MPC 1/72 Junkers Ju 52 3m of the Stab IV/KGr zbV

[Gruntpa]

 

I was inspired by seeing @Ratch's rather beautifully done Ju 52 and a couple other folk's Ju 52's on Britmodeller. After that my wife and I went to go see the Eclipse in the path of totality and we watched the old Clint Eastwood movie Where Eagles Dare (only 55 years late apparently!) I had built one of these when I was 9 or 10 and wanted to relive some those memories this weekend.

 

Amazing what Google can tell us! (I still need to confirm all this and am open to corrections) Since the kit is depicting tail number "Z1 BF" of the Stab IV/KGr zbV 1 from the Balkens to Southern Italy to Northern Africa I will be attempting the late scheme of dark and light green with RLM blue underside with yellow on the undersides of the wing tips with yellow cowls and rudder.

 

This  aircraft had three camouflage schemes in it's career with the Luftwaffe. Winter like Ratch's with Dark Green and Off White, the Balkans variant with (I think?) tan where the light green normally would be then the dark green with light green variant. From what I could find all variants had yellow engine cowls and the two non winter schemes had the RLM blue undersides I believe with the dark & light green scheme had insignia yellow on the undersides of the main wing's tips. Tracing it out on Google was a bit convoluted but did find an Eduard paint chart.

 

Just had to get one and here we are YAKOMB (Yet Another Kit On My Bench)... This is MPC's version of the original kit from the venerable Airfix kit. Hopefully this will bring back some fond memories for some for our colleagues on Britmodeller. Definitely an old kit. Gaps, flash, mis-fitting/slightly warped parts and not quite aligned horizontal stabilizer or wings but tons of fun to build regardless. Nothing some putty and a coat of paint can't cure!

 

Top set on but not glued on yet so I can go back in and paint the interior.

 

No interior for the cabin and rudimentary cockpit with featureless instrument panel.

 

Simple platform for the gunner with no details

 

Plain jane and raised rivets

 

Back side of the cockpit entrance

 

Some gaps but manageable

 

Didn't know they had drop down landing lights on the wings, sweet! More raised panel line details instead of etched.

 

VERY simplistic motors and exhaust but the props spin and wheels turn! 😁

 

I think the seats should be on opposite sides but according to the instructions this is how they are "supposed" to go. Since I am doing OOB this what they will be!

 

Old fashioned sprues with warped parts! Had to straighten out the ailerons they came off the sprues curved.

 

On the MPC kit they give 8 extra crew, back in the day models were for playing with after you built them!

 

MPC's instructions.

 

 

 

~Cheers!

 

[Ratch]

Those extra crew figures are nice 

I couldn't assemble the fuselage without painting the interior first 

[Gruntpa]

3 hours ago, Ratch said:

Those extra crew figures are nice 

I couldn't assemble the fuselage without painting the interior first 

Agreed, the extra crew is definitely nice to have. Seems model companies back in the day actually built these for kids to play with so they added the little things like that and other working features for us to play with.m With you on the interior and normally I do, I'll definitely be paying for it this morning for sure! Just wanted a quick side trip down memory lane last night. 😁

[Ratch]

Yes, some modellers forget that these were toys we built ourselves to play with, to fight those battles that our parents and grandparents told us about. Working features were essential.

[AdrianMF]

6 hours ago, Ratch said:

Those extra crew figures are nice 

Indeed. They mostly seem to be telling stories about fishing: "It was this big"...

 

Great project and a nice bit of OOB goodness.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Gruntpa]

Should sub title this the much cliche'd "Grey Ghost"... After I passed my biennial flight review this week I primed "Iron Annie" inside and out, top and bottom this weekend. Then painted the control surfaces, cowls and fixed the left main strut on the main gear. Saw in one of the photos where I goofed and got some primer touch-up on the left elevator upper surface near the fuselage and some over spray on the left aileron Dang it... Beauty is but a can of (spray) paint away... Props come off as does the top for now until I have more painted. The kit is primitive compared to today's kits but this ole' girl has something the newfangled kits don't, things that move and make it fun to play with and a little bit of beefiness. Landing lights on the wings came out decently enough. Had a 1/8" hole punch so punched some masking tape and perfect fit. Painted over the cargo door windows since I was missing the cargo door option part along with the canopy. I found that clear UV resin makes an AWESOME filler, better than putty and flows into the cracks and crannies nicely. Once there zap it with the UV light and done deal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 22 by Gruntpa

[Gruntpa]

On 4/14/2024 at 9:42 AM, Ratch said:

Yes, some modellers forget that these were toys we built ourselves to play with, to fight those battles that our parents and grandparents told us about. Working features were essential.

💯

[Gruntpa]

 

Finally got some time away from the rat race and chores even though I was on duty this weekend... That and the Ercoupe is in for updates and the ceiling was a smidge low this weekend to boot. You never ever want to scud run in low clouds, especially in hill country...

 

To phrase it as some of my army buddies would say, man I lucked out. I bought some Testors Medium and Dark Green along with some flat black enamels, added about 25 drops of flat black from a pipette to each and got darned close enough to the right colors. That and Insignia Yellow for the cowls and control surfaces. Taped up the primed inside with no windows then masked the whole beastie then went to town with the airbrush. Had to scratch build the right furthest rear window pane as that I found out today was also missing from the kit. I am very pleased, the wheels roll, the props spin and the paint is fairly decent. A far cry from when I built this back in '73 when I was 9. For a 51 year old kit she goes together quite nicely as long as you don't mind lots of flash trimming. One thing I am finding out, corrugated surfaces are one heck of a dust/particle collector! That and the paint is delicate, will have to seal this puppy asap with matte finish. Lots of touch ups after I handled it. This is the paint scheme I wanted to do 51 years ago. And yeah, i see it, a scratch in the scratch built window pane. I'll chalk it up to rough handling by the infantry grunts on the ground when they loaded it for the last mission it flew... I'll blame myself for having to re-glue the left aileron back on after I took the masking off...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 28 by Gruntpa

[Gruntpa]

 

Quick update on Iron Annie, antique decals came in early from eBay so I air brushed them with microscale decal liquid film and fingers crossed it will beef them up enough so they are not fragile. I will have to cut them out on the very edge of the markings, the original film is a smidge yellowed. Going to be a busy weekend. I will say also that 51 year old polystyrene plastic is just a wee bit brittle. I've handled this model gingerly every time and still the landing gear has broken 3 times now. Finally had to pin the right wheel back into place with some brass rod. Might rename her Franken Junkers. On the bright side the props spin and the tires (still) roll decently. The 9 year old in me is happy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gruntpa]

 

Cadded up a canopy on Tinkercad, this is a test print of the canopy on my Anycubic Photon S resin printer, if this works and after any adjustments to shape I will try using clear and polishing. thickness is just a hair over 1mm.