If I go to a newstand, I should be able to pick some up? I’ll look for them then.
I am not sure what issue they are up to in Germany, but this has being going on for at least a year and you may pick up somewhere between issues 50 to 60.
This is no good because the issues are just under half way through the kit and you will not be able to do anything.
If you really want to do this then you have to get a source that has all the issues up to date and can get you the rest.
As I said in an earlier post your best bet is Ebay.de.
If you have family in the country like you say then the best bet for future builds is to ask them to watch out for you and get them and ship them over to you.
Don’t forget that you will have to translate the building instructions too.
Ok chaps, time for another update.
Issue 10 parts
This time we get the parts for the seat base, back and head rest. Some parts are in MDF so care is taken with them as MDF can be easily broken.
The Build
First off we make the base that the pilots seat will sit on. This is out of MDF so I will use wood glue to stick it all together. Once the frame was together and square I put it where it will fit to make sure that it does.
Some slight adjustments were made to the frame so it sat right and then it was removed carefully and put aside to dry.
Next I started on the seat detailing. It would be nice if the seat could be made to go up and down, but that is not possible given the parts. First up, the lever side.
This part needs bending in more than one place so I wqas careful and took my time
Handle detail added
Some more detail is added to the bracing area
Ready to go on the base
Fixed to the base
The same was done with the other side.
then added to the base along with another detailing piece.
I dry fitted the base to the deat to make sure that they do go together.
I then dry fitted both parts to the frame. I am not joining the seat to the seat base just yet as it will make it easier to attach the seat harnesses. First though, the seat and base need painting in RLM 66.
Very cool build. I wish they had something like this in the US.
Eric
Cool!! the handbrake [:D] LOL
Then used even the wood on this kit!!
Just a little post to inform you all what is coming up.
I use google translate and this is from there without turning it onto proper English, just to show you what is coming in this section and what I have to work with instruction wise!
Issue 11
Pilot and gunners seatbelts/harness restraints
Issue 12
parts for the construction of the lee-board seat, also the brass pins for the making of the seat and the shock absorbers of twisted metal
Issue 13
Atzplatte with a brass parts for the cockpit floor in the area of the board and the appropriate protections apparell
Issue 14
additional parts for the cockpit and the lining of the ribs
ISSUE 15
more share for the cockpit to two long-exchangers for the hull
Issue 16
housing for the hydraulic drive the flight control
Hi chaps.
Another update with issue 11 - the pilots restraint harness.
I will admit to always struggling with the small harness’ from eduard that I use to add that bit of extra detail to a cockpit. Most of the stuff is small and fiddly and I have to keep on walking away and thinking on how to proceed or the best way of bending stuff… The sleepless nights just stack up!! Although the restraint harness for the pilots seat is in 1/16 scale this is just the same for me but a bit bigger - and there’s another one to do yet!!!
The Parts.
The buckles can be seen on issue 10 parts.
The build. I had to do lots of translating and head scratching before starting and, despite the instructions jumping around a little bit, to avoid getting muddles up and the wrong stuff on the wrong side I stuck with one harness strap until it was on the pilots seat. Actually, Hachette have you building the pilots seat harness now and then fit it in issue 15 or 16. I don’t really see the point in that so I took the plunge and fitted each part of the harness as they were finished.
First of all I applied some paint. I had problems with the harness strap colour but eventually settled for a brown colour. I wasn’t sure about the ivory colour that the instructions mentioned.
Once that was dry I started to build
Right side finished and ready to go on the seat
On the seat and waiting to be folded
The left side is the same except with a different lower buckle.
On the seat ready to be folded into place
The shoulder restraint harness is by comparison a simpler thing, but I still had trouble with the upper buckle (it’s me, not the parts) and after some head scratching just left it!!!
There is a left and right to the shoulder harness straps and I painted the MDF seat cusions and installed them before adding the shoulder harness straps and folding everything into place. I had considered adding some paper or painting on some white glue to give a crinckled used look, but at the end just one coat of Red Brown with a brush and smeared it round gave it a kind of mottled look as the paint settled more in one place than others. I’m happy with that.
