popeye the sailor

yea.......gotta love how intrusive the sprue joints can be really nice job on it so far! been seeing a lot of these military vehicles lately by companies I've never heard of. tempted.....but hesitant about adding another rabbit hole to my collection a super sharp blade against a flat surface might give you a better outcome, and just whittle away the rest.

normally, I get mine from Walgreens as a six pack.......small tubes. larger bottles I find, the nozzles get clogged before I can use it up.

hey there EG..........catching up with your project a few good repairs, a couple of adjustments....and there ya go! we revel in your joy she's look'in good..........a nice start on the paint job your about to do. I also saw your bad news........know that my fingers are crossed for you and am routing for a good outcome. beat it!~

something I've not seen.........I've seen either - or........and not a combination like that. some wrote their love's name in some place.....preferably close to the canopy for a sense of closeness........but most names were a poke at their oppressors

sorry to hear of your decal woes......although you still can touch them up. I have to ask........why two names on the nose? American Beauty on one side and Lovely Lila on the other..........are you suggesting the duality of man, sir? super good job on the paint........an old acquaintance of mine used Alclad extensively

hello Ron! happy to have you looking in.

thanks Ken.......Yep, I know to use super glue on these parts. I just bought a couple new bottles for the PE on the New Jersey. I'll keep the age thing in mind

thank you all for joining in. it seems that just playing with the landing gear boots wasn't enough. once I started to play with it, I got carried away so this is a short run kit Ken there are no date stamps anywhere on the model....nor the instructions or box. the only date I found was the print date on the decal sheet......2000. don't think I've ever done a short run model. I'll try not to let you down absolutely Egilman.........the resin parts are very detailed.......hard to tell in these pictures I've posted of late. the lamp on my desk died, so the admiral went out and bought me this LED lamp. it's pretty bright and so far the pictures have been decent. I'll try and get better ones so you can see how nice these parts are. welcome to you Alan and Jack........good to have you folks look'in in the kit also features an expansive paint by number.........just about everything has a color number associated with it. as with any kit, there is the usual flash clean up.......especially where the sprue connects to the part. it seems to carry onto the mating surfaces. one thing I forgot to mention was that I had done some clean up to the cockpit floor prior to mess'in with it. the floor was a bit thick......the underside was very shiny and slightly sunken...likely the 'sunny side up' from being produced. noting the thickness of the floor in the Revell kit, I brought the thickness down by rubbing it on a large sheet of sandpaper. sanding all around the outer edge, I concentrated on the starboard side aft, to even the taper to mimic the port side. the fuselage was taped back together.......it was a tight fit, but I managed to slide the floor in place. to make it a better fit a small amount of plastic was removed from the opening below the gunner's compartment, in contour with the wing root........the underside of the floor {aft}....both edges were rounded to fit in the space better. the floor comes out now, like a cartridge. still a bit blurry {I'll get a good one yet I have two options here.......I can keep doing it like this and risk breaking something in the future, but I think I'm going to cement one side of the floor to the inner wall {preferably the starboard side} and save myself some grief. I may have to shave a bit more here and there. the pieces of the wings were cemented together, only using the upper surfaces as a template for the dihedral. only the three bottom parts were glued together. any gaps seen on the outer surface were filler with putty and left over night to dry. I sanded them today. the chunk off to the right has the front and read radiator detail on it.......it is to be added as a plug. problem is.....it is too small causing it to be indented to much. I'm going to cut it and fit the radiator faces in their proper places. in tinkering with the landing gear boots a bit more........this would be acceptable to me. I may remove a tiny bit of the axle bumps.......perhaps it will go in a tad deeper. now to get the other 'shoe on the right foot the machine gun is there.........very nice detail. .....something else I see..............a better shot of the cockpit! very detailed! when I have the fuselage split, perhaps I can show more

hi there Egilman....welcome to ze flying zircus! I will say this.........the ending will be textbook, but the beginnings will definitely be out of the norm I tried to get a decent picture of the cockpit floor and walls, but for some reason, they came out blurry. the walls needed to be cut off their blocks.......areas of the walls are very thin. there was a slight issue. the partition was cleaned up and is the first part glued into place. I sanded the thickness down to make it even {in thickness} and flat. there is flash.........hard to discern what is part or flash. I was going to wait for the picture to tell you, but the taper to the cockpit floor is off too, which is enough to make one doubt putting it together. the pilot seat and gunner seat had to be cut from their blocks. in between the pilot seat legs had to be removed as well. both of them cracked, but not severe enough to lose them....a little CA fixed them up. after dry fitting the walls on the floor...........I just didn't feel confident enough to put glue to them. the interior of the dry fitted fuselage was examined........the injection pin marks were removed..........taped back up and examined again. don't know whether to bite the bullet or chew on the shell they show the model being assembled with the cockpit as a whole.........but considering the shape of the floor, I chose the later the walls were glued in place using the marks provided.........you can see the off-ness of the floor. the machine gun post was also glued to the floor.........it broke off the block and I almost lost it. the walls were clamped and set aside for the Ca to set. gotta head out for a bit............still got more to add here. go get a beer......ya look parched

