Greif8

Hi guys, its been a couple of weeks since my last post. A business trip and spring yard work cut into my time but I have managed to spend the last few nights working on the build. I did not like how my reverse mottling attempted turned out at all; the edges were much to stark in my opinion. So I re-sprayed the aircraft RLM 76 and then airbrushed the RLM 75 mottle using the tried and true method I normally do - that is air turned down to 5 psi, very thin paint and the .2mm nozzle/needle combo on the H&S Infinity. The Mission Models paint required some practice on a paint mule first, but once a came to grips with the paint the result was fairly pleasing to my eye. The FuG 202 antenna was cobbled together using the parts from my other RoG Uhu kit and some spare brass parts from either an old Owl or the Polish company that makes AM antennas, I forgot which. The end result is not 100% perfect, but looks pretty good from 6" or so away. The gloss coat is Alclad's gloss which is not bad; however, I have come to prefer Tamiya XF-22 thinned down so I am using up the rest of my Alclad gloss. Enjoy the photos! Mottled, glossed and decaled Close up of the mottling on the port wing And the tail Some of the Owl AM decals. Frankly, I thought the RoG decals in the kit were just as good. Bits and bobs painted and ready for weathering. The FuG 202 antenna ready for priming and its RLM 76 coat.

Hi guys, thank you for the kind comments. I made the decision to attach the wings prior to painting, and I have to say the plane is one big beast. It is not as big as RoG's He111 kits though. All sub-assemblies are complete and everything has been primed and some things painted. I used Alclad II Primer, thinned about 30% and it shot very smoothly. After waiting 24 hours I lightly sanded the primer coat to smooth things out, after which I took the plunge to test a theory. Black basing has gotten fairly popular over the past couple of years and I have always wondered if one could achieve the same effects by just spraying a random pattern instead of spraying the entire model black. Of course I was 2/3rds the way done when I remembered that the actual aircraft was sprayed using the reversed mottling technique. Hmmmm...we shall see if I can pull this off, should be interesting to say the least. IMG_1141 by Ernest Roth One of the Barracuda wheels after base painting. The contrast between the hub and tire is actually a bit more evident than the picture shows. (I have to work on getting better contrast in my shots) IMG_1142 by Ernest Roth One of the Flammenvernichter after the base black and red brown has been sprayed. I plan to use pastel chalk to add depth and contrast to the tone. IMG_1143 by Ernest Roth The primed beast on my wargaming table. (I should have put blue paper under the plane, next series I will) IMG_1144 by Ernest Roth Close up of the port wing root. The wings did not have much gap between them and the fuselage, and a bit of Vallejo putty took care of those while not obliterating the joint. I probably could have assembled the wings after painting with minimal issues, but I opted not to mess around with getting the wing fillet and inner flap glued on, along with the wing of course, after painting. Makes for a bit of a hand full while airbrushing, but the wings look pretty good and I don't have to worry about a gluing disaster after painting. IMG_1146 by Ernest Roth One of the engine nacelles at the wing join. These also went into place with fairly minimum putty work. IMG_1147 by Ernest Roth And the experiment for the final shot. I'll buff things smooth tomorrow and it will be showtime with the airbrush. Keeping my fingers crossed! Ernest

Exceptional scratch building Durangokid, as well as the rest of the model of course.

I spent a couple of hours priming and painting several sub-assemblies last night. I am trying out the Mission Models paint line for this build and they airbrush very well. The RLM 02 looks pretty good to me, though I admit that I am not a stickler for "exact color matching (whatever that is). The metallic silver is Mr. Color chrome silver. I have been using new macro lens for my Canon Rebel T6 camera and it allows one to get some really detailed close up shots. Those shots also highlight any mistakes in all there glory, so this is definitely turning out to be a double edged sword! IMG_1135 by Ernest Roth Nose landing gear painted and ready to assemble IMG_1137 by Ernest Roth One of the main landing gear sub-assemblies in the same ready state. I am going to assemble the landing gear after general painting is done to avoid any boo-boos. IMG_1138 by Ernest Roth Close up of one of the oleo pistons. The metallic parts were hand painted. IMG_1139 by Ernest Roth One of the wheel bays. I have to admit the PE greatly improved the look. At this point I am on the fence whether to assemble the wings before general painting of afterwards. The fit is pretty good and it would be easier to airbrush the beast in three major pieces rather than maneuvering it as one. On the other hand, I have always tried to assemble as much as possible before painting, and that has saved me a lot of grief over the years. Have to think it over some more I guess. IMG_1140 by Ernest Roth Close up of the wheel well side, as well as the seam I missed (&%#%!), fortunately it will not be seen when all the parts are in place. Again the PE adds much to the wheel well. Ernest

Hi Yves, thank you for your reply reference the camera. Your setup, and skills obviously, make for some excellent closeup photos. Ernest

