Italeri Ju 87 G-2 - Kanonenvogel - 1/48

[bruce bay]

 

 

Had a rather discouraging last minute mishap with an IAR and a very displeasing varnish finish, so have been lying low with a few very quick booster builds...

 

This is my attempt at getting back on it. I am planning on building this fairly quickly, and essentially out of the box. It's for a mate, who wants it for his son's ceiling - feels a somewhat intimidating presence for an infant - but who am I to argue. I find it's easier to make a good job of builds when they are for others. Stops me having a tantrum and chucking them in my 'corner of rejection'. Sods law - this will go sideways now. 

 

I haven't built an Italeri kit in ages, but looking in the box, and at some online reviews it seems a lovely looking proposition. The parts look great, good detail, no flash, and nice instructions with a coloured paint guide. 

 

 

 

I have ordered a mask set for the canopy, and will likely add some visuals with extra wires and so on in the cockpit. I want to build this with the spats removed, just for a change. And I plan to build it with the engine exposed for the same reason. And I like the inclusion of what looks like a weld-seam on the exposed version.... 

 

 

I toyed with buying aftermarket barrels for the canon - but will see how I fair with the ones provided.

 

Not totally certain at this stage what finish I am aiming for - tempted by the hairspray / weathered winter whitewash after some recent success with that, but it's starting to feel like a bit of a get out in terms of being overly forgiving to my camo-work. I will see what the Stuka-loving father fancies... 

 

Thanks for looking. Any heads ups on potential issues with this kit would be appreciated. 

 

Bruce

 

NB - the defective IAR for context... though the ugly mottling on the last layer of varnish doesn't show up too badly in this pic. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bruce bay]

A little progress. 

 

As per instructions, instrument panel is up first. There's a choice between photo etch and decal fronts to the plastic part. I opted for photo etch. Seems worth making the most of it. 

 

I thought I would try something I have seen others do and always been a bit reticent about trying - which is cutting the dials from the decal individually and placing them onto the photo etch parts (once painted). So. I sprayed the panel with some Army Paints primer, then gave it a coat of Tamiya German Grey. 

 

Cutting out the first gauge was a mess, even with a brand new scalpel blade. So I tried something a bit more rough with the second, and by the third had worked out a lazy way of doing it - which is illustrated here with the dashed lines being cuts : 

 

I made these cuts once the decal was semi-lose on the backing paper to avoid losing the small bits in water, then carefully put each in place in it's recessed spot. They didn't fit exactly, but I left them over night with a coat of Micro Sol on them and by morning they had sunken rather nicely into place, and the small amounts of excess decal were not visible around the edges in most cases . 

 

I then dry brushed some Valejo aluminium over it all, and added a little future into the gauges to give them a gloss finish. I think a thicker gloss varnish would work far better for this, and will try that next time in place of future. Finally I gave the whole thing an wash of highly diluted black oil paint. 

 

 

Last up for night no.1 was the gun sight. I cut off the existing reflector-sight part and - using a spare photo etch part from a TBD Devestator (cut in half) - and a rectangle cut from some excess  film, made a new gunsight. This was another first, and I am fairly happy with it. No doubt I will break it off shortly. 

 

 

Thanks for looking, and as always, all criticism or pointers most welcome!  

 

PS  : I should maybe say at this point that I'm not much of an expert colour matcher / rivet counter - I use rattle cans and brushed paints... so I apologise if the colour approximation is irritating to some. 

 

Many thanks, Bruce

 

 

 

 

 

[Jaffajake]

Great start. Nice idea with the decals too. That IP looks really smart. 

Jake 

[bruce bay]

Thanks Jake.

 

Before heading to work today I hit the main cockpit parts with some more of the primer, then a thin coat of Tamiya's Haze Grey... It's a bit lighter than most of the interiors I have seen on builds, but I am hoping that after the application of some grime and wear and tear it comes up OK. 

 

I also drilled some small holes into the undersides of panels / units / mechanisms to make the wiring I planned to add a little more secure. I find this (somewhat unsurprisingly) works a lot better than just super glueing the solder to a surface. Once the wires were in I also broke up the uniformity of the floor / walls by painting some bits black-grey, azure blue and a greeny-blue, before then highlighting some raised parts with 'neutral grey'  -  all Valejo. 

 

The neutral grey highlights don't really show in photos sadly. But were satisfying to do. I also painted the wiring either red or yellow - with only one end attached. I find this works well - reducing the chance of paint slipping onto the walls, and valejo brushed on seems to reatain some give, meaning you can work the wire afterward to a degree before it starts peeling. 

 

This evening I worked the wiring down into place, then gave the lot a brush of future which I left to dry, before applying a pretty heavy brown/black oil wash. I left this for a few hours and then used a cotton bud to take off the excess. It's looking pretty grimy, but I like my interiors well lived in. I also made a little cushion out of some very well used plasticine (I find the new stuff is too sticky to work with). 

