Italeri 72nd Scale Dornier Do217E

[fishplanebeer]

Finally and at long last I've managed to get this one finished although it's probably the one I'm least happy with of the five I've completed since returning to the hobby late last year but I think it looks like a Dornier Do217E in the main. It represents a machine from 5/KG2 which narrowly missed bombing my late mom back in July 1942 when attempting to attack the Rover factory and gas works in Solihull so it sort of has a family connection. Sadly I wasn't able to discover the exact aircraft involved but it could have been 'G' so it's as near as I've been able to get.

 

The kit itself is showing its age with raised panel lines, problematic fit in some areas and instructions that are somewhat vague in many areas too but I suspect the main issues were my lack of practice and modest skills allied to not having built such an old style kit for several decades.

 

The 'extras' used were the Airwaves PE set, albeit for the later marques, Eduard seat belts, aerial wires form EZ line, resin MG's for the front and dorsal gun positions and a combination of the long OOP decal sets from Tally Ho and Eagle Strike combined with the kit decals, plus an Xtradecal sheet for the tail letters. I did buy the correct red I Gruppe 'Holzhammer' badge from Peddinghaus but the colour distorted badly when applied so I've had to go with the white version on the basis that the machine was transferred from I to II Gruppe at some point but they forgot about the badge - possible.

 

The paints used were Colourcoats RLM73, Humbrol 66 (in lieu of RLM72 as it is out of stock with Colourcoats) and Xtracolor Tyre Black for a less dense black effect on the undersurfaces. In terms of weathering I've just applied some faint soot marks behind the top exhaust manifolds on each wing using black pastel but the effect is quite restrained so I may add a bit more at some point. I did apply a Flory's wash of Grime to all surfaces which gave a nice effect but then found that after applying the final matt enamel varnish coat it all disappeared.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Special thanks to Graham Boak for selling me the kit and for providing me with lots of information on the build and the correct colour schemes and markings.

 

Regards

Colin.

Edited August 5, 2021 by fishplanebeer

[Wulfman]

A very nice build on the old kit !

 

Wulfman

[Vinnie]

Nicely done, Colin. You've really done the old kit justice👍.

[Hook]

Great work, thanks for posting!

 

(And glad she missed bombing your mum.)

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[72modeler]

Yes, a very nice late Dornier! I  wouldn't change a thing, but I see what you mean about the exhaust Maybe some dark grey stains with a lighter, chaulky deposit close to the exhaust stacks?

Mike

Edited August 5, 2021 by 72modeler
corrected spelling

[dogsbody]

1 hour ago, 72modeler said:

Yes, a very nice late Dornier! I  wouldn't change a thing, but I see what you mean about the exhaust Maybe some dark grey stains with a lighter, chaulky deposit close to the exhaust stacks?

Mike

 

I wouldn't use chaulky grey deposits. German fuel wasn't the same oil-based TEL high octane fuel as used by the Allies. Germany didn't have access to the same amount of petroleum and had to mix in coal-derived additions. This left a much darker, blackish exhaust staining. The Allied fuel, with it's tetraethyl lead addition, left a much greyer exhaust stain.

 

 

 

 

Chris

[VMA131Marine]

Bravo! You’ve done a really nice job on this old kit. It’s very convincing and the canopy and nose frames are beautifully painted.

The basic mold for this kit dates to 1977, although there are much newer parts in the version you have built. Still, it would be nice to have a completely modern tooling as the only other option for a 217 in 1/72 is the even older and cruder Airfix kit.

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

On 8/4/2021 at 11:03 PM, fishplanebeer said:

the one I'm least happy with

 

I salute you for posting this. I think it takes strength of character to post what we think of as our 'near misses'. 

 

Actually to me it looks mighty fine. 

[fishplanebeer]

To put it into perspective I'm not unhappy with the end result given my modest skills, lack of recent experience and the age of the kit but there are things I know are wrong but which probably are not that noticeable from the pics. However I suspect like all/most of us we know where our errors are, or the things that we wish we'd done better, and our eyes are drawn to them every time we look at the model.

 

On the plus side I've gained some more experience which hopefully will stand me in good stead for my next project and I've also discovered how to make my own camo masks at long last using the truly wonder Mig AMMO masking sheets. I know I'll never be able to match many/most of the subjects I regularly see in RFI particularly when it comes to weathering and bringing a subject to life in such amazing ways but if I can improve little by little and learn something new each time then I will be more than happy. So in that sense this Dornier is a personal success for me, of sorts, and I can now offer it to a local museum if they wish to highlight the story of the bombing raid on the town back in July 1942.

