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Stuka - better late than never!


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Kev - thanks, that's super helpful. I just took a look through your posts on the Emil as well (great job on that one, by the way), and I see what you're saying. I think I'll probably take the same approach - just work with the kit plastic, hack it to pieces, thin it up, detail it a bit, and make it fit as best as possible. It's going to be a challenge, I know, as the resin engine does look great but it will end up not being straight and true (like yours in the Emil). Makes me think twice about detailing an engine in the future, that's for sure! I know that I've seen some examples in the past of folks scratch building new panels/cowling out of lead foil, but I think that I agree with you that would be way too much work. Truth be told, I wouldn't even know where to start with that!

 

Thanks for the help :ph34r: JON

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Well, I've made a bit more progress on the build, but it's been slow. A step or two forward but then also, I'm afraid, a step or two back in this instance. I started off by hacking out the front of the kit plastic to make space for the resin firewall. I started with a razor saw, but then progressed to a sprue cutter in my impatience. This worked out pretty well leaving a big hole in the front, although I did nip off a bit more than I should have and so I needed afterwards to add a bit of styrene strip back. Once I finished this, I needed to strengthen up the structure that was now a bit weaker so I added a few pieces of polystyrene strip and chunk and a bunch of super glue as well to the interior to shore up the structure. You can see the resulting hole and some of my attempts at strengthening it here:

 

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Once this was done, I then attempted to test fit the already assembled firewall and engine, which had seemed to be totally out of alignment. Indeed, the engine was totally crooked and wonky, and so I knew then that I would have to disassemble the engine from the firewall, install the firewall, and then reattach the engine making sure this time that it was in alignment. Here's the test fit - nice and bent:

 

PICT0045-1.jpg

 

So starting back a few steps, I installed the firewall properly, glued it thoroughly since it's going to have to support a fair amount of weight, and then faired it in with putty, cyano and Mr. Surfacer.

 

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I left this to harden overnight, and then began to focus on how I was going to cover some of this resin engine up. The kit cowling will probably be sectioned along panel lines, with certain panels retained in plastic, and others potentially replaced with either aluminum or lead sheet, perhaps with styrene stringers.

 

PICT0052-1.jpg

 

I've never done this before, so it's certainly outside of my comfort zone, but I really don't have a much of a choice as I've now got to display this resin engine! I think working with the aluminum (at least now I have something to do with a few of the cans that I use on a daily basis) will be interesting, but if it isn't malleable enough after sanding/annealing it I might have to try another approach. We'll see how it goes...

 

JON

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You're a brave man Jon! But as you say, you probably have little choice but to go down this path now. The easy and expedient route might be to leave the entire front section off altogether (the cowling panels I mean), like you see in some maintenance photos of Stuka. Whichever way you go, take your time, and be prepared for setbacks!

 

Kev

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Guest Rigor
You're a brave man Jon! But as you say, you probably have little choice but to go down this path now. The easy and expedient route might be to leave the entire front section off altogether (the cowling panels I mean), like you see in some maintenance photos of Stuka. Whichever way you go, take your time, and be prepared for setbacks!

 

Kev

 

Iagree with kev on this i mean leave off the cowling, nice build keep the pix's coming i have one in the stash

but can not start, soon after i finnish the one''''ss i have going now :rolleyes:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Alright folks, time for another update. I've been doing work on the Stuka, but also doing some research on molding/casting parts in resin, finally setting up a halfway decent photo setup, and of course life's other requirements. But finally I've been able to put together an update.

