Ju 87 Stuka GB

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.

Ready for the RLM 70

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!

tempestjohnny

Ready for the RLM 70

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

Nice masking Johnny

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

She is looking good raven.

Now that looks nice Shooter, I like that scheme.

Me too

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

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).

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

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

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!

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)

Greg, those covers were not hinged but removed completely. But looking at the gap along the forward edge, I am wondering if some sanding along the back on the bottom edge would not fix it. I can see a line of rivets, so you don't have much rom, but some off on each side might do it.

And you are not alone. I have lost count of the numbers of times I have seen a suggestion which just seemed obvious but I never thought of it. I kick myself every time.

Bish

Greg, those covers were not hinged but removed completely.

Thanks for that, Bish. I think I'll just leave it off then. It's not the gap that disturbs me, it's the misalignment at the top. It is even more evident in person.

Onward, then.......

I had the exact same problem, Greg. I puttied and sanded as best I could, but I couldn't get it to look right (not that it's impossible, I just couldn't manage it myself). The fit between the nose and fuselage in that kit is atrocious IMO.

On a brighter note, I'm rounding third and heading for home. I should have finished pics up tomorrow.

Oh my gosh, Steve. I forgot we are building the same kit. Isn't the nose just fun??? I agree with your use of the word "atrocious" to describe the fit between the nose and fuselage. And no alignment guides. Yikes.

Bish, I stand corrected. I did as you said and things line up now. I have some gaps now due to poor sanding skills, but if those didn't suck, it'd be a rather nice fit all round.

I need practice filling, correcting stuff, sanding, etc. anyway. This isn't my favorite kit so far so a good one to practice with. I doubt it's all the kits fault, my attitude was off all last year.

That's some good news at least Greg. And I am with you on sanding a filling. I think that's my worst stage and the one I like least.

Ok, I can finally call this one done. This was a tough build for me; the kit itself isn't the best, but I created a lot of problems for myself that I was at least able to overcome. There were, however, more than a few times that I was tempted to test the model's flight characteristics from my 2nd floor window.

Lots of little mistakes that are pretty obvious if you look closely enough. I had intended to weather the panel lines on the underside but found that the primer, paint, and gloss had made the recessed lines too shallow to take an oil wash. So we'll pretend she just had a bath. Also you can see the antenna wire is too loose, but with such an unsteady attachment point (the cowling antenna mast), there was no way to get enough tension in the wire to make it straight. As always, thanks to Bish for running another enjoyable GB! (Bish, I think I like the third photo the best for the front page - thanks!)

Steve, really nice job on this. It certainly seems it not an easy build, and it happens to us all. I have the same feelings for the F-16 I am doing now. You get to the stage where you just want it finished no matter what it looks like. Well done for sticking with it and for including it here. All Stuka's are welcome in my world, they all need love.

Front page has been updated.

Outstanding, Steve. Can't tell all the problems by the finished product. I'm very impressed.

Now the pressure is really on me to finish mine somehow!

I have a question about the bomb rack. Will it snap into place after the flat center section is glued into place? I prefer not to have the rack hanging about, even taped in place because I know I will break it.

Thanks for your kind comments fellows.

Raven this is a very nice bird and a hell of a paintjob.

Greg: This cowling has given us all many hours of sheer pleasure, I see

Seriously, in retrospect I love these tough situations, they sharpen our skills. 

What I did, since my cowling was painted final coat, I scrapped the interior surfaces graddually and test-fitting all the time, so as to create a 'step' on the back edge (like a locating bevel) and allow the assembly to 'float' when attached to the fuselage.

Then a coat of slow thick CA glue set it on place and the unavoidable misalignment was 'transferred' to the bottom of the join (some 0,5mm offset), where things are not so visible.

Yes, I admit I am a visual liar

Your result untill now by your method seems also excellent, I am looking forward to seeing it finalized & painted.