Trumpeter Ju 87G.

[ade rowlands]

7 hours ago, MikeMaben said:

 

Aha ! Clever lad , I did that with the Eduard masks for the Revell Mustang.

 

                                                    

 

 

 

I was being cheap, the Montex ones cost half as much as the Eduard ones. 

[ade rowlands]

Today was a day of seam cleaning and some general tidying up, so no photos as there isnt much to see. A couple of things though, the G series, although it didnt have dive brakes fitted due to the great big tank busting guns fitted under the wings, the posts that the brakes attached to were present, Trumpeter has actually left holes in the undersides of the wings for these but dont provide the parts in this kit. Having checked the instructions for the D series kit on the jp.1999 website they are on sprue that come with the D and earlier kits but not the G, so rather than try and replicate the parts from some sketchy photos I filled the holes in the wings. Another thing lacking is there should be some bumps on the wing upper surface where the machine guns of the earlier series were positioned. Nothing in this kit to provide those bumps, but Trumpeter do provide a cut out in the wings for said parts. Again, filled those in and decided to ignore the issue. Trumpeter do provide the slab armour for the cockpit sides but dont mention them in the instructions. I'm undecided on fitting these or not. I just cant tell from the few photos of Rudels Stuka if they were fitted or not. The more I look at the kit the more I get the feeling that the fuselage from the wing root to the cockpit sill is a little on the shallow side. 

[ade rowlands]

Well a little more detective work and I think I've come to the understanding that the G-1 was built from converted D series Stukas so did retain some of those features, the dive brake fixings and the wing top fairings. G-2's were as far as I can tell new builds with the extended wing tips like the D-5 series. As best as I can tell from zooming in on a photo of the Stuka Rudel surrendered by crash landing theres no dive brake parts and a different photo of it in the air it looks like no cockpit side slab armour and no wing top fairings/bulges so it would seem I'm good with what the kit provides. I've also come across some interesting photos of a G that may or may not be Rudel's Stuka in a winter whitewash which is appealing

[Mark P]

Ade:

 

I am following your build with great interest. I have published and retain a number of photos of Rudels last Ju 87 G-2 in the WOTBC series. Most recently, WOTBC Special Ju 87 Stuka. I can confirm that his last mount lacked additional fuselage armor. The dive brake pylons for the Ju 87 G-2 are also not an appropriate configuration. This all clearly evident in period photos.

 

HTH

 

Mark Proulx

[ade rowlands]

6 hours ago, Mark P said:

Ade:

 

I am following your build with great interest. I have published and retain a number of photos of Rudels last Ju 87 G-2 in the WOTBC series. Most recently, WOTBC Special Ju 87 Stuka. I can confirm that his last mount lacked additional fuselage armor. The dive brake pylons for the Ju 87 G-2 are also not an appropriate configuration. This all clearly evident in period photos.

 

HTH

 

Mark Proulx

 Thanks for the confirmation Mark. I had intended to get the books but whilst the price of the books is ok, its postage that kills it and then the gauntlet of customs charges. I searched the usual places, Amazon and Abebooks for any that may be available on this side of the Atlantic, it would seem every release BUT the Stuka special is available from one source or the other here.

Edited September 23, 2018 by ade rowlands

[Mark P]

There are some very nice aftermarket brass barrels for the underwing cannons. Are you considering that possibility? 

 

Mark Proulx

[ade rowlands]

55 minutes ago, Mark P said:

There are some very nice aftermarket brass barrels for the underwing cannons. Are you considering that possibility? 

 

Mark Proulx

 

Yep, I've gone for brass for the MG.81's and brass for the Flak cannons. I am now contemplating a slight change in scheme though having found a photo that only shows the nose of a Ju 87G in a splotchy winter whitewash, have you in your research come across Rudels in such a scheme?

[Mark P]

No...I have never seen Rudel's Stuka in white distemper.

 

Mark Proulx

[ade rowlands]

1 hour ago, Mark P said:

No...I have never seen Rudel's Stuka in white distemper.

 

Mark Proulx

 

Not to worry, must have been someone else’s, you’d swear Rudel was the only guy to fly the G from what’s out there. 

[ade rowlands]

A little more work done today, an attempt at restoring some lost detail from fairing various bits and pieces in to the fuselage. 

 

Its a job I hate, probably the job I hate most in this hobby. I will never be able to restore what was lost that’s for sure. Radu Briznan’s rivet wheel used in an attempt to put back lost rivets on the cowling. Came out ok,  not brilliant but it will work under a couple of coats of paint. 

