Kostucha Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 (edited) Hey all, Well, tonight I finally got to putting work in on the Ju-87 from Airfix. I must say, an AMAZING kit even if you want to go through it doing it OOB. A lot of research went into the plan for this kit. The plan is to have all the panels open on the RH Side (as per what the instructions show). Anything shown with the blue pen is obviously going to be removed to expose areas. With that, I wanted to start on an area that would really give me an idea if it was, well for lack of a better word, worth the endeavor. So, along with help from you guys on the forum here, I started to work on the RH wing root, opening up the panels up top, as well as underneath. Underneath one will be able to see the fuel tank suspended on the fuel tank straps, as well as the fuel lines coming in. On top, both the fuel filler cap, and the other cap will be shown, along with some of the other plumbing in the area. As the panel underneath will be removed, the spat on that side will need to be removed as well, so there was some creative "plastic surgery" on the go to smooth the area out. So, here's what I got so far: And a quick pick showing RH side next to the LH side with the base for the spat still on it. I've still got some more framing to put in, and on Friday, I'll be getting a new set of drill bits to drill in the screw/rivet holes. Once it's all said and done inside with that, I'll be constructing the bottom half of the fuel tank, and the plumbing, as well as re-scribing the panel lines up front and the rivet holes as well. I also cut it short a bit to tackle a bit on another 'quick build' 109 for the little guys room. Here's what I got done on that one so far: Well all, that's it for tonight, hopefully more tomorrow night. I'm definitely going to be taking my time on the Stuka, not a rush at all. But, I must say, thank you to everyone who's helped me out with advice and insight as well! Mark. Edited December 14, 2010 by Kostucha Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cessnadriver84 Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Ooh thats going to look good, cant wait to see more. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kostucha Posted July 30, 2009 Author Share Posted July 30, 2009 You and me both! Thank you for the compliment! The more I think about it, the more I might be more likely to just open up the panel above the fuel tank as well. We'll see how it goes. I love the intricacies and details in the old aircraft, and love showing them too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JMan Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Very nice looking! I always loved the Stuka and that dive siren! Cant wait to see more! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kostucha Posted July 30, 2009 Author Share Posted July 30, 2009 Thank you! Yes, the Stuka, no matter how you look at it, the Stuka was an ugly looking plane, intimidating as hell (well... for most of the war, we'll just "overlook" the Stuka's ability during the BoB). The whole plane was just meant to be intimidating in design and employment - from the dive siren, to constantly having whistles attached to their bombs. But they worked! The G models too with the Anti-Tank cannons... wow... okay, enough day dreaming... This ones definitely going to be a fun build for me. First 1/24 scale attempt, and I must say, I'm loving this scale so far. The only thing I'm having a hard time to plan out is around the engine. The Jumo 211 would be easy enough to show if it was inverted like a traditional inline, but trying to "pop off" the engine panel underneath the oil cooler, and move lines that would move overtop the 211 somewhere's else to show a little bit of the guts of the engine is starting to show signs of difficulty. But, where there's a will there's a way, right? Plan for the Stuka is to get the wing roots done, and see how things are with the idea of removing panels. After that, I might follow the instructions and start with the cockpit. But it'll be typical order of my builds - Fuselage, Wings, Tail, Landing Gear, Engine, Armament. Mark. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
D_IcarUS_ Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Looking very nice so far. Keep it on!! My best regards Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CorsairMan Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Yes, the Stuka, no matter how you look at it, the Stuka was an ugly looking plane, intimidating as hell (well... for most of the war, we'll just "overlook" the Stuka's ability during the BoB). The whole plane was just meant to be intimidating in design and employment - from the dive siren, to constantly having whistles attached to their bombs. But they worked! The G models too with the Anti-Tank cannons... wow... okay, enough day dreaming... The mark II or whatever they called the second variant looked a little less ugly. You are doing a find job with this one. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kostucha Posted July 30, 2009 Author Share Posted July 30, 2009 The B-1/2, R-1/2 and C's were pretty much identical (minus a few technical things with the R's being fitted for longer ranges). But yeah, the D's and G's had the sloped rear glass around the gunner, and the front radiator reduced in size by moving parts of it back under the wings. It was a bit smaller... but, I must say, the G's flying with the 3.7's under the wings still looked bloody intimidating. There is something a bit more nostalgic about the B-R-C varients of the Ju-87. Thanks for the compliments, I hope tonight to have the wing root well underway and more pictures put up! