Reich Defenders V: Hunters of the Dark

I have a set of H-models decals.  It has two of the all black D's.

One is 11(N), JG2 Richtofen at airbase Jever-Altenborg 1940, Norway.

The other is 10.(NJ)JG 26 at airbase Bonn-Hangelar 1939.

Yep, she is a Hobbycraft.  I am using the Eduard PE set for the pit.  I have a set of resin seat.  I already ground the set belts off. I want to put a set of PE belts in.  Also I have a Squadron Canopy.

As you guys can tell I love my aftermarket.  It's kinda an addiction.

I will be posting pictures of her.

Moose -- the HC kit has no detail in the chin radiator intake, you'll need to scratch something as it's very noticeable. The Airwaves brass set has an insert for it, but I used some brass grille and plastic strip, and it looked okay under paint. I did a -D for the 109 GB earlier this year.

Can't wait to see this bird!

M/TB379

Thanks for the heads up on the radiator.  I see the Eduard had a screen insert that has nice detail.

moose

Great -- I thought maybe it was just an interior set -- the rad is really the only thing that cries out to be up-detailed on the exterior, though the exhausts are a bit of a disaster as well.

M/TB379

Yeah I noticed that. Trying to figure out what to do with the exhaust.  Yes my Eduard kit is a full PE set.

moose

Morning all... I stayed up late and finished up last night. here is my latest contribution to this GB.

OK, summary ... All in all, not a terrible kit but not a good one either, suffers terribly from lack of detail, and poor instructions and parts ID. The fit was so so... but over all a fair representation of the subject. Would not recommend for un experienced builders. I see now why people have referred to them as Hobby"Crap" kits. 

Would love to do another in the future but have a pretty full plate at this time... Thanks for the opportunity to do this one, and If not in this time frame I guess there is the next one!

OH... I have loosely tried to represent an aircraft of Zg3, Norway late 1940.

Thanks again...

Doug

Doug -- that's a fantastic piece of work! Yep, Hobbycraft is a demanding brand but the fact is that some very nice models can be built from their products, as you have certainly done! I especially like the canopy masking and etched loop antennas, very good!

I'll use the third pic from the bottom, if that's okay with you?

Cheers, M/TB379

Nice work Doug.  I love the way you have color modulation on the black.  I really brought your bird to life.

Looks great and look forward to the next build you do.

Kim

Thanks guys... Choice of pics is yours my friend... I agree, with the right add ons,  ie...PE, Resin, Scratch built items, These kits provide a good solid base kit to begin with. They are kind of like the newer Lindberg kits, When I was a kid, the Lindberg kits were the well detailed and sought after kits. Now they are no more then a base to start from with the add ons required costing far more then the original kit. Thanks again Mike for sponsoring this build, and if time permits I'll do another. I will watch on and admire all the great work being done here.

Thanks

Doug

You're most welcome, my friend! It's always a pleasure to watch you work! I hope we see you again in the second six months of this GB! (Second six months -- yikes, I MUST get a start on my 262!)

I'll try to get the pic up later today, Photobucket has done something weird with its code generator and I haven't worked it out yet...

M/TB379

You really did that one up nice. I really like that bird in black. Great job, Doug!!!

P1 updated, I think I've licked the Photobucket code thing -- it was just a matter of a new interface. Okay, half way along and six completions down!

M/TB379

Thanks Brandon... I agree, these do look good in black, I had never done a black scheme like this before. Thanks again.

Appreciate it Mike... yeah my Photo bucket woes and there 10 gb for 30 dollars per year fee drove me to flickr where you get 1 Terabites for free! Thats about a half million photos. (Per Flickr) So far am happy with flickr...

Doug

I only use PB for my forum uploads, so even after eight years I'm only on 7% capacity used -- I don't think I'll ever get through the free allotment!

M/TB379

Looks great Doug! I really like the weathering on the upper surfaces.  It's always been difficult for me to weather black and you did a fantastic job.

Thanks Bob... what I tried to do here was to hit the higher areas with a flat black mix about 50 to 60 percent thinner to a mix of flat black and dark sea grey , then add a bit more drk grey and thin some more, to slightly lighten the individual panel centers, leaving the edges slightly darker. Then just misting a coat of that over all upper surfaces, avoiding to much on the sides.

Thanks again bud...

Doug

Moose a most excellent looking 110 and even more amazing that its your first in so many years!

