1/48 MPM Heinkel He 177 A5 "Captured Bird", FINISHED :-) !!!

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Thanks all for your kind replies!

Crimea_River said:
Looks great. I wasn't aware that the white patches were on the underside so learned something new.
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Not really the best picture, but you can see the "patches" in a lighter colour (presumbly RLM 76) at the undersides.
I think this was aplied to break up the outline of the aircraft when flying over the sea.Here they have some "cloud" alike shapes Though on the captured example the D-Day markings kind of pull the attention away. But I've seen pictures of another He-177 misile carrier that had RLM 76 squares applied to it's fuselage, I guess for the same reason?
 
Hi All, I had quiet an interesting weekend as I went to the Dutch IPMS Nationals (ESM) At one club table there was this;
A very nicely build and paintend 1/48 MPM He 177 in Captured Markings. I just had to shoot a few pics of it! I think it was build straight from the box, as I did not see any Eduard parts on the exterior or interior. I think it's a great model! I hope my turns out a bit like this one.



Ofcourse this model prompted my own model! So yesterday I went to work and painted the "D-Day" stripes on the wings and the fuselage.


Once the stripes were dry, I shot a few coats of Klir over the entire model to prepare it for the decals. These will be next.
I also bought some "pannel liners" and other weathering products at the Dutch nationals to use on this model. All this stuff is new to me, but my club mates rave about these, so I'll give 'em a try.
I did not buy any models, but I bought a nice open nozzle "split tip" for my Iwata, which allows it to paint even finer lines. This will be great for some future models I have planned...
 
Again, thanks to all of you for your suport during this build!
I can start seeing the end of it. It's nice to have the painting out of the way. Yesterday I started decalling the model, using the kit's decals. These are really great, they remind me a bit of the older Monogram 'invisaclear' decals, but thinner. They react beautifuly to Micro Set and Sol. And so far I haven't got any silvering, not even on the smaller stencils. Still have to do the top and the sides though...

Crimea_River said:
The stripes turned out really good.
Click to expand...

Indeed, they did. I was a bit surprised myself as I normally struggle a lot with white and black paint. But the Iwata and the new "split" nozzle are the reason they worked out so well. I also learned a lot about paint and thinning during this build. I finally feel I'm starting to get some control over these paint mathers. It seams really thin layers of paint work best, as these can be build up.
I also bought (a new to me) brand of masking tape that looks like Tamiya yellow paper tape, but sticks less to the surface. I think it a bit less thick, so less paint build up.

It seams the French Maquis (Ressistance) took their time to paint the black and white strips on their "prize", as they seam more uniform then on actuall allied combat aircraft. So I tried to achieve this on the model. (I think at the moment the model, minus the props, it looks a bit like a Horsa glider with these stripes...)

A lot of actual pictures of the subject you are building is a blessing, but also it's not as you can easily loose yourself in all the details of these pictures. But in case of the He 177, I'm really thankful you posted these in this tread as they now serve as wall paper above my modelling desk!
 
Now that you mention it Jerry, what is the mark of the tape you got ?, will it be possible to get it in other parts of this increasingly smaller world?
Now that I look more closely at these stripes, they are very well defined with very clean cuts.

Saludos
 
Thanks again for all your kind replies. These keep me motivated!


This is the tape I used for the D-day stripes masking. It's a Belgian brand called "HPX".
The tape is a bit thinner then the Tamiya one and cuts sharper imho. It also stick less to the surface an leads to less "bleed" or "leaks".
Very usefull over/for curves and tricky masking... I think it"s also very usefull to use over acrylic paint, as the Tamiya brand seams to pull away the painted surfaces.


I managed this weekend to get all the decals on the model. Took me quiet a few sessions. The Sheet containing the "captured Markings" was of great quality, the other sheet containing the stencil data was unfortunatly not... this sheet contained very brittle decals and despite all my efforts were a real chore to get onto the model (especially the wing walk stencils, these were a nightmare, breaking and disintigrating)... After I got all these on and eliminated all the silvering, I gave the entire model quiet a few layers of "Klir". I "think" I got rid of the silvering of the stencil marks, but I won't be sure until the end matt coat is on.

Tonight I will start pannel lining the model with the newly aquired AK washes with a pin wash. I tried the AK washes yesterday on a test model and was pleased with the results of these different tones of pannel liners and washes. These are very subtle and I think these are loads better, scale wise, then the usual "sludge wash".

If I can get the landing gear to co-operate with the rest of the model, I'm positive I can get to the finish line before sunday...
Though I got a lot of small parts still to add to the model. Also the clear landing light cover is way oversize and I still have to find a way to make it fit the already painted wing...

I'll post some pics later.
 
Thanks Jerry, very interesting features of this HPX tape, I will look for it's website.
I already want to see those photos ...!
Greetings and excellent start to the week.
Saludos
 
Hi all, sorry to keep you waiting. I had a rather busy week, both at work and with this model...

I tried hard to get to the finish line, without compromising the build quality. As it was still my goal to get the model done for the competition.

This is what I did the last week;
 
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The last picture in th eprevious post is of two AK sets I bought for the weathering of the He 177.
These are enamel based ready to use products. I have to say these are truly great! I used them over the "Klir" base I laid all over the model.
The AK pannel liners (the biggest blister of the two pictured here) were a charm to use. Just look up some U-tube clips on how to use these.
The second set is one designed to use to weather landing gear and wheels. (Although they are useful for oil leaks as well) Again, great stuff to use.
 
But ofcourse you want to know if I made the deadline, as today it's the 10th of december...

Well, YES!!! I did make it. I had to pull quiet some hours in the evening to get this beast ready for the contest.
A few things almost wen't horribly south at the last hour.... The landing gear turned out to be a real nightmare to install and to get propperly alligned...
After a good night sleep (and a day thinkering about it at work) I decided to de-install the completely painted landing gear. (I have to admit this came with strong language, which I will not repeat here...)
A few hours later I was back on track. (I did not take any pics of it, due to the time presure...)

But it did pay off! I entered the model in the contest!

Here are some pics of the completed model. I really want to appoligise for the rather bad lightning of the pictures as these were taken after I got home from the contest. I'll take better ones soon. But they give you an idea.
 
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So, now the question remains... How did the BIG He 177 do at the constest...
Ha, the million dollar question...

Well... It did good!
It won first price at it's catogory!

It got a price from the guys from "Special Hobby"

And... it won the theme contest!!!

I recieved the prices from Miguel Jimenez (aka MiG) who was the special guest at the contest and gave a very interesting demo)

So, that concludes a rather hectic modelling quest! Next time I will think twice before commiting myself to such a large
build and a tight deadline!


And the "price" I got from "Special Hobby" (I'm proud that the guys who manufactured this model liked what I did with it.)




To conclude this Saga, I really want to thank all of you for sharing all your knowledge, photographs, support, good advice and tips and tricks with me!
THANK YOU!
 
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BTW.. your pictures are too large and can cause troubles for users with slower net connection and computers. Please resize them down at a half of the size at least before uploading..
 
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