1/48 ICM Dornier Do 217N-1

[81-er]

Claiming my place in this GB, though it’ll be a couple of weeks before I properly start on this as I’m still finishing my entries for the Ground Attack GB. I’ve gone for the ICM Do 217N-1 as I fancied something slightly more unusual. Obligatory box/sprue shots:

 

 

 

 

Coming from my last few builds being 1/72, this thing is BIG! This is also my first experience with an ICM kit, and I have to say the detail on the parts is really superb. The clear parts are excellent:

 

 

I’ll be building D5+SM, of I./NJG 3, in an RLM 74/75 over RLM 76 scheme:

 

 

I’ll also be throwing enough aftermarket at it to have @trickyrich needing fresh underwear:

 

 

Probably just as well I’ve got the week after the Ground Attack GB off if I’m going to get this one built by the end of the GB!

 

Until the next time

 

James

[vppelt68]

I think Rich has already started wearing moist enduring underwear - made of resin, of course!

[modelling minion]

Great choice James, I like the nightfighter versions of the Do-217.

I've built an ICM Do-17 and found it to be an enjoyable and stress free build and builds into a fair sized model too so you should enjoy this, it will certainly be an easier build than your AC-130.

There should be just enough aftermarket to pique the interest of our Australian friend.

 

🇺🇦

[81-er]

That's good to know Craig, thank you. I don't think much could be as frustrating as the AC-130, however the He-111 and Ar 555 are doing a grand job of restoring the mojo between them. The AC-130 will be finished, it was just the wrong model to have chosen for that GB.

 

James

[Mottlemaster]

Thats a fine selection of aftermarket James . I am looking for some canopy masks and see that your set of Eduard masks . Do they include inside as well as outside ?  Another question , is there a noticeable difference between the Quickboost props and the kit parts ?

 

Looking forward to seeing your build progress .

 

Cheers

Alistair

[81-er]

I'm not actually sure on the Eduard masks, but I assumed they were only the outside when I got them. The Quickboost props are a slightly different shape and slightly thinner/finer, but the kit props aren't awful. I'm not going to be home until late this evening, but I'll make a note to investigate the masks and get a comparison shot on the props for you.

 

James

[Dansk]

On 4/18/2022 at 1:31 PM, 81-er said:

 

I’ll also be throwing enough aftermarket at it to have @trickyrich needing fresh underwear:

 

lmao 🤣 

[81-er]

In answer to your question, Alistair, the Eduard masks are only external. And some comprision shots of the Quickboost props vs the kit parts:

 

 

 

 

The QB props are slightly fatter and less tapered in blade shape, as well as being slightly slimmer in thickness. The kit props are by no means bad, however. The bigest difference comes with the spinners, with the QB ones being much finer detailed and including rivets:

 

 

I hope that answers your questions.

 

James

[Mottlemaster]

On 21/04/2022 at 10:12, 81-er said:

In answer to your question, Alistair, the Eduard masks are only external. And some comprision shots of the Quickboost props vs the kit parts:

 

 

 

 

The QB props are slightly fatter and less tapered in blade shape, as well as being slightly slimmer in thickness. The kit props are by no means bad, however. The bigest difference comes with the spinners, with the QB ones being much finer detailed and including rivets:

 

 

I hope that answers your questions.

 

James

Thanks James .

I have just made an order for some resin and the Eduard masks .  Wont go with the etch as the AIMS conversion comes with the basics .

[81-er]

I may have been telling a bit of a fib in my comment on @modelling minion's thread (sorry Craig!). The truth is I’d got hopes of starting this build this evening after I’d got a few other things sorted, however there was a “but” to that; I’m off out for the day with my dad tomorrow (off-roading experience in the morning, Airfix factory tour in the afternoon), so I’m spending the night at my parents’ place as it’s going to be an early start and they’re 3/4hr closer to our destination than my house! As such, my workbench for the evening (borrowed novelty tray not in shot here):

 

 

Minimal tools and rubbish lighting, so I mostly concentrated on cleaning bits up. I’ll probably give them all a once over once I’m back at my normal bench, but it’s progress, right? 😉

 

Obviously, the fuselage halves were a good starting point:

 

 

There’s a few hefty ejector marks, but I’ll not fill those yet as I have a feeling they’re all going to be hidden in the finished model. I'm also undecided about the rear antennas moulded in to one of the fuselage halves. The moulding isn’t bad, but a bit flashy and could be an awkward clean up. However the Eduard PE replacements are very flat and 2D. I may come back later and do something with some plastic rod for the mounts and brass for the antennas themselves.

