Ju 87 Stuka GB

That's good news Mike, will soon have that beauty wrapped up.

Hello to everyone

Eventually found some time to go on with the build.

After several masking hours, the painting of the splinter camouflage and  of the various sub-assemblies was completed.

The 2 tone (Dark/Black Green)  contrast will be refined to look better, along with some minor corrections.

Now waiting for everything to dry properly.

Cheers

Kostas

Nice work there. The splinter camo looks good and I am looking forward to seeing all that yellow attached. The only thing I can't see is the blades for the siren, are they included in the kit.

Looking great! The preshade comes through very nicely and the camo is very clean and sharp!

On a positive note, my clear decal film was in today's post, so I can take a shot at cleaning up that canopy and getting her to the finish line.

M/TB379

Nice one Mike.

I think at this stage of the war, the Germans had begun dismantling the siren and replacing it with a simple cap, in order to gain some bits of aerodynamic efficiency.

Yet, they are enclosed in Italeri's box and I find them very nice (and they are also one of Stuka's trademarks), so I think I will use them anyway, painted either aluminum or yellow.

It was largely down to the crew as to whether the siren was fitted. They arrived from the factory with the cap and then the ground crew fitted the siren, or not, dependant on the wish of the pilot. So either with or without is just fine. You could just fit the one and add the cap to the other, I have seen some pics of that.

Man that pre-shading really sets those splinter camo colors off Zvezda. Good going so far!

Looks awesome Zvezda!

Please forgive the interruption.

FWIW.........

I walked into a local Half Price Books in the USA and discovered that the store is selling new condition copies of the book: 

Ju 87 Stuka Volume One: Luftwaffe Ju 87 Dive-Bomber Units 1939-1941 (Luftwaffe Colours) (v. 1) Paperback
by Peter C. Smith

for $12.99 ( retail is $29.99 in the USA ) 

http://www.amazon.com/Stuka-Volume-One-Luftwaffe-Dive-Bomber/dp/1903223695

I now return you to your regular programming.

Hi guys, a little progress to report -- I've done the airbrushing on the clear decal film that came in, I now have a decent-sized piece of film with RLM 02 underlay and RLM 70 topcoat. I'll apply Liquid Decal Film with a soft brush, then it's over to my Chopper II to try to cut this stuff into strips less than 1mm wide, with razor-sharp, clean edges and no shattering of the paint. IF, and I stress IF, this is possible, I'll go ahead and try to lay them onto the canopy, and -- fingers crossed -- get this Stuka across the finish line.  I'm finishing the Corsair at this moment, and if I can coax the Stuka into the display case I'll have ten completions for this year so far.

Cheers, M/TB379

Sprue-ce Goose

I walked into a local Half Price Books in the USA and discovered that the store is selling new condition copies of the book: 

Ju 87 Stuka Volume One: Luftwaffe Ju 87 Dive-Bomber Units 1939-1941 (Luftwaffe Colours) (v. 1) Paperback
by Peter C. Smith

for $12.99 ( retail is $29.99 in the USA ) 

Well, I can only say that you guys are cranking out some fine looking Stukas. I finally started on mine (thanks Bish for extending the end date)  so here are a couple of shots.

ROG B-2

 Looks like you're doing a great job so far PJ!!!

Kostas, that is some wonderful paint work. Amazing that the pre-shading shows even thru the darker color of the splinter camo.

Really well done!

Mike, ten in a year? Whoa!

PJ, good to see you starting. Cockpit looking great, mate.

Thanks Sprue, they are indeed very good books.

Good to see you started PJ, nice work so far. And it was my pleasure. Any excuse to see another Stuka.

Thanks gents. Looks like I will be going with the snake scheme. I know Mustang's fantastic Stuka has the snake and wanted not to repeat the scheme but it's just too freaking cool looking to pass up.

That's perfectly fine PJ. If I had had the time I was considering another 72nd Stuka, and one option would also have been the snake covered variety.

I was going to post a few progress pics here but I'm having troubles with Photobucket, will click 'choose photos & video' and I get zip???? Anyone else having the same issues tonight?

