Posted by Matty on February 9, 2009, 16:11:33 Message modified by board administrator February 9, 2009, 16:39:49
--Originally Posted 1/12/08--
I know I have complained recently about too much Fascination with Fascists, - even to the point where my buddy Don Czech reminded me that the Nazis in WWII did in fact deploy some very interesting weapons systems; some very cool subjects for modeling. So, to reassure Don that I had indeed realized that fact, let me now present a build I had already started much earlier: the aircraft which heavily damaged - very nearly sank - HMS Warspite with three "Fritz-X" guided bombs off of Sicily in 1943; the Dornier Do217k2 bomber.
The -k2 variant was somewhat different than the initial -k1, however it took me some long searching even to find a kit of the latter; the (now long OOP) Italeri kit, which I undertook to modify into a -k2:
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The Do217k2 had much longer wings than what you see here, and (I believe) also lacked the flat bombardier's panel which you can see protruding from the lower-starboard corner of the nose greenhouse. You have already seen some of my work to replace the latter with a modified replacement greenhouse dome, shown here and another one here. The work to extend the wings is also well underway - I will update you on that shortly.
However last weekend I set in to work on the interior, which is very basic OOB:
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Note the gaping void behind the pilot's (armored) chair, and radioman/gunner's chair perched on spindly legs, behind. Apparently, both of these features are (surprisingly) not too inaccurate (though apparently the radio operator's chair is really too large; see below) - and in fact the spindly chair legs installed quite reliably.
However the interior is woefully lacking in detail - particularly when you consider the high visibility which will exist through the all-glazed nose - and in fact here I have already added one improvement; thinning down and drilling out the pilot's rudder pedals, which apparently in real life were stirrup-like affairs (see below), not unlike bicycle toe clips.
But thick, featureless rudder pedals were among the least of Italeri's ommissions depicting interior details, which apparently should have looked more like this:
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This is a 1/48 scale Koster Models conversion set for a Do217m11 - close successor to the -k1 - and these pics have increasingly become inspiration for me on this build (particularly since I was able to obtain such astoundingly clear replacement greenhouse parts). Note the dramatic all-black and (for its day) high-tech-crammed interior; a cockpit-dry-brusher's dream! In any case, I resolved that I will give it my best shot.
Starting with installation of masses of instrument- and control panels:
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The first of which was a substitute for the (offensively) plain OOB pilot's "heads-up" instrument panel (still attached to sprue) which came in the kit. Here I have cut an approximate replacement (right) from the instrument panel of a Revell 1/48 F-104 (cheap) StarFighter kit I had lying around with dim prospect ever to be built. Note from the earlier Koster conversion pic (the righthand one) that this panel was apparently in real life mounted to the inside of the nose dome - and not on the pilot's control yoke, as depicted in the Italeri kit.
Considering Italeri's lack of attention to the cockpit overall, I trust Koster's depiction of the above insturment panel - in fact, of all their interior details - far more than my kit, and so am emulating them as best I can - not just for the instrument panel but throughout the whole interior:
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But where, you might ask, do you come up with so many spare instrument/control panels - surely I didn't cannibalize every other unbuilt aircraft model I have, right? The answer: Renwal cutaway Polaris sub interior consoles - scads of 'em in a single boneyard model - providing both the quantity and variety of layouts/shapes to cobble together almost anything! This layout which I achieved, with some consideration for the much smaller scale, is actually fairly true to the above, Koster interior - and will appear even more so when painted (I hope) properly.
Note I also installed a deck (white) underneath and further supporting the radioman/gunner's chair - again, fairly accurate per the Koster upgrade - which also indicates this chair was really more like a stool, however now I may now be able to cut down and otherwise modify it accordingly.
Note also on the port side (bottom pic) I have installed - incorrectly, as I soon realized - a support arm (white; out of focus) for the pilot's heads-up panel, as I didn't think I could successfully mount it directly to the inside of my small and delicate nose glass, as did Koster (in 1/48 scale). But instead of projecting so far forward and then up, as shown, my support should instead curve upward and then hook around forward; the whole support will then be much smaller, and more like Koster's depiction. (Whether some additional difficulty is being introduced by some inaccuracy in the Italeri pilot's position/cockpit geometry is also distinct possibility.)
In any case, I'm having a lot of fun bashing on this kit - it's good to get back to it, after a long period of neglect - and I hope to be able to show you some pretty cool progress, on this very cool plane, in the upcoming weeks.
Cheers,
-Matty
Update 3/12/11: I am GONNA Finish this Model!
