"Picchiatello", the Italian Stuka - Ju 87 B-2

[giemme]

Hi everybody, back to a propeller build and in 1/48, after a few jets in 1/72. At the beginning of WWII, the Regia Aeronautica acquired a number of JU 87 B-2 to equip its dive bomber wings; these were nicknamed "picchiatelli" (plural, the singular is "picchiatello") by the Italian pilots, referring to its role (dive bomber in Italian translates into "bombardiere in picchiata") but also to the fact that "picchiatello" means "slightly mad", 'cause you had to be like that for the job ...  .

 

I'll provide more info as I go, meanwhile here's the boxart

 

 

the doc

 

a (relatively) clean workspace

 

and a brand new Optivisor  

 

 

 

This replaced the cheapo version I used till now; since I'd been using it more and more, and it had no ability to raise the whole magnifier overhead, I decided it was time to invest in something a bit more professional. 

 

Here are some sprue shots

 

 

 

 

Clear parts

 

PE fret

 

and decals

... although I planned to paint most of the markings.

 

Instructions

 

and the AC I'm going to reproduce

 

This was Capt. Giuseppe Cenni's mount; the first WIP I posted on BM, back in 2014, was of then Major Cenni's RE2002 - he was shot down in that airplane a few days before the armistice was signed, during a useless sortie. Such is war.

 

Anyway, if anyone is interested, here's the link to that old build:

 

and to the RFI

I'm not particularly proud of that build, so I'm hoping to make up for that with this one, and honor Maj Cenni's memory in a better way.

 

I haven't really started it, except for a quick dry fit/tape together of the main parts: here are the fuselage halves, nicely detailed and crisply molded

 

Same for the wings, with just a little flash on the flaps and the wing tips

 

 

The join at the leading edge is pretty good

 

 

wing roots will need some TLC, but it's just a matter of correct positioning

 

 

underside not bad at all

 

Some (typical ... ) panel lines misalignment along the bottom joint

 

And that's all I did so far. Works will resume with the cockpit. I haven't decided as of yet if I'll represent this model with the engine in plain sight, removing the cowling (one of the kit options). No aftermarket foreseen, probably some scratch building along the way.

 

Please feel free to chime in, comment, suggest and propose.

 

Ciao 

[amblypygid]

I'm in, Giorgio, and of course I'd like to see what you make of the engine-out option.

[Terry1954]

This should be good! I'm definitely in Giorgio.

 

Terry

[Biggles87]

Me too 

 

John

[keefr22]

And me !

 

10 hours ago, giemme said:

I'm not particularly proud of that build,

 

I don't know why G, I think it looks great, really interesting looking aeroplane too!

 

Lasr Stuka I built was way back in the dark ages - one of Revell's old 32nd scale kits with that snake down the side!

 

Looking forward to this one!

 

Keith

[bbudde]

Also in here Giorgio. seems to be a good kit. Thought it was a Hase rebox, but it wasn't Btw I like that "Ju 87 B und leicht einen an der Waffel".

Cheers

[perdu]

Me?

 

Yes just over there by the bookcase.

 

Italeri but good, looking forwards to that combined with the customary Giorgio pristine pizazz!

 

Engine?

No engine?

 

Whatever the maestro decides.

[lesthegringo]

Just a caution - on my Italeri boxed JU-87, it had the spinner parts incorrectly called out so it would leave a weird gap or incorrectly sized part. Unfortunately I didn't keep the instructions otherwise I would have scanned them with the errors noted, but maybe you can review the parts you have in advance to prevent issues

 

Cheers

 

Les

[Troy Smith]

1 hour ago, bbudde said:

seems to be a good kit.

 

1 hour ago, perdu said:

Italeri but good,

It is classic Italeri, as in a pig's ear.

 

Biggest visual glitch is an awful spinner and weird prop blades, but has deeper faults.

Extensive discussion here on the D kit, but AFAIK, the main parts are the same.  Well worth a read as you get a silk purse at the end.

 

[corsaircorp]

Hello Mr G,

I'm in too if you don't mind it...

Just be extra carefull with the engine brackets, there's a bug, or maybe it's me !!

But if you follow the destructions, the engine will be 5mm too low....

How many Stuka did you start ?? 

Go on Man !!

CC

[giemme]

12 hours ago, amblypygid said:

I'm in, Giorgio, and of course I'd like to see what you make of the engine-out option.

Cheers Chris, welcome on board.   The engine-out options depends on finding good reference pics of it, but also on how realistic the cowling will look when not mounted, I suspect there's going to be a fair amount of work to be done there....

