Special Hobby 1/72 Ju-87A

[Peter Lloyd]

With the clock ticking away on this group build, I have been saddened by the paucity of Stukas wearing flared trousers.

 

I am going to be part of the solution... and let us note I am using this kit as therapy while I battle my Airfix Lancaster/Manchester elsewhere.  I'm not sure if SH are considered 'short run' but I always have fun with them.

 

I am very pleased to have a chance to start this: it has floated near the top of my list of kits I would like to get on with: often group builds are a great way for me to get on and open the box.

 

So let's open the box!

 

get on

 

 

Nice plastic, typical SH with subtle, consistent surface detail, slight flash, many small parts, transparencies as good as the Japanese.

 

 

A bit of photoetch.  I HATE photoetch so this is about my limit.

 

I'll do it in the kit livery: the 'Jolanthe the Pig' scheme from the Spanish Civil War.  It will be my first depiction of a machine from this conflict. 

 

If the kit doesn't fight me too much, I should finish it off in time for the deadline.

[Basilisk]

This is indeed a unexpected late start and I hope you can complete your build in two weeks. What I could see from others who tackled this kit, it isn't the easiest build and definitely in short run territory.

 

None the less, I hope you enjoy your build.

Cheers, Peter

[Peter Lloyd]

It goes together nicely...

 

 

 

The PE seat basket, gun mount, radio. I found an image on the web of the radio set up in a Ju-87B, and this does not look a lot like it, but the -A and -B had fairly different cockpits, especially that big roll bar. There seemingly should be a sort of grad rail next to the seat basket. I'm in a hurry so the kit's interior is okay for me, and far better than most models. I added some of the PE and then some of it fell off into oblivion, as it does in my pig-sty work area. 

 

 

Fuselage halves that line up and fit, without steps, gaps making a decisions about which panel lines to misalign.  Airfix, take note [Sorry to be hard on Airfix, almost all their new tool models are easy to build].

 

 

[Peter Lloyd]

And on to the wings and the pants.  You can call them 'spats' or 'fairings' if you like, but on MY thread they're pants and that's that.

 

 

 

Gadzooks!  A flaw! So I do get to use a smidge of filler on this...

 

 

[CliffB]

Fantastic - another early Stuka 

What's with the random brown paint Peter?

 

Cheers

[Peter Lloyd]

1 hour ago, CliffB said:

Fantastic - another early Stuka 

What's with the random brown paint Peter?

 

Cheers

Some sort of trick of the light Cliff, no paint on this one yet.

[CliffB]

31 minutes ago, Peter Lloyd said:

Some sort of trick of the light Cliff, no paint on this one yet.

That makes sense Peter.  On my screen at least, it looks like a perfect match for RLM 61!

 

[Peter Lloyd]

😆 Speaking of colours, I will be using Tamiya and Gunze Aqueous. RLM 61 will be a mix of Tamiya XF64 'Red Brown' and Gunze M66 'RLM 79'; RLM 62 will be Tamiya XF65 'Field Grey'; RLM 63 will be depicted with Tamiya XF25 'Light Sea Grey'.

 

 

 

The canopy is typical Special Hobby, thin and clear with matte, subtle framing. There is a sort of mould line around the top of the 'tub' it fits onto, which I mostly left in place.

 

Some slight scraping was necessary to get the canopy to sit down, material being removed in the areas shown by the arrows.

 

 

I had to apply some pressure while the cement dried. I could have done a little more scraping and got it to sit, but I decided this way was just as easy. Arrows indicate the direction of the pressure.  A few minutes like this singing a hand-washing song to myself and it is done. I didn't quite get the canopy centred so there is a step on the port side- I only really noticed this in these photos.

 

 

No masking kit for this, but most masks are just rectangles so I had it masked up in about an hour.  I had to pull out the rear mount for the MG-15, and work out what small parts to leave off.  You can see some Mr Surfacer brushed on to highlight where the seams need more work, On to painting next.

[Peter Lloyd]

Hello again and thanks for looking.

 

 

Perhaps the trickiest part of this model is assembly of the Fowler flaps, with three struts and two balance weights per side. They are fine mouldings though necessarily over-scale, and in the interests of strength [and laziness] I did not reduce them. The instructions only gesture at where these actually go, there is a scrap view indicating the balance weight location.  There are very fine indications on the surface of the model and the flaps showing the attachment points.  These will be left off until the end as they will be extremely delicate.

 

 

 

 

After an application of Xtracrylix clear gloss. Rarely does this produce a good gloss surface for me but it is very tough, and can be buffed a little to produce a smooth surface.

 

 

The decals are by Aviprint and are typical Special Hobby: thin, strong, glossy. I do not cut close on the assumption that the 'factory' edge is easier to hide under gloss coats.

