one, remove the cone which protects the needle tip (among other things) and when you get your pressure right for the mix of paint, you can achive lines like a pencil or pen. Takes alot of practice and this pattern was done very near the surface (1/4 to 1/2 in.) at a slightly higher pressure. Thanks again...

Doug

Hello to everyone. All of your builds up to now are excellent!!!!

Some updates regarding Italeri's kit:

After a lot (and I mean A LOT) of dry fitting, I realized there are some structural issues with the fit of this kit.

Maybe I have done something wrong, but if that's the case, I cannot possibly realize what.

the main issue is in the wings to fuselage fit.

I assembled  the wings halves the way they should be

I don't like the gap in the rear wing edge and it cannot be eliminated (regardless of the glue and pressure I applied).

Only solution would have been maybe to heavily sand the interior of the wing halves, before assembly, in order to achieve a sharp, solid  edge, so that's a lesson learned.

The most serious problem is the wing to fuselage joint.

If you assemble the wings right, and you align the fuselage connection points right, this leaves a joint that proudly exhibits:

1) A gap of variable width with a maximum of more than 2mm!

2) A vertical step of variable width with a maximum of more than 2mm!

This Grand Canyon could not be dealt with by simply bending the wings to make root edges touch the fuselage since:

A. It almost reached the limit of the parts elasticity and still the gap could not be covered

B. The vertical misalignment remained,  with the fuselage side sitting much higher than the wing's airfoil profile

After much head-scratching and a bit of thinking , I considered the following options:

1) Throw the damn thing out of the window with the peril of hitting a passer-by and have the first Stuka victim in Greece after 70 years. Not

2) Glue everything with a ton of cement, put another ton of all kinds of putties and sand down till the plastic is on fire, rescribe all details, etc.

3) Correct the mis-alignments in both axis (somehow).

In order to 'raise' and match the wing profile to the corresponding fuselage line as much as possible, I measured distances in various points and used this stuff, cut in appropriate pieces, like an internal levering reinforcement

After many many test fittings and trials, it ended up like this.

For this I first reinforced internally the wings top - bottom joints with A LOT of super glue, so as they would not pop open by the pressure.

only the front section was left with a gap so as the fuselage tops/bottoms could be aligned correctly

In support of these, the fuselage parts were marked and sanded to match the new wing profiles.

After all these the situation improved significantly and with a (still heavy) pull up and stressing of the wings, the root joint will be at least a bot decent.This and the final welding will be done tomorrow.

I apologize if I became a bit over explicit and tiring, I just wanted

Rigidrider

68GT... Not sure what type of equipment you use, but I've found that with a DA suction gun I was able to get acceptable results .....

Doug that is some seriously awesome painting! I'm more than a little jealous.

Zvezda, that looked like a nasty gap, but you did a good job of fixing it. That type of gap is my biggest pet peeve when building a model.

Zveda, gaps like this are not that uncommon, my Dragon 335 had something similar. I don't mind the filling as much as dealing with the step up. And this sort of this is one of the main reasons we post pics, whether its in a GB or a WiP thread.

Zvedza... When I have similar problems I insert (kind of like you did on wings) spreaders under the pit floor to spread and hold the fuse apart to fill up the gap, then usually a bit of tape wing tip to wing tip to set dihedral of the wing will finish it up. Looks like you did a good job closing it up though. Good Luck!

68GT... isnt there a stop knob at the back of the barrell to stop needle travel? I may have models confused, but most Grav fed do have a knurled knob at the end of the barrell tube. I also have an old badger 150 and a badger 350 that I started with, but I'll tell you now, once you start using the Gravity feed, you will love it. East to use, clean, fill and mix during use... I love mine and its not a real high dollar unit.

Silent Bob... Thank you very much... I've just never been one to shy away from difficult jobs, I figure if they did it I should be able to (LOL) That attitude has got me into a bit of trouble though over the years! LOL...

Zvezda you really pulled that dive out well. That hard works gonna come into alot of play later man.

Morning all... Got some decaling and dry transfers done last night...

And startind to do some of the weathering along the way...

The fuselage national markings were a real PITA!!! I have a sheet of crosses and other waterslide markings in various scales, and had to go through about 6 applications on this side, because they had very fine cracking on them (Age or possibly humidity?) that could only be seen with a magnifying visor, they kept falling apart when either being slid or trying to position properly, I think they were defective at printing , I try to remove decals from open kits upon receiving them and store in a plastic box, in a zip-loc bag and there are several humidity controling packets in the box. Oh well Finally got one to take and some micro sol and micro set affixed them nicely!

Thats all for now, Thanks

Doug

That looks really good Doug. Man that looks good.

Doug, I posted a pic of that camo scheme back on page 12 as a joke, I didn't think anyone would actually try it. You nailed it though, great work. 