Well I applied the white fuselage band this afternoon using Tamiya White. Was also a good time to spray the white on the 1/48 A-6 and A-7 parts for the 2 other GB I got myself into. The Tamiya paint went over the Master Modeler enamel gray primer with no issues, will let it dry for a day or two then start applying the other colors.

I did order and received from Victory models the Montex mask set for the canopy. I was please with their service, it only took  4 days to get them. I saw that they had the Snake detail mask for the Airfix bird and I was tempted to to get it but never having used masks like that I decided to stick to the CAM decals.

Technical model question??  With the mask applied to the canopy frames, do you also first apply a primer or simply go with the fuselage colors?

Once I can figure out what Photobucket is not doing, I will get some pics posted here.

Scott

Archangel Shooter

 

Technical model question??  With the mask applied to the canopy frames, do you also first apply a primer or simply go with the fuselage colors?

 

Depending if your pit is RLM 02 or 66, I would shoot those first so it shows as the interior color then shoot the outside color. Primer use is up to you but I never primer the canopies. 

Hi guys, I just tested the decal procedure and the outlook is guardedly optimistic. I painted the film yesterday, and today over-coated with Liquid Decal Film before guillotining a narrow strip and applying it to a piece of scrap plastic as a test. Here's the result:

If I can control the cutting, it should work. The guillotine delivers clean-edged cuts without the shattering or jags of a blade stroke, and the clear Trimfilm behaves very well in terms of freeing off and laying down.

Right, here we go, let's see if I can pull this off!

M/TB379

Here's the results of the first session:

Almost all of what you see here is decal now. What do you think, guys?

Sealing is a major question, and without sealing I have my doubts about adhesion over time. The proverbial dip in Future is possible perhaps for this item, but the others are attached to the bird... It might depend on how willing they all are to fall off! (And how acceptable a high gloss would be over the struts...)

M/TB379

Mike I think the result is excellent. It surely got me impressed and got me thinking I should try this out for future builds. You have achieved some very sharp and straight frame lines there

I am in Jordan for work right now and looking at all the GB pics makes me wanna hurry back home to my messy little bench and model till the end of eternity.

That looks really god there Mike.

Zvezda, I wish I could model that long. I might be able to make a dent in the stash. Looking forward to seeing your updates when you get home.

Thanks, Zvezda and Bish! The strips look good this morning, no lifting is visible, so I'll proceed with unmasking the remaining two sections of canopy and replacing with decal. I'm not sure how quick the job will go, but if I can get into a rhythm it hopefully won't take long.

Cheers, M/TB379

Kostas: That paint job is looking really nice! I love how the preshading still shows through!

PJ: Sweet cockpit work!

Mike: Now that looks simply perfect! You did an amazing job at fixing the canopy frames!

Hi guys,

Well, I'm calling her finished at last. I can't say it's been an easy job, in fact it's ended up one of those models you're afraid to touch in case something else fails, breaks or simply falls off, but she's finally at the point I can call her done. I'll only give myself 7/10 on this one, there's the canopy problems, the alignment issues, and I didn't do as good a job on the landing light as I'd have hoped to. Some of it may be the kit, but I'm inclined to take responsibility for the shortcomings. Here's the gallery shots:

Well, there she is, a surprisingly complicated project. despite there being no yellow trim, it's given as Stab. III/Stg.77, May 1941, Crete.

During this build, I read "Operation Mercury, The Battle for Crete, 1941" by John Sadler (Stackpole, 2008), a very good read, and though the Stuka does not appear in great detail it certainly set the scene for the action.

It's been a great build to take part in, many thanks! It's always good to be stretched a bit and try new techniques!

Cheers, Mike/TB379

Awesome job Mike and a huge well done for fighting on through. The front page has been updated, I hope your happy with the pic I selected. I have quite of few books in that Stackpole series, but not the one on Crete, will have to ad that.

And well done to all those in Kette 9, the first kette to complete their builds.

Thanks, Bish! I'm so used to being the last one to finish, it's a novelty to be in the first Kette to complete the projects! Yep, that pic is an excellent choice.

Again, many thanks, and I look forward to great new builds to come!

Cheers, M/TB379

You have certainly done my favourite aircraft perfect justice. Thank you.