Author Topic: Dornier Do 215B-5  (Read 5261 times)

cph64

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Dornier Do 215B-5
« on: January 04, 2021, 03:24:55 PM »
I bought this kit a few years ago on a visit to Doncaster Air Museum. It's one of a series of releases by ICM of the Do 215. It comes on four light grey sprues, with a lighter fifth for the nightfighter parts, and one clear. There are 148 parts, not all of which are used, including 30 of the 40 m/g magazines, the clear sprue also having redundant parts. Markings are for 3 machines, 1 from NJG1 and 2 from NJG2 with 2 a/c being variants of RLM 74/75/76 and one overall RLM 02 (black). Included in the instructions are cutaways of the a/c which will help in positioning parts. ICM also make this plane in 1/48 so they may have just scaled that down to create this kit I'll check my references.

Wizzel

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Re: Dornier Do 215B-5
« Reply #1 on: January 04, 2021, 05:07:44 PM »
I've been meaning to pick up one of these kits for a while so shall be watching this build Chris.  I may have an xtra-decal sheet for one of these too if you may be interested?  If so, I'll check and get back to you.

cph64

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Re: Dornier Do 215B-5
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2021, 03:42:36 PM »
Hi, thanks for the offer Wizzel it will interesting to see what options are on the sheet if you can find it.
Painting started in the cockpit area, RLM 02 overall with RLM 66 instruments.

Bigkev

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Re: Dornier Do 215B-5
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2021, 07:47:04 PM »
Hi Chris,
Looks an interesting project. Cockpit looks like there will be plenty of scope for detailing, paint washes, etc.
Bigkev
I hope my next is always better

Red Lancer

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Re: Dornier Do 215B-5
« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2021, 05:39:59 PM »
Looking forward to this, I always liked the look of this aircraft.

MSea

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Re: Dornier Do 215B-5
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2021, 11:13:06 AM »
Is the radar on the nose plastic or brass  think Albion Alloys do some brass crosses that can be used to make this with brass tube so you can bend them to the correct angle.
MSea

cph64

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Re: Dornier Do 215B-5
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2021, 04:54:27 PM »
Thanks MSea I'll check them out. Progress has been slow as, per other reviews, the instructions are vague to part placement. It's been constant cross-checking with online and book references. I definitely wouldn't recommend this kit for a beginner. Examples as follows: the instructions show fitting part B28 under part B17 and fitting both to the fuselage side. Photos of the real area don't show part B28 fitted so I left it out. After joining the fuselage halves you're supposed to fit the clear glazing, part G9, into the access door which would prove very difficult. I fitted mine prior to joining and even then had to enlarge the opening. I've also spent a lot of time trying to work out how the seats are placed. The instructions don't show that the legs on the rear gunners seat are splayed. I'm fitting this after joining the fuselage halves so hopefully have got the angles correct.

chriswil42

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Re: Dornier Do 215B-5
« Reply #7 on: January 11, 2021, 12:45:03 PM »
Well you're not doing so bad Chris.
Chris

cph64

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Re: Dornier Do 215B-5
« Reply #8 on: January 11, 2021, 04:23:15 PM »
Cockpit halves joined and I've deviated from the instructions again for the next two procedures. As I think fitting some of the parts late in the build could lead to parts falling into the body I've put the bomb bay doors in place and the same with the blanked off ventral gun position. The gun pack is not a good fit so this is being sanded as best as before it will be fitted plus I've deepened the recesses for the cannons.

cph64

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Re: Dornier Do 215B-5
« Reply #9 on: January 12, 2021, 03:11:35 PM »
Due to lack of positive indication regarding the position of the radio sets etc. they're about 1mm too far back so I've had to cut a recess into the rear wall to get it to fit. This in turn meant that the part that fits onto it was too big so I've used a smaller spare part from the kit. Fitted to this are several magazines for the rear m/g. They're very small and delicate and I managed to break three when removing them from the sprue, good job there's about 20 spare (Wizzel beware!!!). I've continued fitting the parts of the lower fuselage and blended them in using PPP. The next exiting part will be fitting the front and rear fuselage parts together. Ah the joys of modelling!!!

cph64

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Re: Dornier Do 215B-5
« Reply #10 on: January 14, 2021, 05:06:42 PM »
As this kit is the original 2008 release the instructions for the location of the wheel bay parts didn't allow the wing halves to mate up so I downloaded the instructions for the 2017 release. This is a re-tooling so has better parts and breakdown but gave better views of where the parts in the nacelles should go. Building the first nacelle was like building Ikea furniture, it takes ages to work out what goes where but the second on flies together. Being an earlier release there were still gaps at the joints even after cleaning up the faces.
I've also managed to get the rear gunners seat in place, with the help of superglue, the rear wall and spars in place but you have to fit the wing halves over these seperately as the moulded detail wont allow you to slide the wings on. Again due to the way the kit is broken down any misalignment shows up big time, hence the use of a lot of filler.

councilman

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Re: Dornier Do 215B-5
« Reply #11 on: January 17, 2021, 02:02:19 PM »
Lots of work going on here.
Looking good.
Andy

cph64

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Re: Dornier Do 215B-5
« Reply #12 on: January 17, 2021, 04:34:26 PM »
Second wing fitted. I did this the way I should have done the first by fitting the upper part first then adding the underside, it still needed filler though. If you get the re-tooled newer release the upper wing comes as one piece so you don't have this problem or the ones with the engine nacelles. I think ICM must have had a lot of negative feedback about the kit which caused them to retool.
The tailplane comes as a one piece upper but the instructions would have you fit the actuators through the upper and lower halves before joining these together. No way!!! I cut them in half and added them after.
The infra-red search light had been pre-painted with Tamiya Clear Red and the blanking plate, which isn't mentioned in the instructions, for the nose section fitted before it was joined to the fuselage. Nose windows were masked and a coat of RLM 02 added as some of the inside will be visible. Some blending in is still required.
The engine nacelles were the next to receive the file, fit, file, fit treatment but still need PPP and some filing to get them to start looking correct. Further work is still needed.

chriswil42

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Re: Dornier Do 215B-5
« Reply #13 on: January 18, 2021, 12:51:35 PM »
A fair amount of work on this one Chris.
Chris

Red Lancer

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Re: Dornier Do 215B-5
« Reply #14 on: January 19, 2021, 10:14:44 AM »
Well done for keeping on with this one. I think I would have binned by now!