Dornier Do 17z (Airfix 1/72 Dogfight Doubles)

[jrlx]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your words. I hope they react soon, so that I can go finish the Dornier.

You're right about the amount of flash. All parts seem to have subtle or not so subtle flash and the definition of detail is a bit soft, probably due to the softness of the plastic.

Cheers

Jaime

[Fatboydim]

Hi Jaime, your doing really well with the etched parts. Very well done. Joe.

[jrlx]

Hi Joe,

Thanks a lot for your kind words

Cheers

Jaime

[jrlx]

Hi again,

 

Here's the update with work done over the weekend. I worked in parallel on the Tiger Moth and the Dornier. About 5 hours of total work.

 

I started by applying putty to the ejection marks on the inner cockpit walls:

IMAG2669

 

The small piece between the fuselage halves goes in the bomb bay, but first a small PE part must be applied.

 

Here's the fret of PE parts for the Dornier's bomb bay and bombs:

IMAG2670

 

The small part nº 13 was removed from the PE fret, bent over itself and then applied to the back of the plastic part:

IMAG2671

 

A few other structural parts of the bomb bay that can be painted together with the rest of the interior were taken off the sprues, cleaned and glued to toothpicks, ready for priming and painting:

IMAG2677

 

After drying for a day, the excess putty was sanded with wet & dry 400 grit sanding paper:

IMAG2674

 

And here are all the parts ready for priming and painting:

IMAG2678

 

You may recall that I have some defective parts in the kit, namely the transparent parts and the lower wing parts. I'm afraid Airfix still hasn't sent me the replacements I requested to their spares service. I'm quite disappointed that they only reply with stock replies, stating they have no spares at the moment and there's no expected availability date. This is the more disappointing as they had Dornier kits in stock when I asked for the spare parts. Posting the WIP in their own forum and pointing out the defective parts made no difference.

 

I still can make some more work on the kit without the spares, namely painting the interiors and applying the cockpit pre-painted PE parts, but I won't be able to close the fuselage without the transparent parts and won't be able to go past that point in the instructions.

 

Sorry about the rant. I hope you liked the rest of the post.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Jaime

 

 

[GREG DESTEC]

Hi Jaime. Thats disapointing about Airfix's replacement service. Apart from that it all looks good. An unusually large amount of ejector holes to fill there! Good work.

[CedB]

Jaime I can't bear to wait for Airfix to see you finish this one so if you PM me your address and the part numbers you need and I'll let you have the bits from the one in my stash. You can replace them when Airfix get their act together

I'm away from lunchtime today until Sunday but happy to help... so I can steal your ideas when mine gets to the top of the build list (it's a long way down at the moment).

[jrlx]

Hi Greg,

Thanks for your kind words. Yes, I'm very disappointed with Airfix's spares service. I'm still waiting for the spares.

Regarding the build, last night I finally applied primer to the parts (also to my other BoB and Tiger Moth builds). I'll try to post some pictures later in the day. It seems I'll have to have a second go at the ejector marks, as they didn't disappear completely. Well, I still have to find a way to do it right at the first go...

Cheers

Jaime

[Rabbit Leader]

Jaime I can't bear to wait for Airfix to see you finish this one so if you PM me your address and the part numbers you need and I'll let you have the bits from the one in my stash. You can replace them when Airfix get their act together

I'm away from lunchtime today until Sunday but happy to help... so I can steal your ideas when mine gets to the top of the build list (it's a long way down at the moment).

CedB... that's as noble an act as young Prince Hairy giving up his seat in a dual Spit the other day..

Jolly good show I say..

Cheers.. Dave.

[jrlx]

Jaime I can't bear to wait for Airfix to see you finish this one so if you PM me your address and the part numbers you need and I'll let you have the bits from the one in my stash. You can replace them when Airfix get their act together

I'm away from lunchtime today until Sunday but happy to help... so I can steal your ideas when mine gets to the top of the build list (it's a long way down at the moment).

Hi Ced,

Thanks a lot for your generous offer.

Steve (Airgunner) also generously offered to send me his complete kit if Airfix didn't sort things out.

I'm very grateful to both, and can't help feeling embarrassed, for your kind support and interest

As I always try to be reasonable, I waited some time for Airfix to solve the problem but they still only send me stock replies stating their lack of spares, and it seems it will take a while before they send them.

Since I only have problems with the transparent sprue and the two lower wing parts, I don't feel it would be right to get a complete kit. So, I think it's more reasonable to accept your offer instead of depriving Steve of his complete kit... I thank Steve again for his very kind offer

I'll PM you latter with the parts numbers and my address.

