How to mangle a 1/72 Airfix/MPC Stuka

[Brian da Basher]

Not long ago, Phil P asked me what I was going to do with a Stuka missing a canopy. Well, here's how to mangle the venerable 1/72 Airfix/MPC Stuka.

Step 1. Cut off useless Stuka engine. Graft on Curtiss Conqueror Hemi engine (the Allison from my P-40E) and the wings from a Williams' Bros. Douglas World Cruiser.

Piccie attached:

Brian da Basher

[B777LR]

looks good

[philp]

Brian,
Good to see you using my old kit.  Which kit is donating the spats?

[cthulhu77]

Wow, Frankenplane !  Looking forward to this one...

[K5054NZ]

      (spontaneous applause from the NZ camp)



Fantastic Bri! I wanna see progress, stat! Looks like another masterpiece.

[Brian da Basher]

Brian,
Good to see you using my old kit.  Which kit is donating the spats?

I'll save the kit spats and scratch a set from a couple lengths of sprue and some sheet plastic. I'm imagining something like a straightened version of the A-10 Shrike or early Stuka spats with guns on them. This kitbash is supposed to be the uprated version of the Shrike. I plan to scratch the windscreen and canopy from clear plastic sheet.

Brian da Basher
(hoarder of spats)

P.S. The pylons for the pontoons on the Northrop kit will be used for spats on m Arado 196 project. Stay tuned!

[philp]

Can't wait to see the next set of pics.

Did you ever post pics of your 109 bash over on SSM?

[Brian da Basher]

Well Phil, I went over and looked at the rules and it they way I read them my 109 bipe wasn't what they wanted, so I didn't send my pics. I did have a fascinating time checking out the pics on the site though. Lots of great ideas there!

Brian da Basher

P.S. I cut pieces for the landing gear and canopy sides last night. I'm a bit under the weather today, but if I feel better later, I might make more progress.

[philp]

Brian,
I would still post the pics in the forum.  Might give someone else an idea or 2.

[Brian da Basher]

Despite being laid up with the flu, I managed to get the landing gear on today. Since it's comprised mostly of parts made from clear sheet plastic, I'll have to wait until I get the undersides painted to post pics. I also rounded off the edges of the tail feathers so it looks less Stuka-like. After I paint the undersides, the next step will be scratching the canopy. I've already cut the side panels out of clear plastic. Stay tuned.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

Made more progress over the last day or so. I got the wing struts attached and manged to scratch a canopy from clear sheet plastic. I've been dithering between either a war-games camo scheme or the typical "yellow wings" scheme. I hope to have my A-13 StrikeShrike completed sometime this weekend. Here's an in-progress pic that shows how I scratched the landing gear.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

Here's another in-progress shot of the undercarriage and canopy. I found my other Airfix kits invaluable donors for this project. The front supports for the spatted gear are actually halves of rocket tubes from my 109 kit and the wheels were leftover from the P-40E. The blobs of glue on the spats won't show once it's painted and the blobs you see on the canopy are white glue which will eventually dry clear. I have plans to add guns to the spats and also two cowl guns similar to the ones on early P-40s. Now if only I could settle on a paint scheme!

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

Here's some new in-progress pics. I managed to get the paint on (I was too cheap and lazy to go to the LHS for a bottle of yellow so I used acrylic artists' colors and gesso). Today I attached the fiddly bits. I hope to do the finish work and have pics before the end of the weekend.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

I already posted these over on the temporary What-If photobucket page, so apologies if some of you are seeing these for the second time. Here's the 2nd of 4 new shots.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

You might notice the big white stripe on the rudder. Yup, I'm nuts enough to paint my 1930s vintage U.S.A.A.F. rudder stripes by hand! I'll be using those wonderful Polly-Scale Blue and Red for that, although I might darken the blue a tad so it contrasts with the fuse. Here's the 3rd of 4 pics.

Brian da Basher