Rick K Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 great PE work. my eyes hurt just looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mywifehatesmodels Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 Thanks, Rick. Sorry about your eyes, though. It really wasn't as bad as I expected, but it is a bunch of PE in 1/48 scale, so.... Real life is just fighting me, every step of the way, on this one. We had an ice storm yesterday and I went most of the day and into this morning with no power. Kind of hard to assemble and paint by candle, or flashlight. We'll see what the rest of the week holds. Thanks again for following along, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_K2 Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Kevin, I appreciate the offer, but don't worry about it. I was able to source a set. Also, I had looked through various sprue shots of the C kits and it appears that they do not include the racks. So if you do have an A-4 you may want to hold on to them, as you will probably need them! Thanks again, John My real passion (despite size "issues"), is for the 1:32 Ju 88 A-4, so I may just sell off my DML and ProModeler kits, not real sure yet. mywifehatesmodels 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mywifehatesmodels Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 Thanks, Maru. Don't apologize. Those are perfectly valid questions. My goals for this build are: First, I wanted to get a better understanding of the cockpit layout and have a test run at that, especially watching out for any tight spots and difficult assemblies. Of course, there are some major differences between the 1/48 DML kit and what will be in the Revell/AIMS conversion in 1/32 scale. The engineering is quite different and I think that the AIMS top turret, alone, will probably have nearly as many parts as the entire 1/48 pit! So, for this project, I just want to put in a few extras to kind of round things out a bit. However, in the 1/32 build, it will be even more complete, as I will have more room to work with and it will also be more visible, I believe. So, it will almost have to have more put into it to "stack up", or (hopefully) exceed the look and feel of the smaller scale build. The big one will be a project that I want to take my time on, as it's pretty much a "Holy Grail" type of project for me. So, any type of preparation that I can get for the details will be an advantage. Second, I want to have a test run at the paint scheme and markings that I've chosen to do. The photos and text in the AJ Press book would suggest something more than just a standard 70/71/65 paint scheme, which is exactly what I wanted. I've never seen a profile of this aircraft, other than one of the Hasegawa 1/72 scale decal options, which I don't believe to be totally accurate (it looks pretty basic to me). My thoughts on the scheme are that it's the standard 70/71 topsides, but there are patches of a lighter color, as well. To my eye, it appears to be too dark to be 65, 76, or 77, which can be found on other Ju 188s of KG2 and KG6. My theory is that it may be RLM 02, which is what I want to go with. Now that I've said that, I'm sure someone will come along to tell me how wrong I am, but I'm just going with what my eyes are telling me, at this point (and I have some pretty large photos of this plane that have brought me to this conclusion). However, there are also some discrepancies between some of the photos, as well. Some were taken before the plane was jacked up and some afterwards. There appears to be differences between them and I'm not quite sure why. Angle? Lighting condition? Touched photos? I don't know. I'm just going with my best guess and what will appeal to me, in the end. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_K2 Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Do you have both AJ Press volumes on the 188/388? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mywifehatesmodels Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 The Polish versions. Would like to get the English versions but people on ebay seem to think they are worth their weight in gold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mywifehatesmodels Posted December 17, 2014 Author Share Posted December 17, 2014 (edited) I was able to get to the bench for a little while, tonight, after enduring more power outages, downed power lines, kids home from school all day (because of the downed power lines), etc. I manage to get the framework completed for the nose mounted MG 151/20, it's ammo belt (stolen from my 1/32 IL-2 spares) pilot and radio operator seatbelts, among a few other things. There are a few things about the gun mount (in particular, the feed chute from the ammo box) that don't quite match to references, but fixing it would require scratch-building and moving a bunch of stuff. At this point, I'm not going to try to redesign the cockpit, but I'm taking notes for the build to come. It still looks the part, though. Before mounting the gun, I had to check the fit of the nose glazing and see just how it was going to line up with it's opening. Once I got that squared away and the gun glued in place, I started working on the canvas shroud that surrounds the barrel (Edit: I chopped the barrel off the kit gun and made a new one from hypo tubing, but forgot to get a picture of it) in the glazing (looks like it was rubberized from photos). Since this