popeye the sailor
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popeye the sailor reacted to Egilman in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
Interesting, but although it might have been unknown to the ground troops, the high command and fighter command sure as heck knew about them.... There are several reasons that the knowledge of these flights was kept secret... #1 was the state of radar development at the time which was a more closely guarded secret than the Manhattan project... #2 was the estimated effectiveness of the intelligence gathered, not very effective as the video commentator admits... To be honest, the overlord operation placed 1.6 million troops ashore with all their equipment in under two months, there was no army on earth that could have stopped such an operation once the beachhead was established... #3 The missions came randomly chosen, completely inconsistent times of day, there was no way to plan an interception, and believe me they had the assets to intercept such flights, but from leaving the ground they were gone before the interceptors could get there... The High command made an operational decision that it just wasn't worth the effort to intercept them...
The Germans had a perfect photographic record of their destruction, I'm sure they were overjoyed....
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popeye the sailor reacted to Canute in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
I read somewhere that the Arados were used as recce birds over the Remagen bridgehead.
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popeye the sailor reacted to DocRob in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
Thank you Craig, it's tedious, but it pays, as you don't have to deal with the usual decal problems. The kit decals behaved well, except for silvering, therefore, I opted for the masks, with a heavy heart.
Cheers Rob
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popeye the sailor reacted to DocRob in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
Thank you Ken, I have some books about the Arado as well and there are enough side views provided with the codes on. The material about the Nachtigall (nightingale night fighter version) is a bit sparse though.
I have only the kit decals for the correct fuselage code and they do silver, so I need another solution. I may use a false code for my plane, which is supplied with the 1ManArmy masks, but you haven't heard that from me .
The Arados flew different types of combat missions, as reconnaissance plane, as a bomber and some attempts with the night fighter as a Mosquito hunter, but without success. The plane proved not to be practical for the role due to lot's of reflections inside the glass house canopy and absolutely no protection for the pilot.
It may have been one of the best reconnaissance plane of it's time though, with a high altitude and speed and an unmatched stable base for the cameras due to the non-prop engines. These duties started in June 1944.
More than 200 were built, but not all of them saw action.
Cheers Rob
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popeye the sailor reacted to CDW in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
The masking looks fantastic, Rob. Love it!
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popeye the sailor reacted to Canute in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
Rob, I have an old source book on the Luftwaffe and may be able to dig up some codes. Then again, I don't think these jets actually flew combat missions, so the codes would be speculative.
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popeye the sailor reacted to DocRob in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
My test decal on the tail silvered and that meant masking time, hooray . The OneManArmy masks are cut absolutely precise, but it's a lot of tedious work. With the Arad, some masks require three layers of masking and color, phew. Masking the walkways on top of the fuselage and wings was not so easy, with trimming the strips to size and align them with a ruler and good eyesight.
The larger markings like the crosses were applied with frisket film on top, which makes alignment and placement easier, a lesson learned with my Corsair build.
Now I have to think about the airplane codes on the side of the plane, where I don't have the proper masks for. Silvering decals? A false code and hoping nobody recognizes it? Browsing through my masks and try to find something appropriate? Decisions, decisions...
Next will be masking the masks , which will be an equally annoying job, before it's spraying time.
I hope my new airbrush will arrive soon, which will be helpful with the fine markings and other filigrane airbrush work, but more about that later.
Cheers Rob
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popeye the sailor reacted to DocRob in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
After a proper drying time, I inspected the paintjob and found only some minor flaws, which will be corrected by brush. The constantly pressing on of the vinyl masks payed in the end.
To unify the camouflage a bit better, I used a 6000 grit sanding sponge and wet sanded the whole model. It's interesting, how this seemingly unnoticeable effect integrates the different hard edged colors better.
I now have a very smooth base and have to decide, if I go the painful route with the 1ManArmy masks or if I use the kit decals. Some markings for my plane are not included in the mask set, so I decaled the Arado's serial number and the kit decals behave exceptionable well. Thin but robust and easy to slide and position. I will evaluate after drying, which way I choose with the markings and stencils.
Cheers Rob
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popeye the sailor reacted to DocRob in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
Thank you Ken, let's hope it stays this way .
Cheers Rob
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popeye the sailor reacted to Canute in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
Looks good so far, Rob.
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popeye the sailor reacted to DocRob in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
The hard edge camo is done. I sprayed the brown violet over the masked dark green areas and got a sharp result. I used a dedicated masking set, made by LF Models. The masks are made from vinyl and It took some effort to lay them down perfectly, to have no color running under it. The manual is a bit vague in places, relatively small and some codes were printed blue on green, hard to read. Definitely an area for improvement. I always remove my masks rapidly after application, before the color is properly hardened through. Luckily on first inspection, I couldn't make out severe mistakes. After proper drying, I will have a closer look.
Cheers Rob
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popeye the sailor reacted to DocRob in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
Time and motivation are a bit sparse in the moment, but I managed to apply some color onto the Arado. After re-spraying the gloss black of the canopy after sanding, the whole canopy section was masked.
The underside of the plane received a coat of RLM 76, followed by a very long masking session, a job, I really don't like.