Attach the seat support to the bottom and after a bit of paint patching is ready to go in to the cockpit.
There is some paint to be patched and a couple of colours to be added here, but not a bad effort for me!
Questions and comments welcome.
James
Looks great so far. I am looking forward to the next installment.
Eric
Who isnt thinking about “The Indian and the Cupboard” here!
Except a loose Stuka that size could do some damage. More like “Batteries not Included” on a real bad day!.
I think they also do a Spitfire, I have seen in on sale in France.
Altaya, is another partwork publisher active in france and spain. It is known to partwork builders to be at the bottom of the pile regarding quality.
I have looked very carefully at this model. It is a wooden frame with metal skin and there are many mistakes with this model. For a start the sliding canopy doesn’t have the signature “bulge” and is a flat square one also ther cannon fairings on the wings are wrong and also the shape of the wing seems wrong to me as does the lower engine cowling.
It is known amongst partwork modellers that you spend just as much again on corrections as you do on the partwork.
Now the ones that I am building, the Stuka and the Zero (coming very soon) are from Hachette and Deagostini respectivley and are recognised to be at the top of the partworks tree. Me - I can do without the hassle and endless corrections needed of the Altaya Spitfire just to get it looking right. I would rather go for one of the Tamiya Spits and save money and spend my time on adding detail to my stuka and Zero large scale builds!
It is the research and design of the partworks which attract me. Altaya don’t have a very large budget for that and run on a string - and it shows! Hachette and Deagostini spend alot of time and effort getting things right and they rarely have a flop. Their R&D budgets for these partwork models are quite big and it does show as you are seeing above.
Coming soon - after I have translated the build instructions [:^)]
Issue 12 - the gunners seat!
On with the build.
This time we build up the gunners seat. There are some small bits and some fiddly bits for this one. I took care to make sure that I had everything the right way round. and did several dry fits before comitting glue. The offcuts of the brass rod I will keep hold of as you never know what use they could be.
The Parts
The Build
I had several dry runs to make sure that I got the supports the right way round. There are two different ones for each side and they both go on a particular way. Get it wrong and the seat base top will not sit flat.
The Finished seat. Just needs painting RLM 66, the seatbelts adding and putting in the cockpit!
Next up - the rear cockpit floor.
Comments and questions welcome
James
This build continues to make me wish there were partworks in the US
I second that!
Eric
I have issue 1 of the Altaya spit, it was a present. But the pictures of the completed model looked so bad that I decided not to buy the rest. The wings are indeed not good, they lack the gull wing effect. Even in the introductory booklet there where a lot of mistakes.
Here we go again chaps,
A short update this time - Issue 13 - Gunners area cockpit floor.
Not much really to do this time, but I have to make sure that the parts fit correctly.
The Parts
The Build
A dry fit of the gunners area floor to make sure that it fits correctly and I do not have to change anything. With these builds nothing must be taken for granted. Fortunatly my work so far is accurate and square. The floor fits great with no work needed.
Now it is the case for adding the detail needed before permanently fixing in place.
Here we are, finished and ready to be fixed in place
Fixed in place, ready to paint RLM66 with the gunners seat dry fitted. the lower side will be painted RLM02. There will be other parts to go in here at a later date!
Questions and comments welcome
James
This is madness- sheer madness! Naturally, I want in. ;D
Cheers1
chuk
Hi chaps
Photobucket has emailed me to tell me that I am close to my 10gb bandwidth usage for this month (whatever that means).
To avoid pictures not showing up on my posts here I am going to mirror this build on a free website. Don’t worry as I will keep my posts up here but also include a link to the free website.
I am, at the moment working on the stuka, and for all those following this and my Zero build, there is a delay on that build while I get some items I need such as paint, polishing paste and 2500 grit wet & dry.
I am looking into the possibility of producing my build(s) as a series of PDF files or something like that on DVDs including all the build photos etc. I don’t know if they would be of use to anyone like that but the amount of hits that this has already gave me the idea. There would be a small charge to include postage for this should I do it, and payment would be through paypal.
If you are interested, PM me.
James
10gb?? how many pictures you uploaded? [:|]
There are 177 pictures of my stuka build to date - To many?