Roden Staaken R.VI bashed to an R.IV

[pepperman42]

Interested to see your crew plan. Sounds good!!!!

Steve

[NinetythirdLiberator]

All,

I did a bit more surgery and started fitting the crew and cabin together.  I needed to get rid of the turtle deck to do this, but that's ok as the shape wasn't quite right anyway.  I used the crew from the Revell RAF and Luftwaffe series with lots of cutting and surgery.  I still need to do some reworking since the pilot is sporting ear phones and an oxygen mask!

But it's looking pretty cool based on the real photo from the book I have (see the photos) that the scene is based on.

Keep cutting, splicing, vacuuming and dreaming.....Dan Looking for lots of lozenge...

[Des]

What you have done so far Dan looks brilliant, the crew figures add so much more life to the model, excellent progress and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

Des.

[Whiteknuckles]

Looking good Dan, love the figures!!

Andrew

[coyotemagic]

The figures look fantastic as you have them posed, Dan.  Can't wait to see them painted.
Cheers,
Bud

[GAJouette]

   Dan,
Fantastic progress my friend. I absolutely love what you're doing with the grew figures especially the grewmen (Mechanics ?) in the nose section. It's great how you have them posed much like the photo of the real Staaken. You know Dan I have the feeling this project is going to be best we've seen from your talented bench yet. Happily looking forward to seeing more of this awesome project.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette

[pepperman42]

I love the two lads sticking out the "window"..."Dit sum vun zay schnitzel?...."

Steve

[Cimmerian]

Good looking conversion. It kind of looks like fun, but if I ever get tempted by a project like this I think I'd go and lay down in a darkened room until I felt better. Good luck with the rest of the build.

[NinetythirdLiberator]

All,

I was off today so got a bit more done.  I made a nose cone, radiators, piping, sliding door on the top of the engineer's area behind the engine, new turtle deck and bottom wing attachment points.  I also needed to lengthen my cabane struts as I forgot that the Staaken kit has these attaching on top of a rather modern shoe-box-like enclosed cockpit but my bashed R.IV lacks this so they were a a couple scale feet too short.  A bit of brass wire and plastic did the trick.

This is coming along well.  Tomorrow I'll fill seams, work on the dorsal gunner's stations, make a floor gunner area and maybe work on how the tails will at least fit.

Oh, yeah...must start vacuforming the new nacelles too.  Wish me luck.

Cheers and thanks for looking.

Dan

[GAJouette]

   Dan,
You do outstanding work my old friend. Top shelf scratch building / conversion to date. I'm looking forward to seeing her new nacelles. Will these include a gunners position as well? I'm really enjoying this superb build and look forward to each new update.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette


PS: What's her wingspan work out to be? She's going to be one big beast for certain.

[NinetythirdLiberator]

Hi Gregory,

Thanks for the comments !  Yes...I'll have one gunner in the tip of a nacelle and one on the ladder going to a top wing station...if all goes according to plan, that is 

More tomorrow...

Dan

[NinetythirdLiberator]

All,

I repositioned arms and swapped heads/torsos on some figures and added these two dorsal gunners and then painted them black in prep for painting them final colors etc.  I hope this will limit the interior details a bit and put the focus on the men!  Makes for bad contrast so you will have to use your imagination!  When painted correctly, I think they will look pretty cool.   

I also got the nacelles vacformed and they need some cleaning up but will do the job. I just put one on a blob of Blue Tac and stuck it on the bottom wing in the approximate position so you can get the idea.  They need some reshaping but will be ok in the end.  I also added what the nacelle cut outs will look like using a black Sharpie.

Just keeps moving along...kind of scary!

Cheers and thanks for looking...Dan 

[GAJouette]

  Dan,
She's coming right along my old friend. The nacelle is shaped beautifully and should  look awesome when detailed out . Looking forward to seeing more of this big beast.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette

[NinetythirdLiberator]

All,

It's hard to get a good picture so you'll have to trust me that these little guys do look better in real life...especially when looking at them from a "normal" distance.  I've forgotten how small 1/72nd scale figures are...you need to over emphasize things to make them "pop".  Not sure if I succeeded but here you go!


http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee260/smithdr/DSCN4248.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee260/smithdr/DSCN4246.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee260/smithdr/DSCN4245.jpg
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee260/smithdr/DSCN4243.jpg

I gave them varied garb thinking the mechanics might wear different materials etc.  I also splurged and gave those wearing muffs different colors.  My story is that this crew, like many, were a bit superstitious and so each member had a different color neck warmer.

I'm sticking to it.

Thanks for looking.  Dan

[NinetythirdLiberator]

Hi Gregory,

Sorry I forgot to answer your question...

PS: What's her wingspan work out to be? She's going to be one big beast for certain.

It comes out to 23 inches.  Pretty dang huge in my book.  I currently have NO PLACE to display it.  A summer wood working project might be in order....

Dan