GazzaS Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 I got this one last Christmas: The earliest night fighter variant of the Dornier Do 17. Kauz I. I don't think there was much different from the bomber version other than black paint and a fuel cell added to the forward bomb bay. The cockpit is pretty simple, and with a lack of knowledge of what the type really looked like inside, I was left to my own devices. After all of the hours I spent detailing the inside of my Do 217 nightfighter, only to have everything disappear, I've decided that investing too much time in 1/48 pits is pointless. The radio sets aren't very well depicted. The seat belts are just .5mm strips of Tamiya tape with faux buckels painted on. Sorry for the blur. ....oh, by the way, DocRob.... thanks for showing the Voyager cutting templates. They arrived just in time today to help me cut the seat belt strips. Why Diabolical, you say? I'll tell ya.... I was warned about ICM's older moldings. I didn't know this classified as older, but you can see here that I've used chunks of the spare fuel cell to try to get a better join between fuselage and wings. It's gonna be one of those deals where I glue one spot... let it dry, then glue another spot, and so on until the wing is securely dogged down. Then, it'll be filler and fun. This is the state of her now. I've added white card stiffeners to make the fuselage seams stronger. Hopefully the CA will trickle all in there and provide a seam I can't pop. This will be my first all black aircraft since I was a teen and ruined a Monogram 1/48 scale P-61. I hope to do better, this time. Thanks for looking! I'd love to hear your thoughts. Gaz 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted September 28, 2020 Share Posted September 28, 2020 6 hours ago, GazzaS said: ....oh, by the way, DocRob.... thanks for showing the Voyager cutting templates De nada Gaz, Your build looks promising. The pit is nice and I think you can see some of the detail, given the wide opening in the fuselage. I will follow, how you tackle the black scheme, as I never did one, beside the fuselage of a tiny 1/48 fighter. Cheers Rob 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted October 14, 2020 Author Share Posted October 14, 2020 Wow.... been a while since I did an update. And there was a spare part that reminded me of the cover of the centrally mounted cannon on the 109...but much bigger... so I used that to simulate the gun cover of the forward battery. I've since closed and up the fuselage and started up the motors... but no paint to see, yet... so no photo. sometimes I wonder how I complete anything.... Thanks for looking! Gaz 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted October 18, 2020 Author Share Posted October 18, 2020 Today I glued all of the main parts on with CA. And used CA for the filler so I was able to file and sand it usually within a half hour of setting it down to dry. So, in one day I've successfully filled and sanded a lot of ugly seams... but also done some re-scribing. The dark, straight lines are the CA filled seams. The new, lighter lines inside the 'shoulder' area are my best scribe lines ever. This is my reference book. Lotsa great stuff on the Dornier. Hopefully ICM will use it to inspire some of the prewar builds. Some great aircraft shapes, there. Haven't rescribed the tailplane, yet. But the seams are clearly visible. Again, the dark, wide lines are the CA filled gaps. My rescribing down here was much uglier. I'm guessing because I'm working with a concave surface. And on the port side, the lines formed by the forward spar don;t even match. ...no biggie.... nobody will see that anyway cuz the plane will be very dark below and nobody looks at undersides once they are done... unless you hang em' from the ceiling. I would have expected the tailplane to be a 3-piece arrangement making things a little easier for the builder. But, it wasn't. So, I took this pic to help me be sure that the tailplane isn't askew of the main wings. Thanks for looking and commenting! Happy building! Gaz 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 Smooth looking airframe Gaz, not only because of the filled gaps, but design wise too. Never had too much appetite for a Do 17, but this may change... Cheers Rob 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted October 19, 2020 Author Share Posted October 19, 2020 19 hours ago, DocRob said: Smooth looking airframe Gaz, not only because of the filled gaps, but design wise too. Never had too much appetite for a Do 17, but this may change... Cheers Rob HI Rob, Thanks! It's quite a lovely airframe. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted October 20, 2020 Author Share Posted October 20, 2020 A little bit of engine research: Nice and pretty.... with black cylinder jackets... kinda impedes my artistic desires.... This relic bears some black on the jackets as well as cool looking turquoise sparkplug wires. And at the far end of the scale, a truly thrashed Bramo Fafnir. