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Junkers J1(J4) the first Flying Tank AKA the Flying Furniture Van - 1/48 Scratchbuild


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(with all due apologies to the Bandsaw) Even though I swore (sort of ) that I'd take my WIP down I have to admit I'm a serial starter. Having gone on my semi-annual pilgrimage to one of the few remaining modelshops in Ireland up in Dublin and almost buying a 1/72 kit of the JI, but not, I decided to see if I could find any plans, I got a semi respectable set from the web and scaled it to 1/48 and started construction (Tuesday), however realizing a that I'd gotten my scaling all wrong and was actually building in 1/3 something instead of 1/48 and b) that I had a very old Airfix magazine (1983 afair) with a good set of  1/72 plans ( no mucking about just resize by 50 % and we're up and running)  I started again.

 

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So far so good, it's mostly flat angular shapes (imagine if you will a bathtub made from plate steel with the crew and engine bolted to a Fokker style tube and fabric back end, although the latter models had steel covering on the whole fuselage)  so the fuselage went together pretty easily, just the rear quarter deck and some filling/sanding. The wings will be a major challenge....

 

Edited by Marklo
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 Nice! 👍

 

Not sure exactly what you are apologising about but whatever it was I hope it was egregious and unforgivable. 😱

 

Can’t say I’m too familiar with this type. Will do some googling. In any case, will be watching with great interest! 👌

 

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 I hope it was egregious and unforgivable. 

Not entirely sure what that means, but yes (smiles and nods).

 

Well it was a reaction to your chagrin at the DII. Wouldn't like to see a fellow modeler feeling down.

Edited by Marklo
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All the bits so far, fuselage given a primer coat then filled ( with my new favourite Tamiya putty, nice consistancy, sticks well and sands easily with a fine grain also cheaper that Squadron filler). Vertical Stab foiled with my first attempt at corrugations, self adhesive plumbers foil shaped on a homemade jig, then painted grey, not too bad may go again to get a more uniform effect but not a million miles off the desired effect.

 

 The observers cockpit ring is way too thick so that needs to go, I've already fabricated a replacement out of 10 thou card.

 

 I need to decide now on a subject as there is considerable variation over the lifetime of the plane, early models had a fabric covered rudder and a squarer tailplanes while later models had the rear fuselage covered in steel some also had bracing struts fitted to the tailplanes so even at this stage my choice of subject will determine the build.

Edited by Marklo
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Well done Marklo !!

I'm not familiar with WW I design but these builds spark the envy to try a full scratch too !!

I'll follow if you don't mind !

Serial starter ?? That sound familiar to me :whistle:

Agreed about the Tamiya White putty, my fav too !!

Sincerely.

CC

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Thanks Corsaircorp. Actually so far this one is proovng fairly straightforward because of the angular nature of the fuselage. but scratchbuilding isn't that hard, it relly just boils down to having a good plan. the right tools and being able to reduce  the shapes down into buildable items. I's also point you to the Harry Woodman book Scale Aircraft Models in plastic card which to me is pretty much the bible and is in the public domain so can be found and downloaded as a PDF.

 

I'd try a few conversions first to get used to the various techniques and then go for a complete build.. IT also helps if you love the subject, this will get you through the awkward bits and the invariable restart rinse and repeat that is sometimes a part of scratch building.

 

The first Scratch build I ever did was a Pfalz DR1 then a Gotha GIV, a long time ago (but not in a galaxy far far away)  When I returned to model making I tried a few tanks first to get back into the swing of things. Then I tried some airplanes and now I 'm back making a bigger Pfalz dr1, among other things :)

 

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My St Chamond 1/72

 

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My  Sturm Panzer A7V again 1/72

 

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1913 Depredussin racer 1/32 first airplane scratch build

 

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Gloster Gamecock 1/48 getting more intricate.

 

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Horsa 1/144 last completed Airplane scratch build.

 

Preseently I have a Bristol racer, a Pfalz DR1, A Sopwith Snark and the J1 in the works, and of course the DI (I think) which is a 50% conversion and a Ju87a which is about a 25% conversion, Oh an a DH4a  and Bulldog which are  OOB (and typically me, the last thing I tend to work on :) )

Edited by Marklo
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Horizontal Stabs foiled and stuck on.

 

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Wing blanks. These will be made from Balsa cores skinned with 10 thou pla paper and then corrugated (either embossed foil, .5mm rod or corrugated sheet, not sure which yet.)

 

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Starting to look like an aeroplane. 

 

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The Blanks shaped and skinned. Double sided sticky tape  then CA'd the trailing edges and tips. Still not sure on finishing the tips, may cut them off and make styrene ones.  The ailerons on the upper wings were too thin for this method so I'll make them from sheet styrene. So far these are turning out to be much easier than a conventional WWI wing.

 

Wingnut wings have a brilliant photo archive on their website in the J1 and the corrugations actually look like the side of an old barn to the point that if I were to model them accurately people might actually think it was some very sloppy modelling, hmmmm

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Thanks CClive.

 

Quote

Nice to see some foil going down too 

I racked my brain over how to do a reasonable (and cost effective) corrugation and so far this looks close. I'm in the process of making a more uniform die  and have ordered up a full roll of foil. The alternatives, pre molded sheeet, fine rod glued in place or make a mold and resin cast all seem either expensive, time consuming, head wrecking or all three. And looking at images here the wings actually look pretty much like my first attempt on the tailplanes.

