Cheezburger

Also finished this weekend is the Blenheim from the old Airfix kit I had started parallel to the HUMA Ju 288. I enjoyed the built a lot. I especially like the rivet detail which is very rich and subtle at the same time. The Airfix decals were quite good to work with and had no major issues with the raised detail. Only issue was with the side windows of the canopy which didn't fit well and yielded a pear shaped result. Colours are Revell Aqua Color, Vallejo Model Air and Revell enamel. The display stand is from Academy. A pretty good product.

Thanks. Yu are right, the prop blades are not as I wanted them to look like. The toning of the camo may seem a bit overemphasised by the flash though. The contrast is not as harsh in natural light. I still don't have a light tent booth to take picrures.

Thanks a lot! The clear parts are from the box. Pretty good quality. It's a cool looking plane, right? Has the allure of a Luft '46 model - one that actually existed though.

Finally the pictures of the finished Ju 288 from the WIP thread that I started. It was a quick build altogether. I am relatively happy with the finish. The HUMA decals from the kit were pretty good with no silvering problems. I used different crosses for the upper wings though as the HUMA ones were just as big as the underwing ones (which looked wrong in my opinion). So I used the white only version (from a Revell kit) which matches the crosses on the fuselage. Check it out.

A week has passed on this build. So it's time for a little update. It's more or less done. Missing the props and the wheels which I still have to paint and plug into their respective positions. oil paint pin wash decals and final flat varnish have been applied, masking removed. Last step would be adding a little weathering with pastel/pigments. Check it out.

I concur with the fellow members. Great job on a vintage kit. I am looking at the original 1977 Matchbox catalogue right now, and your result is way better than the one here. The pictured model is just solid white only. Not as convincing as your approach.

Feels good to see that I am not alone in working on a lot of parallel "projects". Let's see, there is the 1/72 Ju 288, 1/72 Blenheim IV, 1/72 Luftwaffe Tornado with nuclear bomb, 1/48 Kenworth truck with Honest John missile, Kiew cruiser, a Peddinghaus white metal Spetsnaz dude, a 1/72 Fw 200, and a small and simple 160cm by 90cm H0 train layout. Oh and a little H0 truck. Which I might finish this evening (really!).

Thanks, CedB. I think what looks a bit harsh with the contrasts will be toned down by weathering, decals and clear coats.

This sunday afternoon saw the completion of most of the paint job on the 288. There was minor damage on the undersurfaces from pulling off the masking tape, that will be touched up. Apart from this I am quite happy with the result. Take a look! The camouflage pattern is based on HUMA's recommendation though I am sure it is conjured up of thin air. Little pictures exist so noone can say for sure how the pattern looked in real life.

Some updates on the 288. Canopy has been masked and installed, wing root puttied and cleaned up. Was able to lay down the black PUR primer (Vallejo) this evening. If it were a night bomber, I'd be done now I decided to leave the tear drop shaped side windows off for now, since I found them too hard to maks properly. So some sponge came in handy to stuff the holes. A little close up of the wing root. Could have been better. And to play us out (what does that mean to play out?), a little sneak peek of my Airfix Blenheim IV ready for detail painting.

Yes, I've also had a look at this link before and once bought an issue of FlugzeugClassic (German aviation magazin) with an article and some pics on the 288. The model kit is said to depict the V 103, one of the prototypes some pictures can be found of on the web. The Toffifee tray was actually my wife's idea. It's quite handy as a palette and once it's used up you just throw it away.

Howdy fellas! Here's the latest state of affairs. Built is complete so far. The wingroots need a tiny bit of putty (not so easy to get them aligned properly). Check it out. Sorry for the glare. Sun is low right now. As for my little mistake I talked about yesterday. I glued the individual prop blades in wrong. They fit nice and snugly into slots on the back plate. But I didn't realize the round adjustment thingies on the blades have to be outside of the spinner. When I wanted to add the spinners the openings wouldn't fit over the blades so I had to widen the holes in the spinner to make it fit. Now the diameter of the props is a bit too small. But good for you, another thing to keep in mind when building this kit.

Wonderful! Blackburn aircraft just take the cake when it's about how far you can push taking odd design decisions! Too bad there are not more mainstream and bigger kits of these curious planes.

