Hi All,
Something in 1/144th again but a little larger than the Me262's I have just finished. This one is the Revell Re-boxed Eduard kit of the Junkers Ju52 Trimotor, often referred to as 'Tante Ju, by the Germans, and by the Allies as 'Iron Annie' in service.
Kit is moulded in 2 Dark Grey and 1 Clear Plastic sets of sprues, with two decal options One for the Russian Front, and the other a Norway Campaign aircraft.
Some pictures of the sprues and instructions:-
A 'Tante Ju' to bring spares and supplies for the 262s? Looking forward to seeing this build.
Quote from: cph64 on March 27, 2026, 06:44:50 PMA 'Tante Ju' to bring spares and supplies for the 262s? Looking forward to seeing this build.
Planning either an unloading scene, or receiving a section of paratroopers ;)
Looking forward to this one Kevin.
Hi All,
Well back to the bench. I've started on the wings and got them together, but they needed a little cleaning up as there was some flash on the flap/aileron attachments. I also dis a quick dry run of the fuselage parts and could see a gap either side where the wings met the fuselage. So I have 'lined' the wing roots with some thin plasticard. This has been shaped roughly to match the wing section and some minor adjustment will be need to get a neat fit.
The windows on the fuselage have been attached and masked using bare-metal foil. I applied a full strip, then ran a wooden stick over to show where the windows were and then these were cut around. The waste then removed to leave the windows masked. A little WD-40 applied with a micro brush then removed any glue residue from the bare-metal foil.
In the fuselage I have made a representation of the bench type seats fitted, though on checking they shouldn't go as far forward in the fuselage so I'll trim the length back to match my references. The fuselage door has been cut out, thinned and ready to be shown open to receive its band of Fallschirmjager troops, which came over the weekend from 3djson.
A general test fit of the major parts then carried out.
Some pictures, thanks for looking.
As ever Kev your work gives me something to aspire to. Looking good so far.
Looking good Kev
Plenty of work there Kevin. Coming along nicely.
Quote from: cph64 on April 07, 2026, 07:34:25 AMAs ever Kev your work gives me something to aspire to. Looking good so far.
Thanks Chris, it means a lot, and the other guys comments too.
Hi All,
Moved a bit further with my Ju52. I have reduced the benches on the fuselage sides and have now added some radio boxes to the fuselage bulkhead. I have also lined the gunners position, and given him a floor from the cabin to his position.
Some cabling added inside fuselage just to busy things up when viewing from open door.
A bit of a chore with the engine exhausts for the centre engine. As can be seen one has been tackled, thinning the pipework and opening up the end of exhaust. I used a small drill to open the exhaust, going in vertically, then gradually using a more horizontal approach to create the opening.
In the cockpit I have made two control columns, and added some representation of cabling runs and instrument boxes, which will be picked out during painting of the interior.
Some pictures of the above, thanks for looking
Great modelling Kevin, you always go the extra mile!
Amazing work, as ever.
Yes amazing work indeed.
Thanks for your comments guys much appreciated.
Have now got the fuselage interior painted, and decal applied to the instrument panel. I made a mistake with the floor colouring initially, painting it a pale brown colour in readiness for some oil paint to represent wood. However, a bit of research revealed that the floor was corrugated metal, so it was repainted gunmetal and then had some brown airbrushed on the area's that had boots trampling over them.
I used a mix of RLM 02 Grau mainly on the interior, the fabric seat bases being a pale brown to represent canvas. I used a mix of black and grey to pick out the radio boxes and some dots of white, yellow and blue to represent switches and lights. Once painted the whole thing was given a coat of Kleer, then when dry a wash of brown oil paint to highlight crevices/shadows. When dry a final Matt varnish to tie everything together. The masking from the windows on the insides removed to show the bare metal foil masking still in place on the outside.
Finally the fuselage interior glued in place and the fuselage glued and closed up.
Very neat for 1/144th scale Kevin. Very nice.
Well I have now got the main airframe glued together, and added some seatbelts in the cockpit. A lot of the cabin details aren't visible at moment, maybe once the windows are unmasked it might be. But at least I know it's there......
Some pictures of the model so far, thanks for looking.
Looking great Kevin.
Another great - little - model.
Thanks for your kind comments chaps.
Hi All,
Started applying colour scheme. First the undersides RLM 65 Blue. Two thin coats of Tamiya XF23 did the trick. Next will be the upper splinter camouflage of Dunkelgrun RLM71 and Schwarzgrun RLM70.
I also took the opportunity to cut away from the casting cages two of the figures I intend to use. As you can see they are quite small but beautifully cast.
Into dioramas now?
I think I would call it more like 'dressing' the model to show its size in relation to figures and give a model a bit of context.
Good luck painting the figures, but I know you'll make a great job of them. Does the aircraft carry any tail markings besides the hakenkreuz?
I will need to find some suitable Balkenkruz for the tail as there aren't any in the kit, but I have plenty to look through.
The rudder has some tactical markings,'TD7' in yellow.
Transport units were assigned a code no matter how small the unit and as they could be formed from various Geschwader/Gruppen this led to the development of special tactical codes on the rudders so individual aircraft within a newly formed unit could be identified quickly. Do the instructions give an explanation for TD7? If not T denotes the unit, 7 the Staffel and D the individual aircraft. I hope this helps.
Looking very nice Kevin.
