1/48 Hobbycraft Dornier Do 17Z and ICM Do 215 B-4

Indeed.

Agree with all.

Lovely work so far!

Great start

... Kit $45...plastic filler $245.

Steady as they go...
I've spend a few hours with the Dorniers, so there is something to show.
The HC Do 17Z progressed to the point where most of the airframe is more or less completed. Again a lot of work. The closer you look at this kit, the more faults that show up. The tail is weird..So I did some digging, it apears HC got the tail more or less correct, but still no cigar. When compared to the ICM kit, there are a few things under- and overscale. So I tried to correct this, using the ICM kit as guide. In this department, the ICM kit isn't without faults either. The Do 17 had a kind of moving tail, this is totaly absent on the ICM kit, the base of the tail is too wide. HC did this better, but angled the fins too much. I'm gonna life with the ICM tail as it's too much work to correct, the HC tail will be dynamic, to add a bit of intrest to the model.
I also detialed the back sides of both instrument pannels, as the details here are absent on both kits. This porved to be a leason in patience..I still need to add the wires for the instruments. The HC instrument got upgraded with the airwaves etched pannel, it's slightly better then the kit part. I'm gonna try and use the kit's decal for the ICM instrument pannel or might have a go at hand painting the detail.
Cockpit's are more or less complete, though a lot of details still have to be mounted.





Cockpits in the current state. Imediatly above the ICM cockpit. Still in need of the instrument pannel, pilots and rear gunners seat. At the top is the HC cockpit. This one still needs the observer/Bomb aimer seat.
A bit harder to see but I painted the HC cockpit RLM 66 and the ICM one RLM 02. As the HC will be a Z-3 "recce bomber" built late 1941. Though from looking at various B/W pictures wartime Do 17Z and Do 215 cockpits, it's hard to see any difference in tone regarding the use of RLM 66 or 02. Both "could" be correct for the givven timeframes...




Fins are added with some blue tack to show them in situ. The plastic card strips were added because the rudders were underscale. The trim tabs of the larger rudders are cut out, I will put these on at a later stage also at an angle. I did consider dropping the flaps on the wing, but it proved to be too much work, so these will stay closes, hence the extra work on the tailplanes...

Tony Hill said:

Great start

... Kit $45...plastic filler $245.

Click to expand...

Haha...almost...The Hobbycraft kit does need quiet a large amounth of filler...
Most is done now, I hope...

And some details on the Fins of the HC Do 17Z. The rudders were underscale and the fins themselves were overscale and shapewise not very correct. I still think they are a bit too thin overall (when compared to the ICM items) but I decided to let that pass...
After all it's suposed to be fun

Oh, and not sure I mentioned it before, but here is how the Hobbycraft fuselage initially lookes like. Hence the "Flying Banana" name usually given to this kit...I think I removed up to 5 mm at the undersided of the fuselage to straighten it out.

Good work so far!

Nice work!

Looking good so far, nice job Jerry

A lot of work, but it's paying off nicely.

Great work and an interesting comparison between the two kits.

Nicely done.
I shudder at the thought of starting on my HC kit, especially after getting the ICM version !

Not sure I'd have the will to correct a kit like that knowing that better ones are available. I gave away an old Airfix Stuka to a young lad who's getting into building models and built the Hasegawa one instead.

Great work

Thanks all for the nice comments on the build. Despite the amounth of work on the HC kit, I'm having a lot of fun with it. it get the fluids flowing so to speak. It's also nice to compare both kits.

Airframes said:

Nicely done.
I shudder at the thought of starting on my HC kit, especially after getting the ICM version !

Click to expand...

