A bad day at the office for Luftwaffe Major 'Huff' Hfuhruhurr - Tobruk, N. Africa. June 24th 1941

[spanner570]

The German pilot with the world's most unpronounceable surname was not having a good day.
Having strafed and bombed the beleaguered British garrison at Tobruk in June 1941, his Ju 88 had been hit hard....

Hit by anti aircraft fire, his port engine was wrecked, along with his instruments. He was flying blind and in his confusion, he inadvertently headed inland......

Here is the kit.


On opening the box, I found what can only be described as 'A dog of a kit'. I won't bore you with sprue shots, but there is flash everywhere, poor mouldings and almost useless clear plastic due to no frame definition whatsoever.
However, NO kit is that bad that it has to be binned. Why modellers resort to such measures is beyond me. One can't expect all kits to fall together and it makes me smile when folks have a rough kit to contend with and up goes the cry........

"I will have to bin it!"

No matter what you think of them, even the worst of kits are all workable in some form or other. We are model makers are we not? It is also good to beat the thing into shape, stand back and think "You didn't beat me!"

With a heap of good luck, this kit will hopefully fit that statement.........

Cheers.
Ron

 

[Tworrs]

I shall watch with interest Ron

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Supposedly, size and shape wise, this old thing is pretty accurate. But yeah, going to need a lot of work. If I didn't already have one-and-a-half of these (half because it's missing a fuselage side), which I got free, I'd probably look for something more 'modern'

I may still do

 

[adt70hk]

Cool!!

 

[Jim R]

Well I had to Google "Hfuhruhurr" as I am never sure whether Ron's thread titles are for real or are just a figment of his addled brain!
The only Hfuhruhurr I could find was Steve Martin's part in the film "The Man With Two brains" and he sure wasn't a Luftwaffe pilot.
So, Ron, you got me again

Anyway looks to be an interesting subject for a dio even if the kit is less than promising.

 

[spanner570]

Thanks boys.

Give Jim a coconut!
I did indeed take the name from Steve Martin's character in the film Jim mentions. Obviously a fictitious pilot.

There again, most of my stuff is built with not much thought given to accuracy, more fantasy. I prefer to just get on with gluing plastic together, then trying to make summat for the stuff to sit on.

This usually leaves me free of nitpickers and pedants.

Update.
First job after sticking some basic plastic together, is to hacksaw off the starboard engine and fit a firewall to what remains.







Away we go......

Ron

 

[scottie3158]

Ron,
I will follow along, if anyone can beat it into shape your the man.

 

[spanner570]

Ron,
I will follow along, if anyone can beat it into shape your the man.

Thanks Paul.
With a bit of help from Terry Firmma too!

 

[stona]

The only Hfuhruhurr I could find was Steve Martin's part in the film "The Man With Two brains" and he sure wasn't a Luftwaffe pilot.

The good Major Hfuhrrrre.... or something, was indeed an officer in our beloved Luftwaffe. Unfortunately, not having been paid for several years because nobody in accounts could spell his name correctly on the cheques, he was forced to change his name to Hasselhoff. He was the father of the famous entertainer who was responsible for the fall of the Berlin wall.

Yours frugally

Albert Kesselring.

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Wait, Ron, you're not going all in and accurizing to the hilt? Darn. And there was me hoping to blatantly plagiarise... Umm, learn valuable lessons and take pointers for my go (Think I got away with it there)
Or inspiration...

Seriously though, can you still get the cockpit in with the fuselage closed up, or are you intending to replace the whole shebang?

 

[spanner570]

Thank you Herr Kesselring.

The good Major Hfuhrrrre.... or something, was indeed an officer in our beloved Luftwaffe. Unfortunately, not having been paid for several years because nobody in accounts could spell his name correctly on the cheques, he was forced to change his name to Hasselhoff. He was the father of the famous entertainer who was responsible for the fall of the Berlin wall.

Yours frugally

Albert Kesselring.

Your knowledge of German surnames and their origins is very impressive. A bit to go before you surpass your knowledge of all things aircraft though!

Bernard Law Montgomery (See you in Italy)



Sorry Chris, I don't know what your 'Big' words mean.

The cockpit is that basic, I just couldn't be a***d taking pictures of it, so I just stuck it in place. You can just make out the primitive seating in the last photo.

 

[spanner570]

Update.

Good old 'Huffanstuff' managed to fly his crippled JU-88 to Axis held territory, but had to force land miles from his base.
All the crew survived the 'Bumpy Landing'.
A team of ground crew went out to the wrecked aircraft and salvaged what was of any use.

What was left of the JU-88 was left where it came to rest, and forgotten. Until 1977 that is, when the remains of the aircraft were discovered by a team of adventurers.


I've added some damage to the port engine, bent the props and purposely snapped one off close to the prop. boss. I also ripped up the front of the belly.



I'll tackle the nose damage once the clear plastic is glued in place.


Next, I'll tackle the awful clear plastic cockpit and nose cone mouldings.

Cheers.
Ron

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

There are some VERY interesting pics of 'planes discovered in the desert. Some of them have been sand-blasted VERY shiny, and others have gone stark black. There's a P-40 still with roundels and some camo still showing which would be quite a painting challenge

This beast is going to be most interesting

 

[spanner570]

There are some VERY interesting pics of 'planes discovered in the desert. Some of them have been sand-blasted VERY shiny, and others have gone stark black. There's a P-40 still with roundels and some camo still showing which would be quite a painting challenge

This beast is going to be most interesting

Chris, I've just had a look at some desert aircraft pictures of a wrecked P-40. A very sad end to the pilot too.
They will make a great reference for my JU-88 effort. Thanks for the pointer.........


Here's some of a crashed P-40 I've sieved out from t'internet, which might be of interest to some punters.



















Cheers all...and thanks again Chris.

Ron

 

[spanner570]

Back to the JU-88.

Here's the awful excuse for a cockpit canopy. Not a single bit of frame detail to be seen.
It comes in three pieces too!

Just what to do?
Luckily, rather like the P-40's canopy it will be well weathered, so neatness to making a frame of sorts is not an issue.

I have a cunning plan.......


Cheers.
Ron

 

[Jim R]

Ah! A cunning plan. That sounds interesting “As cunning as a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University?”

Jim Blackadder

 

[spanner570]

....and his name was Cunningham!

 

[spanner570]

I've started to ad a bit of colour to the aircraft and added the canopy. To this I've roughly painted on just where the frame work for it will go.

I've also hacked at the port engine nacelle and lower gun position pod.....etc!



Cheers.
Ron

 

[SteveT]

ohh that is looking really nice indeed! Well done

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

I know you're probably not going to use that baseboard, you always do an excellent job with groundwork, but what IS that sitting on? Because it looks just like the surface of the Qattara Depression!