Airfix Junkers Ju87B - Part V

At the time of last post not much remained left to do with the Stuka. With paint job done, the entire model was sprayed with gloss varnish in preparation for decals. The decals themselves are of excellent quality and I had no problems with them. However, I was a little disappointed with Airfix not supplying any decals for airbrakes (at least that's what I think they are), which overlap the crosses on lower wing surfaces. This omission had to be remedied with white and black paint and some fiddly paintbrush work - a step that I would have gladly skipped.

Once decals were in place, another coat of gloss coat was airbrushed over entire model with dual purpose of securing/protecting the decals and as preparation for weathering phase. After giving the varnish 24 hours to cure properly, I "went to town" with all new weathering products from AK Interactive that I've gotten at C4 Open. Under assumption that Stukas would be worked hard from field airfields, I wanted its lower surfaces to be rather dirty and abused. AK Interactive's enamel weathering fluids seemed perfect for that - Grime streaks, Fresh mud, Dark mud were all applied randomly and then wiped out with turpentine, leaving smudges in various dark grey and brown shades. Next I gave the pigments a shot - black and dark brown was applied to upper surfaces and then wiped away with a soft brush. I won't claim achieving the most realistic visual effects, but the Stuka now did look like it's been worked hard. Couple of light coats of Testor's Dullcoate sealed my efforts and gave the model a nice, almost flat finish.

After that, the only the cockpit canopy required my attention. This part is absolutely the weakest part of the kit - not only is it thick and lacking detail (circular framing around rear gunner's machine gun is completely missing), it is also blemished by two ejector pin marks on the inside of the canopy. Since we're talking about clear plastic, not much can be done about these. I didn't bother with masking and painted the framing with 000-brush, carefully 'erasing' any mistakes with a toothpick as i went along. A time-consuming process, especially with very thin Lifecolor paints, but the end result is adequate. With paint job in place, the canopy was glued in place, an antenna made of stretched sprue was mounted in place and I was done.

Considering the age of this model, it was a surprisingly smooth and enjojable build. This is third of 'old' Airfix kits that I gave a shot (lumpy Hurricane and very frustrating and aborted Handley Hampden being the other two) and in my humble opinion the only one worth the effort. True, the kit is simple and maybe somewhat crude, but it does make a very pleasing kit when finished.

Airfix Junkers Ju87B - Part IV

In last update for Airfix Stuka project, I reached to masking of the upper surfaces of the model. Since this is supposed to be a Ju-87 from 1940, we are talking about the notorious German splinter cammo in two green tones, which in my opinion was created with one specific purpose - to drive modelers insane. If my theory is correct, then by all means, congratulations to Germany - goal acomplished! Something around three hours were required to apply the mask and the result left a lot to be desired. Luckily, the cammo scheme has hard edges, so any paint bleeding beneath the masking tape was easily fixed with a conventional brush.

Once the cammo was in place, I've decided to put on all the 'extras' - fuel tanks, wheels ,propeller and the rest of the small details that stick out and tend to easily break off during the building/painting phase. There were fitting problems with a couple of these components. Worst of all was the gap between the wings and undercarriage, which required plenty of putty to cover. Propeller assembly had similar issues and I'd recommend careful dry-fitting and suitable corrections of these components (filing and sanding) before starting with the paint job.

Still, even with those minor hiccups, the final building/painting/corrections  step was accomplished without any mahor problems and all of the sudden, there she was - a proper Stuka, minus the cockpit.

Masking applied, ready for final spray of Swarzgrün.

My first attempt at paint job of propeller cover.
Need more practice.

Masks removed and mistakes corrected with a brush.

The belly of the beast, fully equipped.

The (inevitable) pledge

Last week's visit to C4 Open has put me into slightly reflective mood - seeing all these great models had made me very happy over the fact that I have returned to the hobby. At the same time it made me take stock of my personal 'achievements' and led me to what I suspect is the same conclusion every modeller sooner or later arrives to - there are too many models and too little time.

What am I driving at, you may wonder. Well... when I started to build that Spitfire I from Airfix, I figured that I would be able to complete on average one model per month. One look at my display shelf is enough to know that my productiveness is much lower than I thought it would be - there are at the moment six completed models there and the Stuka I'm currently working on should be ready within a week or two. That's less than a model per two months.