Edited by Marklo
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You might consider doing what I've been doing on my Ju52/1m, and make castings out of liquid plastic (ie melted sprue goop) which takes the mould detail very nicely, dries quite quickly ( abt 20mins is usually enough) and is also easy to trim/cut and very flexible when it comes to gluing, as long as it's done with care. Edited to add: and of course, cheap as chips! :)

 

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2 hours ago, Marklo said:

Thanks CClive.

 

I racked my brain over how to do a reasonable (and cost effective) corrugation and so far this looks close. I'm in the process of making a more uniform die  and have ordered up a full roll of foil. The alternatives, pre molded sheeet, fine rod glued in place or make a mold and resin cast all seem either expensive, time consuming, head wrecking or all three. And looking at images here the wings actually look pretty much like my first attempt on the tailplanes.

If you are thinking of heavier guage foil, a  cost effective alternative might be  something like a disposable turkey roasting dish, or  some of the heavier weight   foil containers for keeping stuff for the freezer.

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I found a Bostic Self adhesive foil that doesn't look too bad. I've ordered a roll similar to it from eBay. Takeaway container foil would be nicely rigid, I think I actually have a pack of them in the kitchen, hmm. Now of course I'm going to spend the rest of the day testing foil with my die..

 

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Made a new Die, The last one was .8mm wires glued onto plastic card and wasn't very uniform. This one is laminated from strips of interleaved card, much more uniform.

 

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First piece from the new die. using my fingernail to emboss the pattern :). I reckon if I use a piece of card or a toothpick I'll get an even better result.

 

I'm intrigued by the molding idea. I do have some sculpey lying around that I could use to take a mold from my die. Hmmm. I used to use similar techniques in the past but these days I use CA and various fillers instead of homeade goop, but might be worth a try.

 

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Definitely a (blunt!) toothpick/cocktail stick. I used 'Siligum' two-part moulding material to make my mould - the mould is then highly flexible, and dead easy to remove the casting from despite it being exceedingly thin.

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Some ideas have occured to me regarding dies... I havent started to look for anything specifically as I'l wait until the next time that we  are thinking of  doing anything that requires corrugated siding.  I have noticed that there  might be something suitable in the form of treads for  step ladders and/or  carpet threshold bars...

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Tried the sculpey and goop. Didn't bake the sculpey , so only a partial success., still I reckon if I make a better mold and beke it it could work.

 

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Samples so far from the Right Cat food tub (couldn.t fins a takeaway container), Foil from a paracaetamol tablet, Bostik foil, Kitchen foil, Pla paper.

 

The cat food tin is probably the best followed by the paracaetamol wrapper. Had a brain wave overnight, I wonder if i could vac form sections with the pl paper.  Hmm more to follow.....

 

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Oh and i also carved a paper propellor for it. the hub is rough as it will be covered by a spinner, looks way better varnished btw.

 

 

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When did this one appear? I turn around for a couple of days and our serial starter has not only started but gone a long way to finishing an excellent topic.

 

Very interesting to see this type being modeled - certainly not one of the better known WW1 types but no less interesting. Junkers was well ahead of many other designers with his all-metal aircraft, but thise corrugations do make a headache for us to replicate in scale 100 years later. Mind you, you are making a really good fist of things so far - am waiting with interest to see how you wings turn out.

 

P

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Got to spend a little time on the Junkres but tbh this was my main week end project. Looking very tatty from years in the garden, sprayed white then repainted. Sparrow looks a bit odd (but is accurate :) ) pleased with the blue tits.

 

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Current state of play with the Junkers. I have perfected my corrugation technique. Tried foil, soda cans, medicine foil wrappers, cat food containers and overall takeaway dish foil works the best with my die set, and the nice part is that it is stiff enough to register a section with the next one so I can emboss large continuous sections, so each panel is one piece. I might add they look way better in real life to the point that I'm contemplating a bare metal scheme if i can find one.  The nice part is that being metal it is reworkable and can be shaped and pretty much behaves like a small version of the real thing.  Will definitely be making a J10 and possible other corrugated planes in the future. Still need to work on the upper center section trailing edges, but you get the idea.

 

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Upper wing. Still have to do the lower wings and the Ailerons. But very pleased with the outcome so far.

Edited by Marklo
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You ought to be pleased with those - they look very realistic indeed.

Yes I am, I.m pretty excited about this one. If you look at the real thing  here the effect is very close to reality. This will also be a milestone for me as I am about to attempt my first airbrushed model.....Although I have a rattle can of purple waiting in the wings as a plan b.

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Upper wing assembly, nearly complete, just needs the sheets that go over the Aileron joints, the capping strip at the wing joints and some small work to smooth out th ewing tips: some filing, filling and sanding, I'm thinking I'll try some liquir greenstuff  for this so may not need the sanding. Shaping up well so far, it's going to be a big bus (for a WWI plane) it's going to dwarf the DFW and my  interwar builds, but probably still smaller than my FW190 :)

Edited by Marklo
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On 8/20/2019 at 10:11 AM, Marklo said:

Yes I am, I.m pretty excited about this one. If you look at the real thing  here the effect is very close to reality. This will also be a milestone for me as I am about to attempt my first airbrushed model.....Although I have a rattle can of purple waiting in the wings as a plan b.

WNW instructions are such a good reference,  I dare say that their O/400 instructions will prove to  be a boon too, in time.

 

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We have an undercarriage. Oasis wire, plastic rod for the bungee cord and plastic sheet, a little filling and some paint needed but to me it already looks the business :) Just need to find the right size buttons.

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