I've been finally successful in repairing my broken compressor! So i've been able to shoot some paint on my ongoing projects. As for the Ju 288 not much is new other than I've completed the cockpit with crew and the fuselage halves could be glued together now. I think it will look decent enough once the canopy is on and will make for a halfway credible impression of aeronautical busyness (is that even a word - do I even English?)! Anyways. For tomorrow I'll have some more on the rest of the plane especially the props (I made a nice mistake on these which will be good for you guys to see I think). Cheers

As promised a little update. Not much could be done. But I still have a little interesting problem area for you. After glueing the main gear assembly into the lower wing I noticed it is not possible to glue the gear doors on closed (as they should be when the plane is parked (judging form photographs). So that leaves you with this: I am forced to cut the rear strut and bend the lower part towards the main leg. Otherwise the doors wont close. Compare: The procedure as shown then can give you this result: Now, for someone to build this kit this is something to bear in mind, to prepare the strut parts already and solve it a bit more elegantly than I had to. Or you follow HUMA and glue all the doors in an opened position, which should be fine for a maintenance situation.

Hi all, decided to start my first WIP thread so please be gentle. I chose a less common topic, as I thought it might foster some interesting discussion. So after showing which kit it is about (omitting the usual sprue shots - you can find them online easily) and and impression of my messy workspace you can look at how far I got by now. Interior, gun turrets and main gear assembly in the current state. I added some interior detail in the rear whe Some conjured up detail for the blank bulkhead at the cockpit. I had only few drawings and little pictures of that area. Thcrew of my Bv 141 took their seats - we'll only fly with pilot and rear gunner for a quick test of the gun turrets . Ju 288 had actually a crew of four in the "Kampfkopf". Some little tip: the gun turrets don't need glue. You may just slide them in place in the fuselage halves. This reduces the danger of getting them stuck with glue. That's all for tonight. I hope I can get you some more of it tomorrow!

I also decided to do the FFAF scheme since it has these colourful decals. The planeis already done with canopy masked for painting. Unfortunately my airbrush compressor's ball bearing broke and I am waiting for replacement. So no painting at the moment

They really do. I have some more waiting in line and a Blenheim IV on the bench. One can see that these were very good kits at their time, especially if you compare them to some Revell kits of the same vintage. Although I've notice with the Blenheim, the plastic is more brittle, and especially small parts break more easily. This was a Made in France one. Is that a known problem?

Good to know, it was not me being a derp! I really like crew figure for planes and had them already painted but it looks like they will be reassigned to another unit, flying Ju 288!

Thanks for the feedback! That's a decent price. I see those kits on the bay being offered for quite high prices. Is it still in production from Airfix or no?

After many years of trying to dig up this particular kit I was lucky at a fleamarket a couple of weeks ago. I found it together wither with an old Airfix Ju 52 and He 177. The built was pretty easy except for masking the canopy, which I botched in some places and the fact I couldn't get all the crew members in. I guess I glued the flight deck in too high, so the dudes bonked their heads on the canopy. Anyways so it now only has the rear gunner preparing his MG while the pilots seat is still vacant and got some seatbelts made of tape. Hope you enjoy this Airfix veteran!

I'd like to join this groupbuild as well. I have quite a selection of 1/72 seaplanes in the stash, as there are a Hasegawa He 51 Airfix Walrus Airfix Ju 52 (floatplane option) Revell (Matchbox) Stranraer Matchbox Fairey Seafox Revell Catalina Royal Navy Special Hobby 1/48 He 115 Scandinavian (but there is no way I'd finish that in two months - might take me a year) I am currently fancying the Catalina most. Anyways the seaplane GB will have my vote!

This is very inspiring work, nothing less! You created a really mean looking machine.

Thanks for all the interesting feedback. I have to admit I've always been indifferent towards the mossie (probably the wrong thing to admit at Britmodeller!) and would've never built one if I hadn't got it cheap. But now that I get all those extra infos - perhaps I'd try my hands at another one of those. Perhaps in 1/72 though.

It's relatively new kit actually and has some really nice features. The cockpit is very detailed, the surfaces are nice but there are some shortfalls, e.g. if you follow the instructions blindly when building the cockpit you can't fit it into the fuselage anymore. So constant dryfitting is required. These are just plain design errors, where there are just 0.5 mm missing here and there for are truly perfect fit.