 

Thanks for looking as ever. 

 

Bruce

 

 

 

 

[Jaffajake]

That looks so neat I think you must have turned pro! 😁

[Sprueloose]

Shaping up nicely. I love the details you have added and I would worry too much about the color it's very interesting and your shading adds a lot of depth.

Thanks for sharing your progress! For a newbie like me it's helpful to see how you treat each step of the build. 

Cheers 

Terry

[Troy Smith]

Very  neat work.

 

if you really want to improve the Italeri kit, replace the spinner

The G  kit is not as bad as B variant,

see http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235006818-which-stuka/&do=findComment&comment=2439158

 

 but something has gone wrong,  the cowl looks funny too,maybe as result of the engine detail,and not sure  what's up with the prop blades

 

Kit

 

 

The cockpit is noted for being in the wrong place too... this is the B, but given Italeri's penchant for make a right stuff up (newish tool in 1/48th include Re 2002, Ar196, Hurricane) then I'd not be surprised if the G  is the same...

http://www.ipmsdeutschland.de/FirstLook/Italeri/Italeri_Ju87B-2_48/Ita_Ju87B-2.html

scroll down for details.

 

Again, not meant to denigrate your work, which is  excellent,  but as some background on the kit.

 

HTH

 

 

 

 

[bruce bay]

7 hours ago, Jaffajake said:

That looks so neat I think you must have turned pro! 😁

Very kind! Still time for me to stuff this up yet though. The insides are my strong suit! 

 

 

[bruce bay]

3 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

Very  neat work.

 

if you really want to improve the Italeri kit, replace the spinner

The G  kit is not as bad as B variant,

see http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235006818-which-stuka/&do=findComment&comment=2439158

 

 but something has gone wrong,  the cowl looks funny too,maybe as result of the engine detail,and not sure  what's up with the prop blades

 

Kit

 

 

The cockpit is noted for being in the wrong place too... this is the B, but given Italeri's penchant for make a right stuff up (newish tool in 1/48th include Re 2002, Ar196, Hurricane) then I'd not be surprised if the G  is the same...

http://www.ipmsdeutschland.de/FirstLook/Italeri/Italeri_Ju87B-2_48/Ita_Ju87B-2.html

scroll down for details.

 

Again, not meant to denigrate your work, which is  excellent,  but as some background on the kit.

 

HTH

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much for the heads up on this. Really useful links too. I had read a few things about the kit and inaccuracies...

 

I will look into a new prop / spinner - as the more bulbous looking kit version spinner detracts somewhat from the familiar air of menace, or so I think. 

 

As for the cockpit...  .... I think moving that around is probably beyond me, I am very much an out of box modeller at present. I plan to leave the cowlings off this kit altogether, so will hopefully mitigate that issue you mention from the jump. 

 

Thanks again! 

 

 

[bruce bay]

Right. The cockpit is now sorted. After the last update I dusted the floor up a little in areas of likely footfall... using Humbrol pigments. I also used the kit PE belts, painted with Valejo Air 'aged white'. I use their Air series to brush paint thin / small parts where the usual Valejo can clog up / build up fast... I then gave all the insides another wash - especially the seats and the belts - which jumped out far to much without dirtying up. 

Next up was closing up the fuselage halves. This is where things started to go a bit wobbly... Beautiful as the detail is in the cockpit, the actual attaching parts / locators are rather vague, and it appeared that the sidewalls were a little warped - perhaps. I don't know enough to be sure. The floor / wall joins were rather wobbly and for the life of my I couldn't get the instrument panel to sit level. 

 

This became less of an issue after I decided to glue one sidewall into the fuselage first, giving a solid base to build the rest out from. In the process I broke the headrest off the pilots seat. Of course. As you can see here - there's a bit of daylight between the side walls and the fuselage at some points, and it's clear that the instrument panel is not in line with the rest of the cockpit... I am sure this is due to an error of mine en route - but don't know where it was. 

To aid getting the headrest back on I used a filet of plastic which I then painted black. I am telling myself it looks like some extra armour - not a botch-job. 

Next up was the engine - which I was looking forward to. There's a nice load of detail in there. And I plan to leave it exposed in this build. I built up the main part, sprayed it with Molotow tar black, while I sprayed the engine mounts a dark interior-y green. This was a guess, and I am sure inaccurate... But it was to-hand.

Then I dry brushed Valejo Air aluminuim over the engine. Again - I use Air series for dry brushing as it's less lumpy and seems accordingly to go on in a more subtle fashion. I find nothing as satisfying as dry brushing. The transformation for so little work is so pleasing. 

Next up I added some extra wiring to engine parts after drilling out some holes in said parts, and the bulkhead, to accommodate them. These wires were then painted before fixing in place, for ease. Copper on the 3mm wire, red on the 1.5mm. 

All of these bits were then brushed with future before having a heavy oil was of brown / black slopped all over them.