 

Regards

Colin.

[JohnT]

1 minute ago, fishplanebeer said:

To put it into perspective I'm not unhappy with the end result given my modest skills, lack of recent experience and the age of the kit but there are things I know are wrong but which probably are not that noticeable from the pics. However I suspect like all/most of us we know where our errors are, or the things that we wish we'd done better, and our eyes are drawn to them every time we look at the model.

 

On the plus side I've gained some more experience which hopefully will stand me in good stead for my next project and I've also discovered how to make my own camo masks at long last using the truly wonder Mig AMMO masking sheets. I know I'll never be able to match many/most of the subjects I regularly see in RFI particularly when it comes to weathering and bringing a subject to life in such amazing ways but if I can improve little by little and learn something new each time then I will be more than happy. So in that sense this Dornier is a personal success for me, of sorts, and I can now offer it to a local museum if they wish to highlight the story of the bombing raid on the town back in July 1942.

 

Regards

Colin.

 

Colin, reading the above I'd say that qualifies the build as a 100% success.  No its not perfect but there is no such mythical beast as a 100% perfect model - just some of the rfi's on here that get close by the odd modelling God that drops in here from time to time.  Us mere mortals just keep carrying on and hopefully we get a bit better with each build.  If we do and we learn then we have another "Win" to our score cards

 

I liked your Dornier by the way.  I'd be happy with it on my shelf

[fishplanebeer]

John,

 

Thank you for the kind words about the Dornier. I think the problem for a middling modeler like myself is that RFI can work two ways, it can be a source of inspiration for sure but it can also be quite intimidating making me wonder 'how on earth have they done that'?, quickly followed by 'I'll never get to be that good'. It doesn't and wont stop me enjoying what I do and trying to improve but it sort of creates the impression, in my mind at least, that most other modelers out there have skills way beyond what I'll ever have.

 

Still, I have plenty more projects sitting in my very small stash that will give me many hours of enjoyment for quite a few years to come, god willing, so that is all that really matters.

 

Regards

Colin.

[Mig88]

Lovely job indeed !

 

Miguel

[JohnT]

15 hours ago, fishplanebeer said:

John,

 

Thank you for the kind words about the Dornier. I think the problem for a middling modeler like myself is that RFI can work two ways, it can be a source of inspiration for sure but it can also be quite intimidating making me wonder 'how on earth have they done that'?, quickly followed by 'I'll never get to be that good'. It doesn't and wont stop me enjoying what I do and trying to improve but it sort of creates the impression, in my mind at least, that most other modelers out there have skills way beyond what I'll ever have.

 

 

 

Colin

 

I had that very problem a few years back when I got myself into the mind set of "what I am doing isn't good enough as someone else has done it way better"  I got out of it by thinking back to a prehistoric time when I was in my late teens early twenties and played a fair bit of squash.  Someone foolishly suggested I try for competition and team play in our local town leagues.  I needed some coaching.  I even more foolishly went for it.  All the "fun" drained out of the game.  That was when I realised I wasn't playing it to "win" but for "fun" and self enjoyment.  I'd rather play a great game by my standards and lose closely to a better player than win handsomely over a poorer player.  Once you "get" modelling is like that and work out you are never going to be the Lionel Messi, Federer, Olympic Gold medalist of modelling but you can still have a shed load of fun doing a build then that modelling block goes away.  

 

I have the new Airfix Vulcan on the to do list  Adam Poultney on here is helping us all with his incredible Vulcan knowledge which in turn will my my build easier and more realistic or true to life - but its never going to be an "Adam" build.  All the same it will be better than I would otherwise have done and I will be chuffed to bits with it subject to the odd seam line, paint error, wrong bumps and lumps and several other things I will keep seeing.  But then my next build after that will be better and another BM'er on here with type knowledge will help this plastic hacker on the journey.  

[fishplanebeer]

John,

 

Thanks again for the words of wisdom which are so true in my case.

 

My next project involves a diorama which I've never attempted before so I know it wont be the bee's knees but if it's the best that I can do then I'll be happy and hopefully I'll learn a few more skills along the way as well. I've no idea for example how to make static long grass/hay stand upright without blowing a tidy sum on a 'static' contraption, which I can't afford to do, but it will be fun trying.

 

Regards

Colin.

[IanC]

You're too hard on yourself Colin. You've produced an excellent model there, despite the age of the kit. It really looks the part.

 

Don't forget, everyone here is probably their own harshest critic! 😀