**** DONE: GB-45 1/72 Dornier Do 18 - BoB/Foreign Service
- Thread starter Bustedwing
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le_steph40
Chief Master Sergeant
Very nice 
Crimea_River
Marshal
Very cool Graham. I would think just plain incandescent white lights would have been the norm.
- Thread starter
- #44
Bustedwing
Tech Sergeant
Well I played around with different shades of white. I found this yellow tape worked best. With the fuselage closed up, if you look REAL close there is a faint looking luminescence in the windows. I think more effort than it's worth. The next job will be panel lines. The fuselage has none. The wings and pontoons do though the lines are huge and deep. I would imagine this would be due to the kits Matchbox beginnings where the fuselage was probably molded in baby poo yellow and the other parts green or something ?
Looks good so far!
A4K
Brigadier General
Olive Green and RLM 65 Blue if I remember correctly! I had the original kit
BTW, You will need to lengthen the rear spinner and taper it to a point (I used Tamiya putty), and the front spinner needs a little shortening and rounding.
Great work so far Graham!
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- Thread starter
- #48
Bustedwing
Tech Sergeant
Thanks for the heads up on that. I'm currently scribing some panel lines on the fuselage which is naked. Unlike the other parts that have panel lines that look more like WW1 trenches !
A4K
Brigadier General
Cheers to the mod who fixed my post! ( I'm guessing Wojtku? :Wave: )
- Thread starter
- #50
Bustedwing
Tech Sergeant
Well if there is any upside to this latest plague of biblical proportions it's the excuse to " self isolate" myself in my hide out. Some progress pictures. Panel lines have been filled in and re scribed. I made a railing or handle for the front of the engine pylon with wire. The fit of the pylon to the fuselage is not very good, lots of gaps to fill. I used beer can aluminum to make the ribbing or channel on the top of the fuselage and I also used it to make the base of the front gun position. The kit's canopy is a joke so I made a new one. The sponsons are going to be a real PITA the way the ribs, tank lids and panel lines are all formed. Haven't figured out what to do with them yet. Hope every one is safe and healthy !
fubar57
General
Nice work
Super!
- Thread starter
- #54
Bustedwing
Tech Sergeant
Thanks for the comments. I have run into one snag. The upper surface of the canopy. I have looked at tons of pictures but can't find an example of how it looks'. Looking at others builds of the model there are a number of possibilities, the acuracy of which I am not sure. 1) Four clear panels, the front two slide back. 2) Front two panels clear, the rear solid with the front two sliding back. 3) All four panels solid, front two sliding. 4) Four clear panels framed by side panels on each side and one on the front, all seven being the top surface of the canopy. The one decent picture I found shows a guy sitting on top of the open canopy with his legs hanging down into the cockpit. I shows four panels, he's sitting on one of the front panels in it's open position. I can't tell if it's clear or solid though. Somehow I can't imagine him sitting on the glass...or plexiglass ?? Can any one clarify this ?
fubar57
General
At the moment this is the best I could find, a Do 18G-V1
To be honest I didn't find any answer to the question in any book. However IMHO there wasn't as many cockpit tops as you mantioned. IMHO there were two only ( perhaps 3 ). And always there were two windows only.
The first one seen on the pre-war Do-18s with the ring antenna behind the cockpit. It seems that the starboard window was a half smaller that the port one. The starboard smaller window could be caused just by the antenna mount there. But it might be a light trick because the second pic I found at Alamy site shows the two windows there. But in the case, the antenna seems to be moved more toward the starboard edge of the fuselage. However there were the kind of curtains for each window including the side ones to protect the crew against the sunlight. So it is very likely the appearance of the small in a half starboard window was caused just by a closed shade. Also it may be the variant A depicted below.
