Junkers Ju 87A-2 Stuka by popeye the sailor - Special Hobby - 1:48 scale

[popeye the sailor]

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  

[Egilman]

I'm in brother, pulling up the comfy chair now...

[popeye the sailor]

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.

 

 

[Egilman]

Resin kits are a trip unto themselves brother.... Study your research and break out all the skills you will need them....

 

But they build beautiful, quality models when done... I just received my M-6 HST in the mail yesterday a complete resin model which has similar issues along with a warped top plate...

 

Practice patience and it will go together brilliantly... You can do it....

[popeye the sailor]

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   

[Jack12477]

I'm here too, Denis 

[king derelict]

Great work on a difficult kit

Alan

[Canute]

Yep, Special Hobby kits are not for the faint of heart. Short runs and tough fitting make them a challenge, but, seeing you work thru some other kits, I know you'll turn out OK. Model on, Denis.

[popeye the sailor]

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  

 

 

[kiwiron]

Not like you to get carried away Popeye, lol. Looking good.

[popeye the sailor]

hello Ron!  happy to have you looking in.  

[kiwiron]

Thanks. Everytime I see m & m 's I think of you.

 

[Canute]

You've done some judicious cutting out of those parts. Maybe use some strip styrene to fill in around the resin radiator? I think you nailed the wheels/pants; a little sanding on the axle nubs appears to confirm it. Nice work. 👍

[popeye the sailor]

 the M&M ship........the admiral won't part with it!   I told her that when she goes to the happy hunting ground,  I'm gonna put her ashes in it!    I saw your log.......good to see more of your fine work!

 

both of the wheels are now fitted Ken..........the pants have been painted.  I have an idea for the radiator {front and back}.......but I'm concerned for the dive brakes.  one of them broke removing it from the mold bar,  so I'm in the process of figuring out how to repair it.  I should have an update soon!  

[Edwardkenway]

Catching up, and now the hammock is slung!

Always an interesting trip with your builds Denis. 

[popeye the sailor]

hello Ed.....your just in time    I felt I had enough pictures together to make a decent report....they pick up from last Friday.  firstly........I was able to capture a decent picture of the cockpit.  with everything in place,  it will be pretty detailed.........odd thing is that a few of the parts are not in the kit.  they need to be scratch built {simple stuff,  but effective}.

as can be seen,  I did what I suggested........the floor is cemented into one side of the fuselage.  this particular side has a couple brace bars that connect the gun post to the wall,  so this was already predetermined.  I'm not happy with the idea that it requires a dark paint.  Schwarzgrun,  which according to my translator,  is a dark green....I have some that is made by Monogram / Humbrol {part of the paint booty}.  I've been mixing the heck out of this stuff because it was separated so badly.......the pigment was a hard layer on the bottom 

at a latter time,  I decide to try and cut out the cockpit glass.  for some unforeseen reason,  there were two in the kit.........like the cost of failure was so high.  the first one didn't come out to bad.......only encountered one episode where it cracked as I was cutting it.  it was very tiny,  and I was able to smooth it over....cement will do the rest.  in the rear,  there is the gun opening.........a bit of a nail biter,  but it trimmed out OK.  the second one came out worse......the gun opening killed it.  picture not that great......I'll try and get a better one.

I had my doubts about this paint.  may cover better with two coats....

I'll see how it goes,  but I don't want to put too thick of a coat on it.  I finished fitting the tires in the boots......time to give them some paint.  still need to paint the tires.

the fuselage was re dry fitted and the wing bottom was added.  before I did that though,  the brackets for the aileron flaps were added to the trailing edges of the wing.  the ailerons on most planes are cut into the wing and lend to a more controlled dive and lift.  the ailerons on the Stuka however,  are set up apart from the wing surface, to allow a more aggressive dive.  one problem with this,  is that it is much harder to recover from such a dive as quickly.  for that,  the use of dive brakes are use to slow the speed of the dive,  so the ailerons can function more effectively.  I've noticed that on some kits,  dive brakes are not included....the Revell kit doesn't have them,  and neither did the Fujimi kit.  the ones in this kit are resin parts and there was some trouble cutting them free.  I may try my hand at scratch making a pair..........if I do well,  I may make a pair for the Revell kit too  

six tabs are cemented along the wing........when dry,  they were lightly sanded to even them up.

