Supermodel 1:72 scale Blohm Voss BV 138

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Bustedwing

Tech Sergeant
1,560
1,191
Dec 6, 2005
North Delta BC
First of all Happy New years to all ! Having lost both my Father and Mother in law this past year I can say truly 2012 was a drag to say the least. 2013 will be a great year, I was born on a Friday 13th and 13 is my lucky number so stand back !!!
That being said. I picked up this bad boy over the Xmas break. Never even heard of "Supermodel" but it's Italian and looks like a pretty decent kit. First off I was surprised at the size of the 138, most pictures seem to look like it was a small aircraft but this puppy is HUGE ! Looks like I'm still a sucker for oddball planes after the BV 141. I have an Airfix He 177 kit that's been staring me down from the upper reaches of my hideaway saying " build me sucker I dare you " for so many years and I always swear I'm going to do it next ( it's a horrible kit) but always manage to find something more interesting. Once again I have.

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The BV 141 is complete, I'll post some pics tomorrow, adieu 2012 !!!!! or as they say in Canada, later eh !
 
Good stuff. Far as I know, 'Supermodel' have some connection with Italeri (who were once Italieri !). I've only seen a couple of their kits around, mainly in 1/48th scale, and they have been the Italeri/Italieri mouldings, some of which, in turn, were originally ESCI moulds.
 
After test fitting it it seems pretty tight so I wouldn't be surprised if's Italaerei, I was always impressed with their kits. I also picked up an Italaerei Gotha 242/244 kit as well over the Christmas break. Here's a pic for size comparison against an Airfix Cat and Sunderland I built about 35 years ago.

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She's as big as a Sunderland!?!!? :shock: Off to Wiki I go look up the stats. I never thought of her as that big.
 
A nice collection. But I have a question... why have these models had all ailerons set down? I must say they are looking like being sad. I think that by attaching the port aileron up while the starboard one down , it would make them more funny.
 
A lot of the Airfix kits used " movable" control surfaces as some uber deluxe selling feature, especially on the larger kits. When I was a teenager I never gave it much thought but yeah...it does look goofy.
 
It does have issues ! The quality of the plastic is top notch however the mating of one component to the other is terrible.. The miss match between the tail booms and the wing will need a lot of filling and sanding. Also the fuselage halves don't meet very well. I've spent the last few days scribing all the panel lines and sanding and filling all the joints. I just started to scratch up a cockpit layout. The kit is wrong in how it provides an interior. Again, as with the JU 86 and the BV 141 there isn't a ton of pictures of the interior detail so I'm going to have to improvise a bit...once again.
 
I know there was a (German?) build report of this kit where the guy included templates for the interior bulkheads that I printed out. Don't know about their accuracy, and they are a bit rough, but if you want a copy send me a PM.

Jim
 
Same kit Jim, Revell just reboxed it - cheaper than the original though and decals are much better apparently!
 

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