Thanks again

Jaime

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Well done lads, that's the spirit!

[bbudde]

As far as I understood this here as a German, Airfix sucked it again with spare parts or exchange of fault parts so far? Not good to hear.

[jrlx]

As far as I understood this here as a German, Airfix sucked it again with spare parts or exchange of fault parts so far? Not good to hear.

Yes, I'm afraid that's the case... :-(

[jrlx]

Hi again,

 

I've been working slowly on my four current builds (3 BoB GB and a Tiger Moth GB) since last week but the day job hasn't allowed me much time for substantial posts here.

 

So, finally here is an update on the Dornier.

 

Alclad Grey Primer was applied to all parts already prepared:

IMAG2686

 

Unfortunately, the ejection marks on the bomb bay walls and parts were still visible, so I had to apply putty again:

IMAG2687

 

It was left to dry for a day and then I sanded the excess, this time using 1200 grit wet&dry, to avoid removing too much by accident. This was the result, right after sanding:

IMAG2690

 

Alcad grey primer was applied again. This time the marks were invisible enough to proceed:

IMAG2692

 

The primer dried for a few days and then I applied the base interior colour: RLM 02 Graugrün (grey-green)

IMAG2705

 

This is the current state of affairs.

 

The next step is to paint the black spots in the cockpit parts and then apply the remaining pre-painted PE parts.

 

I'd also like to inform that Ced sent me the parts from his kit to replace my kit's damaged parts while I'm waiting for Airfix's spares service to sort things out. Ced's package arrived today and in perfect timing for the build to continue uninterrupted. A big thank you, Ced!

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

[CedB]

You're welcome Jaime

[rob85]

Great progress Jamie, nice to see paint being put on.

What a chap that Ced is. very happy that this build hasn't stalled! All thanks to the kindness of others

Look forward to the rest of this Jamie

Rob

[jrlx]

Ced, Rob,

Thanks! Yesterday I got some time to take the clear parts Ced sent me off the sprue. They were cleaned of excess plastic and given a bath of Alclad Aqua Gloss. I'd like to have them masked today.

As usual, I progress very slowly in my builds...

Cheers

Jaime

[rob85]

I would never say you are slow Jamie, if you look at how many builds you have on the go and the work you are doing across them all, I would say you are fairly quick! Your work is also very well thought out and clean, you should be chuffed with your "slow" progress!

Rob

[jrlx]

Thanks a lot for your kind words, Rob. Really much appreciated.

I guess I become a bit stressed when I look at my ever growing stash and the number of simultaneous builds I have now...

Apart from the on-going 3 BoB GB builds and my Tiger Moth GB build, I have on hold 3 British Phantoms (which I didn't manage to finish in time during the Phantom GB) and a Fokker triplane (Red Baron's). I also have a Hawker Typhoon and a Tempest ready to start (the main parts of the Typhoon are off the sprues), which I postponed when I started the Phantoms, and would like to participate in the Vietnam GB with two builds.

Too much, I guess...

Cheers

Jaime

[rob85]

I thought I was nuts with three hurricanes and two spitfires.... You have very much put that in perspective for me...

Rob

[jrlx]

I'm pretty much convinced I'm nuts myself

I really have to finish some of those...

Cheers

Jaime

[jrlx]

Hi again,

 

Here's an update on the work I did during the week-end.

 

As I said, I received the parts Ced sent me to replace the ones that came damaged on my kit. Here they are: the transparent parts sprue and the lower wing parts:

IMAG2714

 

As can be seen, the transparent parts are really transparent (mine are foggy).

 

The lower wing parts compared to the damaged ones in my kit (lower in the picture):

IMAG2716

 

So, I started taking care of the transparent parts. Here they are, with the tools used to remove them from the sprue, before starting the work:

IMAG2715

 

After removing and cleaning the parts, I gave them a bath of Aqua Gloss, to improve brilliance and transparency:

IMAG2717

 

They were left to dry for a day and a half (while I masked Wick's Bf 109 canopy). Here they are, really shiny and transparent:

IMAG2750

 

Next step was masking. Fortunately I have Eduard's pre-cut masks, otherwise it would take ages to mask them due to the complexity of the glazing. The canopy has 26 individual glass panels and the front glazing has 20!

 

So, here's the canopy side-by-side with the pre-cut mask set over the masking instructions:

IMAG2751

 

Masking the canopy is a two-step process. After the first step was complete, it looked like this:

IMAG2752

 

After the second and last step, it looked like this:

IMAG2753

 

Instead of liquid mask I used masking tape to completely cover the aft round glass. I'm not very fond of liquid masking...