shroud isn't included in the kit, I worked up a blob of clay, as close as I could get to the shape and am making a mold of it. I'm hoping that I can cast this shroud in resin, clean it up and glue it in place. I just hope it works, or I'll have to find another approach. I already tried foil and paper, but just couldn't get them to look right. We'll see what pops out of the mold, tomorrow. Thanks for looking in, John Edited December 17, 2014 by mywifehatesmodels AndersN, MikeC and alain11 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn M Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 wow, lovely work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mywifehatesmodels Posted December 17, 2014 Author Share Posted December 17, 2014 Thanks, Shawn! Still a ways to go in the cockpit, though. Hoping that MG 81Z gets here soon so I can get it installed, do the small windows on the belly, then start getting things buttoned up. Once the front office is done, the rest should be fairly easy (fingers crossed, again!). Thanks again for stopping by. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 John Awesome work on the front offcie ... looks absolutely fantastic Keep 'em coming Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mywifehatesmodels Posted December 17, 2014 Author Share Posted December 17, 2014 (edited) Thanks, Peter! This morning I started working on cutting/trimming/sanding the vac glazing. I made a couple of "oopses" with the blade, but they should be fixable and the fit is going to be better than I expected. In the meantime, I've been using the kit's clear glazing as the test bed for fitting everything, including the gun shroud, which I made a resin casting of. It's not a perfect rendition of the real thing, but a huge improvement over the gaping hole that would be there, otherwise. On the 1/32 scale version, I think I will attach this from the outside and will likely use something other than resin (but I'm not sure, yet). Given the size difference, it should be easier in 1/32 scale. For this one, however, I'm going to glue it in from the inside. Still have to drill a hole for the gun barrel. I'm not sure if I'll drill it all the way through, or just mate the chamber/receiver front to the rear of the shroud, then put the barrel on the outside, without passing it completely through the shroud. Both methods would have their advantages, but it may be easier to maneuver the model around and paint without a hole in the nose and/or worrying about a protruding barrel. Here's what I've got: I just noticed that the shroud is slightly out of alignment in the photos, but it is a perfect fit for the opening, as I used the opening to shape it, by placing a section of latex glove over it, from the inside, then pushing clay outward. Once it stuck out a bit, I gave it a little bit of contour with a pair of tweezers. The glove helps reduce the tool marks and just a slight amount of pressure will soften the details even more, without having to touch it and leave any fingerprints. The lump of clay was then carefully removed to use for a master. I should have taken pics of that process, but I was on a roll! The lower front windows and bombsight fairing will be the kit's part and I may start fitting that, next. In looking at the alignment of everything, I may end up shaving a hair off of the 20mm ammo box to get this clear part to fit, but we'll see once I get it off the sprue. Thanks again, John Edited December 17, 2014 by mywifehatesmodels LSP_K2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mywifehatesmodels Posted December 17, 2014 Author Share Posted December 17, 2014 Thanks, Maru! I appreciate your input. The ammo belt was actually easy to paint. I glued it into position, first, then took a fine brush and slapped some brass paint on the tips and heads of the cartridges and it pretty much just flowed into place on the vinyl belt. It was easier than I expected it to be, especially doing it AFTER assembly (something I don't normally do, but didn't want to handle a painted vinyl part, trying to squish it into place!). I still need to paint the actual belt part of it, but it should be pretty simple. I haven't been able to get any further, today, as life got in the way, but I did get a box of goodies in the mail today and hope to be back at the bench tonight. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted December 17, 2014 Share Posted December 17, 2014 Nice progress John! Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 John Nothing like goodies arriving and waiting for you at the door. Thoroughly enjoying your build and narrative. Keep 'em coming Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mywifehatesmodels Posted December 19, 2014 Author Share Posted December 19, 2014 Thanks, guys! I've got a bit more painting done in the cockpit and the ejection chute for the 20mm attached. I haven't taken any more pictures yet and will probably wait until it's almost done (the cockpit). I feel like I'm just posting pics of the same thing, over and over, without much progress. But, there's so much to do in the pit. I think it's probably 75% of the entire project! I haven't even started to do the upper glazing, guns and turret, yet. Oh, and the pilot's instruments which will have to be attached to the forward glazing...and...and... Thanks again, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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