1/32 Scale RoG Ju88 A-1 Build Log

[Greif]

Announcement:  You can all blame Wink for being exposed to this thread! 
I will be doing a build log of RoG's very nice 1/32 scale Ju88 A-1 - with a lot of aftermarket stuff and I invite everyone to follow along if desired.  I plan to build an aircraft that was assigned to KG 51, nicknamed the Edelweiss Geschwader, during the Battle of Britain.  Should be challenging and fun at the same time.  I will be posting some photos later today, if my spouse does not have too many "honey do" things to complete when I get home from work today.
Ernest
 
 

[Rokket]

Good luck with the list of non model obligations!

[Greif]

Ok guys, I know aircraft are not the primary interest on this forum, hehe!  However, I thought some of you might be interested in following along as I build Revell of Germany's big 1/32 Ju88 A-1.  I won this kit on an ebay estate auction for $36.00 which I thought was a good price - until I got the kit in the mail that is.  Upon opening the box I saw that there was a lot of AM stuff which upgraded good to outstanding!

As with nearly all aircraft builds this one starts with the cockpit, and it is big and has a tone of parts, about 125 to be correct, and that does not count the AM goodies.  In the following pictures you will see a before the build shot of the kit and most of the AM stuff, wow a bunch of parts!  I decided to keep scratch building to a minimum - actually I told myself there would be NO scratch building on this kit - but, alas I suffer from AMS (Advanced Modeller's Syndrome) and could not help myself.   

The pictures of the bare plastic mostly show general construction, I did drill out the lightning holes, with the exception of two.  There is a joining indent on the back of those two and I did not want to chance a fit problem later.  I also masked of the four panels on the pilot's floor as the actual aircraft had downward looking windows in the pilot's position.

Ernest





 

[Greif]

Moving right along I have painted the base color of RLM 66 that I mixed myself and matched it to the paint chips in Merrick's book, weathering will lighten the color a bit.  The two rounded cables sticking out from the rudder pedals is a bit of scratch building to simulate the hydraulic lines.  For those who may be wondering I always prime before painting, Tamiya's light gray or white primer being my weapon of choice.  I then sprayed a black undercoat and followed that with the RLM66 base coat.

You can also see that I have started putting on the PE stuff.  For some reason Eduard painted the radio equipment PE RLM02 and the rest a darker color, close to RLM 66, but still too light.  I decided to use it anyway as it adds a bit of color to the pit and breaks up the monotony.  The lower floor was painted a nice warm brown to simulate the wooden floor that was there in the real Ju88's.  I also did a simple scratch build on the leather covered cushion a the rear of the floor as the kit did not have a part to simulate it.  The four light blue dots are the O2 connection ports.

Ernest





 

[Greif]

The following pics show the IP which I still have to paint.  I forgot to take a picture of the rear on the IP as I had planned to show folks the prep drilling I did to install scratch built cables and wires, remember AMS!  I'll take a photo once I have installed that stuff.  The other two pictures show the progress of the weathering.  I gave the pit a wash first, really tough to see in the pictures, and then used some fading medium - made by True Earth - to lighten the overall paint and give a bit of a worn look.  Finally, you can see that I am using a silver artist's pencil to simulate chips and scuffs.

Ernest

[Greif]

This series of photos shows the weathering of the left console, and the many tiny PE levers and instruments.  These were a bit nerve racking to fit in place, but they really look good when complete.  The actual Ju88's had a curtain that covered the lower front part of the console and I have replicated it by a base brown paint followed by washes and highlights to give it depth.  The wheels are Eduard's Brassin resin AM and replace the kit wheels which are the wrong type being for the A4 and later versions.  They have been painted, I use Tamiya NATO Black for tires, with the hubs being painted black; and future has been applied.  Weathering will follow.  The seats got the excellent HGW seatbelts.  These are real gems being made out of a type of cloth with PE fasteners and tighteners; I spent two nights assembling them and the effect was worth the work.  Finally, the unpainted gondola received a lot of scratch building.  In fact everything you see was scratched from evergreen strip, putty and very, very thin tissue as the kit provided nothing for this area.  I still need to clean it up to make it look better and paint it. 

Ernest 

[Rokket]

Beautiful stf, and those seatbelts siiing! Schweeeet. Love the painting so far.

[Greif]

Thanks Wink, this is a pretty involved build.
Ernest

Beautiful stf, and those seatbelts siiing! Schweeeet. Love the painting so far.

[SG]

Ernest, excellent progress so far. Main instrument panel and lateral consoles are just great. Right amount of weathering. A question: are you going to tone down the leather parts? did they look so bright in reality? 
looking forward to see new posts, keep up the excellent work!
PS:You can't resist AMS.. the force's too strong joung Jedi!

[Greif]

Hi SG, thanks for comments.  I do plan to tone done the leather look.  I have some new weathering agents from True Earth that I am itching to use and one or two of them should work very well at making the leather look more worn.

Cheers,
Ernest

Ernest, excellent progress so far. Main instrument panel and lateral consoles are just great. Right amount of weathering. A question: are you going to tone down the leather parts? did they look so bright in reality? 
looking forward to see new posts, keep up the excellent work!
PS:You can't resist AMS.. the force's too strong joung Jedi!

[Greif]

Here is the next update.  One of the photos shows the rear of the IP with some minor scratch building of instrument cables; I still have to figure out how I am going to run the cables.  Another is one of the wheels that I did a bit of super detailing to and heavily weathered; this bomber was part of III/KG51 which flew off of grass fields during the Battle of Britain so the wheels and undercarriage would likely have been fairly dirty.  Speaking of the undercarriage one of the pictures shows a completed undercarriage leg, with a simple brake line that is scratched, I like how the weathering turned out.  Another couple shots show the completed cockpit installed in one half of the fuselage.  And there is a photo of the other fuselage half showing where I filled in the three handholds which were not on the Ju88 A-1, being first introduced with the A-4.

Ernest







 

[Rokket]

coming along nicely, esp those wires!

[42rocker]

Very Nice detail work. Can't wait to see more pics.

Later Tim

[Rokket]

Ya, get the lead out man!

[Greif]

Hi guys, this was a long running project that I completed a few weeks ago.  I did some fairly extensive scratch building and after market work on this build as I planned to auction it off on Ebay when complete - I don't have a glass display arrangement large enough for this big beast.  The model fetched a very nice price on Ebay and led to the buyer asking me to build a 1/32 Heinkel He111 for him, as well as, another bidder who contacted me asking if I would build a 1/32 Junkers Ju88 A-4.  I agreed to a building price with each gentleman and will begin the He111 as soon as I finish a rather involved 1/32 Bf109 E-3 build; I'll start I thread on that build soon.  This is a bit of a two edged sword for me; on one hand it is nice to earn some money with my builds, and I am pleased some people consider my skills good enough to pay for them.  On the other hand I am now locked in to two builds and lose a little freedom to decide what project I want to do next, though both the He111 and Ju88 should be pretty fun projects.

Anyway, enjoy the photos and I am always open to both critiques and questions concerning the build.  I'll make a few posts to get all the photos in.

Ernest

[Greif]

And the next set!

[Greif]

Some detail shots for the final post.

[Rokket]

Gorgeous, I reckon you should be mighty pleased! I was going to comment on how great the landing gear is, but then I also have to say the same about everything!

[42rocker]

Took a break while you did the wrap up pics and just found them. Great Outstanding Job. Sounds like others liked it also as someone bought it and then folks wanted more.
Thanks for sharing the pics. Really enjoyed the inside view showing the MG-15 and the double drum mags. Sweet.

Later Tim