 

First off, as far as the cannon are concerned for this beast I could no longer resist and I had to order the cool (and darn expensive) barrels from Voyager. At $25 they are pricey, but they look so darn good that I had to finally succumb to them:

 

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Then, I continued to think about how I was going to display the open engine, and how I was going to fashion the cowling panels. The kit parts were hacked into pieces, a whole bunch of pieces actually:

 

PICT0069.jpg

 

These are now in the process of being built up, modified, and detailed on both sides as I think I'm going to bite the bullet and try and cast them in resin. I want them to be thin, well-detailed, and resin seemed the appropriate way to go. Of course, this required learning about making molds and casting, so we'll see how it turns out. I had considered trying to do the parts in metal, but after collecting some sheet aluminum, brass, and lead I realized that resin casting was probably going to be easier and also allow further detail than these other mediums. So we'll see how it turns out...

 

Some of the photoetch in the Eduard set was added and cleaned up after mounting. This included the cannon mounts as well as parts for the underwing radiators, all of which don't look like much now but after painting and detailing should turn out pretty nice:

 

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Also, I modified the horizontal stabs as the kit part is incorrect as a single piece, rather than a separate flap/counterbalance piece and the rest of the stab:

 

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I also mounted the wheel spats, and this bird is getting bigger every day! She really is pretty substantial, especially with the longer wingspan of the G-2:

 

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Finally, with the new photo setup (basically I purchased a couple of pieces of sky blue poster board, a couple of reflector work lights, and finally dug out the tripod that I had in a box somewhere), I took some pics of the cockpit and work that had already taken place. I think the pics look better, as my shaky hands always made picture taking a real challenge...

 

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Next, I'm going to repaint the firewall, mount the engine and radiators, and start some painting in addition to working on the cowling panels. Time is running out!

 

Thanks for looking - :rolleyes:

 

JON

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Guest Rigor

nice, nice,nice its coming alone nicely! and yes your pix's are getting better

cant wait to see how you do the cowlings :rolleyes:

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Sweeeet, Jon!!!!! Been so busy on my own build, I haven't had time to pop up for some air and see what everybody else is doing. What's this? Did I see the words "hacking", "resin casting", and "cutting up the engine cowls"????!! Hehe, looks like this forum is being a baaad influence on ya, eh?! :rolleyes: Really admire you for having the courage to 'broaden yer horizons' with a lot of new techniques and materials. Looks good on ya buddy! I'm always interested in seeing others bust out of the box and actually create things. Once the shock of the learning curve subsides, and the walls of the comfort zone get busted down,...it staggers the imagination to know, ANYTHING is possible, there are no limitations to what can be built! New techniques are a constantly evolving 'thing', and change with the wind and materials used....very 'anti-boring'. You obviously have the technique for detail/paint finishing, ect. down cold. Your Stuka is gorgeous! :( (and I'm truly envious of them metal 'can openers'!)

Whew!, I just edited 2 paragraphs of questions I wanted to ask you about your photography and resin casting. I know you're as busy as I am trying to get done in the next week and there's no time for such frivolities at the moment. Plenty of time in the future to ask such things. Just popped on to say excellent job, and 'attaboys' on the cowl mods!(what DID you cut those with??) Can't wait to see what ya pull outta yer hat next,.. laughing and shaking my head in wild wonder at what you've done so far. COOL! ;) Russ

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  • 7 years later...

That last Stuka pic is very interesting.

 

I'd base my dio on that, with the engine on a box or hanging from a winch. Would take some work to get the firewall looking OK, but you'd avoid most of the fit issue, whilst showing the engine off to it's best effect.

 

Plus you'd have a very unique model dio.

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He hasn't posted here since 2008 and hasn't logged on since 2010 so I think the odds of him seeing your request are slim to none.

 

Well, he's following the thread, so if his email address is still valid, he'll receive a notification that someone has posted. Let's hope, anyway!

 

Kev

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  • 2 weeks later...

He hasn't posted here since 2008 and hasn't logged on since 2010 so I think the odds of him seeing your request are slim to none.

 

 

Well, he's following the thread, so if his email address is still valid, he'll receive a notification that someone has posted. Let's hope, anyway!

 

Kev

 

 

Just what I was going to say......................Ive gotten e-mail notifications too years down the road after last posting in some threads.

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