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ICM 1/32 Bücker Bu-131 Jungmann LVA (Dutch AF)


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I bought this little gem for € 20, and just by looking at the contents it looked like well worth the money. Money saved was, of course, spent om aftermarket. In this case an Eduard PE set, and Quickboost replacement resin seats and doors. It will be finished in Dutch 1938 colors. Although orange triangles are newer than the roundels historically, I just have no taste for them. They make a Dutch plane look 20 years older compared to roundels.

 

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The goodies:

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In detail:

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Engine heatshield PE vs kit-part:

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Kit-seats vs Quickboost. Meh...marginally thinner edges, but for the rest plain copies. Would not buy again. They do save you filling in those ejector-pin markings in the seats.

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Fit is very good for such intricate parts, and looks scale to me.

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Edited by Grunticus
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Some progress. Some observations so far:

  • Plastic is very soft. Do not use a sprue-cutter near fragile parts (and there are many). On the plus side any irragularities sand away quite quickly. Just be gentle.
  • Fit is very very good. Nothing like dry fitting a nod panel, applying a little thin cement along the joint with a small brush, applying just a little bit of pressure to make the part bite, and giving it the nod when it stays put with no visible seam and no oozing glue.
  • The PE set is very nice, but some parts are just simply too small and fiddly for me to be able to handle them. 

Excellent wing-root fit:

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I already get head-aches if I think about the rigging that is to come. Any advice?

Edited by Grunticus
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Cockpit mostly done, and today I fitted the engine. Fit in this area is really good, except for the upper engine mounts against the firewall. I had to expand the holes outward to make them fit dead-center and without bending te rods. Maybe it was me....

 

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I have managed to make some further progress on the little Bücker. Getting the wings assembled to the fuselage together was relatively straightforward and easy to align, partly so due to the excellent near-snap fit of the struts.

 

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The Eduard PE engine access door and cockpit doors are really nice and add to the authentic look of the finished model. Once again I had to pass on some very small parts but overall I am content. Still, as with everything, practice makes you better and I am learning. I realize my efforts can't hold a faint candle to most of the work I see on this forum, but I have to say this kit gives me so much pleasure I am going to get another one. Then I will try to see if it is possible to add the rigging to the lower half of the upper wing and the upper half of the lower wing BEFORE assembly, in other words to get sturdy, tight and invisible rigging wire attachment. We'll see 😜

 

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And under a layer of Surfacer 1200:

 

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I did some more work. I am starting to see the fun in working with PE as in some cases, as this, it really adds much to the appearance of a model. Those trim tabs look great.

 

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Most of the painting is done. Still have to paint some details and then add the rigging. More to come.

 

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Wow, those cowling panels are impressive!  Seeing it on its legs in blue is inspiring- should be out of the shop before too long.

 

This is one of those kits that I feel I have to buy just to applaud the fact that somebody made one, let alone it looks like a really nice model.  Still hoping for a Jungmeister spin-off, though!

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Well, it's starting to look like a Dutch Jungmann. I am awaiting arrival of a set of micro drills, and then start installing the rigging. The roundels came from Dutch Decals' mulit-scale national insignia set. "Dutch Decals" can sometime be "Dutch Disaster". In this instance, they were fragile but workable if I had taken a little bit more care. Had to touch-up the white in two of the roundels due to ripping. Daco Strong setting solution was a tad too much for them, Daco Medium worked okay.

 

I plan to sink these home-made excuses for turnbuckles in to the wings, and then superglue a rigging wire to it, guiding it through the fuselage rigging-eye, and then back to te second rigging-eye in the wing and secure the wire with superglue. Wish me luck! I am aware there are brass and resin turnbuckles commercialy available, but these give me more sense of accomplishment. Even when not to scale.

 

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Oh my God, what have I done not preparing the rigging with the parts still on the sprues! Well, learned a lot and am getting there. Even when not to scale I am quite content with the overall appearance of the rigging. This is/was a very valuable build for me when I am going to tackle my next biplane (Matchbox 1/32 Tiger Moth, for which strangely enough there is NO aftermarket stuff available 🤨 ). On to the next round of rigging the other wing and stabilizers...

 


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Looking lovely. I like the scheme, would solve my dilemma of adding some interwar German types to the collection while honouring my tail marking ban.

 

Surprised there nothing out there for the tiger moth, I’d have thought it would be very popular. Then again the aftermarket can be strange, I just finished a 1/32 Bristol racer for which there was an aftermarket decal set( and very nice too) but I struggle to see how the vendor made  even covered costs as there is (as far as I know) no kit of any kind available. Still an opportunity for you to except use your modelling skills with the Jungmann as the benchmark.