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted October 22, 2020 Author Share Posted October 22, 2020 Now we come to my personally most hated part of aircraft modelling: Scribing... rescribing.... and fault finding. First some black along all of the seams: And a nice smooth leading edge with rescribed lines... And I get to do it all over again with the nacelles, too.... I'll save that for the next episode. Thanks for looking! Gaz 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted October 30, 2020 Author Share Posted October 30, 2020 Friends... Meanwhile work slowly progresses on the Dornier. Most of the nacelle related parts... some detail painting to do after the oil pinwash and dry-brush. I've started making the exhausts look burnt. And I fashioned the lower hatch from a sheet of aluminum. And I had to modify the greenhouse for the Kauz I. The kit comes with two optional greenhouses. One for the bomber, and the other for Kauz II with IR scope protruding through. The kit would have you just add the armored windscreen over the hole for the IR scope. I thought that wouldn't look good, so I took the risk of sawing out the errant panel and then glue on the armored windscreen. Anyway... thanks for looking! Gaz 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber_County Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 Looking good Gaz, you’re a brave man attacking the greenhouse........ 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 Like Phil said, lots of bravery with the canopy. I've done it once with lots of Dymo tape as guideline and Kabuki for general protection. It worked, but was wearing my nerves also. Yours should look perfect with a coat of paint. Cheers Rob 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted October 30, 2020 Author Share Posted October 30, 2020 5 hours ago, Bomber_County said: Looking good Gaz, you’re a brave man attacking the greenhouse........ Thank you, Phil! I've cracked a couple of canopies before... so I almost feel comfortable working with them. 28 minutes ago, DocRob said: Like Phil said, lots of bravery with the canopy. I've done it once with lots of Dymo tape as guideline and Kabuki for general protection. It worked, but was wearing my nerves also. Yours should look perfect with a coat of paint. Cheers Rob Thanks Rob. I happened upon a few pics recently of other ppl modifying canopies. The trick is to make a line of starter holes with a sharp object far about 1-2 MM inside the panel you want to remove. Then, drill out the holes so the make a connect-the-dot pattern for your razor saw to file. This cuts out easily. It keeps the saw blade from wandering. Then, you remove whats left with files and sandpaper. Gaz 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 Looks great, nice job! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted October 31, 2020 Author Share Posted October 31, 2020 Thanks mate! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackster Posted November 4, 2020 Share Posted November 4, 2020 Superb attention to detail! Cheers Kev 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted November 5, 2020 Author Share Posted November 5, 2020 Thank you, Kev 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 Looking good Gaz! I think we need to rename the site 1/48 and larger! 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Fran Posted November 5, 2020 Administrators Share Posted November 5, 2020 Great work!! Please keep it coming! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockieYarwood Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 Beautiful work Gaz!! Love the Flying Pencil - sure hope we get one in 1/32 scale someday. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted November 6, 2020 Author Share Posted November 6, 2020 2 hours ago, RockieYarwood said: Beautiful work Gaz!! Love the Flying Pencil - sure hope we get one in 1/32 scale someday. Thanks mate! As much as I love them.... 1/32 is too big for me. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted November 8, 2020 Author Share Posted November 8, 2020 Hello Friends, The 'All-black' plane experiment (not to be confused with the NZ Rugby Union Team) continues. I finished fabricating the inside of the entrance/escape hatch. I didn't have much to go on, so it's all educated guessing. I added lugs to hold the pneumatic rods which would have raised and lowered the hatch. I suppose I could have made finer versions from strips of brass or aluminum.... but that didn't occur to me until just now. At any rate, adding aluminum strips would have best been done before the fuselage was closed up. Maybe next time. The hatch is just dry-fitted and will need some detail painting done. Here it is from the outside. Crap... just realized I need some AM Mg 17 barrels.... of course, they come in sets of two! And for your edification, the engines and cowlings added to give an idea of where I'm going with this. Oh... just realized I need a reflector sight, too. Yep...there isn't one in the kit. I have a 1/48 Bf109T that I kept for parts after I realized that the resin wingtips were too small for the kit. One final request before you go: Does anyone know of any 1/48 German bomber crew in coveralls in standing positions? My search has been unsuccessful thus far. I have a regular ICM Dornier Do-17Z and I was thinking of making it look really shot up, but making it home safely. There are some good damage pics out there from bombers that were filled with .303 holes but still got home. Thanks for looking! Gaz 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 Maybe these are the guys for you, they can be made to inspect battle damage. https://www.scalemates.com/kits/dartmoor-military-models-48a001-wwii-three-luftwaffe-pilots-inspecting-aircraft--238180 Can't wait to see how you tackle the all black finish. Cheers Rob 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber_County Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 Loving the build Gaz, I’ve been looking at the ICM Ju 88A-11, never built ICM interested in your project opinion..... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 Looking fantastic, very nice job! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 Exciting build Gas, me likey 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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