HK Models 1/32 Do 335

[stona]

Okay, so I've had to remove the stubs from one side of the engine. I then shaved 3mm of the bottom (to prevent my fix interfering with the engine itself) of them and squared them off. I attached the front and back stubs to the little exhaust frame panel as they are designed to fit and then glued a plastic strip between them to which I attached the remaining four stubs. Attach the exhaust frame directly to the opening panel and you're in business. Definitely a bodge, far better to get the exhausts correct first time around, or at least before it's too late, but nobody will know unless they read this thread!


It worked fine until I saw this picture and realised I've got a couple to straighten up






I've dropped the panel in after a bit more fettling, it is really designed to be posed open, but a little simple work enables it to be closed. This side will have the front engine open and the rear closed.






The other side will have the front closed (these exhausts lined up okay) and the rear open.






This might not be the most realistic pose, but I've not painted those engines like that for nothing! Call it art


Cheers


Steve

[papa 695]

Nice work on the grill Steve the whole thing is looking very good so far.

[Guest]

Art indeed, show them off lol

[stona]

I got back to it this morning and have spent a few hours assembling the various bits and pieces I had already constructed. The result is something that finally looks more like an aeroplane!






It almost goes without saying that everything has fitted very nicely.


Even for someone like myself, used to building in larger scales, this is a BIG model.


Cheers


Steve

[Guest]

This kit looks amazing!!


Your sweet work is doing it justice, Steve

[Guest]

Odd looking craft but really stunning.

[Guest]

This is looking very nice.


Scott

[Robert1968]

This is looking awesome and such detail and dedication to the finer points ( that front grill has really smartened it all up in the nose.


Those engines are really the doggies doodaas very good work indeed


Kind regards


Robert

[stona]

I've been priming and painting which doesn't give much to show. I now have the underside done in RLM 76.


Wing tips will be aluminium, hence the masking.






As usual I can't capture the post shading etc in one of my snapshots, I like it subtle anyway.


This brings me on to the topic of the upper camouflage colours. The Do 335 hand book is explicit about the colours, RLM 81 and RLM 82, both with the descriptive 'dunkelgrun' or dark green.


I don't want to write an essay here but there is a problem with RLM 81 and recent research has done much to explain what was going on.


I have sprayed potential colour combinations for the model on a trusty milk bottle to explain why I'm making the choice I am.


The combination on the right is RLM 82 with a British Dark Green colour I sprayed as an experiment and we can ignore that.






In the middle is what we normally think of as an 81/82 combination. Nobody with normal colour vision could describe the 81 as dark green. It is to the casual observer a distinctly browny olive colour. I don't think this is how the Do 335 was finished, though plenty of models are!


On the left is what we normally think of as an 82/83 combination. In this case the RLM 83 is most definitely a dark green colour. I think this is the combination in which the Do 335 was finished.


This begs the question, why are you using 82/83 when original documents specify 81/82?


The answer lies in the mis-identification of RLM 83. There is a mounting body of evidence to suggest that RLM 83 was in fact a BLUE colour, used for maritime camouflage, certainly in the Mediterranean. BOTH the brownish colour referred to as RLM 81 AND the dark green colour usually referred to as RLM 83 are in fact versions of RLM 81.


The jury is still out on this, but I'm convinced enough to go with the two greens combination, as seen on the left of my milk bottle.


Cheers


Steve

[Guest]

That's looking the business Steve.


Scott

[stona]

Thanks Scott!


Whilst the undersides are drying I have time to spray the lovely resin wheels and tyres.






Someone didn't put the lid back on the semi-gloss black properly last time and it was unusable o_O. The wheels are far too glossy, but I'll knock that back with more processes. The tyres are just a monotone grey at this stage too.


There's also the rather complicated undercarriage assemblies to build, this is front and starboard.






When that's done I need to re-finish a couple of figures to look more German winter than North African desert.


Cheers


Steve

[Guest]

This guy can paint a milk bottle better than I can paint a kit The great work continues Steve. I know nothing about the technicalities of RLM colours but I would trust your research and opinion anyway.

[stona]

I know nothing about the technicalities of RLM colours but I would trust your research and opinion anyway.

Michael Ullmann has come up with some original documents regarding the exact nature of RLM 83.


It's long been known that there were variations in RLM 81 and some fairly heavyweight opinions are starting to come behind the idea that the colour we have all been thinking of as RLM 83 is nothing less than the green version of RLM 81.


For me the blindingly obvious anomaly is that in the original Dornier handbook for the Do 335 RLM 81 is described as dark green. These descriptions were unofficial, but nobody would have described the olive brown version of RLM 81 as a dark green. We do see descriptions of that brownish colour like 'Dunkelbraun' and Braunviolet, which are self explanatory.


This is just my conclusion, it's my model and I can paint it how I like....so of course can everyone else, I wouldn't dare or want tell them how to do theirs


Cheers


Steve

[Guest]

This is coming along nicely Steve the whole colour thing sounds a bit of a mine field.

[stona]

the whole colour thing sounds a bit of a mine field.

All part of the fun Terry! A 'mine field' is a good description for late war RLM/Luftwaffe colours


Fingers crossed, I might get the camouflage on this week.


Cheers


Steve