1:32 Ju EF-126

[shortCummins]

 

This is both a “new” aircraft type and model manufacturer for me, I believe that this is Das Werk’s first aircraft kit, looking at the sprue’s it look a decent kit and hopefully it will be the first in a successful line for them.

 

Knowing absolutely nothing about this aircraft I turned to wikipedia for some information, here’s what they have to say…

 

Junkers EF 126

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

 

The Junkers EF 126 was an experimental fighter proposed by the German Miniaturjägerprogramm of 1944–1945, for a cheap and simple fighter powered by a pulsejet engine. No examples were built during the war, but the Soviet Union completed both unpowered and powered prototypes.

The design of the Ju EF 126 was developed into the Junkers EF 127, a rocket-powered version.

 

Miniaturjäger

During 1944, the Miniaturjäger programme for the simplest, cheapest fighter possible was launched by the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM), the German Ministry of Aviation. In order to minimise cost and complexity, it was to be powered by a pulse jet, as used by the V-1 flying bomb and its manned version, the Fieseler Fi 103R (Reichenberg). Designs were produced by Heinkel, with a pulse jet powered version of their Heinkel He 162, Blohm & Voss (the P213) and Junkers.

 

Ef 126

Junker's design, the EF 126, was of similar layout to the V-1, with the single Argus 109-044, rated at 4.9 kilonewtons (1,100 lbf), mounted above the aft fuselage and fin. The fuselage was of metal construction while the wings were wooden. A retractable nosewheel undercarriage was to be fitted. As the pulse-jets power would reduce at altitude, the aircraft was intended for low-altitude use, and had a secondary ground attack role. Armament consisted of two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon while up to 400 kg (880 lb) of bombs could be carried under the wings.

 

 

So anyway Das Werk have produced this kit.

 

The kit allows you to build 1 of 3 types, EF-126 single Argus pulse-jet, EF-126 double Argus pulse-jet or EF-127 Walther 509C1 rocket powered version.

 

You can choose from 7 different supplied schemes however, as these were never in production, let alone service, you can make up your own, as I plan to(ish).

 

Also included in the kit are two “bases” a factory cradle and a take off/taxi trolley, you can also opt to have the wings separate so if you want to build a “factory” diorama this kit would give you a really good base to start from.

 

 

I plan to build the EF-126 double Argus version, in a “natural” state, NMF and wooden wings something like this.

 

Uschi van der Rosen have some woodgrain decals specifically for this kit

 

These and some HGW seat belts are the only after-market I plan on using.

 

I like the idea of unpainted aircraft, as you can see from my avatar, some years ago I built a 1:48 Tamiya Mossie and painted her to look unpainted.

The wood effect was made with the help from a PE “woodgrain” stencil, it’ll be interesting to see how the decals go.

 

 

 

Next the I’ll make a start on the cockpit.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[Chemguy3000]

I was tempted to purchase this kit.  This might push me over the edge. Those wing decals! 

 

David

[shortCummins]

19 hours ago, Chemguy3000 said:

I was tempted to purchase this kit.  This might push me over the edge. Those wing decals! 

 

David

unfortunately the wing decals don't come with the kit, having said that the kit was a very reasonable price, well under £40 for 1/32 scale and with the option to build 3 variants, very good value in my book, so paying a little extra for the decals wasn't too much of a hardship.

Plus its an "unusual" subject from a "new" manufacturer so it ticked all the right boxes as far as I'm concerned.

 

best rgds

John(shortCummins)

[Pete in Lincs]

I'll bring along a cushion and perch on the factory cradle. Nice choice, John.

[shortCummins]

 

Firstly I put together the cockpit sub-assembly, gun ports, side panels, instruments and bulkheads.

 

Cockpit parts were removed from their sprues and nailed to cocktail sticks in preparation for painting.

 

The instrument panel is very nicely moulded.

 

Everything was then given a coat of UMP/Stynylrez black primer

 

The rear upper deck of the cockpit has some really nice detail…

 

…as does the pilots seat.