your getting this in real time now..........this part I've been doing while chatting with you all    now I will be able to gauge the wing root end better.  starting with the center section,  it was cemented into place.

there are some resin parts to add after they are complete.  this is actually really neat..........I have said in the past,  that these kits..........this aspect of the subject,  should be done in separate parts.  well,  now I'm going to see how this goes......I have gotten my wish!  speaking with you further,  the outer section was added,  beveling where it will join the center section as it relates to the wing shape.

 

....................schnitzel! I was so busy chatting with you folks,  that I forgot to take a picture!!!! 

 

....so,  I guess we'll just have to wait till I get the last section on.  it too was beveled to fit the shape of the wing edge.   the moment of truth!

this brings us to where I am at the moment.  I will have the other side done by the next update.........and hopefully much more.

 

 

[Canute]

Looks like the fuselage closed up nicely, Denis. Well done. Surprised the cockpit paint was so dark. They liked RLM02, a gray shade. New research showed otherwise? Coming along nicely; a variant rarely seen. 👍

 

I think the Stuka was a near vertical dive bomber, so pulling out of a dive like that required a certain minimum turn radius. And with unboosted flight surfaces, probably a two fisted grab on the control stick. Our high angle dive was 45 degrees and I can say that that was a red ticket tide.We rolled in from 14-15 thousand feet, released around 7K feet. But some of that was to stay above small arms envelopes. I forget where we bottomed out, because I'd be looking over my right or left shoulder to see where the bombs went and look for bandits trying to shoot at us.

[Javlin]

Denis put the canopy on the window sill with lots of sunlight I have taken out over 1/2 of the yellowing for a Nate I have.It's much like doing the decals that have yellowed same process.

[popeye the sailor]

according to the instructions....... the Revell color chart suggests a dark gray.  I think the Special Hobby instructions suggest the same..........I shall refer to my translator.  I just looked at the translator I downloaded........seems I got my grau and grun mixed up     I can change it.........that Monogram paint looks more like a stain,  than anything else.  it's nature suggests that it would be more suited for wood.

 

likely 55 to 60 degrees........any more than that,  I don't think even dive brakes will keep you from creating a crater   ...........not only that,  the bomb is supposed to get there before you do.  jets have more thrust,  but I think wing shape is important too.  I learned quite a bit during my initial stint with balsa airplanes....lucky to remember 1/4 of it today.

 

I've done that before Jav.......never got the success that others got.  did you have a cello canopy?  this is the first model I've done that supplies one.  I set it in the living room window..........it's worth a try  

[Egilman]

10 minutes ago, popeye the sailor said:

likely 55 to 60 degrees........any more than that,  I don't think even dive brakes will keep you from creating a crater

For the Stuka the maximum dive angle was 85 degrees, for the Dauntless it was 90... we must remember these were slow aircraft 320 knots clean....

 

They learned this with the Curtis helldivers in the 30's....

 

The SB2C had a max dive angle of 65 degrees, but then it was a 450 knot aircraft the faster the aircraft the lower the dive angle... 

 

The Stuka and Dauntless flown by an experienced pilot were deadly dive bombers cause they could go almost vertical...

 

Jets, the F-105 & F-104 had a maximum dive bombing angle of 45 degrees... The faster they get, the lower the dive angle for bombing...

 

Ken would know, from a vertical dive, what is the recovery allowance? for the F-86 it was 5500 feet... Don't know what it was for the F-4...

 

And the planes are so fast today and using guided munitions I don't believe they do dive bombing anymore...  No real need to...