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kostucha Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 Well, here's another update from the wing root. I must first apologize for the quality of photo's. I'll work on getting a better camera so that the work is more clear. Now, onto tonight's work. I picked up from last night by adding a couple layers to the forward part of the rear wing-spar. In looking through many, many, many pictures, the wing spar seems to be made up of multiple layers of thin gauge metal riveted together. Two of these were used for the secondary and primary spars about 2-3 inches of space between them. SO, with that, away I worked. Managed to get the front half and rear half of the rear spar done up and put in. The "cover piece" (which wasn't flush with the top and bottom of the rest of the spar) was made with an attempt at reproducing the rivet detail. The camera really doesn't do the work justice... I also cut the top part of the panel off of the upper wing root, and added the corrugated section inside the wing flush with the fuselage. Next up, tomorrow/over the weekend, I hope to get the forward wing spar done up, as well as all the ribbing, wiring, and eventually the fuel tank, and put it all together. Enjoy! More to come later, and with better quality photo's. Mark. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kostucha Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 Ahhhh, the joys of planning... managed to get my greedy little sticky fingers on some good schematic drawings of the fuel system in the D's & G's. Now it's a matter of figuring out what applied to the wing tanks in the wing roots on the A-B-C-R's and what applies only to the outter wing tanks on the D's and G's. Further to that, in experimenting with my camera this morning, I've found the perfect setting. So tonight, there should be some good pictures of work done. Again, I do apologize for the low quality pictures. Mark. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
D_IcarUS_ Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Looking really nice. Waiting for more! Regards Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kostucha Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 Thank you! I'm also picking up the brass tubes and watch spring to build the RH main landing gear that's functional as well. Ought to be fun I think. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kostucha Posted August 1, 2009 Author Share Posted August 1, 2009 Tonight, well, today started with a trip down to the local hobby shop. Only one around here, so it leaves little to the imagination. None the less, my drill bits haven't come in yet. So, not to be distraught at all, and knowing that I would need to "fit" the RH landing gear leg before the RH wing root was going to be assembled, I quickly went over a picture in a book I had to figure out the exact measurements I would need of various pipes and what not to make the new landing gear from scratch. While doing so, again I wanted to make it a working leg - meaning it would act as the real one, with a "shock". After many minutes of getting the exact size I needed, I happily purchased them, and drove the 30 minutes home and began working. First step was to get all the parts for the upper half of the landing gear cut. I split the gear into three sections for ease of construction - upper half is the section above the scissors, center is the shaft between the scissors, and lower is everything below the scissors. So, here are the parts for the upper half: Once it was assembled and the rivet "punched" in, I slid the "shock" in for effect: I chose a watch pin with one long end on it to maximize the amount of movement up and down that the landing gear would be able to move. This next picture shows the amount it'll be able to move: Once that was all done and I was happy with it, onto further construction. Because the only thing keeping the wheel in line would be the scissors, I wanted to make the mounting points from metal. I took a larger section of pipe, cut it to shape, bent out the upper scissor mounts, and then using filler, smoothed the edge to make it look like it would on the real aircraft - more of a solid "cast metal" look. As well, there was another section to do the same too near where the strut mounts onto the wing. As well, two discs with a coupler were made from evergreen plastic, a hydrolic "nub" and what seemed from reference pictures like a random "nut"... further to that, the solid break line was made from .16 brass wire, with two mounting points: As you can see, only 15mm of the whole assembly will be coming out through the bottom of the wing. As the wheels will still rotate, and the weight of the large aircraft will be sitting on this strut... well, at least half of the weight... I'm giving myself a lot to work with to mount inside the wing root. I want to make sure there's still enough pipe to both provide a strong solid mounting point, as well as being able to easily simulate the right amount of forward angle to match up with the other wheel. Gave it a quick airbrushing of silver, with some black/grey pastel chalk to give it a bit of a used look, and a quick coat of dull coat to dull down the shine of the silver paint to match as close as possible to the silver colour on all the colour reference pictures I've found. Here's the final product: Let me know what you all think! Mark. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Patrick_Nevin Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Let me know what you all think! Wow! Nice work, SIR. Patrick Quote Link to post Share on other sites
