Another reconnaissance project that I have fancied making for some time is the ICM 1/72 scale Do 217 B-4. I normally prefer 1/48 subjects but 1/72 scale lends itself very well to multi engine subjects if shelf space is at a premium. I’m having to spend some time filling and sanding my current project the Kinetic 1/48 scale Mirage III R/S so I have the opportunity to start something new.

The detail looks very good indeed and there are plenty of parts for the cockpit to make it very busy. There are a few recessed ejector pin marks to fill on the inside of the fuselage.

I know it would eat up a lot of real estate but I would love one in 1/32. I know the detail on 1/72 has risen dramatically but I just don't have the eyes for it. I'd have to hold what I'm doing at arm's length.

On the plus side, limited options in my scale saves me money.

I must admit I do struggle with the scale myself Shell. I'm short sighted so I can see detail pretty well close up without specs. But it is a challenge particularly with the small parts whether plastic or decals.
tim

I started building up the crew compartment and bomb bay. A large fuel tank is added in the bomb bay once the fuselage halves are joined. Also added some seat harnesses. You have to be careful removing the detail for the bomb bay as the parts are very fragile and will easily distort and break if you use a sprue cutter. I ended up separating them from the sprue using a fine saw.

Tim,
I built this one quite a while ago. I found it nicely engineered, but the most fragile of the landing struts were all broken. I ended up jury rigging the LG with brass rod and tube.

The clear parts fit well, but were very bubbly. Dipping in future helped a bit, but not enough. Hopefully yours are better.

Looking forward to your result.

Gaz

Hi Gary, yes the instruction suggest attaching the retraction arms early in the build of the nacelles, but I suspect I will try and attach them after painting. Always a dilemma for manufactures to give the landing gear a scale appearance or make them a little thicker and stronger.




Clear parts look really good with my sample

I'm along for the ride! Looks like a very nice kit, I love the detail level in the cockpit.



Magnus

Hi Magnus, yes I'm impressed with the detail in the cockpit too.
One thing that is really noticeable about this release is how soft the plastic is. Good in that the detail is very good and it responds well to Tamiya’s extra thin glue. But there is a fair bit of give in the plastic when the fuselage halves and wings are joined. ICM has designed into the inner wings thin pillars to provide some support. They are just too thin and in reality, they don’t give that much support, so I replaced them with sections of sprue. I maybe being a bit overly cautious here, but I don’t want to hear anything crack as I’m handling the model during painting.

Glued the fuselage halves together and then fitted the long range fuel tank into the forward bomb bay. The rear bomb racks were fitted to the rear bomb bay. The fit of all the parts so far has been excellent.

Fuselage, wings and tail fins now joined. I used a little Mr Surfacer [1200] in the joints particular around the wing root on the under surface. It’s not that it’s a bad join, but the gap is larger than the surrounding recessed panel lines. I’m liking this kit a lot 😊

The engine nacelles have been completed. There are quite a few parts something around fourteen for each nacelle. Normally with that many parts the fit can be questionable, but not in this case. All the components fit very well. I prefer the look of the inline engine nacelles compared the radial look. Talking of engines there are two included with this release along with the engine braces. There are eleven part to each engine.
ICM would have you attaching the undercarriage retracting arms early on in the build of the nacelle. I elected to leave them off for now as the risk of breakage is high.
The glazing for the lower part of the crew compartment has also been added, again a very good fit.

Been slowly adding masking tape to the large number of panes of glass. I made the mistake of not looking at the instructions for the assembly of the engines. As I wasn’t going to fit them I thought I could ignore several steps of construction. Unfortunately fitting the engines helps with the attachment of the props. That’s why there are white plastic discs fitted to the front of the nacelles. It will be easier to attach the props.

The more I see of your build Tim, the more tempted I am getting one for myself! I would however invest in a set of Eduard canopy masks (if they make any )!