 

 

 

Next I’ll be getting some colour on the cockpit.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[Hook]

Pretty spiffy! Details look very nice.

[bigbadbadge]

I am sure you will do a grand job on it John.  I will follow for your modelling as I yer style. 

Chris

[Bordfunker]

Looking forward to seeing how this one builds up.

 

Spotted the kit when it came out, and fancied that immediately.

 

Karl

[Alan P]

Really nice, original and attractive idea. The wood wings will be a real feature. 

[shortCummins]

15 hours ago, Hook said:

Pretty spiffy! Details look very nice.

thanks Hook

its a good kit, it'll be interesting to see how everything fits together

 

14 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

I am sure you will do a grand job on it John.  I will follow for your modelling as I yer style. 

Chris

thanks Chris

 

13 hours ago, Bordfunker said:

Looking forward to seeing how this one builds up.

 

Spotted the kit when it came out, and fancied that immediately.

 

Karl

thanks Karl

isn't good that another manufacturer has emerged, I hope this is the first of many quality kits from them

 

12 hours ago, Alan P said:

Really nice, original and attractive idea. The wood wings will be a real feature. 

thanks Alan

there's something about a "naked" build, especially when its wood and aluminium. I'm interested to see how the Uschi van der Rosen decals perform.

 

best rgds

John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

 

Das Werk would have you paint the cockpit RLM 66, Tamiya XF-24 or Mr Hobby H416 however when I finally managed to get the top off my bottle of XF-24 it was virtually empty and what was left was dried-up. However I managed to revitalise a little bit and gave the cockpit a base coat of the colour.

 

At the rear of the headrest was a square hole, I’m presuming it was part of the moulding process as there is a “raised” cushion on the other side. So I used some cut up sprue, shaped it to fit the hole and then jammed it in and fixed it with some Tamiya Extra Thin.

It wasn’t until this point that I realised it needs a bit of touching-up, I'll break out the sprue-goo, but that’s a job for this afternoon.

 

The headrest supports were also given a coat of XF-24, the main part of the seat will be aluminium.

 

Raised rivets and other areas were highlighted with Mr Hobby H305 grey FS36118...

...this is quite subtile but more noticeable in real life, my photography skills are lacking to show the true difference between these greys.

 

 

Next I’ll be adding more painted detail to the cockpit.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

 

I didn’t want to make the cockpit too battered however my thinking is that this is a ‘test-bed’ aircraft and a certain amount of wear and tear and general grubbiness should be portrayed, I must be careful not to over do the weathering.

Some ‘scuffs’ were added where feet, arms or tools might rub up against or scratch the cockpit paintwork. These were achieved by some light dry brushing or using a torn sponge to apply Tamiya XF-16 flat aluminium.

 

There are some nicely moulded boxes and switches that I picked out with XF-69 NATO black.

 

 

The switches were first painted white and then painted either red, yellow, silver or brass.

 

 

 

Next I’ll be attempting the instrument panel.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

 

The instrument panel has some nice moulded detail however there are no decals so I’ve taken to a hairy stick to paint the dials.

 

The dial faces were given a coat of XF-69 NATO black.

 

The dial bezels and switches were picked out with white…

 

…and then painted silver, blue, yellow or red.

 

An oil-wash, highly thinned 99% odourless thinner 1% Abteilung sepia, was added to the outside of the bezels and panels.

 

Once the oil wash had dried I applied a coat of aqua flat.

 

Aqua gloss was then added to the dials to imitate glass.

 

 

Next I’ll be finishing the weathering for the cockpit.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[Dunny]

Coming along nicely John - following,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[Alan P]

Meticulous work as usual 👍

 

Fine job on this so far.. 

[Dr Jimbo]

This looks very interesting. I’m in. Your instrument panel looks awesome. It looks really clean, shows a lot of skill and a steady hand with the hairy stick, something I have yet to master.

