Was getting ready to finally spray the green on my jill and had another main line sewer clog that flooded my basement. i will be down for a while’
Joe
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You gotta cut back on the fiber.
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LOL 
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Torpedo Away! …
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Avatar beanie prop over-revving now…
Here’s some Ju 88A-4 progress…
First, a repeat image from my canopy masking session the other day (included for my own reference).
Now for last night’s masking session…
Masked-off main and nose canopy openings.
A few more holes needed filling on the wing undersides (meant for Ju 88 A-5 bomb racks, not torpedo racks). After sorting those, I did more wet-sanding. After which, I masked-off the main and tailwheel landing gear assemblies.
I gave the fuselage, wings, and control surfaces a good Isopropyl Alcohol wipe-down. And this is how she sits, squeaky clean waiting to be rolled… uh, slid into the spray booth for a seam checking coat of grey primer.
No engines or nacelles just yet, as they haven’t caught up to the moment.
More to come…
Torpedo los!
—mike …
10 Likes
Arfix’s 1/72 Fairey Swordfish continues…
I’ve also been working on the engine, which I’ll put in a separate post…
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Multiple torpedoes 
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When I have this issue before I start filling and sand I apply a nice drop of liquid cement and squeeze it tight and clamp. The glue will melt/soften the plastic and allow it to flatten inside.
Joe
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I’ve got 2 of those Swordfish and both have bent tail struts. In fat, I don’t think I’ve had any of Airfix’s soft plastic kits which didn’t have bent parts. The Do17z had bent undercarriage legs. They’ve changed to a harder, darker grey plastic which has solved it somewhat. But it can be a little more brittle and prone to breaking rather than bending. Can’t help but feel that the ideal solution would be to not cram all the sprues into one bag and stuff it in shallow boxes.
Excellent work so far. The wire struts will turn out much better and stronger.
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Hi Stephen, I agree: bent parts seems to be a theme with Airfix kits when parts are thin. From memory their 1/72 Mustang kit suffered from it quite badly in the undercarriage area.
It’s a habit of mine to replace things like struts with brass rod for better scale effect so it doesn’t bother me too much, unless the part has a definitive shape making it more challenging to replace 
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Got to try-out my new “Outdoor Spray Hangar” this morning.
The Ju 88 A-4 got her first coat of seam checking primer. At first inspection, my seam work looks fairly decent — better than expected.
I’ll let the paint cure for a bit and then return to tidy-up the remaining fills.
• Tamiya (87064) Fine Grey Surface Primer (L)
And some last-minute primer sprayed on the greenhouse before high-noon in Texas.
• Tamiya (85006) Ts-6 Matte Black Spray
Torpedo los! …
—mike
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Good news, bad news…
Bad news.
Well, my better judgement said not to glue the hull to the base and now I know why. I accidently broke it off today and will have to replace the kit attachment for something else. 
Good news is that I finally got the upper and lower hulls attached. I used 5 spreader bars in the lower hull to make it wide enough to match the upper hull. I then glued 1 inch at a time and held it in place by force and fingers until dry, then moved on to the next inch.
Now I can start cleaning the seams up.
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Here is my finished entry - the 1/35 Molch submarine.
Everything went really well - except the final coat of foam. I mixed in too much water foam mediums mix. Both mediums are solid white when wet and only the water gel dries clear. I tested and found 1/5 foam to 4/5 water gel was perfect. Somehow I got that very wrong on the final coat 
This resulted in very solid white foam. One can hardly see what is beneath the waves.
In any case the Molch is still visible from the sides.
I learned a lot from this project and definitely not done with having things submerged in resin. Next time a tank 
Thanks for a great campaign! I am happy to see so many great entries. My Molch also looks good - I just hid it under water foam 
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That is extremely cool and makes me want to resume work on a very old project. The port side torpedo firing is awesome.
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@ Jesper (SGTJKJ)
Nice finish with the Molch Sub! Love the side-views! 
Maybe the waves can be dry-brush frosted… or something? Still looks great!
Torpedo los! …
—mike
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That’s gone really well, congratulations.
Don’t think I would have the courage to submerge a finished project in resin. I’d be too afraid of something going disastrously wrong!
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Hello fellow torpedo plunkers! …
During one of my last episodes, the Ju 88A-4 greenhouse was primed…
• Tamiya (85006) Ts-6 Matte Black Spray
A couple days of curing and the segments re-entered the spray booth for a base coat.
• Vallejo Black Grey RLM66 (71.055)
Now, the fun part! … sooooo satisfying! 
I was very pleased to see the masking fluid lift nicely with the mask edges.
• Mr Masking Sol R (GSI M133)
Internal masks removed. A little mask residue touch-up with Isopropyl Alcohol and we’re good to go.
I noticed a little bleeding on the exterior mask corners. However, that’ll need to get sorted later near completion of the build. BTW: The Blu-Tak pieces are covering the MG gun ports.
“You nincompoop, I cannot see outside!” 
“So, half voilà!” 
Torpedo los! …
—mike …
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Thanks for the comments, guys! Much appreciated!
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Not the best fit… 
Assembling the Ju 88A-4 three-piece Greenhouse canopy turned-out to be more difficult than I anticipated.
The two top canopy segments refused to play nice with the main part, using either Microscale Micro Krystal Klear (MI-9) or Tamiya Extra Thin Cement. They kept splaying apart, even after paint was scraped away.
Resorting to desperate measures… a tiny application of VMS Flexy 5K Black Thin (CM11-BK) down the center spine. I’ll do the same for the forward joints after this one cures. 
Earlier on, I managed to sort-out the wing roots and a few other areas using Mr Surfacer 500 and more wet sanding with a 3000 grit sponge.
Torpedo los! …
—mike
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