modelling minion

Very nice work. Interesting colour for the cockpit tub, very similar to the colour used by some Russian aircraft.

Thanks guys, glad you like the progress so far and thanks for all the kind comments. A bit more progress to report. All the glazing has been fitted and it went on quite well with only a small amount of filler required in one spot on the main canopy and a couple of small areas on the lower front glazing, this has all now been given a coat of RLM02 this morning prior to the actual camo colours going on later and this is how it looks; I have also made the camera port required for this version of the Do-17, I made this from a small piece of plastic tubing cut to size and with the end covered by a piece of plastic sheet as the pictures of them I have found (like the one kindly posted above by @bbudde) show them to be covered, at least while on the ground anyway, so here is what it looks like after also being given a coat of RLM 02; Looks like I need to do a small amount of tidying up on it but I am quite happy with how it looks. Thats it for today, off to work soon, thanks for looking and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received. Craig.

Very nice Werner, there are a lot of stencils aren't there!

Looking very good Stix, very good indeed. Shame about the decal issues but I like the Polish version. Keep up the great work!

This really is a superb build, the attention to detail is fantastic and the way that you are showing how you tackle the build will be really useful to those of us who also want to build this kit. The engine is a work of art and looks fantastic. It looks like the engineering for the fit of the struts and upper wing has been very well thought out, something that will be really useful to those of us who struggle with biplanes (yes I mean me). Looking forward to the next installment. Craig.

Off to a good start Alan. I like the colour scheme too, simple but very eye catching.

This is superb modelling. The attention to detail and level of scratchbuilding is fantastic, as is the quality of the painting of the cockpits and the pilot.

Nice to see your Foxbat back on track Werner. Typical that the kit has been re-released with all your mods included!

Nice piccies Andy. It certainly looks like a good job the Swedes turned up! It helps that they are fantastic aircraft too, pity we can't do something similar in this country.

Excellent Simon! Glad to have you aboard, there are some very nice US Navy schemes out there and I personally like the Gunship Grey and Red/Orange ones as they are very eye catching.

Glad to have you aboard Zebra. I agree with you that if this one doesn't make it that perhaps a change to a twin rotors GB would be a good idea.

Me too, great choice. There are some cracking post war schemes for Daks.

Sorry for the prolonged delay inn updates (again!) but this time I have a reasonable excuse as there was a family holiday involved. I have also spent time building rather than updating which means that this is a rather photo heavy update. Lets start with the aircraft itself, I have added the engine supports to the wings to which the engines will be fitted later, they fit nicely and line up well and will ensure that the cowling fit in the correct orientation, here they are; Two small cooler intakes are then added to the side of the nacelles, and again fit and align with no problems. The engines themselves have been completed and painted and I have drilled out the ends of the exhausts for a bit more added realism, these really are great little representations of the real thing and could be made to look superb with some wire added for leads etc but as mine will be closed up I decided I have done enough on them, here are a couple of pics of the finished items; I have deviated from the instructions a fair bit here and am not fitting the engines until after the painting is completed. The instructions have you build up the cowling around the installed engines but as this would not work with what I wanted to do I tried to build them separately and see if they can be fitted to the mounts for painting and then removed later for fitting the engines, and I am very pleased to say that this indeed easily done with no modifications needed at all and that the completed cowlings fit very snuggly into place on the mountings. Here is a picture of one of the cowlings, the other is (strangely enough) identical. Next up was the kit supplied MG-15's and very nice they are too! The only thing I have done is too drill out the centre of the ring portion of the sight which is moulded solid. The instructions would have you paint the metal cartridge collection tins under the guns in a metallic colour but this is wrong as they should be RLM 02, here are a couple of pics of them after painting; Nice as these are (and they are) this is where I started to meet a couple of prooblems, the first of which is that they don't fit through the holes in the glazing! A bit important this. What I have had to do is cut of the barrels (and put them somewhere safe) so that I can glue them back on after the painting. The next problem is that ICM have not quite finished the moulding on the side ports for the guns on the main canopy as you can see in the picture below. A little bit of drilling and filing and all was well again and I could fit the main parts of the guns to the canopy and other gun positions, here they are fitted to the main canopy; Looking at the rear area of the canopy there would not be much room to fire more than one gun at a time. Pretty cramped eh! Thats it for today folks, next job is to get all the clear parts fitted and sort out the camera mod to be fitted under the forward fuselage. Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received. Craig.

I agree, very nice work indeed Marcel.

Superb Tony, just superb! Can't beat a Sundowner's Tomcat.