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It’s alive! - 1/72nd Airfix Do17E conversion to Do17P Frankendornier


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Yes, it was used in the attack on Poland. I do have the old Airfix E/M kit and a 1/48 Hobbycraft Do 17P kit. The old Hobbycraft kit isn't that accurate I believe.  There are some nice 1/72 Do 17P kits by RS Models I have seen on Ebay if you get frustrated with this one, but knowing your work I'm sure you are enjoying doing it this way. 

I will be hanging around and watching the progress. 

Just out of interest, the first BOB combat on 10th July at 5.10 hrs was against a Do 17P south of Southampton. The plane was only damaged and got away into cloud.

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It’s an odd admission to say that I’ve been making models for most of my life, but I’ve only recently got to grips with Milliput. I rather like my instant fix, in both senses of the word, rather than having to wait for something to harden. I suppose that’s one reason why I enjoy soldering metal kits together. It’s a fast method of construction, rather than waiting for even those quick two-part epoxy adhesives to go off.

 

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As ever, I overestimated the amount of Milliput required, but rather that than find there’s not enough! I haven’t got another job for the wastage, so it can go rock hard in its own good time. I did attempt to sculpt the nacelles as I worked them, hoping to get close to the final shape without needing to resort to files and sanding sticks. Time will tell. Probably tomorrow at this rate!

 

With the nacelles beginning to look about right at last, I shall begin to consider cockpit details and modifications required for the camera bay.

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Funnily enough I didn’t take to mulliput at first either but I was trying to use it as filler. These days I love it but for sculpting or making fairings( my Bristol racer for example is probably more mulliput than plastic) 

 

Good  to see you’ve finally got those nacelles under control. I find with the best will in the world I still like to sand my mulliput to get the final shape, the only exception being on my Daleks ( it’s in the Kuta group build btw) where I used a sculpey mold to make some mulliput replacement domes.

Edited by Marklo
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Nice moulding on those nacelle Heather: definitely looks like you've cracked the combination for that job.

 

FWIW I use exactly that same method with Milliput as the most effective too: preliminary shape when wet, final adjustments when dry. And yeah, I always mix too much Milliput too though find wrapped in cling film it keeps in the freezer for several weeks at least.

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A quick go round with the files and sanding sticks before I begin the day proper.

 

49156436763_86cf72b189_b.jpg

 

I am tempted to say that’s good enough. There are compromises to be made. I am pretty certain the Revell nacelles are a good bit dumpier than I would like. Things really should start to narrow towards the rear of the gear well. This extra width leads to the knife-edge rear end in my effort being too fat to begin with, where it should taper to the sharp trailing edge more. I don’t think there’s a lot I can do with that, so I shall leave it to fester for a while on the bench to see if a solution arrives. If nothing better turns up, this is what I’ll run with. It does more or less capture the effect I was after.

 

It’s going to be a funny week ahead. A trip to a show is planned, followed by a short stay with my parents down near the south coast. I have a visit to my osteopath this afternoon, and new tyres books for fitting to the car tomorrow morning. I hope to get some day job stuff done as well. That’s if Mrs Mojo decides to let me. We will see.

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Looks good, the milliput seems to have worked. I'm finally getting on with my Dorniers again as well. 

Idk if this has been mentioned, but there's a kit of the Do17P around:

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/rs-models-92026-dornier-do-17-p--230897

(Edit, it was mentioned at the top of this page and I feel dumb) 

 

Edited by Adam Poultney
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19 minutes ago, Adam Poultney said:

(Edit, it was mentioned at the top of this page and I feel dumb) 

 

Ha! Don’t worry, you're not alone! ;)

 

I would’ve got a proper kit, but this old Airfix one arrived in my stash, and I had a spare Revell kit. I’m always up for a bit of kitbashing. 

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That looks pretty good tome .

 

I like to use what I have, hence my Airfix ju87 getting made into an A and so on. 
 

I too have numerous balls of set miliput around the bench. I never knew you could freeze it. That said somebody might just end up trying to eat it.

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1 hour ago, Marklo said:

That looks pretty good tome .

 

I like to use what I have, hence my Airfix ju87 getting made into an A and so on. 
 

I too have numerous balls of set miliput around the bench. I never knew you could freeze it. That said somebody might just end up trying to eat it.

If that was in our freezer someone small person would eat it!

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Heather,

 

Just now got to looking at your WIP- sorry it took so long; I usually like to see what you're working on, especially as you are making a nice progression from model to model, it seems to me. A LONG time ago, I started the very same conversion, using the Airfix E and the Monogram Z, including slotting the Monogram horizontal and vertical stabilizers onto the Airfix fuselage, as the wings fitted very well as you have seen, and the stabilizer bits on the Monogram kit were much better and actually didn't need a lot of trimming and filling. For some reason I stopped, and looking at your build, I'm glad I did, as I didn't pick up on the fact that the rear of the nacelles were much different between the two versions. Having said all that, and if you are still reading my boring diatribe at this point, I am not sure if you are intending to drop the split flaps or not. If you are, I wanted to make you aware that on the Do-17's, the ailerons were linked to flap extension so they both drooped when the flaps were deployed. Hope this bit of trivia helps you. Can't wait to see the finished product...going to do an RLM 61/62/63 over 65 camouflaged example? You go, girl!