 

[Canute]

EG, that data point is long gone from my memory banks. We dropped a nominal 45 degrees, but sometimes got steeper. What's a few degrees among friends. 😉 Release was supposed to be 7K, but sometimes the nose gunner pressed the altitude. I'd give him a 1 potato, 2 potato and then start squawking about altitudes. With precision guided weapons,the  art of dive bombing may be going away. That being said, the weapons release computers can turn darn near anyone into a sharpshooter.

[lmagna]

I think I read somewhere that the Stuka had a support rod that would hold the stick in a climb position when set. At the end of the dive the pilot would set this lock and it would hold the recovery even against the steepest pull out and more importantly if the pilot blacked out from the G forces. I'm not real knowledgeable on German aircraft but that was what I read.   

[Danstream]

14 hours ago, popeye the sailor said:

according to the instructions....... the Revell color chart suggests a dark gray.

Hi Denis, German aircraft had the interior painted in the factories with RLM 02 (and IP on some was RLM 66) until Nov 1941. After that date, everything visible from the cockpit windows was painted with RLM 66, which is a dark grey. The rest of airframe remained RLM 02. This is the basic guideline, of course if you google the topic you find also endless discussions about that.

 

13 hours ago, Egilman said:

For the Stuka the maximum dive angle was 85 degrees, for the Dauntless it was 90... we must remember these were slow aircraft 320 knots clean....

That's right, the Stuka did not built up at a fast rate its diving speed, indeed it was a (hopeless) slow aircraft because it was very draggy. Of course the diving brakes also contributed their part to slow the dive. Apparently it was 'at ease' with very steep dive angles.

3 hours ago, lmagna said:

I think I read somewhere that the Stuka had a support rod that would hold the stick in a climb position when set.

Lou, the Stuka was fitted with an automatic diving recovery system that pulled-up the plane if and when the pilot was blackened-out. For more information about diving speeds and altitudes, see for example:

https://www.fighter-planes.com/info/ju87.htm

In period footages taken from the cockpit, I saw the pilot firing few bursts during the dive probably to get some clue about how to aim the plane from the tracer bullets (but this is an supposition of mine).

The design of the ailerons and of the flaps was a Junker trademark of that time. For example, the Ju-52 had the same design. I suppose that it had some advantage in simplifying the design of the wing structure, but surely was not efficient to reduce the drag. In fact it disappeared with faster airplanes. Probably it was even dangerous for promoting flutter phenomena.

 

There is one thing I always wondered about the Stuka diving maneuver and it is about the accommodation of the gunner in the back. Differently from the pilot who had a proper seat, the gunner sat on a sort of 'picnic chair' with no backrest or headrest (he had a sort of leather strap across his back) and enjoyed the ride facing backwards, I guess it must have been quite an unforgettable experience.

 

Several years ago, I built the old (and good) 1/24 Airfix kit to find that this ugly guy had its own deadly sort of 'beauty'.

Sorry for having hijacked your post Denis, I hope you didn't mind.

Cheers,

Dan

[popeye the sailor]

oh heck no Dan........these logs are designed to gather information.  if anyone decides to build this particular plane,  all he need do is look up this log,  and he would have more info that he ever needed!  not to mention the insane ideas to finish a great looking model.  it's all around good stuff!  

 

I do have an update to report,  but I'm told that we need to get on with the errands.  so....I guess I'll just bite the bullet and get them over with.  I'll see you all when I get back  

[popeye the sailor]

now.........barring any more interruptions......I can proceed!  first off.....I got a good scare.  taking Jav's advice,  I put the canopy {the good one} in a window that gets quite a bit of sun.  bad thing is......I forgot about it.  we had a wedding to go to today,  so I took a half day off to go {wished I didn't}.  got home........made supper on the grill.......watched some boob tube..........and after enduring shows with little intelligence,  I decided to finally post the updates.   this is when I realized what I had done with the canopy..........whenever it was suggested was when I put it in the window!  rushing to the window,  I was startled to find that it had disappeared!  I ran to get a flash light,  since the only light in the room is set up for the fan at the moment.  thankfully,  the wind blew it out of the window,  because I found it behind the speaker by the TV stand so.......yellow or not,  it's getting painted and used!

