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A Stuka from Tom

Paulw

Well-known member
I don't know if this would be acceptable here or not but I had to do this as a bit of a memorial to Tom's memory. After I had my triple CABG about 8 years ago I got involved with a few guys from another modeling forum that rekindled my interest in building models. A few of you guys here may remember some of my earlier works of "art". SA Dave got us to get together on Skype and this is where I made quite a few friends of which one was Tom. We talked on the phone quite a few times and forged a friendship that I was grateful for.

During that time my income was non existent and almost everybody that I knew on the forums sent me kits, paint and other tools to get started. This is when Tom offered to send me a couple of kits. I really didn't know what they were and was surprised when they came to me in the mail. Two Hasegawa Ju-87 Stukas. One was a D and the other a G. I built that D and was very proud of the job that I did on it even though Nothing I did made sense. Tragically, before I could show Tom my completion, he passed.

A couple of years later I tried to get the G all together but for some reason I didn't have the desire to finish it. I had the pit done and the wings assembled but that was as far as I got. So it went into the box and in the closet with a bunch of others that I had boxed up and forgotten about since.

For the past few months I have started quite a few kits only to box them up and shelve them. I knew I wanted to do something and every time I got on the computer I bought something, started it and boxed it and put it away for some reason or another.

Last week I went digging in the closet and opened that box with all those other older kits that I had stowed and re-discovered the Stuka. I decided that I wasn't going to redo anything. I am not splitting the fuse or the wings to redo my work so I just went right to finishing the kit. I finished masking the glazing, put the wings and the cowling on and shot it with primer.

Here is where I got to this afternoon and I will do some more this evening. I just hope that I can do it justice in honor of a modeler that became a good friend.





 
Glad to see this Paul. I talked to Tom a couple of times on the phone as well, sure would have liked to had a beer by the tiki bar with him.

Stuka looks great, let's git'er done. :popcorn
 
Just good to be thinking of him while you are building, Paul. That's the outcome that matters, isn't it?
 
No pictures today and maybe not tomorrow either but I did get the flaps and ailerons on the wings with some sort of an ersatz RLM 71 on it. I don't have either shade so the closest I came up with was some Olivegrun for the base and I have yet to fins a suitable replacement shade for the other. Since I am white washing it I doubt it will be all that important. I do have a question though and maybe some one can help me out with. How do you attach the cut out masks from the instructions to the model? I really don't want to use anything that would lift the paint.
 
Something I have done to "de-sticky" stuff is to handle it a bit. Touch it a few times with your fingers and pull it off. The oils and debris from your skin masks the sticky so it doesn't bond as hard.

What brand/kind of paint are you using? It does make a difference. Enamels are usually good for everything. Acrylics will stick well over enamels but need good primers over plastic.
 
I am still neck deep in this one. I got the RLM 70 and 71 and the contrast is so mulled that you can hardly tell the difference by the naked eye but you can see it in the pics. My plan is to go with winter camo and I have a new way to apply it at least to me. After this I have another build going on that I have been keeping in the wings so I need to get back to it for a bit but I will do a bit more to this until I get back to that one.





 
Wonder what that will look like with a coat of flat :idonno

I don't believe the original paints had all that much contrast anyway .

Cheers, Christian B)
 
Wonder what that will look like with a coat of flat :idonno

I don't believe the original paints had all that much contrast anyway .

Cheers, Christian B)

I will have a coat of flat after the white wash, Chris. I think if I would have used the Dark green first then the contrast would have been better. 71 first then 70 instead the other way around. I am anxious to use the white wash because I boned up on some techniques that look like even I can do this. We will see tomorrow evening I hope.
 
:good: Ak now has a washable white paint . I'll have to try out next time I do a winter scheme .

Cheers, Christian B)
 
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