And then, once the wash was dry, it was all glued together... A bit of rust pigment rubbed on the exhausts, but I will add to that tomorrow. I think is enough for today. 

Thanks for looking! All comments welcome. 

 

Bruce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

It's all coming along very nicely.

[bruce bay]

3 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

It's all coming along very nicely.

 

Many thanks, Pete. 

[Sprueloose]

Nice work. Love the engine!

[SimonT]

Great stuff, looking very good . Great example on how to add extra detail to enhance the interest.

[bruce bay]

Bit more progress. Onto the big bits now. Got the wings on and primed the top in The Army Painter grey, and the bottom in white, before spraying the wing tips yellow. There was a slight step on the wing/fuselage join which I filled with Miliput in the more serious areas, and Mr Surfacer 1000 in the subtler areas, before sanding. 

 

I then sprayed the bottom with Tamiya light blue and the top with Molotow 'leaf green' and 'chromium oxide green'.

The resulting look was far too bright for me, but I wasn't too worried as I planned to do an oil spot wash, which I was hoping would tone down the punchiness of the paints.

By the end of the wash the colours were indeed a bit more muted, and I was quite happy with the resulting subtle variations in tone over areas of solid colour. I always find it hard not to over do this one, as I do love the streaks of colour. 

 

I also added a bit of wiring to the canons and sprayed them - white primer first, then more of the Tamiya pale blue. I will be brush painting the camo on the front end of these - it's a bit too fiddly for spraying - at least for me. 

 

The mate I am making this for has asked for winter white camo on this. So I will next be looking at getting the stabilisers, canon, landing gear and canopy on, before knuckling down to a hairspray weathering job. 

 

As the eagle-eyed of you will spot, I did (on the welcome recommendation of Troy Smith, above) buy the Quick Boost spinner and prop set. I then lost the spinner while sanding it down out of my window... I have low expectations of my neighbour returning it. If it's not back by the end of the build I think I will have to go with the kit option, sadly. On the upside - if anyone needs / wants the propellers I have those spare. 

 

Thanks for looking, as ever - all comments and criticism most welcome. 

 

 

 

 

[bruce bay]

Small update. Once the oil was had a few days to settle down I gave the whole kit a brushed on layer of Future. That then dried before a panel line wash of black/brown oil paint and the decals went on. Nearly there now. 

 

Need to attach tail wheel, under-wing parts - not least the canon, prop / spinner, cockpit. And then get to the winterizing (if that's a word)... 

 

 

Thanks for looking. Bruce. 

[bruce bay]

Calling this one done for now. Far from happy with it. Thanks for comments, hints and suggestions along the way. 

 

On hitting the model with hairspray things went downhill fast. I had put a layer of satin varnish over the decals to seal them in, but clearly it reacted badly with the hairspray - leaving the whole kit frosted looking. Thankfully the worst of this was hidden by the whitewash - but serves me right for not testing that varnish in particular with hairspray...

 

I am also a little annoyed that I ended up using the kit prop and spinner, after losing the Quick Boost option I purchased. 

 

I went for a very weathered end result, with my attempt at wet-look mud on the pilot's walk way, heavy dirt on the wheels, and accumulated dust / grime along major panel lines on top of the whitewash. I think on reflection in the photos it looks rather over done - though it's a little more subtle in the flesh.

 

All in all though I enjoyed the build. The cockpit was lovely, as was the engine, and the kit fit well overall. My only criticisms would be that there seemed some disparity in quality from part to part... The non-spat landing gear was clunky, and had quite a lot of flash - certainly in contrast to the interior parts and the canons. 

 

Thanks again for looking in along the way. 

 

Bruce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 4, 2017 by bruce bay

[Martian]

This is looking gorgeous and the detail painting is nothing less than sublime!

 

Martian the impressed

[bruce bay]

On 5/5/2017 at 1:54 PM, Martian Hale said:

This is looking gorgeous and the detail painting is nothing less than sublime!

 

Martian the impressed

 

Many thanks Martian! Very kind of you. Missing it already after starting a new kit that's giving me some real 'sit down and breathe for ten minutes' moment. Was a great kit to build. 

 

[Dimitris Vasilopoulos]

This looks gorgeous mate and the detail painting is awesome! 

I would like to ask you what diameter wire did you use in the cockpit 0.5/0.8mm??

Thank you in advance and again amazing job. 

I am looking forward to seeing your next model. 

 

Edited July 15, 2018 by Dimitris Vasilopoulos

[Azgaron]

Very nice build! Winter camo looks great!

 

Håkan

 

[Hairtrigger]

Fantastic build, your attention to detail and skills exemplary.   This looks a great kit, I do like this variant of the Stuka, I did the Revell 1:72 version recently obviously not in the same league as this one.   Personally though I loved the result before the winterize look, but that's what's been asked for so it's a winner.

[DJJunis]

Wow that is really good!

Thanks for sharing.

Don