Doug thats one great looking Do17, really effective paint work. Black is so hard to get the right look but you nailed it!

Hey guys! hope all are well! Builds are awesome as always! posting on several GBs to try and get the juices flowing again! Trying to finish a peanut scale staggerwing I started 8 years ago and then see what happens after that. Will be about! Miss the comeraderie on these things!

Well, I've finally gotten around to starting my Uhu!  I suppose that's what I get for signing up for a bunch of GBs at the same time.  But, better late than never I suppose.  Here's the box:

The parts all look really nice with fine detail.  Something Tamiya did that I thought was pretty clever was to make the cockpit floor/nosegear bay out of metal, which means you don't need to add any weight to the nose to keep it from being a tail sitter.  I forgot to take a picture of it before I primed it and started painting it, but here it is anyway:

I've just about finished the cockpit.  I didn't weather the cockpit too much as these planes were relatively new and well cared for.  Essentially all I did was some drybrushing and a wash.  Something I thought was strange was Tamiya didn't supply decals for any gauges other than those on the instrument panel in front of the pilot.  I raided some spares to fill in.  I still need to put the straps on the foot pedals and the seatbelts.  The kit comes with decal seatbelts, which normally I hate.  However, when I built the Accurate Miniatures SBD-5 Dauntless, I put them on the metal foil that comes on wine bottles to make them thicker and easier to pose.  I'm going to try to print my own seatbelt decals since the ones in the kit look horribly wrong.  If that doesn't work out or look right, I'll have to order some photoetched belts to put on.  Here's where I'm at:

Any comments/critiques are more than welcome.

Great start Silentbob.  Keep it up.

Very nice start Silent!!! Looking good!!

Thanks guys!

Yes indeed, an excellent start. The instrument decals are especially convincing! I look forward to this one coming together, I have it in my stash and am saving it for some future time to enjoy at length!

Cheers, M/TB379

Great aircraft to build Bob! Love the He219! Your doing a great job , Any idea of the paint scheme and markings yet? Regardless, looking good!

Doug

Thanks guys!

Thunderbolt - I was pretty surprised by the instrument panel decals myself.  I don't usually like decals for instrument panels, but I decided to use the ones in the kit as there was no detail molded onto the part.  I'd also heard horror stories about Tamiya decals, but these settled down nicely with Micro Set and Micro Sol.

Doug - I haven't made up my mind on markings yet.  I'm going to go with 1 of the 2 markings for NJG1 in 1945.  I really like the look of the black-bottomed bird on the box art, but trying to get the right look for the black and weathering the black paint kind of intimidates me.  The other option I'm considering has a RLM 76 bottom and the same pattern of RLM 75 on top, but the markings look a little dull.  I still have a bit of time before I have to commit though.  Something else that I find a little confusing is the decal sheet includes the emblem for NJG1, but the instructions don't show where they would go.

Not sure if I have any info on NJG1 but I'll look to see when I get a spare moment. I have a fairly good book entitled Night Fighter units of the Luftwaffe... Might be something in there. Yeah they are confusing, and even the Do17Z I did here was I believe a Njg unit in Finland 1940, she still wore the London Blitz emblem. But yes, still plenty of time, I was just wondering...Take care...

Doug

I appreciate you looking into that for me Doug.  I've been trying to find information on the internet, but I haven't really seen anything that helps.  I'm still going back and forth on the scheme, but my wife is pushing me to do the black bottomed one on the box, so we'll see...

Hey Silent,

I found this for you.  Hope it helps.

www.asisbiz.com/.../Heinkel-He-219.html

moose

Thanks Moose, I found that site earlier in my research but forgot about it. I'll give it a good read tomorrow.

Real life managed to get in the way of bench time, but I've been able to snag a few minutes here and there.  I finished the main landing gear bays and assembled the main components of the wings.  I thought the landing gear bays were a little sparse...

So I added a bit of detail to them based on a picture of the ZM 1/32 kit.  I didn't add as much as I could have, but I don't have a whole lot of experience with scratchbuilding.  I think it looks busy enough anyways.

And the completed wings...

After spending the better part of a week trying to get the decal seatbelts to look right, I gave up.  Luckily, I saw a deal for PE seatbelt sets on Ebay so I picked a few up.  And they look much better.

Fuselage is closed up and ready to move on to the next bit