Jump to content

KG76 Dornier 17z - Revell 1/72


Recommended Posts

This kit has been lurking in the stash for several years, and was bought before the Airfix kit was even a twinkle in Hornby's corporate eye.

I know that this kit is far from state of the art, dating from the late 60sss and it clearly shows its age with limited internal detail, very shallow wheel wells and raised panel lines, but this will, with luck be my 3rd and final build for this GB.

And now for the obligatory box and sprue shots.

IMG_20150930_165416_edit_1443732447985.j

Lovely box art, they must have spent all of half an hour on that!

IMG_20150930_164644_edit_1443732577880.j

The fuselage halves had already fallen off the sprues when I got the kit!

IMG_20150930_164831_edit_1443732602427.j

Lovely stand! Don't think I'll be using that! Note missing second prop!

IMG_20150930_165207.jpg

When I bought this kit I picked up the Eduard PE and masking set, as it needs all the help it can get.

Note the mangled second prop. I have no idea where the other prop blade has got too, it was never in the box.

I also picked up some aftermarket decals, as I wanted to depict a KG76 machine, from the 9th Staffel, which attacked Kenley on August 18th 1940.Yes its another build inspired by 'The Hardest Day'!

IMG_20150930_165319.jpg

And here's a shot of the wonder that is the cockpit.

IMG_20150930_173342.jpg

I think I know where all the PE will be going!

I won't be rescribing this build, as it needs to be quick given the looming deadline, and the fact that I still have to finish the 2 Blenheims.

Karl

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice, I look forward to following this build as I'm currently busy doing the Airfix version (build thread here. I'm curious where the differences are.

Good luck with this kit, if you need any help maybe I can provide that as I have two books on the subject.

What do you mean with 'rescribing' the build... hopefully, "rescribing the panel lines" and not "describing the build" as I'd like to read what you think of it and how it progresses.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Following this one Karl,for a near fifty year old kit from what I can see look's not too bad, how is the glazing holding up?

Edited by stevej60
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a very old kit, and even pre-dates me by a few years!

To be fair it's not a bad kit for the age, and is generally accurate in outline apart from the wing cord being too wide.

Having been building the two Blenheims for this GB the parts count for this kit, PE excepting, is very low which should make for a relative swift build phase.

Given the raised panel lines on this kit I would normally re-scribe the entire kit, but not this time around.

Karl

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I started this build with the wings as they looked fairly straightforward.

IMG_20151002_210807.jpg

Overall the fit of the wings was fine, however the fit around the cowlings was very poor, so glueing these was left until after the wings had been glued and set up fully.

As you can see, even with the cowlings taped while the blue dried, fit was still poor, hence the filler at the 3, and 9 o'clock positions on each cowling.

IMG_20151002_210827.jpg

The fit of the fins to the horizontal stabilisers on the other hand was perfect, so these will be left off to ease the masking process later.

IMG_20151002_210841.jpg

The PE has started appearing in the pit, and does add a lot to what would otherwise be a very barren expanse of plastic, however I have to say that this being an older Eduard etch, the instructions are absolutely pants!

IMG_20151002_210855.jpg

I ended up using the kit seats rather than the PE ones as they looked like they'd break as soon as I looked at them! I need to add the belts next.

IMG_20151002_210934.jpg

Here's the pilot's seat and IP, the latter needs trimming so that the plastic matches the PE and the lap belts need to be added to the pilot's seat.

IMG_20151002_210945.jpg

I'll leave that little lot to dry off and set overnight before I do any more.

Karl

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

More progress on the Monogram marvel!

Having glued and clamped the engine cowlings, one came out OK, just needing a swipe of filler, the other, well that came out oval!

This is how the good one looks...

IMG_20151004_205937.jpg

....what we technically term, round.

Not so the other....

IMG_20151004_205933.jpg

This is after filler, and the attachment of plastic 'cheeks' to fill out the cowling to something closer to round.

IMG_20151004_205928.jpg

I'm letting this lot harden off till tomorrow night, then I'll sand it to shape and add the engine fronts.

I've also continued work on the cockpit interior, and this is what it looks like buttoned up to test fit.

IMG_20151004_205907.jpg

IMG_20151004_210116.jpg

Here's the pilot's side of the pit, minus pilot's seat and control column.

IMG_20151004_210138.jpg

The pilot's seat with belts added.

IMG_20151004_210011.jpg

And here's the other side, passenger side?

IMG_20151004_210125.jpg

That second seat ought to be facing forwards, so I'll have to carefully remove and reorient. Oops!

I tried making sense of Eduard's instructions, but for the life of me could find no reference to the rear gunners seat! What to do?

Raid the spares boxes as I was sure there was a rear gunner's seat from an Italeri Dornier lurking in there somewhere.

IMG_20151004_210037.jpg

Said seat with PE belts added. The supports may need trimming to fit, but otherwise the gunner's seat problem is fixed.

That's why I never throw parts away, and if further proof was required...

IMG_20151004_210105.jpg

Blade challenged prop and donor! You'll be pleased to know that the donor is also from a Revell Dornier, in this case Do24 flying boat if memory serves!

While rummaging through the sprues boxes I also found a nice 20mm cannon, required because KG76's Dornier had a forward mounted 20mm in the A-stand position for shooting up targets at low level.

IMG_20151004_210050.jpg

Overall a reasonable amount of progress this weekend.

Karl

Edited by Bordfunker
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice progress Karl!

