Ju 87 Stuka GB

Thanks everyone.  It's far from flawless, but I'm happy with it.  All I need now is a Ju 88 A-1 to round out my Battle of Britain collection, but nobody will make one (I have the Classic Airframes DO 17Z in the stash).  Of course we get a new 109 kit every few months or so...lol.  Again, thanks for have me in in this build.  I had so much fun that I'm considering trying to get a later model tank buster Stuka to add another..  

Joe

Amazing work Joe!  I don't blame you for adding the Jericho trumpet, I wouldn't be able to resist either if mine came with it.

Man Joe you really shmoked past that one!!! Looks really good too with the paint and weathering.

I agree with everything said before, Joe! Your Stuka looks amazing and there's no rough spot visible at all. Thanks for sharing your build with us!

That's superb Joe. I looked and looked for a flaw, a paint bump, anything to convince myself that you are human. No joy on that!

Thanks for sharing this build, and for your occasional step by steps along the way. (and for being patient with my questions!)

Very nice indeed!  I really like the way your panel lines appear on the underside.  Great work!

Lawdog -- echoing Bish, if I can come up with a result from essentially the same kit that's even half as good, I'll be well pleased! TOP WORK!

M/TB379

Now that's one sweet looking Stuka. Was a real pleasure watching it come together and thanks for adding it to the GB.

Arch Angel:  That is a gorgeous pit.  1/24 scale?, where are you gonna put that thing?

I  got a solid 4 hours of bench time in last night and I'm gonna call this one done.  To recap, Its the 1/48 Hasegawa Ju-87 B-2 in the markings of 3/StG 2 in August of 1940 at the height of the Battle of Britain.  Three Guys Replicas provided the markings.  My research said that on August 16th 1940, T6+HL attacked Tangmere and was on the losing end of a fight with a 601 Squadron Hurricane.  T6+HL then made an emergency landing near the Chichester-Selsey Road in Sussex.  From what I read, Pilot Uffz. Ernst König and radio operator Uffz. Josef Schmid were wounded and subsequently POW'ed.  There's some evidence this was actually a B-1, but I decided not to drive myself crazy over the matter and just trust that Three Guys got it right.  This is one of those good enough for me scenarios.

Reference the kit, I thought it was good.  Most of the mishaps were my doing (such as the mast snapping while trying to rig the aerial wire.  I didn't like the flap hinges that were misrepresented as blobs (which I didn't mess with) or the way the front cowl fit, which had a gap. Photo evidence now showed the gap is supposed to be there...next time. I enhanced the kit with Ultracast exhausts, Quickboost guns and seats, then finally True Details tires.  I kept weathering to a minimum, such as some minor exhaust soot and wing root chipping.  I figured this one wasn't in service long enough to get dinged up too bad.    

Thank you for having me in your Group build. 

Joe

T6+HL reportedly had clean spats sans the dreaded "Jericho Trumpet".  I couldn't resist adding one to a Battle of Britain Stuka.   

Simply amazing Scott.

Yes that's the one. Thanks mate!

Do you mean the one that runs down the top of the fuselage from the canopy to the tail. I believe, but am not 100% sure, that this only applies to the 109. I just checked my squadron walk around books on those two and I can't see any sign of it.

Hey guys, I got a completely off-topic question, but I hope you can answer it nonetheless:

I know that 109s had a panel line going down the fuselage. Do the 190 and the 262 have that panel line as well?

Trumpeter are supposed to be bringing out a 24th 87D, I have been wondering if it would include Rudels markings. If it's a D-5, it wouldn't take much to turn it into a G. They would have one customer that's for sure.

You set the bar high with that one shooter!

That cockpit looks simply awesome, Scott! I love that IP!

Being 1/24th scale, it sure makes it a bit easier for these old eyes to work on it and to add more detail.

This was the main reference pic I was using having Google JU-87 cockpit pics.

As you can see there is some slight differences with the Airfix panel but it's pretty close.

I think if Trumpeter were to come out with Hans Rudel Stuka tank buster in 1/24th they would have a winner.

Scott

Awesome cockpit Shooter!

That cockpit makes me drool. Excellent work, Shooter.

Nice work shooter, love the details you have spruced up.

Hi ya!, I been slowly plugging away on the cockpit, was slapping on Airscale Placard decals last night to spruce it up. The seat belts came in and will start assembling those later today.

Have installed the rudder pedals after this was taken, was considering getting a AM set but then most of the pedal would be out of view anyway so I passed on that.

Had scratch built the map case, the leather strap being trusty ol duck tape.

The R/H cockpit wall. I rotated the pic in photoshop but looks like it won't go horizontal here. Well looks like it did after all.

The L/H side, still need to do some work on it.

I sanded off the molded knob handles and inserted a small wire and used tacky glue to get the knob on the end.

Just test fitting the cockpit here, I plan on adding more wiring before I finally close her up. A question for the experts here, I went with the RLM 02 for the cockpit, should I leave the pilot seat that color or do it in RLM 66?

Joe, She's looking fantastic! I really appreciate you sharing your techniques with us!

Joe(Mustang): I can't wait to see some pics, mate!

