Dogfight double pt. 1: Stuka

[adt70hk]

Thanks Andrew. Evem more confusion! Not helped by the fact that Airfix don't actually state what size the supplied bombs are - I suppose I should measure them. There doesn't seem to be any great consistency between sources as to the size at which the bombs were in the underside colour rather than dark green (or grey, or brown, or something else...).
Pete

To be honest the more and more that I learn about the German military machine in WW2, the more and more I have come to the conclusion that there are almost as many exceptions to the rules as there are rules.....

Or as Ron aka spanner570 would say..... "Your model, your rules"!!

So, in other words, just go with the flow!!!

Let me dig out a book on all Luftwaffe planes I have to see if they have anything to say.

[adt70hk]

Hi Pete,

I can't comment on the accuracy of what follows as I know nadda about Stukas but hope it helps.

Andrew

----------------

This.......





Has this to say on the R version....

[Guest]

Good references, but atrocious German in that 1984 magazine article …

[stillp]

Scaling up the dimensions of the Airfix bombs doesn't give a match to either the SC250 or the SC500 dimensions given in Tim's link, but that "Luftwaffe Resource Center" seems to have some inconsistencies.
I'll stick with Plan A (RLM 70 for the smaller bombs, RLM65 for the big 'un.
Yet another can of worms is the colour of the pylons - underside colour in some photos, but very dark in some - possibly RLM 70! Underside colour will look more plausible.
Pete

[scottie3158]

Pete,
Looking good mate, good luck with that canopy.

[Allen Dewire]

Late in on this Pete and loving what I see so far. It looks like bomb colors are a really can of worms though. Just do what you feel Sir. I have a Trumpy Stuka in 1/32 and think I'll have the same probs with them too when I (finally) build it. Top Job!!!

Prost
Allen

[adt70hk]

Pete,
Looking good mate, good luck with that canopy.

That's nothing.... You want to try doing a DIY 110 mask...... Actually you REALLY don't....it turned my hair grey!

[JMARC]

I think I'm going to go with dark green for the smaller bombs on the wings, and sky blue (whatever that is!) for the centreline bomb. All will have yellow stripes between the fins, now I have those decal packs from the Modelkraft show.
I'll probably use Vallejo RLM 65 for the bomb, which should be just a little different to the Hobby Color RLM 65 I'll use for the underside.
Speaking of which, it's nearly masking time:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1175550[/ATTACH]
I rather wish I'd bought a canopy masking set...
Pete

NNNNNNNNNNNeat !

[stillp]

Canopy is now masked, and has just had a coat of the interior RLM02. The wings are a pain to mask because of the trailing edge flaps and their actuators - the wingtips are white, but I'm expecting to need a lot of touching up after the camo goes on. The other masking struggle was a white stripe around the tail - I had to work out the width and the position to allow for the side decals to go on in the right place with respect to the stripe.
For a break from masking I started decalling the bombs - Airfix supply 4 yellow stripes, so I've fitted them to the centre line bomb:

The four small bombs might or might not, depending which reference source you choose, also need four yellow stripes each, for which I bought a pack of yellow strip decals in various widths at the Modelkraft show. Given that these bombs are just 3 mm diameter it'll be a struggle to get 4 stripes on each, but I think I'll have a go, for two resons: 1) it'll look good, and 2) it'll be lovely when I stop.
More paint later I think.
Cheers
Pete

[Lee Drennen]

Nice progress Pete.

[scottie3158]

Pete,
Nice detailing .

[stillp]

Threw a bit of paint on the underside - outer third of the wings are white, remainder is RLM65.

Unfortunately it fell off the painting stand and broke the aerial on the canopy roof!
Pete

[scottie3158]

Looking good. Hope the repairs go well.

[stillp]

RLM 71 on:

Next task is to mask for the splinter camo and apply the RLM 71 (Aqueous Hobby Color H65). Still wondering whether to apply the yellow stripes on the smaller bombs!
Pete

[stillp]

Got the camo masking on. This is, I think, the first time I've used camo masks, and I don't think I'll bother again. The large, complex shapes are difficult to put in the right place, compared to using small pieces of tape, and the material of these ones is too 'springy', so when I try to burnish it into a corner, it springs out again. It was a lot quicker than using tape though, so the model has now had a dose of RLM70:
I'll let that dry before I try to remove the masks, so in the meantime I've been trying those stripes on the smaller bombs:

These are 3mm long pieces cut from Hannants' narrowest stripes - about half a millimetre wide! One stripe on each bomb was all I could manage before the shakes started, so I'll try to get another stripe on each l, and leave the last two per bomb until tomorrow. Yes, I must be crazy...

Pete