This was followed by a coat of RLM 82 Dunkelgrün (dark green) I decided against pre shading, because of the double coating in the RLM 81 Braunviolett areas. All camo colors are from AK's Real Color range and spray very fine and smooth with the added Mr. Leveling thinner. After drying, I will apply the camo masks, which are pre-cut luckily.
Cheers Rob
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popeye the sailor reacted to CDW in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
Pop is an expression that means, to catch the eye and/or to call attention to detail. Yes, to make the eyes wander is a great way to put it.
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popeye the sailor reacted to DocRob in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
Thank you Craig, I think with the sleek and huge Arado, it's a good idea to enhance some detail areas, to let the eye wander. I guess, that's what you mean by 'pop'. I like to replicate materials out of the plastic, that don't look plastic anymore. It's one of the keys which drives me in modelling.
Cheers Rob
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popeye the sailor reacted to CDW in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
Outstanding. Small details carefully done as you've displayed here make all the difference in a finished model and help it "pop". Great work, Rob.
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popeye the sailor reacted to DocRob in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
Still no masks at hand, spring can be awful here. It's the worst weather of the year, normally and every second day is a holiday, so no working customs, no working mail.
Meanwhile, I painted the wheels with my usual workflow, spraying the hubs first, in this case semi matte black, then mask the hubs and spray the tires. Here I used Nato Black as a base and then sprayed the flanks with some drops of Field Blue in the Nato black. Last step are pigments in a concrete tone rubbed in for enhancing contrasts and simulating abrasion and dirt. Some details were picked out by brush on the hubs.
The kit wheels look especially good, it's strange, how different the quality of the plastic parts is in this kit.
Next were the parachute packs for the Ratos jets. I sprayed everything in RLM 22, masked the belts off and used Buff for the remainder. The ropes were painted by brush and then I rubbed in some concrete pigments.
Cheers Rob
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popeye the sailor reacted to DocRob in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
While I'm still waiting for the 1ManArmy masks to arrive, I decided to do a little detail work and gave some love to the wheel struts.
The oleos where covered with AK's chrome adhesive tape, but as this is a bit stiff, Bare Metal foil would have been the better choice. My Arado 234 Monographs show the braking lines partly yellow and black, so I used my braided 0,5 mm Anyz line for the purpose along with Anyz resin connectors. The yellow line was soaked in Pledge, because otherwise it would have been to bright and have spots, where the CA stuck.
The clamping strips were made from pre cut Bare Metal foil of 0,5 mm width, secured with some drops of Pledge. After drying, I will rub in some steel pigments and add some shadows and highlighting.
Cheers Rob
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popeye the sailor reacted to DocRob in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
I masked wheel wells, engines and the canopy with sponges, tape and liquid mask and gave the Arado a rub with an alcohol soaked cloth. I paid a lot of attention to seal the canopy section air tight with liquid mask and with filling the gaps before with Revell Clear, because I hope to hinder the inside of the canopy from fogging due to thinner fumes.
Prime (er) time - I applied Mr. Surfacer 1200, which sprayed very well as always.
After drying, I sprayed the canopy section gloss black, to accept the riveted decal strips for the framing, if I decide to use them.
Now I have to check, where I have to further work on the surfaces, be it filling or scribing. Meanwhile I sprayed other parts like the Rato rockets and their parachutes, external fuel tanks and the parts for the landing gear, which will be detailed with chrome oleos and braking lines next.
Cheers Rob
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popeye the sailor reacted to DocRob in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
Thank you Ken.
Meanwhile, there is some detail work to be done. I added the PE hinges to the wheel doors and the breaking parachute release mechanism to the fuselage, where I used 0,55 mm brass rod instead of the supplied thread.
Cheers Rob
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popeye the sailor reacted to Canute in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
Coming along nicely, Rob.
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popeye the sailor reacted to DocRob in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
The thing got wings finally and it's tail. Fit is good so far, but a little filling will be needed at the wingroots. The Arado is a big kite and one of the main goals until the finish is not to knock off the protruding FUG antenna posts. She will not be a tail sitter, my glued in weight was sufficient.
Cheers Rob
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popeye the sailor reacted to DocRob in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
Thank you Craig, it's not the nicest of joins, but I guess painted and maybe decaled it will look ok. Decaled means, Fly provided strips of decal with bolt detail to apply over the canopy framing. I'm not finally decided, if I use these.
I will look for the videos you recommended. Sometimes I watch modeling related footage during building sessions. I never spent so much time around clear parts with cutting, sanding, drilling, filling masking, gluing in parts of different materials, ... The cockpit is indeed the focal point of the Arado.
Cheers Rob
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popeye the sailor reacted to CDW in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
When you have the time to do it, go up on YouTube and look up "Greg's Models" channel. He's what I call an old-school modeler. Does some fantastic work IMO. His handling of canopy glass-work joins to his models is masterful. Also, there is a member of this forum whose name now escapes me, he too has a large number of YouTube videos on plastic modeling (as well as other types) where his handling of clear plastic is extraordinary. Both these fellows share a common trait, they both aggressively go after a near-perfect fit of the glass to fuselage with some careful buffing, polishing and masking at the end. Their instructional videos are very much worth watching.
Greg's Models - YouTube
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popeye the sailor reacted to CDW in Nachtigall on Speed Arado 234 B-2N by DocRob - FINISHED - 1/32 - Fly
Very nice join there.
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