 

I worked under a magnifying glass, used an x-acto with a nº 11 blade to lift the edges of the masks from the mask set and a pair of straight tweezers and a toothpick to put the masks in place. It took me about 1h30 to complete the masking of the canopy. Then it was very late to proceed. I'll finish masking the remaining transparent parts today or tomorrow.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Jaime

 

[CedB]

Aqua gloss... hmmm... Procopius has just bought some of that too - is it much better than Klear?

Jaime I'm now sold on pre-cut masks too!

[jrlx]

Ced, I've never used Klear. I bought an equivalent acryclic floor varnish available in Portugal (Bufalo) but never tried it.

Aqua Gloss is also useful as a general purpose gloss varnish and is the one recommended for high shine Alclad paints (protection for decaling, finishing).

I'm a great fan, as can be seen in my WIPs and RFIs

Cheers

Jaime

[Roy vd M.]

Jaime, great build so far, I have enjoyed going through it. Elaborate as I always am, let me share some of my thoughts.

I've never used PE before.

If you hadn't mentioned that I would not have thought it. Looking very good. Be careful with the flaps though, they are really delicate pieces.

Re. the defects in the glazed parts and the lower wings, it's a shame. I think I saw this topic before purchasing my Dornier and I opened the box with those images set on my mind... fortunately, no defects here safe for one small thing re. port side wall add-on. My Dornier's sprues also don't feature all the flash such as visible on your pics.

Good to see Airfix finally delivered replacements. I'm going to try vacuforming the canopies, because for my taste they are way too thick. Shame to see all that nice detail disappear into blurriness! I'll post my findings and experiences in my topic.

@Micro saws from RB Productions: you'll use them frequently... it's simply great stuff. Scribe-R set is also nice, but not as necessary to have as the micro saws. Good purchases.

@Glue for photo etch: try using Gator Glue (totally different from Gator's Grip which is also wrongly referred to as Gator Glue), it works perfectly! See my thread for numerous and elaborate commercial breaks to promote that amazing stuff (which I discovered by accident).

@Steering wheel photo etch part: I'm almost certain that's the elevator trim for the rudder. Fun fact.

@MG15 drums: in the first picture you forgot to add two drum covers+handles. In the second picture, one cover and five handles. In the third, four handles. Etc., there are more. Here is a picture in which I pointed them all out:

(see this post, pic #23.

Maybe you decided to add them later, but I thought it prudent to warn you nevertheless.

@Oxygen regulator housings: you bent them nicely. As said, you seem to have a talent for PE!

Next, one of the crew's seats was assembled

I strongly advise you to dryfit that, with my kit the legs weren't spread wide enough. Fiddly dryfit, but worth the challenge.

@Putty to close the ejector pin marks: I have tried that in the past, won't ever try it again. Putty will shrink slightly upon drying and you'll have to use layer upon layer. Takes way too long for me. Usually I simply remove the surrounding plastic by means of a grinder on a multitool such as Proxxon or Dremel, and/or using a knife to scrape away the remainder. E.g. the following was a matter of 1 minute (of course the pulley assembly in the center was first removed by using a knife):

By doing that, I improved realism.. the thinner that bomb door, the better.

More difficult pin marks (e.g. unfortunate position such as within the body frame) or deep marks I'll usually fill.

If I fill, I always use medium or thick CA (usually Slo-Zap). When I'm in a hurry I use Zap Kicker (accelerator) with it. The CA glue will not shrink at all. Use a modelling file to flatten it, then use sanding papers of different roughnesses. In small spaces, I fold those sanding papers and hold them with tweezers.

I'm not very fond of liquid masking...

Me neither, it always seems to me you have to first tape-mask the area you're going to put liquid mask on.

Good luck on the remainder of this build, which I'll follow from now.

[Basilisk]

Ced, I've never used Klear. I bought an equivalent acryclic floor varnish available in Portugal (Bufalo) but never tried it.

Aqua Gloss is also useful as a general purpose gloss varnish and is the one recommended for high shine Alclad paints (protection for decaling, finishing).

I'm a great fan, as can be seen in my WIPs and RFIs

Cheers

Jaime

Jaime, nice build, but still lots to do.

I have a question regarding dipping the canopies in Aqua Gloss. I done it with the canopies of my Spitfire and Hurricane build, but when I attached a wrong part of the Eduard mask onto the Spitfire Canopy, the Aqua Gloss cote detached from the canopy when I removed the mask to add the correct piece! Did this ever happened to you?

I cleaned the canopy with windex, followed by a rinse in water before I dipped it in Aqua Gloss. I added the mask two days later, so it should have been fully cured.

Cheers, Peter