I deliberately didn't put this project on the site during the build as I wasn't willing to temp fate - my previous projects have all been the cause of delay of some sort and so the added pressure of keeping you lot interested, although an unrealistic obstacle, was something I wanted to avoid this time. I didn't take any pictures either other than towards the end but will post what I have.
I wanted to build something for the "TWO OF A KIND" competition and decided on the double kit from Warlord, the Stummel Habbicht (Stumpy Hawk) training glider and the Blohm und Voss BV40 attack glider. Due to time constraints at the meeting, I didn't say as much as I could have done about it so decided to put a quick (depending on your reading speed) review on here for them that can be bothered to log on. For them that can't, it's their loss!!!
It was a limited run kit in dark grey plastic with thick plastic, plenty of flash and no locating pins or holes. The mouldings were of a reasonable standard though and the few recessed panel lines were done nicely. Generally, the fit was poor-ish, but nothing to stop me seeking out other kits by this company. Some of the old Airfix kits are a lot worse.
I tackled the BV40 first. The pilot flew in the prone position and so the cockpit was simply a flat bed of plastic and a control panel. I found an old nose gunner from a Heinkel HE115 which was a bit too wide to fit in but by thinning the fuselage side walls down and with a bit if surgery on his right leg to detach it and fix it back at an angle and cocked over his left leg at the ankle, it fitted nicely. The control panel was not used as it would not be seen with the pilot in there. It went together quite well after that, the high mounted wing consisted of one piece with the lower section having a cut out for the fuselage. Tailplane was one section too. I scratch built the little loops on the underside of the wingtips (which prevent them scraping along the ground on take off and landing) out of garden wife as the kit parts looked too delicate and covered in flash to stand trimming and cleaning up. Likewise with the tailplane struts - but I used stretched sprue for them. Holes for the 30mm cannons were drilled out of the fairings under the wing roots and finally, when I looked at the vac form kit canopy, it was very lopsided so I decided to have a go at plunge moulding one. As Ron hasn't done his talk yet, I looked on the internet and found a good lesson (not a video) and had a go. Guess what? IT WORKED. Now, because I'd put the pilot in and he was proud of the top of the fuselage, I couldn't make the male former very easily as, being a solid block, I couldn't sit it on the sill of the cockpit so the angle of my canopy is not quite flush with the sides of the rear fuselage, BUT, I'm very pleased with what I've gotas I'm talking maybe half a mm out overall! Also, the framing is a bit rough and ready as I was using strips of sticky label painted green rather than Tamiya masking tape which would have probably been a better choice but again, it's a learning curve and I may do a better one sometime. Either way, this passes muster as my first ever home made canopy. Finally, I made an antenna out of stretched sprue, sanded to profile and added a wire from stretched sprue. The kit markings were on quite thick carrier film which didn't settle invisibly and the swastikas were 4 "L"s which at that size, I really couldn't be bothered to mess about with so I printed my own onto some decal paper I bought just for that purpose. The carrier film on that was even thicker that the kit stuff so I will be replacing them at some stage I think. It'll do for now though.
The Stummel Habbicht came with 2 sets of wings to model either the F (8m wingspan) or the G (6m wingspan). I opted for the F. First the fuselage. Only a seat to put inside but it was far too wide. Even after thinning down the inner fuselage walls it didn't fit so I made my own out of photographic paper and a harness out of Tamiya masking tape. The mid mounted wings came in top and bottom half, port and starboard. None of the parts were numbered so it was a case of trying them against each other to work out which was which. The inner surfaces were solid and not flat either so needed lots of sanding to get them sitting nicely. The wing fuselage join was a butt joint so I drilled a hole in the end of each wing root and a corresponding hole through the fuselage then used a cocktail stick as a spar. I measured 5 times and drilled once - it worked a treat and everything lined up well, although the fit was a bit naff and plenty of filler was needed. I'm actually very proud of them wing roots as I was, until this kit, quite scared of tackling them. Thanks to you lot and your detailed explanations of how you do it, I gave it a go and there no stopping me now! Green putty, time spent with various grades of wet 'n' dry and priming really does pay off. For the tailplane I had a small fiddly area to fill so thinned my green putty with Revell contacta liquid polystyrene cement. As it 'went off' it curdled slightly and at first I though me kit was melting but it wasn't! I recommend this for areas that are hard to get to as it tends to find its own way to where it needs to be with less prompting than just the putty. When dry, it sands just as well. The windscreen was missing from my kit so again, I had to make my own. Easier this time as it was just a small flat bit of acetate with a curve sanded out of the bottom for the top of the nose and a couple of score marks down the sides so I could fold them back for the side windows. All in all, a very clean looking finish that I was pleased with. I even scribed some panel lines back in where I had sanded them away. Decals for this were a white circle onto which you again had to bugger about with 4 "L"s for the swastikas - these for the fin. No other markings were provided. By this stage, I had found and bought a sheet of Xtradecal ones which I used for this kit but had run out of time to replace the BV40s in time for the meeting. The red stripe for the white circle/black swastika was painted on as were the blue triangles on the tailplanes.
Display base. As tends to happen with me, this idea just came to me at a random part of my life. For the TWO OF A KIND theme, I just though why not make a 2 in 1 base. Just a bit of picture mounting card (I use a lot of this) with one half scored and painted to represent a concrete runway (complete with cracks and a bit of grass sprouting though) and the other just a grass field as each half seemed to sum up the personalities of the respective aircraft.
Summary. A lot of work needed to make half decent kits from these but for me, thoroughly enjoyable as I learned lots of patience and tried new techniques out. I think my modelling has improved quite a bit making these - still a long way to go but at last I'm seeing a difference in the standard of the joined pieces. Next step is to work on my finishing so airbrush here we come...
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