Indeed. To be honnest, if I already had bought the ICM Do 17 Z-2, i wouldn't have bothered starting the Hobbycraft kit. But since I enjoy a challenge from time to time, the kit suits me fine. The HC's Do 17's outlines are good, it just lacks a lot of detail. Since I had both this one and the ICM Do 215, it seamed the most reasonable thing to build both kits side by side. I'm thinking of it as a good way to improve some modelling skills and learn a few new ones. Though imho, using the ICM kit a guide is a must.
+ the fact I also gathered quiet a few decal sets for the Do 17. Doing the Post War Finish dornier without the "Hakristi" (Finish Swastika) also kind of apeals to me. I'm looking forward to see both kits standing together in the display cabinet, hoping the Finish dornier will stand out due to it's more unusual camo pattern and small roundels. The real thing apears very weathered in the few photograps I was able to find, so I hope I can replicate this on the HC kit. The post war Finish Dorniers also carried no guns.
So fingers crossed the above is enough to make up for the missing detail on the HC kit...

This week I hope to get the ICM kit up to the current construction level of the HC kit. Adding the wings, engines, tailplanes, etc...
So perhaps in a few weeks I can start some exterior painting.
Though I'm anticipating on a few bumps in the road with the further construction of the HC kit. I still have to start cutting the Vacu canopies. But having two sets, gives a bit more confidance...
Good thing is that the ICM canopies fit the HC fuselage for about 95%, so perhaps if I don't budge it, I might use the spare vacu canopy set on the Do 215.

Nice work

This is taking longer then expected...The HC kit is a lot of work. I started on the engines and the landing gear. Most parts are incorrect for the Z version of the Dornier. HC took a shortcut and suplied the parts of their M/P for the Z, but both landing gear and engines are very different. So it's taking some scratch building from my part. I'm treathing the HC kit more or less like I do a vacuform build, so not all the small details will be represented, for this kit I'm merely going for a decent representation of the Do 17Z

In short, if you want a good Do 17 Z in your collection, build the ICM kit

The ICM kit on the other hand is making good progress, the engine nacelles are on the wings, the tail is almost done and there is still some cockpit detail to take care of before I can put the clear parts on. I'm still amazed over the detail this kit provides. The engines look really good out of the box. I won't show then on my model as I want a more "streamlined" (closed up) model. I'm still not sure what to do with the tail issue as it's hard to correct. The stabilators are too short and the tail is too wide. I should cut about 8 mm of the tail and glue it to the stabilators, but the tail section is devoid of detail....and then I would still need to glue a thin piece of plasticcard over the tail to get the missing bump. But the tail has a curve so this will be very difficult to to...

But so far i decided not to hastly do things which I will later regrett.

I hope to post some pics soon as promessed.

Looking forward to the pics, and thanks for pointing out the problem areas in both kits.
When I come to build mine, apart from a little extra detail and the vac-formed glazing, the HC kit will be OOB, and I'll just live with it.
With the ICM kit, again I'll just live with any inaccuracies, otherwise I'll spend too long getting these two added to my BoB 'Hardest Days' project. With around another twenty models to build for this, it's already looking doubtful if I'll get them all done before I'm too old and knackered !!

I have been quiet busy with non modelling related things, but I haven't forgotten the Dorniers.

As far as the HC kit goes, I finally managed to get the engines done, which was quite some work, but I'm happy how they turned out and they look pretty good now imho.

I decided I had to do something about the ICM Do 215 tail. Compared to scale drawings, it's just too far off. So out came the razor saw and plastic card. Again a lot of work, but at least the tail looks correct now. I know there is a correction set for ICM's Do 17Z/Do 215 tail in resin, but I decided against it as it was too expensive for my taste and I wanted too see if I could make the correction myself.

Both kits are now almost ready for some paint. I need to close up the cockpits. I have cut and masked the Falcon canopy replacement parts for the HC Do 17Z (which fitted very well to my surprise) and used ICM's clear parts for the Do 215 as these look very nice after a session with some Gunze polishing compound.

I promise to post some pics later since I took most with my digital cam and need to upload them, which usually takes more time then anticipated

But I think that in a month or so I can finish both kits up.