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Arado Ar-234B2-JN wt Junkers Jumo 213C - 04/11 big update


trickyrich

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Ok time for another project, can’t have the production studio sitting around ideal now can we!!

Ok this is a project I had talked about previously and more recently with Arnold (Arniec), and well once I get an idea in my head I just can’t help myself.

I will do a background story for this but basically I’m taking the Arado Ar-234, which is one of my favourites and playing around with the design. Last time, well it’s still in progress, I took it to one extreme; Turbo Prop/Swept Wings/P5 Nightfighter nose. All were planned for it at one stage but probably never together!!

Ok this time a wee bit more saner ,sort of! We’re back to fitting props to her but this time the power plant is something less exotic…piston powered, though the Junker Jumo 213 was a pretty advanced engine.

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Added to this I wanted a sort of simpler wooden body and wings…by some strange coincidence I had just purchased a Revell Focke-Wulf Ta-154 (the old Dragon one). This would become the donor for the engines and as I am a but lazy and didn’t want to mess around wing engine/wing mounts, the supplier of the wings as well.

I also had lying around an Ally Cat conversion kit for the Ta-154 to turn it into a production A-1 version with the Jumo 213 engine. Plus I have some resiny bit coming as well.

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This is the look I am going for, someone else has done this modification before so that is where the idea come from.

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The really cool thing is the wings for both model do swap over fairly easily and they are a similar distance apart as well.

So I had all the bits ready so let make a mess!

Ok this time all the conversion work will be done in plastic that will make life so much easier. First off the wings were built up, I need to join these two together to give me a stable support as undercarriage is now in the engine pods!

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I added extra bracing between the wings, which should help with this, once completely dry I check how strong they are and add more if necessary.

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I want the wings to be pretty much flat with the top of the fuselage so I had to cut out the fuselage to match. The wings are attached to the upper section of the fuselage as it comes with this model which helps make the alignment process so much easier.

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The RO station will be moved from behind the wings to behind the pilot (actually just behind the nose wheel well). Because the main landing gear is quite forward I needed to do this for weight distribution. Also the main gear has gone from the fuselage so bigger fuel tanks can be fitted, so no drop tanks.

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So this is sort of how she will look. Because the 234 was a sleek bodied aircraft in the first place she looks like a high performance beast and those big engines seem to suit her.

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So another build is on the way, not sure if it’ll be as quick as the last two….just depends on how it all goes together.

Now I know what happened when I turned the lights off and where all that missing alcohol went!!

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Oh and all the leftover bits?? An All-Metal Focke-Wulf Ta-154D2N with BMW 003 engines is on the way!!!!!

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Ok first update, and well not too much to show but I have been quite busy today.

I will be fitting a resin cockpit to this build but it hasn’t arrived yet. So the main task at hand is to finish work on the fuselage so I can close that up and then work in the wing/fuselage join.

As mentioned the rear RO’s position will now be move forward of the wing, this will require a completely new section to be made. I had a couple of early attempts until I got the size of this section right, even still it’s quite cramped, not made for us big people!

Even though not much will be seen in the end I made up some basic fuselage structure plus new porthole windows. Plus the new entry door/window, I’ll refine the shape/size once the fuselage is closed.

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Next up a basic RO’s station. For this I used plastic card and raided bit from my PE box and an old Ar-234 model I have (it’s a Gomex model which is similar to the Hobby Craft one which is so out of scale it really isn’t any use but for parts and odd shapes!!!). After lots of fitting around I now have something that looks the part. Sorry I forgot to take photos along the way.

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So a basic coat of RLM 66 then on to the detailing. I have lots of PE bits left over from other build, which I will use.

Plus I have started to fill in the old undercarriage doors and panel lines, this will probably take a few coats of filler to finish.

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Not a lot to show but this took up most of the day, though I did start to do some work on the Ta-154 D2N as well, this will appear in a new thread shortly!!

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Good start Rich I like it a lot!!!!!

I think there is one point to have a good look at and that is the nose wheel. It will need to get the right angle. Can't have a nose down sitting, because of the props. The centre of grafity will be ok when you place a extra fuel tank in the back of the fuselage.

Cheers,

Edited by Arniec
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  • 2 weeks later...

sorry for the delay in updates, work unfortunately has eaten into a lot of my time, plus of cause GB's...STGB's this time!

Ok not too much to report, have almost finished the RO's station. It looks quite small but when you compare the size (other than height) it's actually more spacious then a economy seat on one of our domestic airlines!! Probably get better service too!!!

Well the Aries resin cockpit finally arrived, so after washing and much grinding (so it and the RO's station will fit) and resin dust (plus some resin "snow angels" as well) it's got it first coat of aluminium on. That will be the base/undercoat, it looks really cool at the moment, photos next time.

But I really need to concentrate on finishing the RO's station, once that done I can close her up and start on the hard bit, fitting and blending the wings!

Oh and I haven't forgotten about the Turbo-Prop Arado either, updates (final???) coming soon.

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  • 5 months later...

Well after a few months and a couple of GB’s later and I’m back to this beast. I hadn’t forgotten about it at all just been so busy with other builds (think 5 completed and 2 as host!!).