 

 

The Vogel has its wings, well half of them anyway. It’s a very big bird too. I first tried the fit with both wing halves taped together, for me this was a no go as the join to the inner wings wasn’t stellar and I do not want to be sanding in that area as it would be a bear. So I did it this way, the provided wing spar would ensure the correct dihedral could be attained whilst getting a nicer fit to the inner wings. It works better than the other way. I remember this being a problem area on the Hasegawa kit too. I also added the props under the horizontal stabs after checking to see if I could get away with doing it after painting, but this being a Trumpeter kit one fit like a dream, the other was a dog, I know not why, but it just didn’t want to sit in its recess and touch the horizontal stab in the corresponding slot, so out with the glue to melt some styrene and manipulate it into position. 

Progress will likely slow a little over the next week as I work my week on night shifts. Learnt long ago to leave kits alone when sleep deprived. The bottom wing halves need to be joined to the tops, some fairing in around the radiator face and a little tidy up of the fuselage with some super fine grit micro mesh and it will be ready for paint. Still to be done are the wheel spats and those whacking great guns

 

 

[Mark P]

Rudel certainly the most recognizable and highly decorated figure to fly the "G". You also have to consider the fact that there were limited numbers of that version built. With those two factors at play you will see a disproportionate number of photos of his Stuka compared to others.

 

If I may, a shameless plug that EE does offer a couple of decal sheets for the Ju 87 G.

 

Mark Proulx

[LSP_Kevin]

Nice progress, Ade!

 

Kev

[ade rowlands]

7 hours ago, Mark P said:

Rudel certainly the most recognizable and highly decorated figure to fly the "G". You also have to consider the fact that there were limited numbers of that version built. With those two factors at play you will see a disproportionate number of photos of his Stuka compared to others.

 

If I may, a shameless plug that EE does offer a couple of decal sheets for the Ju 87 G.

 

Mark Proulx

 

Indeed they do and I was torn between the 2 sets, I went for the Rudel one which is a blessing as I had planned to do what I did to creat the canopy masks with the Trumpeter decals  and cobble together stencils from my spares drawer but Trumpeter didn’t include a spinner spiral decal and used the wrong font for the werk number. 

[LSP_Ron]

Looks really good

[ade rowlands]

An update of sorts. Since last posting on this I finished my week on night shifts, each day during that week I worked only on sanding out scratches from seam elimination and restoring lost detail, I did one sanding grade each day basically, all went to plan, the last bits were added yesterday, radio mast, rear machine guns, then canopy, the glass cover for the RDF gizmo in the rear fuselage, now let me say, I had planned on adding this after painting. I am so glad I didn’t stick to that plan as this part was a nightmare to fit, an absolute nightmare, it can only go on one of two ways as it’s contoured to follow the curve of the fuselage, and being a circle, the front can be the back as easily as the back can be the front but damn, this thing did not want to go on, complicated by having had to add the rear facing guns as adding them after painting was a no go, knowing this now I’d add the glass part for the RDF before closing up the rear canopy on any Ju87 I may or may not make in the future. Eventually got the glass part to sort of sit in its recess, proud of the uselage in places, the best it was going to get, of course glue has ruined some of the paint work on the inner part of the RDF, so we’ll amd truly not thrilled at that but nothing I can do now about that. This abomination was allowed to dry whilst I was out at work. Got home last night and wondered what to do now, about sanding this thing flush. Out came the Felxifile tapes, the holder wasn’t going to work for this application so it was done by hand. Worked through the Flexifile grades to get a reasonable flush finish, then Micromesh, then finally Tamiya polishing compounds, it is by no means perfect but we shall see. Then today a priming disaster, Alclad  black primer and scratch filler, used with the intention to cover the many micro scratches still present. Normally I spray a home made thinned down mix of Gunze black primer but I haven’t usually had to attack a model with so much sanding. Well anyway, it’s far from my first time using the stuff but it’s dried dusty in several places and looks like crap as a result. I had time to sand and polish it back with some sanding sticks and give it a rinse under a cold tap where it has been left to dry out thouroughly. I am away from home for a few days now, it was my intention to get the primer down and we’ll and truly dry for when I got back but that isn’t going to happen now. It will have to wait until I return. Very much not happy with this model at the moment as was ready to launch it at the wall due to these last minute issues. It had so far been an ok build, not stellar by anyone’s standards, some issues were of my own creation, some were down to Trumpeter. But mental notes have been made should I tackle this kit again. I do like the subject  and I got the kit quite inexpensivley so may get file this one away as a learning tool and get another kit. It’s a ***** to sand one painted as there’s so many dangly bits, I have snapped the radio mast already but that can be remedied. I’ll throw some primer at it when I get back home and we’ll see where we go from there.