 

OK......at last post,  I had added the ailerons to the wings.........I added all of the actuator rods.  one set was resin,  and none of them broke!

once dry,  the underside was painted a light Ghost gray

the top halves of the wings were cemented in place at this time.  they had already been painted........I stuck with the Forest Green as I did with the JU87G 1

the walkways have also been painted.

the camo is the same as the JU87G 1.........I want to do something different.  this will be the base colors.  there is another update....more that I did on the next day.  another bit of news that I got today.  I came home around noon today...the admiral was play'in with her phone at the table.  on the table was a model kit...........odd????  I ignored it for the moment and caught up on what she had done in the morning.......she wanted to go out with our younger son to Walmart,  and buy another dress for the wedding.   then I asked about the model.........she told me she got it from Walmart    in the whole time I've worked for them {18 years Sept 20th},  I have never seen a model kit in their stores!  ..........maybe somewhere else,  but not 'round these parts!  it's an old AMT {Round 2 production} of a '57 chevy Bel Air Hardtop....I asked her why this particular model.......and she replied because she liked it  {she who think I have too many models}    I have come to the conclusion,  that she is an enabler 

[popeye the sailor]

the next day,  I repainted the cockpit interior....looks better gray.

I added some of the added detail........there's more.  the tires were also painted.  I'm not finding any trouble using enamels.

with the boots modified and painted,  they were added to the underside of the wings.

the exhaust are resin parts.......time to add them to the fuselage halves,  along with other bits of detail.

as can be seen,  the instrument panel has been cemented in place.  two pedals were added before this took place.  it was sanded and trimmed down to fit.

I also started to work on the radiators.   together {the 'plug' as a whole} it did not fit the cavity......it sat back too far.  I want to bring them more to the outer edges of the radiator box.  taking the plug to the scroll saw,  it was cut in half.

the front radiator face looked kind of bland......it needs a grill like look to it.  I recalled that I still had a couple of pipe screens.  painted,  it might do the trick.

there was some cleaning out to do on the inside of the fuselage.......need to trim the part as well

I did miscalculate and the result was a nasty gap.  it took quite a bit more sanding and trimming to get me where I'm at....I still have the other plug to do.  hopefully I can keep what I have.

if I press it together,  it becomes much less.  still need to add the detail bits to the other half of the fuselage....still a work in progress    more soon!

 

 

[Canute]

Looking good, Denis. Yes, fitting the aftermarket resin can be an adventure. Lots of cut and try the fit, then do some more trimming.  You'll get it done.

[popeye the sailor]

thanks Ken......fitting the other radiator face.  also experimenting with the cockpit glass.

[Landlubber Mike]

Looks great Popeye!  I feel for you my friend working on these Special Hobby kits.  I'm going through a lot of the same pain on a 1/48 Buffalo kit, though I managed to self-inflict a lot more pain by adding a ton of aftermarket.  Fit and instructions are not the greatest at times!  But, they do build into nice models, and they have some interesting subjects.

 

Speaking of which, I should probably post my Buffalo build.  Hang in there my friend!

[popeye the sailor]

duly noted Mike..........please excuse my lag here.   life has been busy of late.........life,  work,  and the satirical vehicle we own.   just when I think I have the problem licked,  it comes back.  I just turned 66 the other day........the claim to fame of the day,  was that I ate 3.4 LBS of steamers in 19 mins   .......topped it off with a mega stein of beer and a seven piece shrimp cocktail!  awesome day!

 

  during this stall in progress,  only a little was made.  I did a dry fit of what is done so far.........

I have painted and assembled the prop and spinner......the pictures must still be in the camera.  hope to have more on this project soon