 

James

[shortCummins]

6 hours ago, Dunny said:

Coming along nicely John - following,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

thanks Roger

so far I'm really impressed with the kit

 

3 hours ago, Alan P said:

Meticulous work as usual 👍

 

Fine job on this so far.. 

thanks Alan

I had to paint the IP before coffee, couldn't have done it after too many cups?

 

1 hour ago, Dr Jimbo said:

This looks very interesting. I’m in. Your instrument panel looks awesome. It looks really clean, shows a lot of skill and a steady hand with the hairy stick, something I have yet to master.

 

James

thanks James

my hands aren't nearly as steady as they used to be and I think I need some stronger lenses in my optivisor but holding my breath and taking my time just about works 👍 

I'm glad is 1:32 couldn't do it in 1:48 and I'm not convinced I could even see it in 1:72

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

 

I used my oil-wash, highly thinned 99% odourless thinner 1% Abteilung sepia, added to the outside of the bezels, panels, switches, plumbing and  other sticky out bits and pieces to create a subtile shadow effect and make them stand out a wee bit more than without it.

[

 

Once the wash had fully cured everything was given a coat of aqua flat.

 

Then it was time to add some of the supplied cockpit placard decals.

 

Before sealing the decals with a coat of aqua flat I rubbed a graphite pencil along some of the raised areas to further simulate wear and grubbiness.

 

 

 

Next I’ll get to work on the pilot’s seat.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[shortCummins]

 

After the seat was given a coat of UMP/Stynylrez black primer the headrest support were painted XF-24.

 

The grey and leg supports were then masked…

[

 

…and then sprayed with vallejo 77.717 dull aluminium

 

I wasn’t happy with the “brightness” of the seat so after rummaging around in the cupboard I found an unopened bottle of Xtreme metal AK438 matte aluminium, I’d forgotten that I’d bought it and can’t think what model I was going to use it on?

Anyhow to try and ensure a “dull” finish I sprayed a coat of dark grey over the existing too bright aluminium.

 

AK438 was applied…

…I’m far happier with that.

 

 

 

Next I’ll finish the other bits of the seat and put it all together.

 

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[Pete in Lincs]

John, That is going to be one impressive cockpit. As is common nowadays, I imagine the pilot wandered off before they could scan him.

But if you put one in there, we wouldn't be able to see all that lovely detail. Cheers, Pete

[Dr Jimbo]

I’m with you on the choice of aluminium for the seat. I’m really excited to see how this comes out. It’s seriously impressive work so far. 
 

James.

[Dunny]

John,

 

Lovely cockpit work, and good choice on the seat change!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[bigbadbadge]

The cockpit does look very impressive John, great work. 

Chris

[shortCummins]

17 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

John, That is going to be one impressive cockpit. As is common nowadays, I imagine the pilot wandered off before they could scan him.

But if you put one in there, we wouldn't be able to see all that lovely detail. Cheers, Pete

thanks Pete

1:32 makes it a little easier and as this has a relatively large canopy I'm hoping that the detail can be seen.

 

9 hours ago, Dr Jimbo said:

I’m with you on the choice of aluminium for the seat. I’m really excited to see how this comes out. It’s seriously impressive work so far. 
 

James.

thanks James

it's funny how different paints, that are meant to be the same, finish once they've dried. I've been a fan of vallejo's acrylic metal colours for some time, mainly because I don't have a spray booth, however the AK Xtreme metal is far easier to work with (I use a respirator whilst spraying) and gives a finish closer to what I was expecting.

 

6 hours ago, Dunny said:

John,

 

Lovely cockpit work, and good choice on the seat change!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

thanks Roger

the "brighter" seat just didn't look quite right.

 

1 hour ago, bigbadbadge said:

The cockpit does look very impressive John, great work. 

Chris

thanks Chris

the larger scale helps, adding subtile effects such as the graphite pencil aren't so obvious and, to me anyway, give a more realistic appearance without being too noticeable.

 

best rgds

John(shortCummins)

[SafetyDad]

That's great work there John - neat, tidy and thoughtful. I'm enjoying watching you bring this lovely little model along, and am appreciating your tips and ideas.

SD