 

The pilot’s seat was given a once over and deemed acceptable to glue to it’s backplate:

 

 

The final victim for this evening is the IP. Nicely moulded detail, but it’ll all be going:

 

 

I think the Eduard PE is superior here:

 

 

After a bit of butchery, the IP now looks like this:

 

 

Still a bit rough, but I’ll finish it up when I’ve got all my tools to hand. It all also seems absolutely enormous after my last few builds all being 1/72.

 

Now to get some kip before the alarm goes off at stupid o’clock…

 

James

[Mottlemaster]

The Eduard Zoom set looks like it will take the cockpit up to the next level.  Rlm 66 painted pits were quite dark and colourless places in reality and the small areas of colour were small . I have quite a few parts from luftwaffe bomber aircraft in  my collection and the Eduard interpretation is very good .

Nice workbench setup 👌

 

Cheers Alistair

 

 

 

[modelling minion]

I still consider that as being off to a start James, after all plastic has been cut!

There a few good size ejector marks on the 17Z too but as in your case they are nearly all hidden away in places that will be invisible once the model is completed, a pity not every manufacturer thinks about where to put them.

I think the likes of Eduard coloured PE or 3D decals are very hard to beat for instrument panel details and I don't blame ICM and others for not putting much more effort into parts that are likely going to be replaced in around 50% of the kits built. 

1 hour ago, Mottlemaster said:

I have quite a few parts from luftwaffe bomber aircraft in  my collection and the Eduard interpretation is very good .

That is really good to know Alistair.👍

Hope you have a great day out with your dad James, sounds like it should be a good one and try not to come away with too much from the Airfix shop.

 

🇺🇦

[81-er]

Thanks gents. Interestingly, the instructions (and the colouring on the Eduard set) are for an RLM 02 cockpit, which surprised me as I thought they'd all be RLM 66 by that stage of the war? I should really have a nose at some references.

 

Day out was great. Lots of fun off road (and very impressed at how capable an old Wrangler is), plus all the history of the Hornby centre. Not forgetting quality time with the old man while he's still with us & fairly fit. As tempting as some of the discounts on the "damaged box" kits were, all I actually bought from the shop were a load of Humbrol acrylics, as they had a huge tub full of them at 50p a pot.

 

James

[modelling minion]

Glad you had a great day James.👍

You showed more restraint than I would have done in not relieving Airfix of some of their bargain damaged boxes.

 

🇺🇦

[Mottlemaster]

54 minutes ago, 81-er said:

Thanks gents. Interestingly, the instructions (and the colouring on the Eduard set) are for an RLM 02 cockpit, which surprised me as I thought they'd all be RLM 66 by that stage of the war? I should really have a nose at some references.

 

Day out was great. Lots of fun off road (and very impressed at how capable an old Wrangler is), plus all the history of the Hornby centre. Not forgetting quality time with the old man while he's still with us & fairly fit. As tempting as some of the discounts on the "damaged box" kits were, all I actually bought from the shop were a load of Humbrol acrylics, as they had a huge tub full of them at 50p a pot.

 

James

It must be RLM 66 for any cockpit area . Wheel wells etc 02 .

[81-er]

12 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Glad you had a great day James.👍

You showed more restraint than I would have done in not relieving Airfix of some of their bargain damaged boxes.

Trust me, it was a close call. I've worked out that I've got enough kits already to last me 4 years if I managed to build one a month (about as likely a Satan going to work on a snow plow), so it's probably about time to spend more time building them than buying them lol

 

12 hours ago, Mottlemaster said:

It must be RLM 66 for any cockpit area . Wheel wells etc 02 .

Thanks Alistair, that's what I'd thought. I'm guessing Eduard took their colours from the ICM instructions as the PE is definitely more of an RLM 02 than RLM 66. I'll try to get a better shot in daylight in a bit. I may have to let accuracy slide a bit so the PE doesn't look glaringly out of place.

