Torsten's bench works

[BlackWidow]

Thanks for your feedback, HG and Tim! I guess it’s quite obvious what my favourite WW2 fighter is … And close to it comes the P-38.

This thread will be continued soon, but not with a P-39. Have already looked at my stash and have something in mind. But first let me finish the ATF Dingo at the Armorama Forum.

Tim, I think, the Russians had several nicknames for the Airacobra. Somewhere I read it was also “Kobrushka” (little cobra).

[RDT1953]

Very nice indeed Torsten !

[BlackWidow]

Now that my Dingo is running its final lap on Armorama before leaving the assembly line, it’s time to think of the next kit to approach on my work bench. I have picked a long time resident out of my stash. It’s the Heinkel He 219 A-7 “Uhu” from Tamiya in 1/48, which I have at least for 10 years in my stash …

… Sprue A has the fuselage side, cockpit and engine parts …

… Sprues B and C have the right and left wing parts and the rudders …

… Sprue D is 2 x in the box and holds the landing gear, parts for the FuG 220 Lichtenstein Radar, plus some more engine parts. Not sure yet, if I use the pilots …

… Sprue E holds the clear parts …

… you have already seen it in the second picture, Tamiya offers the cockpit floor as a metal part as there is not much space for weight in the nose. I hope it will be sufficient, otherwise I’ll try to put some lead balls in the engine nacelles …

… the build will be out of box, only extras are the Eduard mask EX 161 and brass made parts for the FuG220 from Modellbau Schatton. I’ll give them a try. If I fail, I still have the kit parts …

… the instruction is clear as usual. 16 steps, including sub-assemblies, will bring me to a good result, hopefully …

… Tamiya offers 2 options for this kit, NJG 1 and NJG 3, both from May 1945 …

… both airplanes look alike, except for the black underside only on the NJG 1 machine, that’s why I’ll build this one as shown on the box art …

… paints are quite easy here, Black on the underside, RLM 76/75 on the upperside. I wonder how I manage the RLM 75 mottling . Well, I 'll see …

I’ll start the build some time after my christmas break and hope to show first progress pics in January. Until then I wish everybody here a Merry Christmas - Frohe Weihnachten - Hyvää Joulua - God Jul - Joyeux Noel - Feliz Navidad - с Рождеством !

Happy modelling also in 2021!
Torsten

[magnusf]

Torsten! Something to look forward to after Christmas ! Stay safe!

Magnus

[Russelle]

Interesting topic Torsten

Best wishes to everyone for Christmas and the New Year

[AussieReg]

Yes! The heavy twin night-fighters are high on my list of favourites. The He-219 is right up there with the P-61 and the Beaufighter, so I’m very much looking forward to this build Torsten.

Seasons greetings to everybody, stay safe and well and have a great Christmas.

Cheers, D

[petbat]

Looking forward to the post Christmas start. Merry Christmas Torsten.

[BigZimmo]

Hi Torsten!!!
Looking forward to your “Uhu”…

Horrido
Zimmo

[BlackWidow]

Thanks for your christmas greetings, guys! Hope you’ve had a good and safe time. Everything’s fine over here. The He 219 is ready to hit the bench …

[Joel_W]

Torsten,
I’m already looking forward to seeing your He 219 on display in your miniature aircraft museum. Going to be a real stunner for sure.

Joel

[BlackWidow]

Happy New Year everyone! Wishing you luck and health for 2021!

First small update of my Uhu (Eagle Owl in english).
Cockpit is done, only a few parts, no PE. Remember, this kit first came out in 1997. Eduard would include 25 PE parts for all kind of knobs and the IP today … I have used the decals for the intrument panel and the seatbelts. Paint is again Revell 77 Dust Grey for the cockpit. Did some detail painting today. For a kit of 23 years of age the fitting is still great and the cockpit fits perfect into the weight which is the underside of the cockpit and the upper part of the front wheel well …

[Russelle]

Happy New Year, Torsten

Great details so far!

[AussieReg]

Best wishes for a successful 2021 Torsten, keep up the great work!

Cheers, D

[BlackWidow]

Progress on the Uhu went well in the past days, so I want to show you some photos of my work so far.
The fuselage is quite long as you can see, so I didn’t use my usual glue but glued the halves together step by step with Ethylacetate. I had to take away the armor glass from the cockpit for a while …

… next step was working at the wings. A bit of sanding was necessary but the fitting of the whole kit is excellent. Everything was done in 2 evenings …

… then I took care of the 30 mm MK 108 and drilled the muzzles open. Looks much better now. Unfortunatly there’s not much to see of the “Schräge Musik” later as you can seen from my reference. So there’s no need to paint this part …

… my reference book is “Die Deutsche Luftwaffe von 1939 bis 1945” by David Donald, which is more or less the german edition of “The Hamlyn Concise Guide to Axis Aircraft of World War II” by David Mondey, but without the italian and japanese aircraft. I have both books and they have proved to be always very helpfull with my builds. I have also the books of this series about the US and british aircraft.
Anyway, here you can see the weapon disappear in the fuselage. The cover here was just test fitting …

… and this is where I am at the moment. This sure becomes no “little” friend …

Stay safe and build models!
Torsten

[BlackWidow]

In the past few days I did a bit more work on my build. First I used the Eduard Mask EX161 for the canopy and noticed that some masks don’t fit well. So I cuth them into halves and used further some Kip Tape. That worked fine …

… but the fitting of the canopy parts is excellent …

… and with “Interior Grey” …

… though I have checked the internet before for photos of the flame dampers (which is front side and which is rear), I noticed that I cannot make a mistake in installing them correct to the exhausts. The parts D1 and D2 fit only on one end …

… and as usual some helpfull crocs at work …

All wheel bays are covered so I hope that I can prime fuselage and wings tomorrow. Stay tuned …

Have fun!
Torsten

[Russelle]

Nice work Torsten

Are the fuselage halves resin or styrene?

PS your display shelf looks a lot like mine, with in progress work scattered about on sticks ready for paint

[BlackWidow]

Thanks for stepping in, Russell!

The kit is completely made of styrene (PS) and a metal cockpit. So far the build goes really smooth. Not much sanding, no putty. It’s that well known Tamiya Quality. On my shelf of pride I always a little space to park some parts waiting for further process. Meanwhile I have 30 of these clamps and they have proved to be very useful, not only here but also with my armor builds.

Just came back from my paint bench. Primer is now on all parts, so there will be further progress in the next days.

Torsten

[BlackWidow]

Just a small update. Spayed “Nightfighter Black” on Friday …

… and started masking this afternoon. But I have noticed that I have to go over the elevators again because primer ist still shining through a bit. Will do that tomorrow, is no big deal …

… furthermore I have done some sub assembly and painting today …

Work is proceeding well but now follows a not much liked job - masking. That will need a couple of days so I guess I can show the next update by the end of next week.

Until then stay safe, guys!
Torsten

[RDT1953]

Hi Torsten - I don’t know how I missed this as I have just discovered it but I’ll be watching for sure .
I am anxious to see how you handle the upper surface camouflage. I have this one in my stash as well .
Cheers- Richard

[BlackWidow]

Thanks for looking, Richard! I’m not anxious about the mottling, I just wonder how it will come out. It’s just one colour RLM 75 and I hope to achieve something like on my 109 of the Esquadrilla Azul 2 years ago …

Torsten