D_IcarUS_ Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 :o :) This will be fun! Waiting for more. Regards Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rom Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 wow! interesting!! have fun!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JMan Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 This is simply stunning! Cant wait to see the gear working properly! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kostucha Posted August 1, 2009 Author Share Posted August 1, 2009 Thanks everyone! Really appreciate the comments. Today I'm going to be trying to finish the lower landing gear portion, and get it all squared away. The difficult thing is going to be making the housing inside the wing for the gear. I'm hoping I can manage a way to get it lined up properly, without having to install the gear just yet. We'll see. Breakfast first, some more planning, and hopefully tonight there's going to be a good update. Thanks again! Mark. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JMan Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT TT wait! Taking a front seat to this show! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Mikester Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 OK, a working landing strut? I give up! Great work! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kostucha Posted August 1, 2009 Author Share Posted August 1, 2009 OK, a working landing strut? I give up! Great work! I was sitting going over some pictures of the Ju-87B in museums and other areas - for the record, the "Captured" Ju-87B hanging in the museum (A5+HL) in the desert scheme is missing the break lines amongst other things - I looked at them and said, well, why not? Looking at it closer, it became very evident that it wouldn't be difficult to do at all, especially in 1/24 scale. It was only a matter of finding a few good pictures showing all, figuring out the scale of the picture to convert measurements for 1/24 scale parts, and away I went. Its fun. We'll see about linked control surfaces to the flight stick and rudder pedals, and who knows, a radio that works...? Okay, maybe not the radio, but I've got a lot of room to work with when it comes to linking up control surfaces. One bit at a time though. After the wing roots are done, I have no idea what I'll be working on next. As an update though, the lower portion of the landing gear is coming along well. Pictures up tonight! Mark. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kostucha Posted August 2, 2009 Author Share Posted August 2, 2009 Well all, I got to working today and I wanted to finish - as mentioned - the lower strut (from the scissors down). So, getting to work, the first part was to get all the parts needed. The key to this whole thing is making the "horse shoe" strong enough to support the weight of the model, allow the wheel to freely rotate, and able to support the pressure of the "shock". So, I decided to go with layers of thin evergreen superglued overtop of each other. Here's a quick picture of the parts: Once all the layers were dried, I cut them down, and began working on the sanding/shaping of them. Here's a picture of the part after the first cut: Once the piece was close to being shaped, I drilled in the hole for the solid brass rod, and then finished the sanding, and added all the wheel spat mounts, break line mounts, and so on: Once that was all said and done, I got to work on the main wheel, and as well, the painting of the strut section. Once that was done, I tried to duplicate the break line at the bottom of the strut as close to possible. Finding a colour picture, I was surprised that this section is a white/gray colour, and not black as I expected. So, as the real thing would have, I shrugged my shoulders and said "let's go with it" and away I went. Once that was done, it was a matter of rivetting the wheel into the strut, connecting all the break lines and taking the final picture: I've got to say though, HobbyDecals dry transfers are AMAZING. I used them on the main wheel (the red writing), and the camera really doesn't do it justice. The writing is crisp. And I mean CRISP. I had to take my magnifying lens and sure enough, not only are the words clear and easy to read, all the words are correct, spelled right, and perfect size when compared to my reference pictures. Great job HD!!! Using them was easy as pie. I read the instructions and thought it was going to be complicated... NOPE! All I recommend is no matter what you're putting them onto, make sure it's a smooth, even glossy surface. Then once they're on, then and only then spray the dull coat if the area is needed to be dulled down. In a nut shell, HD's dry transfers are excellent! Glad I got them! Anyway's folks, that's about 'er, and I'll hopefully get the scissors and remaining break line done tomorrow or Monday. Enjoy! Mark. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kostucha Posted August 2, 2009 Author Share Posted August 2, 2009 (edited) Oh, and I forgot to mention, I also shaved off the writing on the tires. For anyone building this kit, it was a nice feature given to the rubber tires, however, these treaded tires (rather than the usual bald ones), DID have the writing on the side, however, they were not raised like on most other tires. From looking at the pictures around, and watching the progressing deterioration of the writing, I stumbled on a bit of text with a picture - there was writing painted on with white paint - by hand (although it wasn't the writing that Airfix gave the rubber tires). It was only a matter of time until the hand painted writing applied to the smooth tire walls would wear off, fade off, rub off, or simply flake off. Hope this helps anyone out there. Mark. Edited August 2, 2009 by Kostucha Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Anthony in NZ Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 My goodness this is amazing..................really makes me want the 24th Mossie after seeing what can be done in this scale. Well done Cheers Anthony Quote Link to post Share on other sites
D_IcarUS_ Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 Man, that's what I call a stunning landing gear. This will be good, very good!!! :( :) :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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