Rigidrider,

I knew that's what you were doing!  I grew up in Chicago.  As a kid, many many times I'd stand on the balcony and just stare at the Stuka (and the spit too).  I loved it.

You're doing a great job with it.  I gotta do one like at some point.  Where did you get the decals?

(awesome job!)

Tom68

Rigidrider,

I knew that's what you were doing!  I grew up in Chicago.  As a kid, many many times I'd stand on the balcony and just stare at the Stuka (and the spit too).  I loved it.

You're doing a great job with it.  I gotta do one like at some point.  Where did you get the decals?

(awesome job!)

LOL...Yeah you did Tom. You said you kinda figured that one out! The Decals are a sheet for the JU87 Tropical birds by E.D.Models and I found them on Ebay, I bought a sheet of various sized and styles of crosses and swastickas  at  Scalehobbyist.com  a while back (a few years) and the numbers were woodland scenic dry transfers.

I would love to see the Stuka in person someday. Looking forward to seeing yours soon!

Take care!

Doug

LOL... Thanks Raven, Yeah I saw it and thought to myself... OK... Why not! It also helped finding the pictures in the Museum fron various different angles, At first I was having trouble figuring out thr colors, But a friend of mine has some SERIOUS computer and printing equipment and capability, and he was able to decipher the colors and with a 93% probability of which went on first (the brown) and what shade of green to use. Wish he lived closer... (ha) But any way, thanks! You and Mustang inspired me to give it a go...

Take care!

Doug

Rigidrider

68GT... isnt there a stop knob at the back of the barrell to stop needle travel? I may have models confused, but most Grav fed do have a knurled knob at the end of the barrell tube. I also have an old badger 150 and a badger 350 that I started with, but I'll tell you now, once you start using the Gravity feed, you will love it. East to use, clean, fill and mix during use... I love mine and its not a real high dollar unit.

Well I'll be darned,,, Yeah my Badger 150 looks alot like the Harbor Freight with a stop screw, I know a few guys that use them as General Purpose guns with good results, They are just a bit tough to clean and change colors. Too bad you couldnt kust find a rear cover (Tube) for youe Neo, with the stop on it, I'll bet you would like it, alot more.

Problem with the HF brush is that they don't have a real instruction book or even an exploded view of the thing.  I broke it down to clean but I know its not back together the right way.  Ill see how well it compares to the 150 on the badger site.

Hi guys, I've been away over the weekend, so am just catching up on the last couple of dozen posts.

Doug -- most impressive! I have a couple of shots of the Chicago Stuka and would like to build this one eventually. the three tome scheme puts me in the mind of the Wermacht three tone armour scheme -- the visual impression is much like some of the freehand schemes for armour in the mid years of the war. What were the paints you used?

Zvezda -- that's a great bit of styrene engineering to correct the mismatches! Marvellous work! I've had struggles like that on occasion, the sort of thing my late dad used to call "a swine of a job." There's a great satisfaction with rejigging it, and not letting the limitations of the kit dictate the result.

Cheers, M/TB379

Looking very nice there Doug.

Morning all... TB... Yup, its a field applied  camo as many were, The colors I could come nearest with were the Tamiya (acrylic) XF-10 Flat Brown and Dark Green XF-61 over Model Master Sand Gelb Acrylic.

68GT... I'll take a look to see if I can come up with any thing. The big problem with alot of the ABs is that the seal between the air and paint chamber gets loose or worn and you get erratic (spitting) paint on suction guns and bubbles in the paint cup of Grav fed guns . Its easy to tighten, but takes a fine screwdrives blade .

Doug

68GT

falconmod

68GT

Yup, I used MM enamels for the stuka,  I've been using a testers clear gloss that is a acrylic just for air brushes and a MM acrylic clear flat when I'm done.

John

Do they work straight from the bottle or do you have to thin it? The only luck I've using their acrylic is with Tamiya thinner.

 The enamels I thin with Lacquer thinner,  about 30%  it dries faster out of the air brush than using a mineral spirit as a thinner.  the acrylic clear I've been using them straight out of the bottle.

I hope that helps.

John

Well I was a lucky Dad this weekend I was able to get in some good bench time yesterday.  Came close to finishing it.  Here are the most current photo updates.

I decided I'm going to scratch build the bulkhead with the radio's atttached to them because the Revell interior is rather bare.

John

Doug- That is some killer paint!! Nice work with the airbrush.

Zvezda- I have test fitted my Italeri D-5 kit and it is similar to yours. I had to cut off all the dive flaps and ailerons at the trailing edge of the wing to fill and sand the gap at the rear. The wing root also has a gap, and I plan on attaching the upper wings to the fuselage first, then fit the lower wing. I hope it works.

Falcon- Great weathering and shading there. You're moving right along.

Looking great there John.

Thanks Nathan... always good to hear from you!

John... Excellent job, looking good!

Doug