SS. I was missing a few parts from my Aires set. They sent me two pf the parts, via airmail. I had them within a week.
I’ll be continuing my stuka soon. Dry fitting of the cockpit parts on my Aires set, and a tip from someone here, shows the cockpit floor a bit narrow. I’ll probably have to add some sprue to the sides to get it to stay in correctly. So, be on the lookout for that.
I’ll be making note of these issues and will have to make a point of checking my Aires set. I know Aires has good service, they sent me a PE fret for my 72nd Stuka pit when I lost one part, the IP, from my original one. It was my fault but they still sent it free of charge.
In general, I am finding the service from eastern European companies to not just be first class but above and beyond.
Well…it doesn’t look like work will be bringing me in for overtime tomorrow. So that means I can stay up late tonight at the bench. Should get some build time…
Well, that good new for us Johnny, even if not for your bank account.
Hello fellow Sturzkampfgeschwaderer’s.
I see we all have our collection of modelling accidents. My most awkward was a heavy drop of CA glue splashed right into the eye. For a few days it was as if I was winking to everybody [;)]
After some idle period, the Stuka received all decals and a second heavy coat of gloss clear.
Decals were excellent and went down perfectly with some Gunze’s solution.
Within the next few days I hope to have finished all assembly, weathering, etc downstream the engine firewall.Then the engine compartment and engine itself.
I also half-assembled and half-painted an Opel Blitz truck (no pics worth showing yet) and if I like the result, I will try to put the bird inside a simple diorama (an ‘engine parts delivery to the airfield’, scene) but that’s dependent of my [8o|] working hours.
She’s looking really pretty, Zvezda! That CA accident sounds painful…
I already got a reply from Aires. They are going to get my replacement part posted in the next couple of days. Their customer service really is something else!
That looks really nice Zvezda, and nice to hear your going to try a dio. have you done one before.
That’s good news SS.
Ouch Zvezda! Glad you are ok. My buddy’s daughter superglued one of her eye lids a few years back. They spent several hours in the ER unsticking things! Your Stuka looks great.
Got a little done on my Stuka. Did some preshading to the bottom only. Then sprayed some RLM65.
http://imageshack.com/a/img661/7623/rqmmwA.jpg
Then sprayed some RLM65.
Like how that pre-shading came out! I have tried that a couple of times and can never seem to get it right, I wind up just covering it with the base color.
Note to fellow group members here, I just posted a yard sale over at the ARC site if interested.
Tomorrow I hope to lay down some more paint on my bird, unexpected interruptions are killing me here.
Scott
Thanks Scott
The single colors are a breeze. I just spray very lightly to cover most of the area then hit the center of the panels fading to the edges till there’s a hint of the black. Multi colored schemes are more complex. for that reason I’m not doing the preshading on top cause it will be lost to the multi colored North Arica scheme coming.
PJ, that looks nice. I have not tried pre shading for the reason Shooter mentioned, but I might have to give it a try some day.
That preshading looks spot on indeed! Definitely one of the many things I still have to improve on…
Thanks gents. I think it gives it that grimy weathered look underneath more visible on lighter colors.
Zvesda, your Stuka is looking great.
The CA in the eye scares me. Ouch.
PJ, looking good. I’m not even close with my pre-shading attempts. Your Stuka’s underside looks great.
Thanks for the comments fellows.
Bish that would be my first serious dio attempt
Unfortunatelly things did not go as anticipated.
Yesterday I started working on setting up the engine area to make it look right.
In brief:
Plan-A (Initial): Fully displayed engine: The engine, when placed on the plane looks disgusting. Nothing aligns properly, engine mounts are bent/distorted heavily when fit in place. Also from various photos I have seen, some engine parts are oversized, some undersized, some are missing, etc, etc. I attempted a series of cutting, trimming, squizing and similar operations, but the result was still unacceptable for a realistic fully displayed engine. So I proceeded to …
Plan-B: Display with lower covers in place: Attempting to install the lower covers and excibit only the top of the engine, initiated the ‘head banging on wall’ period [bnghead]. Cover and engine are just not made for each other. Covers have a lousy fit on the plane. Engine has a lousy fit on the firewall and inside the covers. Combine the two and a monster is born. Having exhausted my arsenal of foul language (in the style of ‘Italeri go [6][:@][8o|]’), I headed torwards …
Plan-C: Engine covers fully installed - no engine display: It took about 3 hours to install and glue the fully assembled engine covers. They do not fit properly by any means. There are no locating pins/tabs, etc and whatever one may try, there are gaps and misalignments. I did not want to ruin the finished paintwork and after carefully attempting about 30 times, I ended up with the less ugly configuration .I left the model aside, got up and had a bottle of beer and a couple of smokes.
Another string of problems appear on the lower surfaces positioning of markings and airbrakes & bomb racks. I followed Italeri instructions and something is not right with the Blk/cross position (see photos).
Result: I do not like the result. I also do not wish (my broken nerves don’t allow me) to start the heavy sanding, filling, etc required and do the painting all over again. This model is not worth a place in a diorama so it will just be completed and put on a corner for punishment.
I will transfer and apply the idea to another GB
I apologize for talking too much in this post, I tried to be as brief as possible.
Below some pics of the almost finished kit. An oil wash was applied and some panel post shading, rivets were highlighted with a soft pencil’s tip. Also a crooked cross decal was placed from the spares box, Italeri provides none. Some small bits and the wheels are to be installed and some exhaust stains, leaks,some more dust, etc to be recreated.
Cheers to all
Zvezda – you’ve achieved a fantastic result from a dog of a kit! The fit of the cowling to fuselage you’ve finally arrived at is at least as good, if not better, than Hasegawa’s, and the overall effect is notably good. Please don’t short-change yourself over that darn engine – okay, your plans didn’t work out for a more ambitious display, but it’s a very fine model indeed. I’d have been proud of it, and I rate it superior to the one I knocked out!
Cheers, M/TB379
Zvezda, sorry to hear you have had to struggle with this. I do agree with Mike in that the fit of the cowl to fuselage does look good from here. As for the underside crosses, I have been checking some pics. Its hard to tell for sure as pics of the underside are all from an angle, but your actually look about right. I know it seems there should be more space between the bombs and the cross, but from what I could tell, there wasn’t.
It is a pity about the engine, but its still a really nice looking build. Given that its bombed up, how about a dio of the crew climbing aboard.
Little more painting done this morning. Canopy is just tacked in place
That’s some nice work there Zvezda.
Zvezda.
Take it from one picky modeler, your build looks great from here. All parts appear to be in alignment and unless you mention the shortcomings, no one would be the wiser. You have succeeded in rescuing an otherwise unfinished shelved model. You should be happy how it came out.