Hi guys, its been a while since the last update. I've been doing a lot of parts cleanup, a bit of fillings and some sanding; none of which is picture worthy. Now I have gotten to the point of various subassemblies that are worth a shot or two. Reference the large amount of PE; I don't normally use a great deal of the stuff but the PE set came with the kit, as did the Barracuda Studios AM. All of it was a big surprise when I opened the kit, which I won on a German EBay auction a few years ago. The person auctioning did not mention the AM stuff and I got the plane for €38.50. Being the things were in the kit I decided to use them. One final observation, for a fairly recent mold certain pieces had a fair amount of flash on them. Easy to clean up but a bit surprising nonetheless. IMG_1123 by Ernest Roth The Barracuda AM assembled on the kit part. Very nice stuff by the way. IMG_1126 by Ernest Roth I changed the kit barrels that were not all that well molded with some barrels out of my spare parts bin. The outer two are 3,0 cm and the inner two 2,0 cm. IMG_1125 by Ernest Roth Close up of two of the barrels that are a great improvement over the kit ones. (IMHO) IMG_1130 by Ernest Roth Main landing gear oleo piston cylinders. The PE was a bit fiddly to get shaped and placed on the somewhat fragile parts. IMG_1131 by Ernest Roth The main landing gear parts ready for priming and painting IMG_1133 by Ernest Roth Close up of one of the Barracuda wheels, again very nice AM stuff! Ernest

Excellent conversion work. May I ask what close up lens you are using? Ernest

Totally awesome skills on display with this build. Your attention to detail and scratch building is exceptional. Ernest

Excellent work thus far. Very impressive super detailing. Ernest

Thank you Fvdm. Below are a few fairly poor photos of the FuG 212 hood that I scratchbuilt. It started life as a 1/35 hand grenade case and is far from perfect but gets the job done ok I suppose. I used small Vallejo putty to simulate the face pad. Painted and installed it simulates the actual hood fairly well. Ernest IMG_1115 by Ernest Roth Initial cut and sanding, the hood is still in rough shape IMG_1117 by Ernest Roth Putty face pad before sanding IMG_1119 by Ernest Roth The hood after final sanding, shaping and painting IMG_1120 by Ernest Roth Installed in the aircraft

Thank you for the kind comments guys. Gaz, I did a couple of builds over the winter but was too lazy to do a build log; and one of the builds was the Polar Lights 1/350 Klingon D7 Battlecruiser so I don't think many would be interested in seeing photos of that on the forums a haunt! I spent the past few bench sessions working on the wheel wells for the main landing gear. I used most of the Eduard PE in them, leaving out only four identical pieces that Iook like brace replicants. Given how I think the landing gear is going to assemble I decided to leave the kit parts, which are molded on, in place for (I think) better stability. The PE turned out pretty nice and was really not overly fiddly to install. It does make for a huge improvement of the wheel well. Of course once the model is finished those will rarely if ever see the light of day. Normally I would have dispensed with PE in an area that will hardly ever be seen, but the PE set came with the kit when I bought it secondhand, so I thought, "What the heck, you can use the practice anyway." At any rate enjoy the photos! Ernest IMG_1106 by Ernest Roth Wheel well OOB. IMG_1107 by Ernest Roth View one of the PE IMG_1108 by Ernest Roth View two of the PE IMG_1114 by Ernest Roth Final Photo

Last set for today IMG_1093 by Ernest Roth Close up showing the throttle, trim controls and I think the fuel mixture knobs as well as a couple of gauges and panels IMG_1095 by Ernest Roth Medium distance shot showing scratched wire bundles, you can just make out the far bundle. Probably won't see much of them in the finished pit.

IMG_1083 by Ernest Roth Close up of the IP. I still need to do some minor touching up. The molding was a bit soft in both the left and right lower areas of the side panels so I was not able to replicate a couple of the gauges exactly. IMG_1087 by Ernest Roth Rear of the Radio/Radar rack with a few scratched electrical lines made from copper wire. IMG_1090 by Ernest Roth Close up of one of the side panels waiting for weathering IMG_1092 by Ernest Roth Another close up of the right side of the cockpit

A few more photos of the progress: IMG_1080 by Ernest Roth Close ups of the radio/radar equipment and the one of the MDC seats. I took the small handle from the kit seats and glued it on the MDC one, the pilot's seat was also done that way. IMG_1081 by Ernest Roth Nose wheel bay after a base coat of RLM 02 IMG_1082 by Ernest Roth And after some detail painting is complete. IMG_1085 by Ernest Roth Radio/radar equipment. I added a rough third scope to the FuG 212 receiver, I still need to scratchbuild the hood. I did not have any decals to replicate the Peil G 6 (located at the bottom center of the rack) so I used an old piece of PE to somewhat simulate the dial face and dry brushed it. Not perfect but does look a bit like the real thing. More to follow:

Hi all, I started working on my third build this year, RoG's He 219 A-7. I plan to back date the aircraft to resemble an A0/R6 flown by Hptm Ernst-Wilhelm Modrow in late 1943. I have a few AM parts, MDC seats, HGW Seatbelts, the Eduard PE Set for landing gear and the Barracuda radiator/fin set and rear wheels. I also have the Owl decal set for Modrow's aircraft. I plan to use the AM stuff and do some very minor scratchbuilding. I don't plan to make any major alterations as I think that with the AM the plane will look accurate enough for me. I have already started the build so below are the first photos. I am always looking for ways to improve so if any of you have any suggestions or criticisms fire away. Ernest IMG_1074 (2) by Ernest Roth The pit after general construction is complete IMG_1076 by Ernest Roth Most of the PE in place for the nose wheel. The seats are the kit seats that I will take a small part from for the MDC seats. IMG_1078 by Ernest Roth Another shot of the PE. IMG_1079 by Ernest Roth Parts airbrushed with a black base followed by RLM66. I am using a combination of Tamiya acrylics and Mission Models paint for airbrushing. Lifecolor paints will be used for detail painting. More to follow....