the landing gear boot halves were cut from the sprue. the protruding tire detail will be cut off. the resin tires look a bit fatter though.......but once I do this, there is no turning back. the resin tires were separated from their block and cleaned up. one thing noticed here is the thickness of the plastic.......this might be something in my favor. here goes nothing........ the excess was trimmed out of the well.......keeping a thin wall around the opening. the mating side was cut and trimmed out to match. I made up a sandpaper dowel to assist me with the shaping. I had taped the two halves together.......held together, but still prone to shifting. I continued until both boots were hollowed out. I kept them taped for the time being....the idea of having them moveable was beginning to become very doubtful {the reason why I tape them in the first place}. especially when I saw how much more I had to go. more enlargement.........then flat across the opening to keep it even. I'm losing more towards the rear, the only way to go in order to enlarge the opening. I even looked through my spare parts to see if I had another pair of tires.....yea, but wrong scale. press on Mc Duff..........I finally arrived with them looking like this..... the fact that they have their axles prevents them from going inside, but they look like they could drop in. I was going to drill holes for the axles, but miscalculating seemed kinda scary. I figurred of getting the axles just past the opening lip and being happy with it. I decided to glue the halves together at this point...... the openings need to be more tire shaped, and less oval.........which led to the half hearted squaring out of the openings. for a break away from all the sanding, I put the fuselage halves together in a dry fit to see what I was up against with that.......... the no locator pin thing is very telling with the fuselage..........the cockpit section give it sort of a flimsy feeling. it's gonna slide around a lot as I clamp it. it's got some roughness around the edges too. I did notice that there are marks to show where the cockpit walls should be, but I will need to remove the injection pin marks that will be in the way. the cockpit was on my mind at this point.........whether or not to assemble the cockpit with or without the inner side walls. but if I did that, would they mate up with the outer walls of the sides without gaps? there are a few tooling errors here and there that will need to be cleaned up........I fear that the resin is going to be just as bad. the thoughts were over whelming........I just had to see.

As mentioned, I will separate this one from the original Stuka log, due to the fact that it's an earlier variant. I've heard about this company, but I've never built one of their models. the box art is what caught my eye. the wings is made up of five sections.......the other thing is the lack of locator pins or tabs. it becomes critical to line things up properly. the kit comes with resin parts....one being a set of tires. the landing gear boots, as can be seen, has tire detail molded in place. to fit the resin tires in the boots will be the first feat of modification madness the instructions is fairly detailed in regards to the resin parts, but not for the tires and exact locations. these are the resin parts.......confusing at first, but once I caught on with how they did the count on everything, I saw that all the parts are here. the canopy seems to be the exception.......I got two of them. not sure if the yellowing is OK or not.......I'll see when I get into it. the decals are a bit bland, but I'll try and make up for it with the overall paint {I hope}. I figured I'd start this one after the G1 was finished, but watching paint dry is boring. so I gathered the parts for the landing gear boots and get the party started

I thought that as well, considering that it is in relation to the elevators. my next phase will be to do the masking on the canopy.....currently trimming off the injection pin marks so it will fit right. it's been very hot up here in the Northeast.........my work week couldn't end quick enough..........I REALLY didn't want to be there. there is no break from this heat till this coming Monday. to add to the misery, I've got some gastro issues going on...definitely something I ate Sunday our family had a get together........out oldest sister came up from Florida {this is our second}. yesterday, my younger sister {#6.......there are eight in our family} informs us that her husband has Covid {I sat next to him}. I haven't been feeling ill, other than the abdominal cramps I've been experiencing, but I did a home test and it came up negative. with a sudden rush of visits to the porcelain god last night, I think I'm over the hill with the gastro issues........I'll bet it was the HOT Sausage. but I don't want to get too analytical....I just want to put it behind me............cheeky I got a bit further with the JU87A....is there a difference between Polyuretan {quote from the instructions} and resin? I took a break from the landing gear boots / tire fitting and began looking at these parts. even the wings look challenging, being made up of five pieces. I assembled them, careful to position then to the correct dihedral....the instructions have diagrams showing it, which is really nice. without locator pins or tabs though, there is some major guesswork on where stuff goes. the resin is interesting though.......I have never dealt with it at this scale. the entire cockpit is resin....the rest are just odds and ends. due to the enlarged radiator, it is a V2 variant......not too many pictures of them online.......the G variant seems the star in that respect. I should start a log on it, since I've got a few sessions worth of pictures. I'm having to go about this one a bit differently as well.