Edited by Marklo
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Lovely little Bucker Grunticus, I have one in progress too along with my Fw44 Stieglitz. If you’re mainly a 1/32 scale builder you may want to Google “Large Scale Planes” - it’s a great forum! 
Max 

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3 hours ago, galgos said:

Lovely little Bucker Grunticus, I have one in progress too along with my Fw44 Stieglitz. If you’re mainly a 1/32 scale builder you may want to Google “Large Scale Planes” - it’s a great forum! 
Max 

Thank you very much! I do constrict myself (my eyes actually) to 1/32. And, the extra detail in that scale is a plus for me. I frequently visit LSP, maybe time for an account. Very lovely and friendly forum, just like this one! Do you have a thread going on the Stieglitz? Untill now I only built Dutch military subjects, but just the other week I bought an Eduard 1/32 P-47D to depict an example that was briefly stationed at Fliegerhorst Venlo in march / april 45. I grew up there and remember strolling over the old german runways. One could pick up hand-sized (allied) bomb fragments from the runway as late as 1980. Also dug up aircraft parts there, and .50 bullets. Good times. They cleared the whole area in te 90s and now it's just another boring "park". No sense of history with the council like so often.

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23 hours ago, Marklo said:

Looking lovely. I like the scheme, would solve my dilemma of adding some interwar German types to the collection while honouring my tail marking ban.

 

Surprised there nothing out there for the tiger moth, I’d have thought it would be very popular. Then again the aftermarket can be strange, I just finished a 1/32 Bristol racer for which there was an aftermarket decal set( and very nice too) but I struggle to see how the vendor made  even covered costs as there is (as far as I know) no kit of any kind available. Still an opportunity for you to except use your modelling skills with the Jungmann as the benchmark.

Well I'll be d*mned! Just found the news of the new Silver Wings 1/32 Tiger Moth. Count me in for at least two. Still going to built the Matchbox one, maybe in parallel with the new one for kicks.

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3 hours ago, Grunticus said:

Thank you very much! I do constrict myself (my eyes actually) to 1/32. And, the extra detail in that scale is a plus for me. I frequently visit LSP, maybe time for an account. Very lovely and friendly forum, just like this one! Do you have a thread going on the Stieglitz? Untill now I only built Dutch military subjects, but just the other week I bought an Eduard 1/32 P-47D to depict an example that was briefly stationed at Fliegerhorst Venlo in march / april 45. I grew up there and remember strolling over the old german runways. One could pick up hand-sized (allied) bomb fragments from the runway as late as 1980. Also dug up aircraft parts there, and .50 bullets. Good times. They cleared the whole area in te 90s and now it's just another boring "park". No sense of history with the council like so often.

Yes indeed, my Stieglitz build has been going for a while but then I'm a very slow builder! We'd be delighted to see you over on LSP, and I agree it's great news about the Silver Wings Tiger Moth, they are a sponsor on LSP and there's quite an entertaining thread running there too. Sounds like we're out of the same mould, 1/32 scale because of ageing eyes and a love of detailing! https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/78302-focke-wulf-44d-stieglitz/

Regards

Max aka mozart (on LSP)

 

PS If you want some detail shots of a Tiger Moth look for some that I posted some time ago in the Walkarounds section, or it could have been in a GB, there was a Tiger Moth STGB a year or so ago.  Found it here:

 

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7 hours ago, galgos said:

Yes indeed, my Stieglitz build has been going for a while but then I'm a very slow builder! We'd be delighted to see you over on LSP, and I agree it's great news about the Silver Wings Tiger Moth, they are a sponsor on LSP and there's quite an entertaining thread running there too. Sounds like we're out of the same mould, 1/32 scale because of ageing eyes and a love of detailing! https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/78302-focke-wulf-44d-stieglitz/

Regards

Max aka mozart (on LSP)

 

PS If you want some detail shots of a Tiger Moth look for some that I posted some time ago in the Walkarounds section, or it could have been in a GB, there was a Tiger Moth STGB a year or so ago.  Found it here:

 

I just checked your Stieglitz thread and you did a mighty fine job! Looks to be a lovely kit indeed.  I've bult only one resin kit before (1/48 CAC Wackett) and found it though "different" but not very much more challenging than styrene, and it turned out great. Many thanks for that reference thread, I have it bookmarked! I haven't read anything about the release date for the SW Tiger Moth but hope not too long.

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Simon of Silver Wings said they hope production will start this month, they are just finalising some cockpit details. So there’s your Christmas present, with luck. 😀

I find resin very pleasant to work with, the only thing you have to be sure about is the fit of the parts because there’s not a lot of time for adjustment, so the Stieglitz undercarriage was rather tricky and nerve-wracking! 
Max 

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Calling it quits. I am omitting the elevator rigging since it is too difficult for me to drill shallow holes there now that it's assembled. I will buy the correct LVA version (Bü-131A) and do it all again, taking the lessons of my first Biplane to make it even better. Happy with end result though!

 

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Edited by Grunticus
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