AIMS Ju388 L1 conversion - Finished!

[Wouter]

Good evening all.

 

Just before preparing to close up the cockpit, Brian a.k.a. Levier kindly provided me with another very helpful picture. It's an overhead view to the front of the cockpit and it also shows the jump seat. With this picture and the other reference I have, i was finally able to solve the puzzle. With the permission of Brian, here's the picture. Thanks again Brian!

 

 

Like I showed earlier the seat is attached add two points to the floor. I thought the rods that form a triangle are part of the rotating meganism, but no. there is an arm beneath the triangle. The triangle itslef is fixed and anchors the seat against the side wall in the fold out position. It's then attached at three points. Simple but clever solution. So now you know.

Here's a new graphic showing what I mean.

 

 

 

Well, new info means more details. I went back to the observer seat in my build and changed a few bits and bops. Shifted the attachment point on the floor, added a piece of rod representing the front rotating arm and i added a handle on the side of the seat (presumably used to activate the folding mechanism).

 

 

With this last piece of the puzzle I am now ready to close the cockpit!

 

I already made the frame on the inside of the front part of the canopy . Plus masking and not to forget, the moisture traps (little white circles) in the windows. The lower canopy is now glued (drying as we speak with 24 hour epxoy)  to the cockpit. With this part attached I could also make the fresh air handle. This is the long thin rod from the canopy to the side of the pilot seat (with blue knob). Fiddly but very important detail because it's pretty visible. 

 

If I have enough time this weekend I will concentrate on the upper canopy and with a bit of luck I'm able to close it up. Major milestone! I'd recon the build is pretty straightforward from thereon

 

Cheers, Wouter

 

 

[Kagemusha]

Terrific work - it's mighty cramped in there.

[Wouter]

Yeah, not much room to move around. I guess that fresh air handle was wery much needed!

[LSP_Ray]

Wow, beautiful work, Wouter! A great tutorial for when I tackle my 388!

[Gazzas]

Wouter,

   Awesome looking cockpit!  Bomber "B" is alive!

 

Gaz

[levier]

Ausgezeichnet!

[Ohm-men]

Fantastic work Wouter! I'm happy to finally understand how the observers seat actually works. Thanks for posting all this.

[imatt88]

Great stuff! Excellent reference for the rest of us

[LSP_Kevin]

Great stuff, Wouter!

 

Kev

[nmayhew]

Yes I did. See below.

 

Thanks Ray, maybe I will...

 

 

As promised, my short how to on the antenna's. Putting Albion Alloys fit and slide to use.

 

 

Cheers, Wouter

Wouter wow that's awesome!

 

And second wow that is a super helpful how-to!

 

I have to say that if anyone (you??) ever made and sold these antennae I'd pay pretty much whatever they asked.

 

There is no aftermarket out there that even comes close.

 

Plastic and resin is just bendy,not straight, and generally lacking in precision.

 

The turned brass I have seen always has the problem of how to attached to the model.

 

How would you approach this problem for other antenna arrays?

[alaninaustria]

Really nice metal work!

Cheers

Alan

[Dany Boy]

:bow: :bow:

[Michael Scarborough]

Sincerely excellent and inspirational brass and soldering work, Wouter.

 

A question, if I may: since I returned to model building, I have stuck almost strictly to Wingnut Wings WWI builds, two of which I recently posted here. However, I've am really being pulled into what you and the other guys are doing using the AIMS conversions and am sincerely tempted to start one, particularly one with the huge glass nose. So, are there any of the Ju -188 or Ju -388 aircraft that had the large, greenhouse canopy but did not have the pointed wingtips and square topped tail? If not operationally, maybe an experimental version early on, or a concept that was never built? I strive for historical accuracy but also don't mind stretching things into the realm of historical plausibility. My question stems from issues of both shelf space and aesthetics.

 

Any thoughts you might have would be appreciated.

 

Cheers from NYC,

Michael

[monthebiff]

Nice clean work Wouter, what are you using to glue any parts such as those rods to the inside of the canopy ?

 

Regards. Andy

[Wouter]

Wouter wow that's awesome!

 

And second wow that is a super helpful how-to!

 

I have to say that if anyone (you??) ever made and sold these antennae I'd pay pretty much whatever they asked.

 

There is no aftermarket out there that even comes close.

 

Plastic and resin is just bendy,not straight, and generally lacking in precision.

 

The turned brass I have seen always has the problem of how to attached to the model.

 

How would you approach this problem for other antenna arrays?

 

Thanks Nick, glad to be of service. While I love the idea of selling these antenna, I think it's to labour intensive for a (small) production series. The first one took me almost three hours to build. The second one about one and a half. I'd recon you could get that down to one hour per antenna. Plus the market is not very big for these. Then you have the material costs, instructions and packaging and handling. I think it won't be very worthwhile to be honest. But if you're really serious we might figure something out.

 

I agree with you that other antenna arrays form turned brass are a major pain in the behind to permantly fix to your model. I have the Fug 220 Lichtenstein for the He219 from Master Model. While the brass is as perfect as one can get, there are some very fiddly bits. i haven't tried them yet, but it think I resort to superglue for initial attachment and a more permanent bonding with epoxy.

 

Sincerely excellent and inspirational brass and soldering work, Wouter.

 

A question, if I may: since I returned to model building, I have stuck almost strictly to Wingnut Wings WWI builds, two of which I recently posted here. However, I've am really being pulled into what you and the other guys are doing using the AIMS conversions and am sincerely tempted to start one, particularly one with the huge glass nose. So, are there any of the Ju -188 or Ju -388 aircraft that had the large, greenhouse canopy but did not have the pointed wingtips and square topped tail? If not operationally, maybe an experimental version early on, or a concept that was never built? I strive for historical accuracy but also don't mind stretching things into the realm of historical plausibility. My question stems from issues of both shelf space and aesthetics.

 

Any thoughts you might have would be appreciated.

 

Cheers from NYC,

Michael

 

Hi Michael, thanks for the compliment! Good to hear that you wan't to try something different. i don't know what your experience is with resin conversions, but in all honesty i wouldn't choose the Ju188 or 388 for my first conversion. That being said, I've found some transitional models from the Ju88 to Ju188 which would fit your requirements. In the Polish Monografie nr 33 from Robert Michulec there are two excellent drawings of prototype V24 and V28 which have the short wing (A4) and tail, but with the glass nose. Especially V28 fits the bill.

 

Nice clean work Wouter, what are you using to glue any parts such as those rods to the inside of the canopy ?

 

Regards. Andy

Thanks Andy. I use Colle 21 superglue in little spots. I´ll take a piece of styrene, spot glue on one end of the canopy and then about every centimeter I place a little dot superglue and bent-dip the styrene against it. Continue this till you end up on the other side. After the superglue has dried enough you can cut off the excess styrene. After all bits are in place I make a little epoxy (I use epoxy from Hph) and work this around all the styrene. Hph's epoxy is excellent stuff. You can place it where you want and through capilary force it pulls itself between the canopy and the styrene. It takes 24 + hours to cure completely, but after that it's though as nail and clear as glass.