1/48 Dornier Do17Z-2 ICM

[BarryW]

Just checking the masks and I am annoyed to find that they don’t include swastikas. I will have to use decals from the spares box.

The mask set is very basic, only including the crosses in it so the codes will also have to be decals. I will paint the walk lines of course, a simple masking job with tape.

All together she is coming along very well indeed. Hopefully I will have time to finish her by next weekend.

I only have one concern and thats the strength of the undercarriage. The connection points seem very puny. But, I am happy as long as it comes together and holds long enough for me to get completed photos. I don’t get fixated on keeping my models on display for long periods.

 

[BarryW]

Well I managed to get an hour at the bench while the girlfriend went for a run.

I have done the walk lines. I don't know why anyone uses decals for these as they look so much better painted and are a lot easier to paint.

First I masked up. I get the even thin lines by butting up correct width ‘Micro’ masking tape against the masked areas. Quick and simple.



Red can be one of those colours that can be problematical for coverage. The answer is simple, lay down a red oxide primer layer first. Primer is a little thick than ordinary paint and provides a perfect surface for the base colour.


Make sure it’s is a thin coat though. Next it’s RLM23. MRP needs only a few minutes to dry.

I tend to do initial coat, leave it for five minutes and then another coat, perhaps two. Always leave a few minutes between each.
Masking removed and near perfect walk lines. I say near perfect because there are a couple of places where I got capillary action where I did not chamfer the tape down enough into the connecting panel lines. It is only a couple of places and is barely noticeable with the bare eye. I won’t bother to touch these two places up as my panel line wash will sort it.



I am rather pleased with how they worked out.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Barry
Looking very nice. The lines have come out well and using tape to get even width is a good tip. Those wheel wells are slightly oddly engineered, I hope it all proves robust enough. Very neat, patient work filling and sanding the imperfections - worth it for sure.
Jim

 

[Jakko]

Nicely masked and painted, though it makes me wonder if it wouldn’t be easier to reverse-mask them? That is, paint in red, mask the lines using the narrow tape you used as a spacer, and then spray the camouflage?

 

[BarryW]

Been doing some more masking.

First an easy one, the exhausts.


Now this.
It is a single solidly moulded piece so there no alternative. With the irregular shape and curves it is going to be a challenge. Did it though.



I will first spray the black for the central section. I can then mask the centre and spray the tyre rubber, then I will mask the tyre and spray the RLM02 wheel leg. The masks have some elements to do this in that order.

 

[BarryW]

Sprayed the tail wheel. There is some overspray to deal with and a spot of touching up but that will be easy enough. It’s amazing how spray gets around the smallest gap or ‘weakness’ in your masking.



I have also sprayed the exhausts with an exhaust colour. Some washes will further improve the appearance. The exhausts are moulded solid and I improved their appearance by drilling to for a concave shape. Dropping some matt black into the centre will help as well.

 

[adt70hk]

Coming on nicely Barry.

And agree with you in the masking front, had a issue recently when I decided not to mask a small section because it was not in danger.....or so I thought.

Keep up the good work.

Andrew

 

[BarryW]

Now for the markings.

First I applied the mask ready to paint the white.


Because another mask must be placed precisely over these I need to be careful in extending the masking. First I butt masking tape to the four sides.


Then I cover the ‘butts’ with some thinner tape that I will remove to apply the mask for painting the black.


Here she is all masked up

White sprayed


Then to mask off for the black. The top wing went on with some difficulty. This particular masking system works well, in theory, and I am sure would work well if models provided a flat even surface…. Sadly this is not the case. Anyway I got the top on.


I spent half an hour trying to get the sides on accurately. Look at this distortion.

The only answer was to chuck the tip mask and use tape. This is not perfect but is a lot better than I managed with the mask.


A different approach to the other side.

I cut the elements I needed from the mask.
It was quicker than using tape. Same with the bottom wings.



Finally I got to spray the black. I will leave it alone for a bit before removing the mask.

 

[BarryW]

I have removed the masks and after a little touching up.



I have found some suitable swastikas in the spares box and I will be doing some decalling tomorrow with any luck.

 

[minitnkr]

They came out great but the white portion looks really big.

 

[BarryW]

They came out great but the white portion looks really big.

They are the same as the decals. Don’t forget they came in various styles and did change.

 

[Vaughan]

Looking good Barry but the horizontal black section of the cross looks considerably wider on the left side and the bottom of the cross looks to be at an odd angle. Not sure if this is a distortion caused by your phone camera.

 

[BarryW]

Hi Vaughan. I think I know what the problem is. I made some fine adjustments after the photo was taken both after laying down masking and after spraying.

I would not say that they are now perfect but they are acceptable. After all I often wonder how perfect they were on the actual aircraft anyway, specially those with ‘field changes/repainting’.

Anyway I have now done the decals, those I could do anyway! I will never understand why all companies cannot turn out decent decals, Airfix, Revell and ZM manage to after all. These ICM decals are not as bad as some, they don’t splinter into little pieces the moment you touch them, (TrumpyBoss), or are so thick it takes gallons of solvent to lay them down without the splintering trick (Tamiya), or are printed out of register or in the wrong colours (TrumpyBoss and others).

They are nicely, not perfectly, printed, reasonable robust taking a lot of abuse as you position them and thin enough to lay down well with a modicum of solvent. But, they are so thin they are prone to curl, they can resist moving and once they fold in on themselves often you cannot unfold them even by floating them in decal water. I left off a fair number of the smaller ‘stencil’ decals due to this, but leaving off the larger decals, the codes, was not an option. Larger decals are much more difficult and I minimised that problem by cutting the codes into individual letters and numbers.

Even so, when they folded and I could not rescue them, I had to use a different letter or number. The result is that the model does not represent a specific aircraft or unit any more.
By the skin of my teeth I at least managed to use the same numbers/codes on both sides of the aircraft and the unit insignia were OK.

It might have been better to try to find some masks instead of fighting the decals. Masks have their own issues but they are much better and easier to work with than crap decals.

The swastikas are from Techmods 1/48 swastika set and went down with no issues at all.

Here are a couple of pics after applying some softener.

 

[BarryW]

After a panel line wash I have been layering on mist coats of matt varnish.



Next I will be using pigments, metal powders and weathering pencils for various effects.

 

[Jim R]

Looking very nice. Painted markings are better than decals although much more work.
Jim

 

[adt70hk]

That's coming on nicely Barry. A shame about the decals though.

ATB

Andrew

 

[BarryW]

Applying weathering.

This is before blending the kerosene, oil and other leaks. I am using the AKI products designed for this. It is not just a matter of colour but also the sheen.


After blending


The underside. Mostly here the streaking is with weathering pencils.


Now I am working on the transparencies. These from New Ware are just about the worse I have used. I have never known so much seepage under the masks before despite burnishing them down with cocktail sticks as usual. So I have had a lot of clean up using a cocktail stick plus small pointed cotton buds dipped in ipa.

 

[adt70hk]

That's coming on nicely Barry, despite the masking problems.

ATB.

Andrew

 

[Steven000]

Looks great so far Barry, masking those crosses must have been a pain! Well done
Steven

 

[BarryW]

A weakness of this kit are the u/c attachments. It just does not look at all strong.


These are not much better than butt joints. Also the axles don’t fit far into the wheel hubs. All very weak. The four attachment points don't even line up very well.

I’m trying a dry fit, this happened. The plastic is a little on the soft side.


I decided to glue the wheels into place before fixing the u/c. It makes it harder to see but might prevent worse damage. We will see.

In the meantime I am using Gator Glue to fix the guns into place. Locking tweezers are proving quite useful for this…