# Stuka Mistel



## nuuumannn (May 25, 2020)

Yup. That's what it sez. Years ago I bought some old unmade airfix kits at a junkyard sale and they've been sitting around for years gathering dust. Well, under lockdown, stuff got weird, so I decided to go through my model collection and begin the Ju 87 and Bf 109E kits. I had no idea what I wanted to do with these, but I knew I wanted to do something different. This is what I came up with.





Stuka Mistel i




Stuka Mistel ii

The struts are impovised to determine length of the struts I'll use. Let me just say that both kits are terrible and are showing their age. All the horrid oversize panel lines and rivets have been sanded off. This is just a means of practicing painting - I don't have an airbrush, so brushing it is. I'll post pics when I'm done. The kits didn't come with decals so I'm having to improvise. It's gonna be a North African theme, so the Bf 109 will be in a desert scheme and the Stuka as a discarded Picciatello snaffled back by the Luftwaffe and the lot used as an anti-ship weapon. Anyway, enough waffling.

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## fubar57 (May 25, 2020)

Beauty Grant. If they can do a glider mistel, why not a Stuka





DA WEBS​

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## rochie (May 25, 2020)

Ha ha i love it !

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## Wurger (May 25, 2020)




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## GrauGeist (May 25, 2020)

Just great, Grant - you know that your creation will end up in the War Thunder and Reddit forums as fact now, right? 

(really cool idea, though!)

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## Snautzer01 (May 25, 2020)

Cool !

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## Wayne Little (May 25, 2020)

Now that's interesting...! and quite plausible too...!


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## Lucky13 (May 25, 2020)

👍🏻👌🏻👏🏻


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## Crimea_River (May 25, 2020)

A Stukschmitt! Very novel.


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## Snautzer01 (May 25, 2020)

This bomb in the driver/gunner space.

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## Gnomey (May 25, 2020)

Cool!


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## GrumpyOldCrewChief (May 28, 2020)

In Africa, if you had someone with an active imagination, sufficient resources, and proper skills, the lack of official "oversight" () might have made this possible!


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## pgf_666 (May 28, 2020)

No, no, no! It was the _Stuka_ that had the pilot!

Yeah.
Right....

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## nuuumannn (Jun 19, 2020)

So, something of a progress report, painting finished, just need to put on the decals and a bit of a dirty wash over the aircraft and then fit canopies and little fittings and we're done.




Stuka Mistel iii 

The uprights on which the Bf 109 sit are made of sprue and some thin plastic I had lying around. I heated up a piece of 20 thou lockwire, stabbed it in each end of the poles. I poked holes into the Stuka where I wanted them to go and then glued them in with CA glue. The Bf 109 has locating holes, but I'm not going to glue it on; it should just sit comfortably in place.




Stuka Mistel iiii 

Thanks for looking.

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## rochie (Jun 19, 2020)

Love it


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## Wayne Little (Jun 19, 2020)

Not bad at all....


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## Wurger (Jun 19, 2020)




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## Crimea_River (Jun 19, 2020)

Looks convincing.


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## GrauGeist (Jun 19, 2020)

That came out really nice, Grant!

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## nuuumannn (Jun 20, 2020)

GrauGeist said:


> That came out really nice, Grant!



Thanks mate. The Stuka prop doesn't sit properly and is woobly, which is a consequence of the kit quality and I didn't foresee this at the time, so I'm just gonna leave it. The photos are from my phone, but I'll take better ones with my camera when its done.

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## GrauGeist (Jun 20, 2020)

But we can't tell that the Stuka's prop is wobbly, so don't stress over it!
Looking forward to the big camera's pix.

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## nuuumannn (Jun 29, 2020)

Thanks mate. I was going to pull it off and reglue it, but I can't be bothered. Here are the completed kit photos. Note the missing Bf 109 canopy, an offering to the carpet monster I'm afraid.

So the story is that after the Allied operations in North Africa and the defeat of the Afrika Corps in 1943, units of the Luftwaffe in Libya scrambling to come to terms with the evolving situation draw up a last ditch attempt at striking a blow against the British by attempting to sink an aircraft carrier. The aircraft to be used are an old Regia Aeronautica Ju 87R that was left behind by the retreating Italians and attach it to a Bf 109E that's a little long in the tooth. The Mistel concept was a quick and easy solution using resources that are expendable, although they do want the poor Bf 109 pilot to get back. Radios, armament and other unnecessary items were removed from the Stuka to save weight and Luftwaffe markings were applied so as not to confuse any observers as to whom is responsible, but unit markings for both aircraft were removed. A standard SC250 HE bomb was carried on the sling under the Stuka, to which the ground crews wrote messages, such as "Fur Illustrious" and "Picciatello!", which translates as 'Crazy Diver' in Italian, and its tanks were filled to the brim.





Stuka Mistel iiiiiii 




Stuka Mistel iiiiii 




Stuka Mistel iiiii

Synopsis on the build. As mentioned already, both were kits were showing their age and I sanded the raised detail off. I drew panel lines on with a pencil and because both were a bit run down, gave both exaggerated weathering effect, including a dark wash. The decals come from different places - the Picciatello decals came with the Stuka kit and the top wing crosses, Bf 109 underside crosses and Stuka Swastikas come from a 1/48 scale Me 163 and the Bf 109 decals came from a long gone Hasegawa Bf 109G. I'm surprised they registered at all since they are over 30 years old! 

This is/these are the first models I've built in ages and I had a bit of fun coming up with the idea. I've got a few more lying around, and it'll depend on what I come up with as to when I finish them. The allure of a de Havilland Mosquito night fighter with a gun turret is looking appealing right now!

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## GrauGeist (Jun 29, 2020)

You sir, deserve more than one bacon both for the effort and for the "back story".

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## Wurger (Jun 30, 2020)




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## MiTasol (Jun 30, 2020)

Better photoshop out the prop blades and in an airborne desert background when you have time.


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## at6 (Jun 30, 2020)

Wait until Wikipedia sees the photos. They will create an article as to how it actually existed.

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## rochie (Jun 30, 2020)

Love it Grant, well done Sir


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## GrauGeist (Jun 30, 2020)

at6 said:


> Wait until Wikipedia sees the photos. They will create an article as to how it actually existed.


See post #5


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## Crimea_River (Jun 30, 2020)

It's almost believable, and I'm sure some will.

Great project Grant and well executed.

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## Airframes (Jun 30, 2020)

Great stuff Grant, and quite plausible too.


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## fubar57 (Jul 2, 2020)

Very cool looking duo Grant


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## nuuumannn (Jul 3, 2020)

Thanks everyone. Not being a model builder, unlike you guys, whose abilities I marvel at, my technique hasn't gone much beyond what I was doing as a teenager 30 years ago!


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## fubar57 (Jul 3, 2020)

nuuumannn said:


> Note the missing Bf 109 canopy, an offering to the carpet monster I'm afraid.


The best way to find missing canopies is to do what I do, this works best with a rolling office chair.

Sit in chair
Roll chair ¼" in any direction
That sound will be your canopy

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## at6 (Jul 4, 2020)

fubar57 said:


> The best way to find missing canopies is to do what I do, this works best with a rolling office chair.
> 
> Sit in chair
> Roll chair ¼" in any direction
> That sound will be your canopy


Unfortunately, that method works all to well.


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