Anyway this wasn’t to be a quick build, so where am I up to…

First up the fuselages were closed up (in between updates I had finally finished the RO’s station), the old aft RO’s position will now hold 2 x 30mm cannons angle up @ ~65° in a “Schräge Musik” configuration. Then everything filled and sanded smooth, as I want this to be Plywood body and not all metal.

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Next up I needed to check how it would sit on it undercarriage as I had some concerns. The kit U/C for the Ta-154 has issues as the main gear is moulded fully extended, most photos showed the main U/C sagging or completely deflated.

Even without fitting the nacelles the U.C already looks wrong.

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It just sits up too high at the back, so mod time…

These were made for a Ta-154 and have been shorten, so I pretty much did the same mod again.

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Even not fitted they look much better.

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Now it looks and sits a bit better, I maybe could have dropped them a bit further, but will leave as is.

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(top original, bottom new)

A wee photo op with his cousin.

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While I was at it I started work on the props and spinners.

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Everything was give a coat 1000 surface finisher to show up any details that need sorting out, it came out pretty good with little touch-up work required.

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I will try hopefully tomorrow to start detailing the cockpit.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Nice job so far, Rich. It looks 'right'.

With two heavy donks ahead of the wing it would sit a bit tail high (well, nose low, but you know what I mean), wouldn't it?

Regards

Martin

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  • 8 months later...

ok this is another project that sort of got pushed to one side so I'm giving her a bit of a bump as well. As with the Ta-154 I have done a little bit here and there as time permitted, so she has progressed a wee bit.

 

Again there will be a solid push to get her done by years end as well. Pretty much most of the hard work and mods are done, I just now need to bring it all together. The cockpit is pretty much done so that will be the next job closing it up. Once that's out of the way I can complete all the fuselage work.

 

This one will be in typical (sort of) nightfighter camouflage but maybe with a twist?

 

The more I look at what I've done so far the rest should come together pretty quick! 

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  • 8 months later...

oopps... I have really stalled on this project and her sister aircraft. I have actually done a far bit more on her since the last update. My main issue was trying to work out how the main gear would work. I like to try and make these "creations" as real mechanically in operation as I can and the main gear was a problem.

 

But I think I have a setup that'll work, based on the layout of the MiG23/27 main gear. It'll fit and the engineering is of the era, so I'll probably go in that direction. I'll see if I can make it in brass rod for the main bit for strength. That was the last main hurdle for the build, the rest is just assembling and making sure all the panel are nice a smooth. Have no idea for  colour scheme yet.

 

I only have two current GB's going for the rest of the year, so as well as clearing out some of the other stalled builds I do plan to work on this one and her sister. OH the sister aircraft, the Ta-154 with BMW engines is now even further progressed......  

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  • 1 month later...

ok after a wee break.......18 months!!! I'm back to her! :yahoo:

 

First off I just read what I wrote above and I even confused myself......the undercarriage is on the sister build to this one. This build is now actually pretty straight forward.

 

No photos for the first part, it was just pretty much finishing up the cockpit, which really only needed some final detailing and assembling. The nose section fitted really nicely to the main fuselage for a change, in the past I've had issue with this join.

 

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It looks pretty good and even the engines sort of look like they belong there!

 

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Next up the engines, I want to be able to fit these last as it'd help when painting, The cowlings were in two parts in which the radiator is sandwiched, I wanted to fit this separately as well to help with painting. Unfortunately the join between the cowling front and flaps wasn't the best and there was a slight size difference between the two. So out with the grinder, while I was at it I opened up the flap area, this would allow me to slide the whole assembly over the radiator, plus the flaps looked a bit more realistic in thickness.

 

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Not too bad. I also assembled the props as well.

 

A quick trial fit and the beast is starting to look like something, I thick she'll look really nice once done. One strange think though I did find is that I didn't check to see if I had enough prop clearance!!! I sort of assumed I did, but the fuselage of this one is a bit wider than on the Ta-154 and I had a slight alignment issue! Opps. A slight modification was required to one set of props. It wouldn't be a proper Wiffy without the odd issue like this.

 

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But I do really like the overall look of her, very clean with two massive engines hanging under the wings!

 

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She looks great nose on!

 

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Those props are huge, but they're straight off the Ta-154 and were the "production" type.

 

Ok I had been putting this part off but if I put it off for too long it'd never have gotten done.......the FuG-220 antenna!!!

 

I have used the Master Models antenna before....but these ones! 7 pieces go into making each one, not helped by the tiny support brackets being etched slightly out of register!!

 

The drill bit reference best the bits is 0.5mm, so you get an idea of the scale of the bits

 

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Ended up looking ok

 

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So a quick look at the complete beast.....

 

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I like!!  I'm almost to the stage of primer her, just a little bit of tiding up to do. The current schedule is to have her and her sister finished together probably by January......maybe! 

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Rich,

great to see you back on this and the Ta.

It looks so right. As if they switched to props after the jet engine factory was bombed!

One thing, if I may, I'd be tempted to fit plates at the cockpit/fuselage joint to deflect

prop ice away from the poor pilot!

(Who, BTW, would need some really good noise cancelling headphones!)

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