1/48 ICM Dornier Do 217N-1

[vppelt68]

4 hours ago, 81-er said:

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

 

James

Are we all ready to PUSH James's build forward? We are, fine. On my third: 1... 2... 3 PUSH!😊

[81-er]

More progress from last night, so that push helped, VP! I folded up the little box for the back of the rear gunner’s seat and got it glued on along with what I’m assuming is meant to be an adjustment wheel:

 

 

Then it was time to say goodbye to the moulded in instrument detail in the recessed panel on the left of the cockpit side:

 

 

As nicely done as that was by ICM, I just didn’t see me being able to get a better result with paint than I’d get with the pre-painted PE.

 

With that done, I got some more PE panels applied and then glued it into the fuselage:

 

 

The port side of the fuselage had a few bits added:

 

 

An additional layer on the box at the top, which appears to make it look like radios or other electric equipment. I’ve also folded up the 4 tiny brass boxes at the bottom, as well as adding the front bomb bay bulkhead/wing brace behind the main cockpit bulkhead:

 

 

Rear wheel support, rear bomb bay bulkhead, and bomb bay roof added:

 

 

I realise this won’t have any bombs as a night fighter, but I’ll be leaving the doors open as it reveals a fuel tank.

 

Bomb bay roof and it’s PE overlay:

 

 

 

That overlay was a pain to get to conform to the profile, and then it turned out to have a bit of an overlap that required trimming. There is another overlay for the rear bulkhead, but that appears to need some fettling as well. The ejector marks inside the fuselage will be hidden, there are some side pieces to be added to the bomb bay later.

 

James

[81-er]

Oops, I missed one! I've also got the fuel tank for the bomb bay assembled, and the seat for the right side of the cockpit assembled (would be a bombardier on a bomber, no idea what role that chap would have in a night fighter):

 

 

James

[modelling minion]

Nice progress James.

Is that a sandwich box on the back of the gunner's seat? Useful for those long nights patrolling the skies of the Reich.

 

🇺🇦

[81-er]

I couldn't possibly comment, Craig, but as I have no proof that it isn't...

 

James

[vppelt68]

It looks like a RLM (Flieger)Einheitsverpackung für  Bratwurst und Sauerkraut 1939 ((Fl)EvBS 39) to me, but lemme check my references...

[81-er]

Time to update on last night’s progress. I got the PE straps applied to the tank, which was a little fiddly to hold them in place and apply the superglue. I’ll need to clean off some of the excess before paint, but no big deal. Also in this shot are the panel with the cartridge ejector chutes, and the assembled nose. These both need some RLM 02 on the inside faces before assembly:

 

 

While I was at it, I stuck the front on the nose:

 

 

I’ve got a real miscellany of small parts mounted for painting, including the tail gear, and the second seat from the cockpit:

 

 

 

I got the PE floor added to the cockpit:

 

 

I think this is now the last piece of PE that I’ll be adding to the cockpit before paint, the rest of it is either pre-painted, or unlikely to be visible enough to warrant the work. There’s a gauge unit that I’ve mounted up separately, as Eduard’s fixing is very flimsy. I may well reinforce it when it comes to gluing it in. I’m hoping to get some primer on later.

 

After all that, I turned to the nacelles. The main body of them is assembled, but I will need to go back and fill the seams. I’ve also assembled the larger radiators and mounted up the smaller ones for painting still attached to a bit of sprue. The top & bottom ducts are also off the sprue:

 

 

The two ducts for the main radiators (on the right in the image above) are moulded as two pieces; the main duct, plus a small piece for the leading edge of the intake. I snapped the first of these in half while trying to clear it up, so the second one was glued on to the duct first! There’s still some cleaning up and fettling to do on all the duct covers, but that’ll be a job for next time.

 

James

[modelling minion]

Coming along very nicely James.

I'm looking forward to seeing some paint in the cockpit.

 

🇺🇦

[81-er]

Thanks Craig. I'm working at home today, so I've just sprayed the first coat of primer over the cockpit and it's various components. With enough of my lunch break left to make a sandwich and eat it 😀 I'll see what the primer reveals after work, but I'm hopeful of getting some top coats on.

 

James

[modelling minion]

I see, I was given to understand that "working from home" didn't mean working on your latest model but on things your employer would want you to do.😄

[81-er]

Oh, I was Craig. I squeezed in the primer on my lunchbreak 🤣 The joys of having my workbench and spraybooth one floor above my desk 🙂

 

I managed to get enough time to spray some RLM 02 last night. Well, actually Tamiya XF-76 as it’s the closest to the colour of the PE. What I have learnt is that gluing the cabin sides and the cockpit bulkhead on to the fuselage before paint was a massive mistake. Talk about awkward to reach parts! And it was definitely a mistake to put the tailwheel support on, as there’s one side of that with barely any paint on it. Thankfully it’ll be hidden by the tailwheel housing.

 

Anyway, on the photos. Port side of the cockpit. I’ll mask up to paint the radio in RLM 66 next time:

 

 

The tailwheel support:

 

 

Starboard side of the cockpit:

 

 

And various other bits. The IP has been given a coat of matt black all over, as the RLM 02 instrument panel is pre-painted PE:

 

 

A bit of detail painting, applying the pre-painted PE, seatbelts, and some weathering, then I reckon I can get the fuselage closed up.

 

James

[modelling minion]

Nice, smooth coat of paint there James.

The cockpit will look great with the etch added and some detail painting.

 

🇺🇦

[81-er]

Thanks Craig, I'm rather looking forward to it. I'm hoping to get a bit further over the weekend, DIY allowing. That's got to take priority as we'd like the house on the market by the end of the month. I should be able to slip a bit of bench time in though.

