PART EIGHT
As I decided to 'nip out' at about 02.00 hrs to a all-night shop to get some milk, and ended up stranded for over an hour, due to my Jeep's engine cutting out for no apparent reason, meaning a call to the Rescue breakdown service, I might as well post the next group of pics! (BTW, I got back OK, turned out to be a duff connection on the coil, but I'd drained the battery by the time the RAC arrived! And now it's too late to go to bed, so I'm staying up!)
So, the final assembly is underway, with test-fitting of the drop tank and wheels. Note, especially for Lucky, that the 'tyres' have flats on them, although the wheels have to be finally positioned and set at the right angle and camber, once the model is on the display base, and the 'tyres' dirtied with the same colours as the 'cobbles' of the dispersal. Also, the drop-tank retaining band has yet to be toned-down. The use of a digital camera for these shots also helps to quickly identify any imperfections or missed areas, which can then be rectified. The hole just aft of the wing trailing edge is for the scratch-built Fug25A antenna, and the holes in the wings are for the cannon gondolas, which will be fitted temporarily, then plugged and painted. See PICTURE 1.
PICTURE 2 shows the Gustav up on its wheels, which are yet to be correctly set, and with the drop-tank, antenna mast and DF loop in place.
The 'scale eye-level' view shows the clean lines of the Gustav, with the tiny stencils visible around the nose area, which can just be seen in:-
PICTURE 3.
PICTURE 4 shows a general view of the upper surfaces, with the DF loop ready for 'bedding down' and painting, and the antenna mast awaiting a decal along its length(!) plus the aerial cables.
PICTURE 5. Starboard view, with the wing-tip nav lights in place, awaiting their edge seals. The clearly visible circular decals on the fuselage side mark the positions of the filling points for the oxygen system (forward) and the gun pressurisation system. (the cowl-top MG 131's were pneumatically cocked).
PICTURE 6. The aggressive snout of the Gustav shows up well here, and the paint scuffing and chipping has been kept fairly low-key; in general, Luftwaffe fighters were maintained in good condition, with the airframe kept clean and smooth, so I didn't want to over-do the weathering.
With the model itself almost complete, the fiinishing touches will be carried out when it's ready to be placed on it's 'dispersal in the woods'. The initial work on the construction of this is shown in the last five pictures, with the 'cobble paved' hard standing in place, and the first carboard contours glued down, and the covering with filler underway. Eventually, some trees and scrub will be added on one side, in order to create the illusion of the wooded area of the dispersal point, but without distracting from the Gustav itself.
So far, things are working more or less to plan, although I never thought I'd go this far with this truly fantastic kit. When I first heard about the 21st Century Toys range of kits, I thought that MAYBE a semi-reasonable replica could be built - I never thought the kits would be as good as they are, especially for such a low price!
Hopefully, you've enjoyed what you've seen so far, although there are parts that I could have done better, with a little more effort. Once the diorama base is well underway, which, hopefully, should be within the next few days, I'll post the penulitimate shots, before the whole thing is photographed in its complete finale. Thanks for the comments and encouragement to date, they've been very inspirational and supportive!
Terry.