Posted by Matty on March 12, 2011, 19:33:00, in reply to "Matty's DORNIER Do217k2, In Progress" Message modified by board administrator March 13, 2011, 9:40:53
The following is already weeks old, waiting for a good "stopping point" for this summary, as progress keeps inching forward:
Adding up to quite a difference since last seen, including the last major structural work:
Installing the belly well - a feature of later Do217k2s and subsequent models, to accommodate the fins of a centerline-mounted FX-1400 "Fritz-X" - could only be cut into the fuselage once closed-up - itself waiting, in turn, on completion of the cockpit detailing. Now protected (top-left) by the OOB canopies, temporarily attached and clad with tough, aluminum tape. The well was cut out and its interior made with plasticard (top-right), "fishing-in" the plates with plastic dowel "handles", attached perpendicularly to better indicate the orientation of each. When secure, the dowels were then cut off flush, and the entire area painted with ("gunmetal") silver (bottom), to best evaluate and adjust contours, after glazing/filling with a heavy coating of (talcom powder-) thickened superglue putty (not shown).
Meantime, continuing research brought me back to the subject of the machine guns:
Finally I concluded that the smaller-caliber (7.62mm) MGs were in fact the heavier-looking, square-backed ones from the kit (left, at top-left), the kit's more gracile ones being the actually heavier-caliber 13mms (and each type fitting into the mountings for the other, but not itself(!)) - nevertheless I popped out the installed guns and modied all of them as needed to fit their correct canopy- and belly window sockets (left, bottom), and dorsal turret fork (not shown). The former mod used CA-putty collars encircling their bases, later sculpted into enlarged ferrules, to make each fit snuggly, while the latter simply widened the gun block with plasticard (white), sufficent to engage the pins of the turret mount (not shown).
Additionally - though none of my reference pics clearly show it - the literature convinced me that the later-model Do217k2, such as in this build (with advanced belly well) also had a quartet of tail "stinger" MGs - depicted most simply by chopping the handles off of 4 additional castings (center, at top), bundling and then mounting them with barrels extending back from the tail (center, at middle and bottom). However I subsequently decided only the muzzles must have protruded, so, after lopping off the cluster of barrels (right, at top), the tail cone was restored - the stem of a 430-scale (Revell Arizona) lifeboat serving nicely as the replacement (right, at middle) - and the muzzles of yet more spare MG castings (purple) inserted through it. (Oiy Vey! )
Also completed - and of course, improved somewhat - were the engines:
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The engine "detail" parts (left) are perhaps the worst feature of this kit - including flat, half-relief plates for the (front row only of) cylinders - though, in fairness these are largely obscured by large inlet fans (left, at bottom). Still, the latter attempt to exploit this with a fault of their own: inaccurately wedge-shaped blades (left, at middle-right), which additionally reduce visibility, further hiding shortcomings of the former - which I found particularly offensive, and so accurized the fan blades by simply by shaving them down into the thin, turbine-like affairs that they surely were. Likewise the cylinders, after the blank areas between them were cut open (left, at upper-middle) were backed by a second row, cut from some Hercules engine spares (left, at top left) conveniently provided by my doctored Airfix Halifax build. When fully assembled (left, at bottom), the improvements to the fan blades were very noticeable, though for the engine enhancements much less so (if not still completely irrelevant).
Definitely-noticeable improvement was obtained by the exhaust stacks (right), immediately on drilling open their ends - all 26 of them, total - so that they no longer looked like (solid) spare-ribs (or banannas )!
Over the weeks, the build also sustained some damage, needing repair:
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First, I stupidly (for some reason - other than that I'm just stupid ) used the upper surfaces as a testbed to experiment with masking-cutting, which accordingly left them deeply scratched (left), and refinishing involved tedious protection of the (remaining) panel-line detail aluminum tape - though in the process I learned this can be done much more quickly around panel lines if they are simply restored/extended periodically during the resurfacing.
A casualty, in turn, of all this elbow grease was the tail wheel (right) which, twice broken, was finally repaired with the brass reinforcing shown.
Missing or dimmed panel lines (particularly on the wings) were then re-scribed, and contours of the belly well now more clearly seen (left) - showing some considerable errors, now largely corrected (right).
Note also the round hole in the underside of the port wing: the location of a landing light, whose OOB clear part could never have come unscathed through all the CA-filling and grinding in that area. Instead, a reflector was scratchbuilt and installed both in the same steps (right): first, by hollowing-out a cone and "fishing" it in (right, bottom-left), using a thin plastic dowel mounted through its center. Once hardened, the surrounding glue/filler was smoothed/resurfaced (right, bottom-center), and the rod cut down to just a tiny stub, with glue droplet added to its tip, to make it into the light bulb! Sprayed silver (right, bottom-right), the reflector will be filled with white glue, drying clear and shiny, to make the lens. Easy - and better than the kit part - this light should be (yet) one more little gem of detail, on the finished build...
And that pretty much brings you up to date on this build - already seeing yet more progress even this weekend - and will be ready to get the main camo/paint job pretty soon, now.
- even to the point where my buddy Don Czech reminded me that the Nazis in WWII did in fact deploy some very interesting weapons systems; some very cool subjects for modeling. So, to reassure Don 