 

James

[81-er]

In daylight, here's the colours of the Eduard set:

 

 

It's quite clear they've gone for RLM 02 on the control panels, with the radios being RLM 66. After some comparisons against my paint swatches, the AK RLM 02 (1941) was massively out, and the Tamiya XF-76 appears to be the closest match:

 

 

I picked up some Humbrol 240 yesterday, so I'll make a swatch of that in a bit. I'll go with whatever's the closest match between that and the XF-76, and just live with the historical inaccuracy. It's not like I'm building contest models here

 

James

[modelling minion]

6 hours ago, 81-er said:

I've worked out that I've got enough kits already to last me 4 years if I managed to build one a month

Amateur! 😁

 

🇺🇦

[81-er]

I ran out of useful jobs to do on the Ar 555 last night, so got some more time to work on this. The very first task was to go over the bits I’d tidied up at my parents’ the last week. That really emphasised the importance of good lighting, as what I thought looked ok there really wasn’t. It is now!

 

At the end of the session, I had this selection of bits cleaned up, plus the first of the PE folded up:

 

 

I’ve decided to not use the PE rudder pedals, purely because there’s no chance of them being seen. The kit parts are more than good enough.

 

One thing I do have to make a decision over is the side console. The kit part has 3d areas for the various levers, but Eduard have designed the PE replacement to be flat, as you can see from the photos below:

 

 

 

I may just use the end of the Eduard part for the slanted front of the console, then just paint & detail the kit part for the rest. I don’t envisage having a bit of flat PE over a 3d console looking very good.

 

Another area where I’ll need to make a call over the PE is the port cockpit wall. There’s some reasonable detail on the kit part, but some of the PE will definitely help improve things, but I’m not sure about all of it:

 

 

I think some detail painting and sensible use of PE should make that look rather nice.

 

Lastly, I did a size comparison between one of the fuselage sides for this against the Ar 555. Admittedly the Ar 555 is 1/72, but the comparison is rather comical:

 

 

Until next time

 

James

[PeterB]

On 5/19/2022 at 4:06 PM, modelling minion said:

Amateur! 😁

 

🇺🇦

Before I started my first GB in June 2019 I had worked out I probably had enough kits to last me almost 10 years at 2 a month, but since then I have built just over 100 so I have put a dent in it. Most of what is left are either big planes eg Ju 290/Fw 200 or tanks, but I do have quite a lot of the latter. I must start on them soon as they should be reasonably quick!

 

Pete

[modelling minion]

5 hours ago, 81-er said:

I may just use the end of the Eduard part for the slanted front of the console, then just paint & detail the kit part for the rest. I don’t envisage having a bit of flat PE over a 3d console looking very good.

That sounds like the best way forward James, you could always use the etched levers on the plastic kit part.

 

[81-er]

That's certainly something I'm considering doing, Craig. I'm going to get the pit a bit further along with assembly, then I’ll see how good or bad the PE levels look in there. I should get a bit more pace up on this soon as the Ar 555 is getting close to completion. After that, this is the only GB I’m planning to be participating in until the Canadian GB kicks in at the start of July, but as I’m not doing any others until the P-38 GB in mid-September, I reckon I can probably afford to not start my build for that until this one’s done. Who knows, I might even manage to find the time to finish some of my stalled projects as well…

 

James

[81-er]

Now the Ar 555’s almost done, I should be getting more time on this now. Continuing with the cockpit, I cleaned up the rear bulkhead. There’s some reasonable detail on this, but the Eduard pre-painted PE is superior. So goodbye to the detail:

 

 

And hello smoothed off bulkhead:

 

 

Not perfect, but good enough to be hidden under the PE.

 

I got most of the left side of the cockpit glued into the fuselage:

 

 

There’s a couple more bits of PE to add before paint, but otherwise I think it’s all things to be added after. I’m still debating how to deal with the side console, but I think I can get away with adding it after paint anyway.

 

After that, the bulkhead went in:

 

 

I’ve made a start on cleaning up the bits for the righthand side of the cockpit, but that’ll be for the next update.

 

James

[modelling minion]

Neat work James, looking forward to seeing how the PE looks in place.

 

🇺🇦

[81-er]

Same here, Craig. Hopefully I can get a bit of a push on this one now

 

James