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Dornier Do215B-4 -1/48- ICM


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This is the result of my first build of an ICM kit, even though it was purchased when it first appeared back in 2014 I never got round to building it till now.

So armed with the kit, Eduard's interior, exterior, bomb bay p/e sheets and masks, Quickboost's resin spinner/props and exhausts, finally Xtradecals sheet the build commenced.

I had read the reviews and builds by others and was left with mixed feelings about ICM 1/48 kits especially the Do215, but plunged in anyway!!

 

It was certainly not one of the easiest kits I've built and took me far longer to complete than I expected, at times I nearly gave up the whole project but in the end persisted hopefully the end result is a reasonable replica of this machine.

 

There were an  awful lot of ejector pin marks to remove which would have been visible on the finished kit, a problem I've noticed on the other ICM kits in my stash. Which led me to purchasing a fibre glass pencil which is a great way to remove these marks. I found the instructions a little confusing at times (when I used them!!!) usually for placing certain items in the cockpit.

The Eduard etch caused me some problems especially in the u/c bays where a Dremel was used to sand down some of the parts attached to the u/c bay walls. This was to try to get the engine nacelles to fit reasonably to the wings. When it came to fitting the wing to the fuselage the join was terrible and required much sanding and filling. I have since come to the conclusion the bulkheads in the bomb bay need some trimming down to allow a reasonable wing to fuselage join. I also added strips of card to lower wing to fuselage join to alleviate the poor fit.

I added some extra detail to the cockpit ( which I painted dark grey rather than RLM02???). I also decided to glue the cowlings closed even though replicas of the engines are supplied which I found to be rather simplified.

One of the faults with this kit is the rear fuselage which does not have the bulged fairing over the tailplane, this has been rectified by an aftermarket resin product which as it costs half the price of the kit I decided not to purchase!! I did however modify the fuselage to show this feature, reasonably successfully I hope?

The tailwheel fairing is one moulding including the tailwheel its self, I managed to hollow out the fairing leaving the tailwheel to look like a separate item.

As it is a recce. machine I added a resin camera to the entry hatch/camera fairing from my spares box.

 

I used AK True Colours to paint the kit and Xtradecals sheet for the Do215, I was rather disappointed with these decals as they seemed to be a lot thicker than I'm used to and took quite a lot of solvent to get them to look reasonable!

 

This machine was from 1.(F)124 Stavanger, Norway April 1940 (couldn't resist the undersurface mottle!!!!!)

 

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Now then where's that ICM Do17Z-10 😱

 

                                                                           Cheers, Andy

 

   

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Very good looking model. No evidence it put up a battle during the build. I like the diorama a lot and the cockpit is absolutely terrific.

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18 hours ago, Dave Spencer said:

Great Job!

 

How did you modify the tailplane? I have just started a Z2 and don`t want to fork a load of money on the correction which costs almost as much as the kit.

Hi Dave my modification to the tail is easy but probably not 100% accurate but at least looks better than left as is.

 

I make a vertical cut just in front of the tailplane fairing on each fuselage half to the centre line of the tailplane fairing. Then cut along the 2nd panel line above the tailplane fairing on top of the fuselage, again to centre of fairing. Cut from front cut to 2nd cut, centred along fairing this then removes part of the fuselage and tailplane. Repeat this on other fuselage half, then glue the 2 separated  fuselage pieces together. It's probably best to reinforce the two separated pieces with a piece of plastic card .Photo shows area to be removed on both fuselage halves:-

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This cut out section is not rejoined to the fuselage until, the fuselage has been assembled. A piece of plastic card is then bent to fit where the forward cut was made and glued in place to give a lip for the cut out section to rest on, then another strip of card is glued to the underside of the cut out section at the front. Then when the cut out piece is replaced it sits higher at the front, then using your own judgement adjust to the height you require. Smooth the front of the cut out section to give a smooth fairing, when satisfied you have to glue the fairing in place fair in with putty and you should end up with this:-

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I  hope this helps, maybe not completely accurate but certainly improves the lack of fairing as per ICM's rendition, also saves £20 plus for the aftermarket resin correction 🙂.

 

Thankfully ICM have corrected this omission with the Do217 family they are issuing.

 

                                                                                                                 Regards

                                                                                                                              Andy

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Nice work on the plane. I built this kit a few months ago. I used the resin tail and was pleased I did. The kit ones fuselage tail section is far too wide and looks odd when you see the correct one. Like you I had a lot of trouble building it. The pilot seat location isn't shown correctly in the instructions.  I also had trouble fitting the engines to the wing.

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