Perhaps a little head surgery may be possible??

Current progress on the Arado B - sorry about the busy background but these 1/32nd scale models are just a bit too big to fit into my "studio" background. (Especially this Arado!)





Engine mounted, all floats now permanently attached, interior finished, some chipping done and red tail stripe applied. (As far as I can tell that tail stripe is straight but I have the rudder tweaked to port which makes it look, from this angle, like it is running up hill.)

Just bumping this question up again. I did not get any replies so perhaps that indicates a "thumps down" vote on the color and weathering?

Some progress on the Arado (afraid I have been a bit lazy - AND at the same time busy working on a Spitfire.) Decals almost done and there are a lot of them on this aircraft. Also the nine part canopy is now painted but not assembled. Waiting to finish decals and final clear coat before attaching glass.

First time in my modeling career that I have not been able to avoid that disgusting historical logo. Sorry not meaning any offense. What is the usual practice on this site? Should I retouch the logo out on these photos?

Michael,
I think you've done an excellent job, weathering and all (although I prefer my between the wars aircraft a little cleaner-- you've done a very believable job for an aircraft that spent a lot of time out in the weather). As for the "hakenkreuz", it's a part of history, and although I too find it offensive when it's used today in a political way, I don't see a problem with it as a representation of history in a model. By the way, I'm with you, one reason I don't model a lot of WWII German stuff is because of the representation of the swastika as co-opted by the Nazis. However, I think accurately telling the story requires us as modelers to represent the facts. As such, when someone asks, we can say, "...those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat the mistakes of the past". I'm just finishing a B-17 gunner diorama with two "kill marks" under the waist gun position, and I was torn between placing the hakenkreuz's or not. In the end, I chose to do so, because it more accurately depicts the mood of the scene. So IMHO, leave what you have the way it is. But hurry and finish this one off and get back to the F3F!
VR, Russ

Russ I admit to taking a bit of license in weathering the craft as though it actually served on a German battleship. (Sea air and exhaust stack smoke exposure 24/7.)

Also I'm sure you noticed my comment about starting of a Spitfire Mark IX?

Thanks for your support regarding the insigna.

Some further progress. Glass is only dry fitted to aircraft.

Michael I personally have no issue with the Swastika as it applies to WW2 german aircraft (or Finnish) as we as modellers are simply trying to make our kits as accurate as possible. We're not expounding or endorsing the Nazi philosophy just portraying the aircraft of the Luftwaffe as they were at that time.

I have a very close friend who collects medals and point blank refuses to have anything to do with medals from the Nazi regime and that's his choice which I wholeheartedly support. He respects mine to display the aircraft as they were without rancour or condemnation. It's simply a matter of choice which we let our conscients dictate.

I agree completely but I am thinking however that I might have to throw a Kleenex over the tail of this one whenever I have guests in the house.

I will soon also have a 1/35 Storch in the same condition.

Michael, don't worry. The server for the Kitmaker Network is british not german. So everything is fine. If the server would be german, you would get a note from the admin ....

Torsten

Understood

Had my sister and my nephew over for lunch. As their very first comment after the hellos was to point out the swastika on the tail of the Arado!

I guess that is to be expected.

Hi Michael your Arado is looking very nice, well constructed and your painting and weathering look spot on to me. I think your weathering of this model reflects a pretty realistic amount of weathering an operational aircraft would have had.

As to weathering in general, I tend towards the light to moderate, with a few exceptions. I do so for two reasons, first I like the look of lightly/moderately weathered aircraft. Second, in the ETO (which is the theater most of mine builds represent, though my last two and current build are all PTO - go figure!) aircraft were fairly well maintained and most had fairly short operational lives. I do plan to explore heavy weathering on the F4U-1A I have just started however, because I want to try out a couple of techniques that I have used before.

I live in Germany and the Swastika can be problematic for scale modelers. I am also a historian and retired soldier and my views, like everyone else's, are influenced by my experience. I personally believe that history must be viewed through the lens of the time those events occurred in in order to better understand them. That extends to my modelling as well, and I strive to build each of my models to give as accurate a representation of the subject as possible. That does lead to some raised eyebrows when guests in our home view the glass cabinets my builds are displayed in. And when questioned, I explain my reasoning; and if a few folks tell me it makes them uncomfortable I tell them we have a saying in the U.S. Army - "It is what it is." and leave it at that.

Ernest

Thank you Sir for your kind comments. These were members of my own family so they already knew that I am a WWII historian, photographer, sometimes writer, arm chair engineer and a model builder. Yet that was still the first thing they mentioned.

I can only imagine the conversations that will transpire if I should have new friends over to entertain.

__________________________________________________________

p.s. Up till now my dealings with the symbol have been limited to the North African palm tree logo as used on 1/35th scale armor. This logo being a bit hard to see anyway and easily defaced with a splat of mud. (I like rather heavily weather models anyway - heavy dust not mud - and this is carried over to my aircraft modeling.) I think it is interesting that German armor was more or less limited in markings to the old German balkenkreuz which does not offend so but the German aircraft seemed to almost "billboard advertise" the much more offensive swastika.

Right now I have the Arado and the Storch under construction, both with prominent swastikas. I guess I had better hurry along on the Lysander and Spitfire to balance things out. Then too I have a pre-war "yellow wing" F3F in the works and that should REALLY distract the average visitor!

Last night I noticed there is an after market canopy offered for the Arado. I am considering replacing the stock canopy with the AM piece.

With the after market offering each of the three sections of glass are cast as a single piece. I must say - the three part sections on the Revell kit canopy have very prominent joints that ARE NOT covered up by the window framing. Even using the glue made for clear glass these very visible seams reflect light like a mirror! As I say, the way Revell engineered the parts break down there IS NO WAY to cover these points unless one would extend the window framing much further up into the curve of the top glass than would be realistic.

Sorry but this is a major design flaw in an otherwise wonderful kit.

Did the rear-most glass slide as well or was it fixed?

I would think it would slide forward to give the gunner/navigator a broader field of fire.



p.s. I have seen just a few photos where the rear glass has been removed entirely.

Hi Michael
You have a nice build over here.
Like it a lot.
Well I just start my AR-196 and
soon I'll open a topic to show my project.
Cheers

https://www.largescaleplanes.com/reviews/review.php?rid=1161
This is the canopy I am using on my 196 project. The multi piece Revell part should have been 3 single piece parts to make the canopy assembly.
Jager