Mike

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43 minutes ago, Adam Poultney said:

Once this is at long last onto painting what scheme will it be in?

I haven’t quite decided, although references show pretty standard splinter camo of RLM 70 and 71 on top, RLM 65 underneath. There’s one drawing I have that shows the 65 brought up the sides and mottled, which might be interesting to do.

 

 

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1 minute ago, Heather Kay said:

I haven’t quite decided, although references show pretty standard splinter camo of RLM 70 and 71 on top, RLM 65 underneath. There’s one drawing I have that shows the 65 brought up the sides and mottled, which might be interesting to do.

 

 

Nice, good scheme. I think mottling would look great on a Dornier. 

I plan on doing 70/71 over 65 on my next Dornier if I get one.

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That mottled one sounds interesting.  The one I mentioned earlier had the standard scheme 70/71/65 with no mottle. There are photos of the damage it sustained when it was attacked.  It shows a straight line on the fuselage.  I think most of the BOB ones had the standard scheme. I would be happy to be proven wrong on this as I do like the mottled effect.

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Painting is still some way off, so I shall leave further discussion on that for now. I shall be digging around for information, in case something turns up beyond my current resources. I will say I will mostly be cobbling together markings, so one profile I have that has some lovely badges adorning various parts of the cowlings and nose may not get a showing!

 

The lurgy has struck HK Towers, although I am not completely under its thrall quite yet. The good news as far as the car is concerned is it now has some new "all-weather" tyres on the front, and the alignment has been sorted out. Apparently, the odd wear on the offside tyre had been caused by that wheel being several degrees off where it ought to be. Oh, and the ABS is still functioning, as I discovered after braking a bit sharpish on some wet leaves. Just that pesky brake sensor to fix, then.

 

Onwards!

 

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With fairly satisfactory progress on the nacelle front - or rear, at least - I spent an hour or two pondering the fuselage. With the Extra Tech PE detail pack, it might be some while before the cockpit is detailed up, but that shouldn’t stop me working out other changes. The bomb bay doors on the Airfix moulding seemed wrong. Measured from the drawing, I marked out new lines to be scribed. The old lines will need to be filled. 
 

I haven’t found any images online that show any details of the camera bay installed on the 17P. I plan, therefore, to open the camera windows, and glaze them. I think I’ll just blank the windows with black material. 
 

Just a final note on the nacelles. It seems, on the Revell moulding, the nacelle sides are angled where the real thing was square to the wing surface. The angle leads to the nacelles being a bit wider in places than ideal, meaning the tapering rear end is fatter than it should be. Short of rebuilding the nacelles completely, I shall live with the error.

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Well Heather you made me do it. After watching your efforts here I got the must have urge again and paid a ridiculous amount for one of the RS model kits. Not my scale, but will look Ok beside the Blenheim and the Beaufort. It will be another build to add to my Battle of Britain year.

 

I hope your lurgy isn't to bad. The only positive to this is you should be over it before Christmas. 

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8 hours ago, Martian Hale said:

The like was for the post not the lurgy, from which we all hope you recover from expeditiously.

 

Concerned of Mars 👽

It’s only a seasonal cold. I’m basically alright, but Best Beloved always plays up to it. Call it "man-flu".

8 hours ago, Wince said:

I prefer the clean splinter pattern. I was genuinely surprised airfix released the earlier model of the do17. I’m more of a ju88 bloke but the dornier is a very nice aircraft 

I’ve always preferred the Dornier, I think partly because it wasn’t kitted as much as the Ju88 and He111 when I was younger. I realise the Monogram and Frog kits had been made in the 1960s, but they were exotic beasts when I was growing up. The Airfix kit of the Do17E does seem out of place for 1971, but well done them for doing it! 

4 hours ago, Greg Law said:

Well Heather you made me do it.

Guilty as charged. ;) Depending on how well the FrankenDornier ends up, I might try to acquire a better "proper" kit in time.

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On 12/1/2019 at 4:36 PM, Heather Kay said:

but I’ve only recently got to grips with Milliput

I love the stuff, so many uses, and made for shaping things like this. Really impressed with those rear nacelles.

 

I'm pleased to see this one back on the go again.

 

Terry

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Not much progress to report, although you’ll all be pleased to hear the lurgy is abating nicely.

 

Before I start hacking things about on the fuselage, I though it would be nice to pay tribute to the mould maker.

 

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At a time when a lot of kits had very little inside the cockpit save a simple seat for the pilot, Airfix made a pretty good stab at adding some sidewall detail. The instrument panel is also pretty detailed, too. 
 

49167168213_35db11916c_b.jpg

 

Somehow, I need to carefully assemble this lot and get it in the fuselage. :penguin:Wish me luck!

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