SPA Modeler

LyleW wrote:Nice!

Thanks Lyle!

tempestjohnny wrote:Thanks for the tutorial. Wheel bays look great

Thanks Johnny!

Medicman71 wrote:Man that looks great! I think that those wheel wells are way too complicated. I'll never understand why they do things like that.

Thank you! As for the wheel wells, I DO like the result but I would've preferred something simpler and in plastic, not PE.

The wheel wells have been painted. I had to do some masking to protect the engine components and it was difficult to properly apply a pastel wash in that confined area but I'm calling it good.





Next, I glued the wing tops into place.  I've left off the wing cannon and may have to gouge out the holes in the wings to get them through but I thought I needed full access to the front edge for seam cleanup.



Some unexpected gaps around the wing root showed up.  Bummer but I don't think they should pose too much of a problem.






Another view into the wheel wells after the wings have been glued together.




And a look into the cockpit while the canopy is still off.  One foot pedal is barely visible and you can see why I choose to paint the pedals a lighter shade of grey!



I'll be working on seam cleanup for the next few days but I'm getting pretty close to painting I think!

I've slowed down a bit as I am gearing up for an overseas trip in a few days. After the luxury of using pre-cut Eduard masks on my past builds, I've had to buckle down and do the sliding canopy the old fashioned way.


With the canopy masking done and most of the seam clean-up finished, I'm fast approaching the painting stage. But I probably won't start the main camo painting until after I come back from my trip. I've glued the radiator cowling, rudder, horizontal tail planes and ailerons into place. Here's what the little Dora looks like in the light box.




Some close-ups of the wing root areas to see if there are any major hiccups.



I still haven't made up my mind if I want to show a closed or open canopy. The main obstacle in having an open canopy is how to replicate the slack antenna wire.



I've verified that the wing cannons can be inserted into place after painting.


The one piece landing gear legs are interestingly designed as they plug into the rear bulkhead and not the ceiling of the wheel well like 99% of models we see. While more accurate, I prefer the security of a straight-in plug/hole arrangement. Fit seems to be fine.


I've decided to glue in the ETC drop tank rack now instead of after to get a good glue bond. It doesn't want to sit flush so I'll have to glue it in two stages to get it to sit properly flat.


The supercharger intake and the little air scoop have been glued into place.


I've added break lines using copper wire. To make the attachment more plausible, I've wrapped very thin strips of aluminum tape around the legs at two points.


Here is a closer look at the wheels. You can make out what looks like DUNLOP logos on the tires! Despite the ability to put logos on the tires, the molding of the fine tire ribbing is very soft and inconsistent.


Using a thinned out piece of brillo cleaning pad, I've applied my normal mottling pattern to the landing gear covers. I'm not sure how this will work out at this scale but the gear covers are a good spot to test this type of pre-shading.

Looking real good John!

Are you going to do your usual style with painting the markings using masks?

Thanks Carlos! Yes, I'm planning on painting the major markings with masks. I've already cut the masks (of which I already used the spiral).


Oh... and if hadn't mentioned already, I am planning on representing WNr 210119 as shown on this profile painting by Claes Sundin. It is also the subject on the box art.


Jerry Crandall's Dora book (Volume 1) has seven photos of the aircraft wreck, of which I was able to find these five online...






The chevron has VERY thin white borders which I'll not be able to replicate with the masks and the WN number on the tail is too small so these, along with the data stencils, will be decals.

Wow that looks fantastic. The wheel well detail is really nice and in 1/72... I'd be
I vote canopy open to show that nice cockpit. Given your skills I'm certain you'll figure out the antenna.

I like the look of that scheme. The worn out balkenkruess is really interesting

keavdog wrote:Wow that looks fantastic. The wheel well detail is really nice and in 1/72... I'd be
I vote canopy open to show that nice cockpit. Given your skills I'm certain you'll figure out the antenna.

Thank you sir! I've got an order in for a test sample of very fine wire... 22-36 gauge. I'll evaluate the open cockpit option once I get that wiring to see if that can be used for the aerial.

tempestjohnny wrote:I like the look of that scheme. The worn out balkenkruess is really interesting

Yes, it is an interesting scheme. The worn/overpainted fuselage cross is very interesting and something that you rarely see on Luftwaffe birds. It's got the colorful yellow-white-yellow fuselage bands of JG2 and the light colored mottling on the upper cowling will be a fun test at 1/72 scale!

Contrary to the Claes Sundin profile, I am electing to portray the main lower color as the late war greenish variation of RLM76, as described in the Jerry Crandall Dora book and the kit instructions as well. Some have referred to this color as RLM84 but no such designation was given by the Luftwaffe. It is a documented color however, verified in samples and used somewhat frequently on late war Bf 109s and Fw 190s. I have this shade as produced by AK Real Colors but I also have an RAF Sky (Duck Egg Green) by Mr Hobby Aqueous that is a very close match and I think I'll use this just to see how it turns out.


Here are the outer landing gear covers painted over the mottling.


I ran into a mishap after applying the stencil decals. The problem was probably caused by thinning my clear gloss with Mr Leveling Thinner, which is a very "hot" thinner, and can cut into previous paint layers. It also had a weird effect on the decals, essentially dissolving a groove around the decal carrier.


I'm gonna let that cure completely and maybe it can salvaged with some careful micromesh/sanding. Otherwise, it will be wiped clean. I'll lose the stencils but that's ok... many of these Doras were missing stencils. In the meantime, the landing gear legs have been painted.

Too bad about the decals but like you said a lot of late war aircraft didn't have them anyway.

Live and learn!

I almost forgot about the oleo scissors on the landing gear. They are on the PE fret so I painted them and glued them on.


Here's what the landing gear legs look like when mounted in place.


The wee tail wheel has been painted too. The repaired connection between the wheel and strut has been blobbed with CA glue due to the weakness of the joint but it is not too noticeable.



The tires have been painted and I've made some effort to dirty them up a bit but it's really hard at this scale!


I couldn't salvage the painting on the gear doors so I wiped them clean and painted them again. No data stencils to dress them up but I did paint red primer around some of the attachment bolts, which is common on Doras. This served as a test bed for how I will paint the fuselage. The Duck Egg Green was lightened with White using a 1:1 ratio to counteract the dark mottling pre-shading while keeping the paint layer as thin as possible. A custom batch of medium grey pastel wash was used for the panel lines as I wanted a more subdued effect, especially given the amount of rivets on the rest of the aircraft.


Almost ready for paint! This will most likely be the last update for a while. Tomorrow I will be flying the Central Asia and will most likely not to get back to model building until March/April. Until then, stay safe and keep modeling!

Looking better and better John Those oleo scissors sure look extended/unweighted. Looks like your not too far from getting some paint on this one.