the camo is to lap onto the stabilizers, so this update starts here. the stabilizer struts have the same part number in the kit, but there is a difference, so they really should have their own. there is a left and right here...test fit to be sure your putting them on the correct side. I had to do some trimming to get the rudder to fit correctly later on. once the struts were in place, the camo work started on the fuselage. the Stuka in later variants never lost those diamond shaped tips on the stabilizer {s}. early in the development, the V 1 had twin rudders. when the V 2 was introduced, it too had the twin rudders, but in the first round of testing, it spun out of control and killed the pilot. from the V 2 on, a single rudder fin was used. it is a bit curious why the stubs were left in the design, possibly to add more stability. I would say.........that in regards to the human anatomy, they are nothing more than the Appendix, in comparison. the camo continued towards the nose........ finally, the entire fuselage was covered. the exhaust was also painted..........time to give 'er her wings! a bit dark, I know.............I like this effort better than the 1:72

...or you might lose most of it by reactivating the decal adhesive. would decal set help? beautiful job on the paint.........awesome model

getting closer to another update....made some progress on my little side task. I read another article that outlines in more detail, how the Stuka came to be. Junkers Ju 87 Stuka it gives a good deal of info on it's development....it conflicts the installation of the wing gun........and it expands the use of the stuka upon entry into WWII. one of the target changes made around this time was on shipping. two later variants not really mentioned to any degree was the JU87C {and one I never heard of}, the JU87R. these planes were built for carrier use........really interesting. I haven't seen any model kits on the odd variants........the Special Hobby kit was a unique find.

I'm in the process right now, of assembling and painting the tail section. it's a bit boring watching paint dry, so I thought I'd amuse myself........or abuse myself {whatever the case may be}. I keep thinking about the resin tires for the JU87A........can it be done so that's what I'm doing while I wait. all I can say, is that the plastic seems too thick for this type of stuff. the tire detail has been cut off.........no turning back now!

I won't cry foul if you got help .....I wish I did sometimes! looking really nice.....great start! so glad to see your back.

thanx OC and Jav....... if you read the articles, these planes were primarily used during the Spanish and Russian conflicts.........and also the stint in Africa. they did well in the beginning of WWII, but they lost out towards the end. fitted with the Jummo engine, they were just not as fast as American fighters, and their arch enemy..........the Spitfire. I'm sure the numbers are short of the exact amount built.........Ju87 D's - 3,800 Ju87G 1 {and possibly the G 2 variant} 5,800, which suggests that this plane was one that was built in large quantity. their only task was to deliver bombs..........their defense was a radio /gunner in the beginning........a 50 cal in the left wing further on, and then the nose cannon after that {possibly the G-2}.

following along Chris..........another of your great projects

no......it's a glider

I bought some Mr. Hobby putty.......the only thing I don't like about it, is that it skins over really quick. gotta work fast look'in good there Bud!

very nice looking tank! I've had that happen to me a few time....it's why I don't do a finish coat. great paint work.........nicely done!

moving right along........very nice detail I wonder if that brace in the front is the attachment point for a mine sweeper. I saw a kit on old model kits the other day that had such an attachment on the tank

I mentioned shortcomings..........in comparison to the Special Hobby kit, I saw three. there may be others, but I'm sure that they are cosmetic and likely something I'm willing to live with. the first thing I noticed, is that there is a partition between the pilot and gunner, and the radio equipment is visible on the gunner side. there is a cut away toward the base, but I went with a full length partition that narrows at the top. I gotta say.....I did a great job with hugging the inner cockpit walls. the raw blank was whittled down to the shape I wanted, and then I went into my spare parts box. parts for the equipment was cobbled out and added to the partition. once painted, they look more the part.......even more so once the fuselage halves were cemented together. the missing intake screen was my next concern. the two locator pin holes were trimmed out, and a blank was glued in place before the halves were joined. I was just going to leave it as it is, but going through the spare parts, I found something for it. the blank was cleaned up and painted. the screen part was cut to shape and glued in place....I'm glad I recessed the blank. I wished it was PE........but beggars can't be choosers. the third short coming can be seen in prior pictures..........the two demarcations on the top of the cowl, that suggests vents. sorry for the blur........a clearer view can be seen in the cockpit picture. as luck would have it.......I found something in the spare parts that could be used. it took a bit of trimming, since they are small vents, but I managed to cobble something together. I hope to add more to the model......usually I revel in getting it built

thanks Mike I found that removing the molded detail helped out a lot. I didn't center it quite right, but in the cockpit it looks good. with the glass in place, it will never be seen. oh.....I like that Ken.........I'll keep it in mind back in my youth, I built the 1:32 'snake' Stuka..........it used to be quite common, but has become a bit rare to see. one day while I was out, my siblings took it outside and destroyed it on me..........I found it smashed into a stump in the corral for the horses. I didn't do a lot of paint on it.......I wasn't much of a painter, not that I am now .....but I think I could do much more than join plastic together.........and it's a huge plane, for 1:32. I'm actually kind of surprised with this kit.........so far, I've fixed three shortcomings with it. check out this update