A near sighted pencil in the dark

[Eivind Lunde]

Of course. After I had bought what I hoped would be a fine reference book with pictures of the internals (Dornier Do 17/Do 215 (Monographs), and finding out it really wasn`t, and closing up the cockpit, I did a search for pictures of the lower gun position only to find this page:
http://www.modellingnews.gr/el/νέα-μοντελισμού/airframe-detail-no-2-dornier-do17z-technical-guide-richard-franks

 

It is from a book made to accompany the Airfix kit it seems, and loaded with pictures from the cockpit. Many of the pictures are reproduced in good quality in the pictures of the book in that link, so for those of you building a Do 17 Z I would recommend visiting the site and buying the "Dornier 17Z: A technical guide" book reviewed there.

 

Ah, well. 

 

 

Edited December 31, 2018 by Eivind Lunde

[J Sherratt]

Interesting prototype and nice work so far. I look forward through seeing more. John

[Eivind Lunde]

On 31/12/2018 at 14:22, J Sherratt said:

Interesting prototype and nice work so far. I look forward through seeing more. John

Thank you. The real test comes with the work on the exterior though, how can I make an overall black aircraft look interesting?
Time to try something new! 

[Eivind Lunde]

This kit is really testing me now. The slender fuselage of the Do-17 seems to be warped somehow, I just cannot get the wing to fit properly.

I mean, it is not even close! 
 

The way ICM chose to do this, with a full upper wing mated to bottom wing halfs and a fuselage without any form of guides except a 0.5mm lip at the front and the rear, is just begging for trouble IMO.
I tried glueing in some reinforcements from sprue, which helped a lot with keeping the bottom half of the wing aligned with the wing root:


But still there are big gaps and lots of job with filler ahead of me, even if I could get the front part of the wing to align with the fuselage at the same time as the rear part:

Note the lip at the front, getting it to stay in its place under the wing without another part of the assembly snapping out is almost impossible. 
Has anyone else built one of these kits and had the same problem?

Edited January 2, 2019 by Eivind Lunde
Formatting

[elger]

I didn't have a problem but I did not strictly follow the instructions. I glued the upper half to the fuselage first, and added little tabs to the section where the lower wings meets the fuselage. Attaching the lower wing was not a problem after this/ You can see the upper wing and the added tabs it in the picture below:

 

[Eivind Lunde]

My primitive sprues does the same thing as your little tabs, but one would think the wing would fit even if I followed the instructions, hehe.
I guess doing it your way would make it easier to have the lower wing parts fit, and easier to hide the problem with putty if they don`t. 

[Sturmovik]

Is it me or the front of the upper wing opening is curved and the rear of the cockpit is straight? Maybe that's the problem.

[Eivind Lunde]

On 02/01/2019 at 22:12, Sturmovik said:

Is it me or the front of the upper wing opening is curved and the rear of the cockpit is straight? Maybe that's the problem.

Yeah, you may be on to something. Perhaps I have stared myself blind on the 2D angles and not seen the curve? 
I have read that there are some niggling fit problems around the nacelles too, and as I have had my share of irritating busy work for now, I will put this project on the shelf for a while.

 

I have many kits in my stash that whisper "build me... BUILD MEEEE!", so I may just pick something simple and enjoyable to build.

 

The Airfix Sea Fury is simple and enjoyable, right?

[Sturmovik]

4 hours ago, Eivind Lunde said:

Yeah, you may be on to something. Perhaps I have stared myself blind on the 2D angles and not seen the curve? 
I have read that there are some niggling fit problems around the nacelles too, and as I have had my share of irritating busy work for now, I will put this project on the shelf for a while.

 

I have many kits in my stash that whisper "build me... BUILD MEEEE!", so I may just pick something simple and enjoyable to build.

 

The Airfix Sea Fury is simple and enjoyable, right?

I'd suggest you to look better into the Do 17's issues and solve them. This build of the Z-2 on BM doesn't report any issues on the fuselage/wing join: 

The Airfix Sea Fury has problems of it own, several here have mentioned an ill fitting nose.

 

[TheBaron]

Your work on that cockpit looks superb from here Eivind!

An intriguing subject with that IR device up front that has my attention now. 

Looking forward to seeing the rest of this develop.

Tony

[Eivind Lunde]

On 05/01/2019 at 19:30, Sturmovik said:

I'd suggest you to look better into the Do 17's issues and solve them. This build of the Z-2 on BM doesn't report any issues on the fuselage/wing join: 

The Airfix Sea Fury has problems of it own, several here have mentioned an ill fitting nose.

 

Yeah, I will look into solving the fit problems sooner or later, but as I have said earlier in the thread, this kit and I haven`t really gotten along so far. 
I used to be a serial starter but just an occasional finisher back in the day, but after I came back to the hobby a few years ago I have finished about half the kits I`ve started, which is much better than usual for me.

The unfinished kits I have considered learning projects. 

 

[BP85]

ICM. Check. Rare German nightfighter. Check. 

 

Excuse me while I sneak in at the back and poor myself a cold one. 

 

I'm currently fighting my own ICM kit at the moment but seem to have developed Stockholm syndrome towards it. I also struggled with some of the aimless/pin-less joins. You've made a cracking start and I'm sure it will look great once the gaps are filled. Very much looking forward to seeing how this turns out. 

[Eivind Lunde]

On 09/01/2019 at 08:56, BP85 said:

ICM. Check. Rare German nightfighter. Check. 

 

Excuse me while I sneak in at the back and poor myself a cold one. 

 

I'm currently fighting my own ICM kit at the moment but seem to have developed Stockholm syndrome towards it. I also struggled with some of the aimless/pin-less joins. You've made a cracking start and I'm sure it will look great once the gaps are filled. Very much looking forward to seeing how this turns out. 

Unfortunately this kit is heading for the shelf of doom for now, as we have decided to part ways to pursue other interests. We may find ourselves together sometime in the future so I`m not giving up, we`re just taking a break from each other. 

[Eivind Lunde]

Almost a year later I will briefly necro this thread with an update to lay it to rest for good.

I had another go at this and found out that the fuselage is indeed warped, but in a slight banana shape as seen from above, and not twisted in profile as I first thought.

 

So I submerged the fuselage sides in very hot water for a minute or so and bent them into shape, which made the wing "shoulder" finally fit properly to the fuselage.  I then let loose a little premature "YAY!" and glued wings and fuselage together with a combination of Tamiya liquid cement and superglue in spots to fix the parts.

When I returned to the kit the next day, the fuselage sides had bent themselves back into their original shape just like shape memory alloy does (ICM memory plastic?), cracking open the glued joints. 

 

And that does it for this kit. 

I have too many other kits in my stash and even though it is sad to have to toss away a kit I have spent so much time on (very slow builder), I just can't be bothered.

I did enjoy it up till this* and learned a lot, and would very much like to have a go at another one of the ICM twin engine kits (please ICM, make a Ju-188!), but that's it for this project.

 

Edit: *Reading through this thread again I can see a lot more swearing than I remember, so I may not have enjoyed it as much as I thought I did.

Edited January 10, 2020 by Eivind Lunde