PeterB Posted November 28, 2022 Share Posted November 28, 2022 Several years ago I was considering refurbishing my old Revell C-6 but having lost one or two of the parts I decided to start again with a cheap HobbyBoss kit. I have not as yet decided which actual variant to build but I rather fancy one of the "heavy" fighters. HB provide markings for ZG 26 and ZG 76 and say it is a C-6. Should be a fairly simple build if they have not screwed anything up like the props on their Do-335 - the cockpit will need a little work and the gun barrels may need replacing. Assuming I have both the time and inclination I will have a shot at this before too long. Pete 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted November 28, 2022 Share Posted November 28, 2022 Interesting layout! The guns can't be worse than in the old Frog Ju 88 kit I built a decade ago though, they look like 37mm PAK barrels topped off with half a trumpet 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted January 4, 2023 Author Share Posted January 4, 2023 (edited) As I mentioned earlier HB provide decs for 2 schemes. One is in standard 70/71/65 with white Mediterranean Theatre bands and they say it is from 11/ZG 26 in which case according to my sources it must be one of the planes based at what they call Eleusis, now called Elefsina in Greece where they stayed from June 1943 to August 1944. The other is an all white plane of 4(Z)/ZG 76 in Russia. I have been unable to trace this unit flying Ju 88C in my sources but Green shows such a machine used for ground attack and train busting by 4/KG 26 (not ZG) and HB actually provide the duck badge for that unit they also provide the simulated framing on the fake clear nose. I think I will go with the first option knowing what HB decs are like - fairly robust usually but difficult to position once on.. I have made a start whilst waiting for the gloss enamel paint on my 88G to dry and unfortunately this is one of their early "cheap and cheerful" kits with numerous errors and omissions it seems. The first HB kit I ever built was their 1/72 P 40B/C and they had completely forgotten the doors for the main wheels, and they have done exactly the same here on the tail wheel, but fortunately I have the spare "closed" set of the 88G which I have been able to saw in half so that is not a problem. The cockpit is a mess - they provide a floor, two quite reasonable seats which the want me to mount on the centreline facing forwards, and two fighter type joysticks, one in front of each seat - strange as this is AFAIK a 3 seater with the radio operator/gunner facing backwards, and only the pilot had a control column which was a bomber type with a half wheel on top! Oh well, with the aid of my numerous boxes of spares I have added a wheel/yoke to the top of the stick and repositioned it and the pilot's seat over to the left allowing me to add a extra seat. I have also repositioned the other kit seat to the left and facing backwards where I have simulated a few "radio boxes". Finally, as there was no IP I have added a crude one. Not very accurate but it looks a bit better. That just leaves the canopy and guns. The defensive armament on the C version came in several fits. Some had a single MG15 or MG81 centrally mounted, some may have had a twin MG81Z, though that might have been at the rear of the gondola which was not used on the C6 I think, and some had the modified blistered canopy (Bola mount?) for two individual MG 81, one on each side which is what HB have provided though they may have overdone the blisters a bit! They just provide crude barrels but I have some spare guns from one of my Italeri Do 217M kits which I will use. They also provide a hole and barrel for a forward facing one on the Starboard side of the windscreen which was correct for the A version but not the C I believe so the hole will be filled. That's all the problems I have spotted so far but I expect there will be more. I did think the wide prop blades were wrong but apparently the C6 did indeed have them according to my Kagero book. More soon. Pete Edited January 4, 2023 by PeterB 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted January 5, 2023 Author Share Posted January 5, 2023 (edited) Well, it goes together quickly, but that is about the only good thing about it! Sometimes the split fuselage system used by HB in this type of kit works quite well - for example the Spitfire VB I did where the joint is on a panel line, but this is just straight down the middle of the fuselage sides and will need some work - actually, unlike the wings there are very few panel lines on the fuselage so at least I won't be sanding them away! It is probably as well I am not going for an overall white or blue finish as they would show up the joint rather more than the splinter pattern I will be using I suspect. Quite a few more errors, the most obvious being the wings. The Ju 88 family had quite pronounced dihedral - something around 5o I think, but this kit has rather less. Short of taking a saw to the wings there is not much I can do about it and the same applies to the engine exhausts which are all the same when in fact the Port and Starboard ones on each engine were different. I actually used a replacement set on my old Airfix Ju 88A-1 conversion, but fixing this kit would involve gouging out the moulded ones and I am not going to bother. Easier to fix are the lack of the small bulge under the rear fuselage for the fuel dump system and the various guns in the nose and front of the gondola which are rather on the short side. Finally. I may be wrong, but the top of the fuselage looks rather too flat to my mind but in fairness no worse than that of the old Airfix A-4 - all in all this is not a kit I would recommend for a serious modeller, but then when I bought it I was thinking of using it for spares or cross kitting it with my old Revell C-6 to provide the undercarriage and a few other things. Ok it was cheap but if I had known of all the problems I probably would not have bothered. Pete Edited January 5, 2023 by PeterB 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted January 11, 2023 Author Share Posted January 11, 2023 In a current build thread VP mentions his dislike of painting theatre bands and I totally agree. This one has white ones, but at least it is only the underside wing tips and fuselage and not the underside of the engines as well! I have primed it and done the bands, so now I will mask them up and make a start on the 70/71 splinter - the instructions show what seems to be the standard "A" scheme with variations on the fuselage. Pete 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted January 11, 2023 Share Posted January 11, 2023 Luckily, Revell A-4 kits include white theater bands as decals. They look better than my brush painted attempts, though not as good as a properly painted one. Yours looks very, very good 🙂. V-P 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted January 12, 2023 Author Share Posted January 12, 2023 Another coat needed in places but it is coming along steadily. The colours are out in artificial light as usual. Pete 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 A very good splinter scheme! Mine is a mirror image of the greens. V-P 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted January 13, 2023 Author Share Posted January 13, 2023 4 hours ago, vppelt68 said: A very good splinter scheme! Mine is a mirror image of the greens. V-P Hi. My reference material is for the "B Scheme" so I have had to reverse the colours for this build. As usual I managed to forget which was which more than once! The only problem is that the front of the fuselage is guesswork as the wings and engines hide it in the drawings. Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 On 1/12/2023 at 8:14 PM, PeterB said: The colours are out in artificial light as usual. Blame it on metamerism (different dyes, pigments etc look different depending on the light, yes I’ve been through several courses in colour science ) but it still looks pretty good to me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 The RLM 70 is fairly consistent between various paint manufacturers but the 71 varies quite a bit. The original "Humbrol Authentic" version was as I recall quite yellowish but like their RLM 65 they toned it down a bit in later tins. This is Gunze but the Xtracolour version is decidedly less yellow, as I believe is the current Humbrol. Maybe this is another faded/scale effect situation as some manufacturers do like to claim. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 Looks terrific Pete I've never seen a kit split down the middle like that Look forward to the next installment Cheers Pat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted January 26, 2023 Author Share Posted January 26, 2023 The paintwork is just about finished but I have a problem. HB provide decs for the code but on their instructions and the decal sheet they have it as 3U+LV on the Port side and LV+3U on the Starboard! Now I know that some RAF planes had the codes reversed on the Starboard side so that the aircraft letter was always nearest the tail - on Spitfires this was perhaps due to the lack of fuselage height, but I have never seen it on Luftwaffe planes. I think HB are wrong and it is easily fixed, but before I do I would be interested to know if anybody has any thoughts/info/pics on this! Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 8 minutes ago, PeterB said: The paintwork is just about finished but I have a problem. HB provide decs for the code but on their instructions and the decal sheet they have it as 3U+LV on the Port side and LV+3U on the Starboard! Now I know that some RAF planes had the codes reversed on the Starboard side so that the aircraft letter was always nearest the tail - on Spitfires this was perhaps due to the lack of fuselage height, but I have never seen it on Luftwaffe planes. I think HB are wrong and it is easily fixed, but before I do I would be interested to know if anybody has any thoughts/info/pics on this! Pete Well I'd say, while avoiding the use of words "always" or "never", you should be VERY safe in lettering her 3U+LV on both sides. I have only seen pics of Luftwaffe planes lettered alw... eh no-no, Geschwader code first, nev... eh again plane code and Staffel code usually to the right of the Balkenkreuz. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted January 26, 2023 Author Share Posted January 26, 2023 Thanks VP - that was my impression too. Unfortunately, most of the photos/illustrations I have of this type never seem to show the Starboard side clearly but unless somebody else knows to the contrary and tells me in the next day or so I will modify the kit decs! Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 18 minutes ago, PeterB said: Thanks VP - that was my impression too. Unfortunately, most of the photos/illustrations I have of this type never seem to show the Starboard side clearly but unless somebody else knows to the contrary and tells me in the next day or so I will modify the kit decs! Pete What ICM thought about it, see here: https://www.scalemates.com/products/img/8/1/5/1123815-97-instructions.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted January 26, 2023 Author Share Posted January 26, 2023 58 minutes ago, vppelt68 said: What ICM thought about it, see here: https://www.scalemates.com/products/img/8/1/5/1123815-97-instructions.pdf Interesting - 2 of the 4 are the same as the HB kit so they musty have found a common source of info, though I trust the ICM version rather than HB. Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 1, 2023 Author Share Posted February 1, 2023 With the deadline approaching I though I had better get a move on. Ignore the odd colours - a combination of artificial light and a green background seem to result in a brown tinge. The decals are all on, though besides the placement of the codes mentioned earlier, HB have made a slight "schoolboy error" with the diving bird insignia and not "handed" them - fortunately they work the wrong way round with help from some varnish to stick them on so I "reversed" the Starboard one. As with my Ju 88 -G I have used a pretty big swastika as that seems the norm for the 88, though the kit one was massive so I replaced it. Just a few more bits to go on and it will be done. Pete 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted February 2, 2023 Share Posted February 2, 2023 That's one good looking Zerstörer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted February 7, 2023 Author Share Posted February 7, 2023 I added the missing fairing under the tail and the spare wheel doors, and managed to get it sprayed. I will post some better shots in the gallery shortly. Not the best of kits but cheap at the time and a fairly simple build. If I had been able to fix the exhausts I would have been a little happier with it but they are not that obvious and it would have meant major surgery. It makes a change from the usual night fighter versions anyway! Pete 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted February 7, 2023 Share Posted February 7, 2023 A very nice build it is too! I wasn't aware of these Mediterranean heavy day fighters, that's awfully good excuse now to keep my eyes open for a C-6 kit and build one myself, one day 🙂 V-P 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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