Folks I know I haven't posted a pic in a while but I'm down to the last few pieces which usually takes me alot of time anyways but it just seems like my build speed has been hampered by a number of things.  You know, the stuff like gun barrels, canopy masking, antennas and stuff like that. I'm seeing it through and will try to post another pic soon.

lewbud

Joe, that is actually supposed to be a Curtis's Sea hawk. It followed the Kingfisher in the role of scout aircraft on some battleships and cruisers. The Revell Missouri is supposed to represent her fitting out at the time the Japanese surrendered. Considered a state of the art kit some fifty years ago.

Joe, thank you for your comprehensive reply, amigo. Much appreciated!

I understand your thought process re if a bit of gloss over-spray finding it's way to the cockpit now. Makes perfect sense.

And I think I got it now re the clear coats. You use no water based clears at all, right? Not gloss, flat, nothing? But I swear I saw a bottle of testers glosscoat and dullcoat over in your WIP thread? I was wondering why you use testors glosscoat on your cockpit, but Alclad II Gloss Kote on the exterior? Or am I seeing things?

On the streaking, you may have shown me the light. I'm afraid of straight lines and airbrushes. But your method of going fast to keep it straight makes sense even to my feeble mind. I can't wait to try that. Thanks! If you happen to find that thread, it will go into my tips and tricks for sure.

Greg

Lawdog Joe, very cool that you have a WIP going on too. Makes it a lot easier to go back and see what you did to get to where you are now. Thanks for that.

I have questions, lucky you....

1. I see no evidence of that beautiful cockpit being masked off before spraying the glosscoat on the aircraft exterior. I'm baffled, please explain??

2. Why do you use Testors gloss then dull coat on the cockpit, then Alclad gloss klear on the exterior? I am in process of eliminating all water-based clear coats and my curious mind wants to know.

3. You explained the paint colors and stuff for the condensation streaks. Would you be patient with me and tell me one more time how you actually streak it on? Your streaks make mine look like they were done by a kindergartner.

Your Stuka is looking fantastic. Good job on mask and paint the dive breaks.

Thanks everyone.  Greg, I don't mind questions at all.  I encourage them.  Thats the whole purpose of this fine forum.  I'lI try to answer them in order: 

First, nice observation about the cockpit.  I usually remove the tape for the photography.  It just looks better.  I dont really worry about gloss coat overspay.  It gets hit with Testor's dull again later anyways. 

Second, the Alclad gloss coat I'm using is not water based.  They have two types apparently.  I have no experience with their "Aqua" version.  Mine kind of smells like a cross between lighter fluid and mineral spirits.   

Finally, the streaks take some practice. I've done alot of experimentation with them before I got the technique to where it looks ok to me.  I'm assuming your using a double action airbrush with fine line capabilty and the ability to dial down the air pressure to about 5-10 psi.  Paint your base color, lighten it, then make quick short bursts with the windstream on the top of the wings. The quicker you go, the straighter the line (at least for me).  Go a little overboard on application because the effect will be toned down considerably after all of the following steps (glossing, decals, wash etc.).  I have a step by step in here somewhere. If I find it I'll post the link for you. 

Joe    

Doug, thanks for your input on my Strut masking/gluing question my friend. I liked your allusion to a Sphinx. Got a clear mental image of what the Messie looked like that morning. :)

Lawdog Joe, very cool that you have a WIP going on too. Makes it a lot easier to go back and see what you did to get to where you are now. Thanks for that.

I have questions, lucky you....

1. I see no evidence of that beautiful cockpit being masked off before spraying the glosscoat on the aircraft exterior. I'm baffled, please explain??

2. Why do you use Testors gloss then dull coat on the cockpit, then Alclad gloss klear on the exterior? I am in process of eliminating all water-based clear coats and my curious mind wants to know.

3. You explained the paint colors and stuff for the condensation streaks. Would you be patient with me and tell me one more time how you actually streak it on? Your streaks make mine look like they were done by a kindergartner.

Your Stuka is looking fantastic. Good job on mask and paint the dive breaks.

Joe... Looks Great... Very nicely weathered and decaled!

Greg, Im a bit late in posts, but lots of good advise on lending gear legs. My 2 cents...With me it depends on the kit I guess, I almost always forget to mask contact areas, but like Mike (TB) I use a liguid mask usually. Thats mainly on the 48/th scales with a straight mounted strut, however , being I like to work more with the 32nd scales, the weight plays into the mounting. After checking one morning after afixing struts to the Bf109 I was working on and seeing it setting like a Sphinx in the Egyptian desert, I began to fortify all with metal pins to strengthen.

Looking fwd to your start!

Doug

Looking good Joe. You know I had a blast building the whole model until it came to the spats and the bombs and it looks like you tackled that with relative ease. My body work/ putty-sanding skills are still in the learning phases though. Looks like you are coming along nicely here.

Joe, T6 HL is one of those in the osprey book and it shows a yellow tipped spinner in there as well.

That's looking sweet. Love the idea of just one siren. And I like the look of the streaking on the wings.

I have been saying that the SC 500's were painted green and there are a lot of pics that show that. But then I remembered the colour pic of a B-1 with the sharks teeth being loaded and the SC 500 in that pic is blue, so I think either colour works for that.