10 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

This should be good! I'm definitely in Giorgio.

 

Terry

10 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Me too 

 

John

Welcome to you too, Terry and John

 

6 hours ago, keefr22 said:

And me !

 

 

I don't know why G, I think it looks great, really interesting looking aeroplane too!

Welcome Keith   Part of not being proud of that kit is due to the kit itself - sow's ear, as @Troy Smith says; despite of me attempting to correct the wings leading edge, for instance, it still doesn't look like the real thing. Plus there were self induced mishaps, like dropping the model while taking the RFI, a poor painting and weathering job, lack of experience and accuracy... Anyway, I'm hoping to do better, this time  

6 hours ago, bbudde said:

Also in here Giorgio. seems to be a good kit. Thought it was a Hase rebox, but it wasn't Btw I like that "Ju 87 B und leicht einen an der Waffel".

Cheers

Welcome Ben!  It's a lot of words in German to say "Picchiatello" ...  

6 hours ago, perdu said:

Me?

 

Yes just over there by the bookcase.

 

Italeri but good, looking forwards to that combined with the customary Giorgio pristine pizazz!

 

Engine?

No engine?

 

Whatever the maestro decides.

Thanks for the support Bill, welcome to you too

5 hours ago, lesthegringo said:

Just a caution - on my Italeri boxed JU-87, it had the spinner parts incorrectly called out so it would leave a weird gap or incorrectly sized part. Unfortunately I didn't keep the instructions otherwise I would have scanned them with the errors noted, but maybe you can review the parts you have in advance to prevent issues

 

Cheers

 

Les

Thank you very much for the heads up, Les - I will check that

5 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

 

It is classic Italeri, as in a pig's ear.

 

Biggest visual glitch is an awful spinner and weird prop blades, but has deeper faults.

Extensive discussion here on the D kit, but AFAIK, the main parts are the same.  Well worth a read as you get a silk purse at the end.

 

You're a gold mine as usual, Troy   I've started reading that thread, many things to check sprung up already.

5 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

Hello Mr G,

I'm in too if you don't mind it...

Just be extra carefull with the engine brackets, there's a bug, or maybe it's me !!

But if you follow the destructions, the engine will be 5mm too low....

How many Stuka did you start ?? 

Go on Man !!

CC

Welcome CC 🍻  Thanks for the heads up on the engine bearers, I'll check those too

 

Ciao

[bbudde]

37 minutes ago, giemme said:

It's a lot of words in German to say "Picchiatello" ...  

Yep, but I suspect you could also sum it up quite shorter, when you look at the Ju 87 series. Maybe A= Abnorm/B= Bescheuert/D=Dumm/G= Geistesgestört , which you can use as cognate words.

Cheers

[mackem01]

I too will be keeping an eye on your artistry G - as long as we can see an engine at the end of it and that

big glasshouse is left open.

[Troy Smith]

1 hour ago, giemme said:

You're a gold mine as usual, Troy   I've started reading that thread, many things to check sprung up already.

Thank you. 

 

I don't have the kit,  as I never found it cheap enough, but did some searching about.  I was very impressed with they way @Ray_W  fixed the issues,  but depends on how fussed you are.

 

You may find that with open engine and some other tweaks it will look OK.

 

By spinner problems  I mean this, and you can see the problem with position of the engine firewall/cowl length.   

 

I was very impressed at how Ray fixed up the kit,  and be interested to see what you choose to address.    

 

Lots of Ju-87 photos here

https://www.asisbiz.com/Ju-87.html

 

cheers

T

[The Spadgent]

Of course I’m going to tag along if that’s ok. Looks like you’re in for a swell old time. I have an Airfix one to build at some point. I’m sure what ever you choose do do she will turn out splendid. 🙌

I’ll be over by the fire with some knock off after eights and a bold Rioja. 🔥🍷

 

Johnny

[keefr22]

3 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

By spinner problems 

 

If you can't fix the kit one Giorgio, there's always this;

 

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/QB48402?result-token=AB4LK

 

Keith

[rob85]

I’m rather excited to see this built Giemme! Really looking forward to how you go about it and to see it come together... especially after all those boring jets you have been building 😃 (I am of course joking)

 

Rob

[Biggles87]

I have an article on Italian Stukas in a modelling magazine somewhere, I'll see if I can find it and send you a copy if you're interested.

 

John

[CedB]

I'm in too G! Engine out sounds interesting?  

[Biggles87]

Hi Giorgio, hope you and yours are OK after last nights storms, if they came your way.

John

 

[bbudde]

As above from me here too. Very windy here today, but not that masses of rain at all.