 

James

[81-er]

I got a little time to work on this last night, and I’ve now got the pre-painted PE stuck on to the cockpit parts. Was a bit of a fight, my superglue either wouldn’t stick at all, or it would grab absolutely instantly. I know a few bits are crooked, but I can’t be bothered to straighten them. It was enough of a fight to get them in! 🤣 I am very happy with the match between the XF-76 and the PE, it’s very close.

 

 

 

 

 

I know that the various radio and equipment boxes should really be RLM 66, but I’m running with the idea that this aircraft had a non-standard interior repaint and they got a bit happy with slapping it on anything. I will be painting the large box behind the pilot in RLM 66, which will happen when I break the airbrush out for the side console. That helpfully snapped off it’s mounting when I was laying down the XF-76, so it’s still in primer.

 

James

[PeterB]

Hi James,

 

You mentioned wanting pics of the rear cockpit over on my thread - this is from an E-4 and I suspect the N would be similar.

https://flic.kr/p/2nsUYST

 

Pete

[modelling minion]

Very nice work James, the PE in the cockpit looks great and the paint matches it very well indeed.

 

🇺🇦

[81-er]

17 hours ago, PeterB said:

Hi James,

 

You mentioned wanting pics of the rear cockpit over on my thread - this is from an E-4 and I suspect the N would be similar.

https://flic.kr/p/2nsUYST

 

Pete

Thanks Pete, very much appreciated

 

16 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Very nice work James, the PE in the cockpit looks great and the paint matches it very well indeed.

 

🇺🇦

Thank you Craig. I'm extremely happy with the paint match, it's actually turned out better than I expected.

 

James

[vppelt68]

That cockpit looks better than a Dornier built 👍

[81-er]

Thanks VP!

[81-er]

I’ve been plugging away here and there with this, but last night was the first chance to get some real progress. The “off camera” work:

 

·         Sprayed the side console in XF-76 and added some Anyz instrument & placard decals to it (very much recommended, they’re really nice to use)

·         Masked & sprayed the radio in RLM 66

·         Detail painting various knobs & switches, for which cocktail sticks proved extreme useful

·         Painted the ends of the handgrips to the control yoke and added another Anyz decal for the instrument on that

 

Last night’s work started with a dry brushing of Tamiya XF-16 flat aluminium. I apparently didn’t do a good enough job of getting the majority of the paint off the brush prior to my first stroke, with a massive silver streak down the centre of the cockpit floor as the result. So, it’s going to be a well worn bird then! Plenty of dry brushing all round, followed by a good dose of Citadel Nuln Oil to give it all a good feeling of being thoroughly grubby. I also assembled the Eduard steel belts, my first time using these. Not bad, but a little “stiff” looking.

 

Picture time:

 

Port side of the cockpit/pilot’s seat:

 

 

 

 

Starboard side of cockpit:

 

 

 

 

The back of the nose cone. I haven’t bothered with any detail painting here as it’s pretty much invisible from the dry fitting:

 

 

The IP. Not quite as silver as it looks here, the Eduard pre-painted etch is very reflective:

 

 

Finally, I got this little box attached. Yet more Anyz decals for the dials. I’m fully expecting this to fall off at some point, as the contact area is tiny (the part is only about 1cm square):

 

 

 

Hopefully I’ll be getting the fuselage closed up very soon now.

 

James

[81-er]

I just realised I forgot to include the photos of the tailwheel well. As well as the silver dry brush, this got a good coat of Citadel Agrax Earthshade and the Nuln Oil to make it look really grimy, I limited the dry brushing on the support structure, as that will be entirely hidden by the tail gear:

 

 

 

James

[Mottlemaster]

You have done some lovely weathering there 81-er . looks like the radio is tuned into Radio 2

 

Cheers Alistair

[81-er]

Thanks Alistair. I can't comment on the listening habits of the crew, but perhaps they felt UK broadcasting was superior to the offerings of The Fatherland? 🤣

 

Taking advantage of working from home today, I used my lunch break to get the fuselage closed up. I initially left the IP out as I thought it would be easier to fit after (as the fit was a little vague with the fuselage halves apart). Note the nice smooth lines of the joint with the nose:

 

 

There then followed a battle to get the IP into place, during the course of which I pushed the cockpit sides far enough apart that the nose fell off, as well as knocking the gunsight and the control column off the IP. I also slightly dislodged one side of the etch from the IP and have ended up with a big gap between it and the fuselage, most likely due to imprecisely applied PE to the IP.

 

Battle over, one close up fuselage:

 

 

With the IP glued in, I now have a fair step around the nose to sort:

 

 

And a big gap at the front of the IP:

 

 

That shot also shows the collateral damage of the lifting PE, missing gunsight and column.

 

The worst alignment issue is the bottom of the cockpit. This has a massive step and is skewed slightly:

 

 

 

I think it’s a combination of some minor warp in one fuselage side as well as the way I’ve applied the Eduard PE floor. In hindsight, if I built this again I’d not bother with the PE floor. It’s caused a lot of work and isn’t really visible once the fuselage is closed up, and will be even less so with the canopy on. Live and learn…

 

I think I’ll cut some plasticard shims to help fill in the step, if I just use filler it’ll take forever to dry out and be prone to shrinking later.

 

Onwards and upwards though, at least it’s closed up!

 

James

[modelling minion]

Looks like she's started to put up a fight James, the steps on the nose and lower front fuselage look pretty nasty.

This is a real shame as your work on the cockpit and interior has been very good indeed.

I hope that you are able to sort the steps out soon mate.👍

 

🇺🇦

[81-er]

Thanks Craig. I have a plan for those, so it should all be good. I'm 90% sure the issues are mostly down to errors on my part, but I'm aware of where I think I've gone wrong so I won't make the mistakes again (I hope!). 

 

James