Magnus

Eduard don't do masks for this kit, but I'm pretty sure they will at some point Magnus.
tim

Tim,

Watching with interest. I really want to start mine.

Is that Tamiya tape on the canopy? "...Eduard canopy masks...," I am loosing my ability to mask. Just masked a relatively simple canopy and cut it to pieces. I used to love painting canopies but now I dread it.

Boo hoo for me and great job to you!

Its a superb kit by ICM Fred. I have a couple other ICM Do 17's in the stash and I am thinking of doing one of the night fighter versions the Do 17 Z-7.
The masks are made from Tamiya's 10mm tape. I can use the alternate canopy contained in the kit. The tape is placed over the canopy and lightly burnished to settle into the hollows. Then I draw the outline of each pane with a sharpened pencil. Remove the tape and using a steel rule to cut the masking tape using a new Swann Morton 10A scalpel blade. Its not difficult, just time consuming. You can cut the masks directly on the canopy, but I don't have a steady hand. I am having trouble cutting clean circular masks though. But I might try using some suitable spare decals as masks over the circular lens type windows where the guns are located.
I have also been re-sharpening the blades with a fine wet stone. They are stainless steel after all. They sharpen up again very nicely.

After the last couple of builds I became a little dissatisfied with the Tamiya paints I have used and loved for many years. The limited paint range and constant need to mix to achieve the right colours is a pain. I found it more so recently when trying to match up paints when touching up areas having removed masking. I used more paint than I thought and hadn’t mixed enough. It is so much easier painting with the colour straight out of the bottle, so I decided to treat myself to a set of Vallejo paints for early Luftwaffe subjects. I’m not a stranger to Vallejo Air and like the quality and coverage of the paint.
I used Vallejo [Air] white to do some pre-shading over the dark grey primer. Then used the Vallejo RLM 65. I must admit I added a little Vallejo thinner to the paint. You certainly can spray it straight out of the dropper as advertised, but I do like my paint thin so I can build up the colour.

Nice progress so far Tim, your build and paint work are looking good!

Cheers, D

Thanks Damian, I'm enjoying the build

I think I have spent more time masking than painting this weekend, it has been rather time consuming…I quite like the Vallejo paints, but they it does seem prone to scratching, so I need to keep my finger nails trimmed! Also the paint lifted in a couple of areas, perhaps I did not wash the plastic thoroughly enough. The first upper colour I used [RLM70] I put a little thinner in the paint. The darker RLM 71 I put on without thinners. Both went through the air brush superbly. Anway just a few areas need touching up after the masking was removed. I accidently lifted a couple of the window masks, so I need to replace them.

I added the yellow band around the fuselage again using Vallejo paint. It was contained in the early Luftwaffe paint set I acquired recently. The model received three coats of Johnson Klear. Then it was time for the decals. They went on easy enough although I had trouble with the red wing walkways. They are printed as straight lines, but they had a tendency to break up. There are no swastikas included so I used some spare decals from the Eduard Bf 109 G-10 I completed recently. The decals are pretty thin and settled down nicely using Microsol and Microset. Once the decals were all applied the kit received another coat of Klear.

Tim Looking really impressive - have picked up this latest build late but a great job . I agree about the Vallejo paints.

Thanks Richard, much appreciated

I must admit I was dreading installing the undercarriage. I had doubts whether the way I was fitting it after painting the kit was the right way. ICM suggest installing the retraction jacks early on in the build. As it turned out the parts fitted easily enough and the parts combined made for a pretty strong structure. I did drill out the locating points for the oleos as ICM would have you basically butt join them to the firewall. I also re-enforced the three point joint of the retracting jacks against the rear bulkhead with superglue on the end of a cocktail stick. The props were also added.
I applied a few coats of thinned down matting agent [Daler Rowney] over the whole model.

Tim! I've never had much luck with pre-shading but inspired by you I'll probably try it on my current Wildcat-builds.

And I'll HAVE TO get myself a Dornier !



Magnus