Cheers

[hendie]

sounds like you have a challenging kit on your hands G.  I'll be interested in seeing how you handle things

[Brandy]

Nice subject, interested to see how you deal with the kit!

My Stuka experience so far is 2 of the old school Airfix ones, one updated using the 1:24 kit as a reference, but that was when I was a kid.

I still have the 1:24 kit to build, plus a new mould 1:72 so always looking for references. Does that book have any cowling open shots? I would love to know if/how the lower ones were fitted/hinged.

 

Ian

[giemme]

On 02/10/2020 at 18:22, mackem01 said:

I too will be keeping an eye on your artistry G - as long as we can see an engine at the end of it and that

big glasshouse is left open.

Welcome on board, mack  Definitely open canopies, as regards the engine the jury is still out - I'm leaning towards the exposed engine, but I need good references for it and for the cowling panels engineering

On 02/10/2020 at 18:43, Troy Smith said:

Lots of Ju-87 photos here

https://www.asisbiz.com/Ju-87.html

 

cheers

T

Did I mention you're a gold mine, Troy?   As for the various fixes pointed out in Ray's build, I will post an update later with my findings - I suspect the Italeri D kit bears some relevant differences with the B2/R2 one, but as I said later for that.

On 02/10/2020 at 22:01, The Spadgent said:

Of course I’m going to tag along if that’s ok. Looks like you’re in for a swell old time. I have an Airfix one to build at some point. I’m sure what ever you choose do do she will turn out splendid. 🙌

I’ll be over by the fire with some knock off after eights and a bold Rioja. 🔥🍷

 

Johnny

Glad to have you along, Johnny  Looks like this time I'm modelling something you haven't already done, instead of the other way round     

On 02/10/2020 at 22:26, keefr22 said:

 

If you can't fix the kit one Giorgio, there's always this;

 

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/QB48402?result-token=AB4LK

 

Keith

Thanks for the heads up, Keith  I'll see what I can do with the kit parts first

On 02/10/2020 at 23:17, rob85 said:

I’m rather excited to see this built Giemme! Really looking forward to how you go about it and to see it come together... especially after all those boring jets you have been building 😃 (I am of course joking)

 

Rob

I knew you'd have liked this, Rob   

On 03/10/2020 at 08:32, Biggles87 said:

I have an article on Italian Stukas in a modelling magazine somewhere, I'll see if I can find it and send you a copy if you're interested.

 

John

Whenever it is convenient for you, John - but yes, I'm interested  

On 03/10/2020 at 08:34, CedB said:

I'm in too G! Engine out sounds interesting?  

Thanks Ced, welcome on board   It is definitely interesting, remains to see if it is feasible...

6 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Hi Giorgio, hope you and yours are OK after last nights storms, if they came your way.

John

 

4 hours ago, bbudde said:

As above from me here too. Very windy here today, but not that masses of rain at all.

Cheers

Thank John and Benedikt, we're all fine here. We had no more than some heavy rain and high winds in my area, the real trouble was close to the French border. As of today there are three dead and roughly ten missing - as if this year wasn't complicated enough....

 

1 hour ago, hendie said:

sounds like you have a challenging kit on your hands G.  I'll be interested in seeing how you handle things

Thank you Hendie  I think I've seen worst, but only the build progress will tell  

1 hour ago, Brandy said:

Nice subject, interested to see how you deal with the kit!

My Stuka experience so far is 2 of the old school Airfix ones, one updated using the 1:24 kit as a reference, but that was when I was a kid.

I still have the 1:24 kit to build, plus a new mould 1:72 so always looking for references. Does that book have any cowling open shots? I would love to know if/how the lower ones were fitted/hinged.

 

Ian

Thanks Ian   the Valiant book, IMHO, seems very comprehensive and the content shows a lot of research has been conducted. There are quite a few pics of exposed engines, sadly all of them with cowling panels completely removed or with no useful indication on how they were hinged. The last section of the book is devoted to in detail pics and diagrams of all the main parts, including some diagrams for the cowling; they point out the various panels, but again no indications about how they were hinged/mounted

 

Later for some actual modelling

 

Ciao

[bbudde]

58 minutes ago, giemme said:

as if this year wasn't complicated enough....

Yep,  Weird year so far. Too dry, too wet, Corona with its unpredictibale reasons. Hope I get a bit normality with a good cold winter with snow and low temperatures too get the virus abit more down for the next year. This year was scrapped so far for the ususal fun and excitement Not even a short visit in the Netherlands for the normal weekend on the 03.10. here was planned. Sadly.

Cheers