And the second variant seen on planes without the ring antenna. And here there are two sub-types... the easy noticed difference is the layout and length of the stiffeners on the roof.
the A sub-type similar to the pre-war planes .. the starboard glass looks like it could be either slided back under the fuselage cover or move up and side while the port one has the protuding frame for sliding of the glass ... additionally the two stiffeners on the roof are of different length.
the B sub-type with two windows looking the same including the same sliding way there ... the stiffeners are shorter and of the same length. Additionally the darker appearance of the two windows in the top shot might be a result of the blinds I would say. Please notice that the side one is also closed.
A close up shots I grabbed from a documantal film, reveal that the starboard window wasn't slided back rather but it could be moved up and side. I would say there are seen hinges at the frame edge and the thin bar of the window frame at the middle of the window rectangle. The port one had a kind of additional protruding up frame with guideway what indicates it could be slided back. And also it looks like there was the thin bar frame in the middle.
And here is the third variant ... I'm not sure if the side window seen in the top pic isn't the result of ability of moving it from the top to side. but in the bottom shot the thin bar being in the middle of the starboard window can be noticed too.
The pic source: the Internet.
The first one seen on the pre-war Do-18s with the ring antenna behind the cockpit. It seems that the starboard window was a half smaller that the port one. The starboard smaller window could be caused just by the antenna mount there. But it might be a light trick because the second pic I found at Alamy site shows the two windows there. But in the case, the antenna seems to be moved more toward the starboard edge of the fuselage. However there were the kind of curtains for each window including the side ones to protect the crew against the sunlight. So it is very likely the appearance of the small in a half starboard window was caused just by a closed shade. Also it may be the variant A depicted below.
And the second variant seen on planes without the ring antenna. And here there are two sub-types... the easy noticed difference is the layout and length of the stiffeners on the roof.
the A sub-type similar to the pre-war planes .. the starboard glass looks like it could be either slided back under the fuselage cover or move up and side while the port one has the protuding frame for sliding of the glass ... additionally the two stiffeners on the roof are of different length.
the B sub-type with two windows looking the same including the same sliding way there ... the stiffeners are shorter and of the same length. Additionally the darker appearance of the two windows in the top shot might be a result of the blinds I would say. Please notice that the side one is also closed.
A close up shots I grabbed from a documantal film, reveal that the starboard window wasn't slided back rather but it could be moved up and side. I would say there are seen hinges at the frame edge and the thin bar of the window frame at the middle of the window rectangle. The port one had a kind of additional protruding up frame with guideway what indicates it could be slided back. And also it looks like there was the thin bar frame in the middle.
And here is the third variant ... I'm not sure if the side window seen in the top pic isn't the result of ability of moving it from the top to side. but in the bottom shot the thin bar being in the middle of the starboard window can be noticed too.
The pic source: the Internet.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Good stuff, and good info from Geo and Wojtek.
There might be some problem areas, but it looks like this is going to turn out to be another beauty !
There might be some problem areas, but it looks like this is going to turn out to be another beauty !
This is in fact your best choice for the military version.
Top and sides are sliding windows. The rear panels (behind the windows) are SOLID. I believe the guy is sitting on the open glass part (slider). Below the slider is a solid panel. I don't think the sliders go under the solid panel, but over it: one can see the rails above the skin in the photos posted earlier - this at least is my interpretation. There are some a/cs (earlier) with a smaller window on the right side. The canopy framing of the model is incorrect showing 4 windows on the top. In fact they are 2. The side windows (sliders, openable) are also 1 on each side. The area behind the windows (where the rails are) is solid. The lighter tone in this pictures on all 4 sliding portions is because of the fabric shades attached to the sliders.
One can see the top windows (sliders) in open position in this photo too:
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- Thread starter
- #59
Bustedwing
Tech Sergeant
Yes that B&W picture is among the ones that Yves sent to me. It is hard to tell if the panel is solid or glass. Noting the panel on the side has the same colour or hue and we know it's clear. I would say it's the quality of the picture or a reflection that makes them appear solid. At any rate that will be the direction I'll go. Thanks every one ! As you can see from the picture, it's been approached a few different ways.
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