VV's Bolivian "Tante Ju" **Finished**

[VickersVandal]

I'm building the Italeri 1/72 Junkers 52 in the scheme of Lloyd Aereo Boliviano. This build is a kind of whatiff and yet not. It's a Biggles story build, but is part of the crossover between the real world and the fictional universe. In Biggles and the Cruise of the Condor (my fave story), the crew pull alongside a Lloyd Aereo Junkers trimotor just before running out of fuel and crashing into the jungle. LAB Junkers were very much real.....their interaction with Biggles, not so much

It has been tricky working out exactly what scheme LAB used, so there will be a bit of guesswork involved.

First, a sprue shot:



The kit looks really nice and I'm looking forward to a simple OOB build (for once!) with no scratchbuilding or fit hassles.

For reasons of limited storage/working space, I always cut the sprues down to pack into a smaller box, so it now shares space with the Gotha G.V whatiff airliner build that I have going on the whatiff forum: http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php ... 727.0.html;

[VickersVandal]

And some progress:



Painting all the passenger seats was a little on the tedious side, but done now.

[VickersVandal]

Interior done.
Italeri don't supply an IP decal, which is surprising given how large it is. I did what I could to add some dials.

[TobyC]

Looks very tidy. I do like the whatif Gotha. I was tempted at one stage to do a Sea Otter as I think there was a civvy version of that

[VickersVandal]

Looks very tidy. I do like the whatif Gotha. I was tempted at one stage to do a Sea Otter as I think there was a civvy version of that

That would be very cool.

I've decided to abandon the Gotha - in the end I haven't had the time for it that I thought I would.

[VickersVandal]

Chugging along....



Fairly good fit in general. The wing root looks a bit gappy from a dry fit, but not much can be done there without risking a loss of corrugation detail.

[gnomemeansgnome]

Damn that is going to look amazing. Where might one find South American airliner decals in 72nd scale anyway? Been thinking about doing the Ju-86 as one. If not the Swissair markings with the kit will do.

[VickersVandal]

I'm not aware of any as a set. I was intending to print my own - probably Chorolque:
http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_CB-.html;

[VickersVandal]

Canopy masking is a right pain in the Wahooti Fandango

Anyway, here's a bit of progress. Bit of a gap at the wing root that I couldn't get rid of. Will probably have to leave it rather than risk sanding off corrugation detail.

[VickersVandal]

Haven't been able to make any progress this week because work and home life have been manic. This weekend looks fairly clear though, so I'm hopeful of knocking it over by the end. I really hate having a GBDNF lurking in my cabinet, looking accusing....

[VickersVandal]

A coat of rattle can Tamiya AS-12 and I feel like I'm on the home stretch. I might even meet the deadline....

[VickersVandal]

Masked up for the black wing and nose detail. Other fiddly jobs done like wheel and engine painting. I'm hopeful of having this knocked over tomorrow.
Need to print decals at some point. The printer was playing up today...what's the bet it sabotages this at the last minute...

[PaulBradley]

Looks good.

Those pesky printers - they have a mind of their own and it's probably plotting your demise as we speak......

[VickersVandal]

Cheers

Yes, most experiences with computers lead me to believe that the future shown in the Terminator movies is a completely accurate one....

Anyway, I'm off to church and after that I will steel myself to do battle with the printer. In the meantime, Auntie Ju is wearing something filmy and warming herself in the sun

[VickersVandal]

A bit of over-spray that needed to be cleaned up but all sorted now.

The fragile ailerons and flaps are incredibly frustrating. They've broken off multiple times throughout the build