**** DONE: 1/48 Arado Ar234B-2 - Jet/Recon/Transport GB

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

Just spent two hours catching up on this and I am blown away. Andy, you have done a stupendous job sir. I could spend hours looking at this, it is simply amazing. Pat yourself on the back, you have done yourself very proud sir.
 
Thanks Brooks. Not flexible enough to do the self-back-pat but how 'bout I have a pint instead?

Well she's all done and I'll post finished pics Sunday but in the meantime, here are a few pics of some of the final details I attended to.. The hinged canopy was made from Terry's vac-formed canopy that he kindly sent me. Since installing the frames last time, I added the rivet decals hinges, latch, and strut and also scratched in the hinged perspex that presumably allowed one to access the latch from the outside





Front bogey and the Lotfe bombsight lens pocking out the bottom.



I chose to paint the SC1000 bomb in RLM02. Though the instructions call for 76, I wanted to avoid to much of this colour on the bottom. The tires received a thin spray of dust coloured paint.



Now, the rocket packs needed the static lines which deployed the recovery parachutes to be added. For this, I turned to 30 ga. copper wire and started by adding loops onto the chute and to the attachment point on the wing.




Next, I looped a length of wire which turned out to be a major pain - memories of Paul and Vic and their f!cking rigging....



The wire was then bent and hooked around the loop on the wing and shaped to make it look like it had a natural droop. Pain in the butt.....



...but the outcome was worth it!



So, I'll take this one to the show tomorrow and see how it does. The decals will be the weak point and the paint finish is not my best but hopefully the fit and cockpit detailing will compensate. Thanks for following this build guys.
 
Bl**dy marvelous!
You've done a cracking job on this Andy, and to be honest, I can't really see any problem with the decals in the photos. Keeping my fingers crossed for you for the comp tomorrow - it's sure to get a placing, a Silver at least, but probably Gold!
 
Thanks very much guys. My Blitz got a third place - but only three entries in my category! The 1st and second were well deserved and I'll post a separate thread on the show in due course. Anyway, I'll close out this thread by thanking you all for your interest and support. Special thanks go to Terry for the vac-formed canopy and to Wayne, Geo, and Jason for some excellent reference pics. The finished thread will be started right after this but here are a few closing pics starting with a few of the "warts" that I think rightly lost me marks.

In this first shot of the tail, take a look at the small yellow M on the top of the tail and note how thick the decal became after I sprayed on a sealer. The paint would not hide this.



A close-up of the cross on one of the wings again shows a think outline and a bit of trouble in the panel line.



On this close up of one of the flaps, you'll be able to see an uneven filing/sanding job to taper the rear edge. Not sure if this was noticed but it dos stand out to me.



Looking at the back edge of the canopy here shows a small gap that close inspection would detect.



Apart from that, I'm fairly happy with this model and the learned experience with late Luftwaffe colours. The RLM81 will be adjusted in future.

Here are the remaining shots and thanks again everyone.








 
Congratulations on the placing Andy, shame it couldn't have been higher placed. Now that you've shown the decal problems, I understand. I don't think that slight gap on the raised canopy hatch should count, as it may well have been like this on the original, due to the curve of the frames. As for any uneven bits on the flap, only an anally retarded flea armed with a microscope should even bother to look for that!
Overall, a stunningly beautiful model, and I'm betting it looks even better in 'the flesh'.
 

Users who are viewing this thread