Quote from: cph64 on May 02, 2026, 08:07:58 AMTransport units were assigned a code no matter how small the unit and as they could be formed from various Geschwader/Gruppen this led to the development of special tactical codes on the rudders so individual aircraft within a newly formed unit could be identified quickly. Do the instructions give an explanation for TD7? If not T denotes the unit, 7 the Staffel and D the individual aircraft. I hope this helps.
Thanks Chris, you're the man who knows more than me.
According to Revell, the aircraft I am making is from 2/KGrzbV108; Norway, 1942
Hi All,
Back to the bench. Airframe now painted on uppersurfaces in Dunkelgrun RLM71. I have used some old 'Gloy' authentic colours that were lurking in the paint draw. A couple of thin coats seems to have given a nice even finish. I'll leave it 24 hours to cure, before masking for the Schwarzgrun disruptive camouflage.
Note the strip of clear decal film painted, this will be sliced up into thin strips for the cockpit glazing.
Moving on, I have now spent some time masking off all the areas to remain Dunkelgrun, a bit of a labour of love. I used Tamiya Tape and a little bit of paper edged by more tape on larger areas
Then, I used Gloy Authentic Schwarzgrun to spray in the camouflage. Hopefully when its dry it will be okay.
How long had the paint been lurking in the drawer?
Quote from: zak on May 19, 2026, 09:09:14 AMHow long had the paint been lurking in the drawer?
Only about 45 years........
But it still sprayed beautifully............
Here is the Ju52 with the masking removed, and the amount of masking used! Only a few tiny spots of bleed onto the blue by the nose, so not bad.
Engines.
The three Bramo engines in the kit are okay, but lack the cooling inlets on the front faces. I have an Eduard set designed for the Ju52 airliner. These have the said faces in etch, so I had an idea to copy them using decal film.
I took a piece of decal film, placed it behind the etch parts and then sprayed Tamiya matt Black through them, acting as a stencil. The result is I have three decals that I can cut to size, place on the engine fronts and in this scale will look like the cooling vents missing.
Great tip.
I am impressed Kev. Lovely detail additions for interior and an obvious understanding of the Ju 52. I look forward to seeing it on the club runway.
10 out of 10 for ingenuity.
Thanks Guys for the comments.
Moving on, the airframe has been given two coats of Kleer. Once dry, I started adding the decals. Given the nature of the aircraft skinning I wondered how they would react and how much silvering might occur. Luckily not much did, but I did have to resort to some Daco 'strong' decal softner to help them along. There are still a couple of small bits that stubbornly refuse to seat, I will overpaint them in the appropriate colour to hide them, once varnished they should disappear. The engine fronts worked as I had hoped, looking like cooling vents.
The Swastika marking on the tail, despite being an xtradecals replacement was out of register with the white outline being more heavy in certain places. Again some delicate over painting with the appropriate colour will neaten and balance things up.
Looking good Kevin.
Looks great and the decal tip is briiliant.
Here are the Fallschirmjager troops and their equipment containers ready to be painted. A careful approach and a steady hand meant they came away fairly cleanly, any small attachment points removed with a tip of a new scalpel blade.
Painting is going to interesting, which ones will have blue eyes.............?
It all looks great Kevin - now how can I use that decal film/spray trick on a zombie :-\ :-\ :-\
The detail of the figures look good. Slowly does it Kevin.
3D printing shown to good effect with the handles on the equipment trailers. Plastic and 'normal' resin would have been way over scale.
They certainly are delicate.I hope my efforts at figure painting will do them justice. Have now mounted them on a strip of foamboard. I have used Kristal Klear as a glue to hold them in place. Once done I will place the feet in water and hopefully they will unglue and I can then just touch in the boots, well that's the theory.
Well that's certainly a change from mounting them in Blue Tack and painting the boots last as I've done in the past.
Quote from: cph64 on June 01, 2026, 07:45:58 AMWell that's certainly a change from mounting them in Blue Tack and painting the boots last as I've done in the past.
Yes, I normally use blue tackle or double sided tape to hold figures in place. But as the figures are so small with a very tiny foot print I think this is a better option, but I'll let you know.
A bit more progress.
The airframe is virtually finished. I have now weathered the paintwork using small dots of oil paints, and then streaking them back to create staining and wear on the paintwork. Next job will be varnish the airframe and remove the window/cockpit masks. Then I will add the canopy framing from painted strips of decal film I did earlier in the build.
The figures are underway. They need a further coat on the uniforms, and then detail painting (Straps/webbing/holsters.etc) and then a pin wash to show creases and then a dry brush to highlight details.
Excellent Kevin.
looking forward to the different skin tones - as if......
Well they have been drying on my window sill, so some might have a suntan :)
They'll be there a while then with the weather due to come.
Quote from: cph64 on June 03, 2026, 07:55:24 AMThey'll be there a while then with the weather due to come.
No, they have tanned nicely in the last two days............ ;) ;)
Ah, they must have been out in the Midnight sun!!
Are you going to get Howard to check you have not painted them with cross eyes yoho yoho he's also good for finding finger prints ::) ::) ::) ::)
Quote from: MSea on June 04, 2026, 11:39:17 AMAre you going to get Howard to check you have not painted them with cross eyes yoho yoho he's also good for finding finger prints ::) ::) ::) ::)
Aaah you mean 'Inspector Howard' with the cunning plan to get all figures painted with respect.. ;) ;)