I tried making sense of Eduard's instructions, but for the life of me could find no reference to the rear gunners seat! What to do?

Seat looks good. There was a head rest attached to the seat. See here:

21922890346_05676652a9_b.jpg

The four legs were positioned, if I'm correct, onto the side wall railings, in the middle between second seat and back wall. This seat is the only one of the four to face backwards.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stew, I am extremely disappointed that you are unwilling to swap your Airfix kit for this wonderful example of late mid-century holding for Monogram!

Karl

Yeah I know, I'm kinda spoiled now :D

I thought the Revell Do17 used the old FROG moulds, or am I thinking of something else?

Regarding the 20mm gun, I think I remember reading somewhere that some of the 9 Staffel aircraft had a 20mm gun mounted which implies that some didn't but I can't even remember where I read it so can't check. Does your reference say that it was fitted to all of them?

Cheers,

Stew

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Regarding the 20mm gun, I think I remember reading somewhere that some of the 9 Staffel aircraft had a 20mm gun mounted which implies that some didn't but I can't even remember where I read it so can't check. Does your reference say that it was fitted to all of them?

Cheers,

Stew

I know that at least some of the aircraft that attacked Kenley on the 18th August had them fitted as 9th Staffel were the low level Experten, so that'll do for me.

Before I joined the wings on this build, I noticed an area of the mold has been tampered with, probably hiding the date!

Karl

Edited by Bordfunker
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Breathing new life into an old kit Karl and doing a great job so far.

More like creating Frankenstein's monster!

Not a lot to report tonight, as the Blenheim I was receiving the bulk of the attention, however I did manage to turn that seat around.

IMG_20151005_211632.jpg

I also gave the PE components a coat of MrMetal Primer, never used it before, but it brushed on very nicely.

Still working on the portengine cowling, just building up the rear edge with plastic stock and MrSurfacer.

IMG_20151005_211653.jpg

I also did some work on the rear stabilisers, inserting the horn balances which a rather poor slide in fit.

IMG_20151005_211716.jpg

The rear stabs had a number of raised ejector pin marks on the underside, so these were sanded down which removed the raised panel lines, so I rescribed these, as well as the ones on the upper surfaces.

The spares box also turned up a nice surprise...

IMG_20151005_211741.jpg

A set of resin Dornier main wheels! I'd forgotten I had these.

These are a big improvement on the kit wheels.

Karl

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Roy.

Some more progress this evening, and the pit finally got some paint in this case a primer coat of Tamiya Sky Grey, followed by a pre-shade of black. Now at the risk of being contentious I'm going for RLM02 rather than 66 as Roy chose.

I know living on the edge!

IMG_20151006_204832.jpg

I've exaggerated the shadow to hide the lack of detail, and also to provide plenty of contrast when viewed through that big glass house.

IMG_20151006_204847.jpg

Same approach on the rear gunner's seat, and the pilot's, but didn't take a pic of that.

I also sorted out that broken propeller blade, using the donor prop and secured with brass wire and CA.

IMG_20151006_095826.jpg

I then took the chance to drill out the exhausts on top of the cowlings, which should improve the look of the finished model.

IMG_20151006_100137.jpg

And here are the engine cowlings cleaned up, showing the cleaned up plastic 'cheeks' and nice round cowlings!

IMG_20151006_205126.jpg

The two bits of plastic stuck on the cowlings flaps are to build up some of the material that got removed in sorting out the oval cowlings. These will be sanded to shape and then the engines are finished.

Karl

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now at the risk of being contentious I'm going for RLM02 rather than 66 as Roy chose.

Pretty contentious yeah :clown:

To be honest I have never seen a RLM66-interior Dornier 17 model before I started building mine! I just chose RLM66 because theoretically it seemed the most logical way based on the facts known to me. It doesn't mean that it's correct, or that I know all available facts. And as I mentioned elsewhere, even if my RLM66-theory is correct then somewhere some time a RLM02-cockpitted Dornier 17 may have flown anyway. Big chance at that, as the confusion that exists now probably existed then as well (to a lesser extent).

All other Dornier 17 models I have seen have a RLM02-covered cockpit, so you shouldn't worry too much about correctness. And RLM02 is a nicer color for modeling than RLM66.

You're progressing pretty swiftly, by the way. Nice to see the kit is treating you good :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We will have to see what the Cosford Dornier reveals as the restoration continues, I am sure it will throw up a few surprises.

Overall this is a nice simple kit to build, with generally good fit, particularly at the wing and stabiliser to fuselage joins. Here it is dry fitted.

IMG_20151007_170606.jpg

Even the transparencies fit pretty well, and are very clear to boot. Even so they have all been dipped in Humbrol Gloss to improve the clarity.

Well tonight I have mostly been painting details in the pit, starting with the seat belts and seat backs and seats themselves.

IMG_20151007_194743.jpg

You can clearly see the forced shadows from the pre-shade in these shots.

IMG_20151007_194757.jpg

Some of the molded boxes got a coat of NATO black, especially the radio boxes under the rear gunner's seat.

Speaking of which..

IMG_20151007_194914.jpg

..and not forgetting the pilot's chair.

IMG_20151007_195003.jpg

Not a great pic I know, but for some reason my tablet just wouldn't focus close up, despite working fine for the gunner's seat. Go figure!

You can just see the instrument panel in the background having had a coat of black seeing as I forgot to paint it last night.

That little lot can harden off overnight, and then I'll dry brush the interior before applying a gloss coat and a pin wash to help pop the detail.

Karl

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...