During same period of time, I've been going through something of a shopping spree and bought a shedload of models. I don't have the exact number available to me, but if I had to guess I'd say that I've gotten 20+ Airfix models and about the same number from the other 'usual suspects'. And that's just the airplane models, another 20+ boxes containing models of 1/72 tanks fill the remaining space in my drawers, storage boxes and shelves.

So what's the problem, you say? Probably nine out of ten people in this hobby are having exactly same problem, right? Some of you may even say that 60+ models in the pipeline is small potatoes!I'm sure you're right on all accounts. Still, the idea of just hoarding those boxes is nagging me a bit. Buying in itself isn't the point of this hobby, it's the building!

And so, with that in mind , I am making a personal pledge to my self - from now on it's 'build two before buying another one'. My hope is that it will have twofold effect; first of all that it will make me build models at quicker rate. After all, there are so many models I still want to get. :-) And second, I think that this self imposed restriction will force me to think a bit more about what I'm getting. No more impulse buys, just the stuff that I really want.

 I know that this promise has all the traits of New Year's Eve promise - it's a bit silly and it will be very easy to 'forget' it. In a year I intend to run another 'State of the hobby'-evaluation and we'll see how it went.

C4 Open 2013

It's the end of October and this means one thing - it's time for yet another C4 Open exhibition. For those of you who don't know what C4 Open is (which would be pretty much everybody outside of south-western Sweden and Copenhagen), it's an annual modelling exhibition that takes place at Technical Museum in Malmö. It's also a great opportunity to spend a lot of money on models and modelling supplies.

I could also put it in simple terms and simply say that C4 Open is the closest thing one comes to Nirvana if you're into this hobby and live in the area.

It has become something of a custom of mine to take a bunch of pictures from every installment of C4 Open. This year was no different and I have now selected a selection of best pics from this year's exhibition. Hope you'll enjoy them.

Airfix Junkers Ju87B - Part III

Well, work on the Stuka continues slowly but surely and by now it's actually possible to see that it'st a Junkers 87. After all, that "broken" wing profile is pretty much instantly identifiable.

As can be seen in the pictures below, by now I'm done with most of the assembly process.I didn't encounter any major issues, with the exception of the slight misalignment between the fuselage halves, which was relatively easily fixed with a file and some putty. I was a bit overeager in this step, which resulted in substantial gap between fuselage and engine cover, but since it was 'self-inflicted' damage, I can't really complain about it. A bit of care and dry-fitting is advised, but any mistakes can be fixed with some putty. Couple of rivets and panel lines were filed off during the cleanup, but I guess that this is unavoidable with these older models with raised details.

Overall, the assembly went without major hiccups. Indeed, I was a bit surprised over how quickly I reached the stage where I could prime the model in preparation for the paint job.

Model primed and ready for paint

Lower surfaces preshaded and painted with RLM65 Helblau from Lifecolor.
The model was then masked in preparation of the paint job of upper surfaces.

Airfix Junkers Ju87B - Part II

As usual, the Stuka project starts with the cockpit. There really isn't much to write about this step, as the cockpit of this kit would make a Spartan proud -  with the exception of a steering stick and a single, rather badly fitting decal for the instrument panel of the pilot, it completely lacks any details whatsoever. Thus, there is nothing to do but to paint the interior with RLM02 (I used Lifecolor UA504), add a bit of weathering according to personal taste (I limited myself to applying a quick GW Devlan Mud wash on all surfaces) and you're done.

After a short deliveration with myself, I decided also to use the crew figures. Hampden showed me that there is a bit of risk involved with this decision when it comes to these ancient Airfix kits, but I don't think that those figures will cause me any problems in this project.

I dedicated a bit more attention to the crew figures this time around.

All cockpits components before assembly of the fuselage.

Cockpit decal is apparently a late addition to the kit -
its fit with the instrument panel plate leaves a lot to be desired.

Airfix Junkers Ju87B - Part I

With the rather anti-climactic and abrupt finale of the Hampden project, it is perhaps a bit foolish of me to pick up Airfix's Stuka as the 'get back in the saddle'-build. After all, it's actually more than a decade older than the Hampden and will therefore be equally frustrating to build and yes, it has a boatload of rivets... and yes, it also has raised panel lines.

I do however have to say that judged on parts alone straight out of the box, for a kit made in 1957 it doesn't look half-bad. The parts look crisp and there is no excessive flash indicative of old and worn moulds. Decals seem to be of equally high quality as those in other Airfix kits I worked with since my return to the hobby. The only thing that worries me is the shape of the propeller, which seems excessively thick and short.