 

 

After a pin wash with an enamel/oil paint mix, dissolved in a turpentine/white spirit blend.  There is also some post shading here. I always overdo the post shading but I'm getting better.  I obviously haven't eliminated the seam work on the cowling and might have to revisit this.

 

Most photos of Condor Legion Ju-87s show quite immaculate aircraft, but given their work rate in the final year of so of the war they must have got pretty dirty.

[Ray_W]

5 hours ago, Peter Lloyd said:

Most photos of Condor Legion Ju-87s show quite immaculate aircraft, but given their work rate in the final year of so of the war they must have got pretty dirty.

Peter, it looks great and I don' think the post shading is overdone and it is nicely random. Anyway you can always further post shade with the original colour if you want to subdue it a little.   Ray.

[Learstang]

That looks excellent! Definitely a kit I need for my SCW collection.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

[Peter Lloyd]

Hello again. This beastie is finished and up in the gallery.  Today involved lots of fitting of the detail parts, so not really any new photos.

 

These included:

The defensive MG- with PE sights, a little overscale being plastic and perhaps an aftermarket MG15 or barrel would do justice to the finesse of the kit.

PE dive brakes,- I ignored the etch mounts and made some plastic ones.

The pitot- SH give you two plastic pieces and a small PE part, I thinned down the supplied main tube, and used stretched sprue for the rest.

Tailwheel, bomb cradle and underside window. The bomb cradle is rather overscale, the underside window fitted well with just a little reduction on all sides. Fitting it afterward, it had to be a near perfect 'drop in' fit and this was not too hard to achieve.

 

The Fowler flaps.  I'll leave some notes here because these are a huge source of potential problems. 

 

What I did was to assemble all the rods, hinges and balance weights onto the flaps, paint them, and add them at the end. This worked but I was lucky: the surfaces to actually make the connection are of course tiny. On the upper surface of the flaps are small hinges which serve to 'hook' the flaps onto the trailing edge of the upper wing.  The actuating rods 'wedged' onto the lower surface of the wing and, at the cost of blemishes on the paint, held it all in place. Unfortunately, my balance weights are at the wrong angle so they touch the lower wing, too.

 

What I'd suggest you do is cement some very fine wire between the wings, pointing rearward, in line with the upper wing hinges, to reinforce the join, and attach the rods and balance weights afterwards.  Alternatively, use the hinges to affix the flaps onto the wing- albeit you will have only tiny contacting surfaces- and fix the rods and balance weights after that.  It is all so delicate that even touching up the paint with the airbrush will be dangerous.

 

There is a real trade-off to be made here, because once assembled the flaps are very delicate, and they were in fact the very last thing I fitted apart from the aerials.  In the final stages, there are bits sticking out everywhere on this plane, waiting to be knocked off.  This is the trade-off: the Special Hobby Stuka is far better detailed and more convincing than the Airfix or Fujimi models.  But the small and delicate parts are a real test of patience, eyesight and steadiness-of-hand.

One could drill out the exhausts, and in photos the props look to be a pale colour (RLM02?) rather than RLM70.  I left a few parts off as well.  But, overall I am happy, I have found I have to compromise to actually get models finished and continue enjoying the hobby.

 

A big thanks to all who read this and the moderators.

 

 

Edited April 9, 2020 by Peter Lloyd
Typos

[Ray_W]

8 minutes ago, Peter Lloyd said:

There is a real trade-off to be made here, because once assembled the flaps are very delicate, and they were in fact the very last thing I fitted apart from the aerials.  In the final stages, there are bits sticking out everywhere on this place, waiting to be knocked off.  This is the trade-off: the Special Hobby Stuka is far better detailed and more convincing than the Airfix or Fujimi models.  But the small and delicate parts are a real test of patience, eyesight and steadiness-of-hand.

Peter,

 

It looks real nice in the gallery. Excellent. Well done.

 

I usually prefer robust builds myself because somehow I have to get the finished builds back home to Australia. This usually means I leave off all the breakable bits. In a Group Build it's more difficult when showing the complete model and the Stuka is one of the worst for bits to knock off. Like you suggest for the flaps, I am in the habit of wiring everything. On my build all the footsteps, mass balances etc.etc are drilled 0.2 mm and wired. Amazing how strong they are. Doesn't mean totally survivable, just a better chance.

 

Ray

[Greg Law]

Very good build.

 

I won't get mine done in time so it will go up in RFI when it is done. I need time to sort out the colours. I almost painted it the wrong colour. Now that I'm not hurrying i will get it right. I already stuffed up the landing gear by putting them on the wrong wing, but I have to live with that because they are wired in.

[Basilisk]

Glad to see you finished your build  But why don't you show some picture here of the finished model. People will come across your build without seeing the gallery entry.

 

Cheers, Peter

[bissyboat]

Nice platform shoes on the Stuka and beautifully executed splinter camouflage. ⚓👍