I am about to change this high looking appearance, may the "force" is with me :-)

Be careful

Some surgery will save (or kill) the day, pics later !

Bernd,
I'm not so sure that much if any corrective surgery is needed. One issue is the low angle that you took the photograph. The other issue is that without the props which always seem to lower the appearance of the aircraft, and the greenhouse glass that somehow adjusts your overall view of the aircraft and it's stance. Here's a picture I of the real aircraft, and it does seem to have a very similar stance.
Joel

Hi Joel, thanks for the coment and the pic, yes the stand is
nearly correct, but the saw was having it s day

It was just few millimeters or one or two degrees, but i think
it was worth the extra effort.
I cut the oleo strut and replaced it with plastic rods from the
MiG-23 sprues ( thank you Trumpy ! )


I am more satisfied with the result, i hope its better

After it is dry, i will restore the leather covering and thats it

Bernd,
Looks a tad lower. Hard to really compare without putting both pictures side by side.
Joel

I think Bernd has nailed it Joel, this looks better IMHO.
Less of a "Daddy Long-legs" appearance now.

I think the few millimeters make a lot of difference

Bernd & Julian,
If that was me, I'm quite sure I'd find a way to screw it up and have it tilting. Bottom line is that it's a tad lower and perfectly level.
Joel

It all adds up to what is in your own comfort zone Joel. I don't think I would have dared but Bernd evidently has "big brass ones". Very sincere compliments to Bernd on this piece of major surgery

Hi guys, thank you for your comments, may i should stop
selling model kits and start recreating other peoples noses
or b**bs.

Hi, some small progress on my big 88. After the surgery from
yesterday, i replaced the too long oleo strut cover with self made ones from Verlinden two component putty:

I made some carves with a toothstick, they will get their final look, while the material is getting harder.The hydraulic lines were also restored.
The bomb carriers between the engines and the fuselage are now completed. The sway braces are painted black and after they had dryed, they were drybrushed with graphite from a pencil.

While searching for other details, i found pictures of these
braces finished in light blue
And here is a picture with a possible bombload.

A 1000 Kg bomb from Hasegawas Ju 87 D. I will made some research if asymmetrical loads are common on this type.

It was not the first surgery on the Ju 88 landing gear, i have done some Italeri 88s in 1/72 years back and a new purchased Dragon Mistel will get much more treatment.

Bernd

Fantastic work on the undercarriage legs Bernd. Can't tell you did major surgery
Intimidating bomb load, that big one would wreck your day............

Thank you, Julian. I am very satisfied with the result and i managed the restore both legs in the same length
The guns and the bombs will be later fitted

Bernd,
Like I said before, I'm really impressed at how you approached the whole procedure, and that both struts are still the same height. The strut covers already look nicely detailed.

As for the bomb loads, if you use that 1,000 kg bomb,from the angle in the picture, I'm assuming that station #4 can't be used.

Joel

Good morning Joel, the landing gear struts are glued together,
they are hoolow inside, so this have been worked, very much like the real ones. I used slow drying plastic cement to ease
adjustments.
You are correct, station No.4 can t be used with this load.
Standart bomb load was 4 x 250 Kg bombs or 2 x 250 Kg + 2 x 500 Kg bombs.
May i go this way.More later on

Bernd

Hi, today was some time for modelling, i dusted of my 88 and
made some progress on the engines and propellers.The first
pic is a mock up, testing the look of the stand, now with props on:

Right now i am in the middle of applying some dark wash on the panel lines, not the right stuff at hand, i use acrylics, let them dry and polishing the surplus color away with toothpaste

While doing it, the sun comes out and i did some pictures...


The second polish makes the surface really smooth and the decals survived this treatment.
I hope the next update will not be in three weeks or so.

All the Best
Bernd

Looks fantastic Bernd,very nice work on the panel lines. I would never have thought of using toothpaste I'll have to remember that.

Bernd,

This is a wonderful model you are building! Can't wait until the next set of photos.

Bernd,
Looking really good. The mock up sure proves that you did a perfect job at lowering the struts. Nicely done.

I've never considered using Acrylics for washes, as they dry so fast that they just don't seem to flow very well. I much prefer using plain old Model Master Enamels heavy diluted with Orderless Mineral Spirits rather then artist oils. Yet your technique of using toothpaste to remove the excess looks like a proven method. Came out just fine. I'm guessing that the toothpaste is about as abrasives as polishing compound that I use on my car for the removal of tiny scratches and swirls.

Joel

Hi, thank you all, for your kind coments

Julian, the effect with tooth paste worked really good on this one.The camo was sealed with the usual clear and the decals stayed on, high quality.This has also worked on my small side project, a Airfix Fw 190, but not on the Mig-23.The MiG was not primed and sprayed with clear, because i won t loose the very subtle panel lines, pics will coming of all these in the near future.

Frederick,i hope i will finish this one soon and with lots of pictures, my modelling time is sometimes very rare, i started my own modelling shop, this means 8-12 hour ore more before the computer.It is a lot of fun, but sometimes bitter sweet, because, i have a lot of great kits in stock, that is very inspiring, but no really time for my own projects.
Yesterday, i removed the masks for the clear parts, the Eduard set has worked well, but these masks were on for nearly a year,that caused some effect on the parts. May i am forced to sanding it down and start again, more on this later.

Joel, sadly the struts are not so perfect i have thought at first, on leg has dried slightly longer,so i reduced the compressed air in the tyre
.....or was it the table
Not really serious scale modelling, i guess. The effect of toothpaste is very the same as automotive pastes.
I got the idea, while making TLC to our old and trusty car.
I am using a special thinner for acrylics, that slows the
the driying process, this worked very well.
More later
All the Best

Bernd

Bernd,
I'm a heavy user of Tamiya Acrylics. I was using their X20-A and a few drops of Vallejo retarder. Now I switched to their Yellow cap Lacquer thinner as it breaks down the paint pigment better, but haven't as yet with a retarder.

What special thinner are you using to slow down the drying process?
Joel

Hi (again)after some polishing, the somewhat distorted clear parts look way better.I made a "mock up" fit test with Micro
Crystal Clear. The parts still need some work to fit properly.



The crew compartment will be the next point, after the underside is done.

Cheers
Bernd

Looking very good Bernd, framing beautifully masked.