Aaaaargh!!
Just attempted this. It's in the bin. Most ill fitting piece of junk I've yet to encounter. I should know because I built their JU 88 Recon, although it didn't get binned. Why all the resin interior parts? Injection is just as detailed and doesn't need a CA Horror Show.
Glued and unglued fuselage and now it's such a mess I binned it. Kept the rest for spares.
I know some of you have completed this kit quite satisfactorily. Must be my farmer's hands.
Ross, the Ju 88 D (reconnaissance) you mention, if 1/48, is not a Special Hobby kit but rather the ICM kit reboxed, and I if it’s like the A versions it builds ok, no major vices. I guess SH made kits range from nice fit to awful fit
Onto your next project, Ross!
🙂
YMMV
Martyn's and George's models look good to me. They admit to needing a lot of perseverance but are we not modelers?
Indeed we are. I might try another one. If I'd not made an a**e of the fuselage... You really have to close it up once and forever.
Ross it's always disappointing when a project fails. I've had many of these in my 60+ years of modeling. I think the problem is, as Pedro pointed out, is you went from a main stream kit the Ju88 to a true limited run kit the Maryland, which are really two different animals. They were both Special Hobby so one could assume they'd be similar. If you've never done a limited kit before they can be difficult if one is not aware of what the nature of these kits are. Cockpit fuselage areas almost always need to be thinned considerably for the resin parts to fit. Engines need to be reduced in diameter to fit the cowlings and all parts have to be test fitted. It seems to me problem was your unawareness of the nature of the kit not not your modeling skills. I'm sure your next attempt at a limited kit will be successful now you know what you dealing with.
I remember the JU88 was a pig too. The cockpit area and the engines especially. And the clear part for the bottom split into a million fragments.
Just completed the Tamiya 1/32 Mosquito so been spoiled.
Right! Thank you for your sage advice. I have ordered another copy. This time No More Mr Nice Guy!
Bad to hear it. I agree this kit is not the one I would build again... I hope some nice shortrun appears again in much better quality that this type really deserves.
Sorry to hear about this project, Ross.
I can imagine the frustration when things go terribly wrong.
Wish you a lot more success with your next project.
Special Hobby has it's winners and losers. Like trumpeter, it seems they have an A and a B team.
Now I have this model (LOVE the Martins, Maryland and Baltimore) and it will probably never get built. I saw a build review in one of the modelzines, and the guy had to redo much of the kit. One of them was something to do with the stabilizers being in the wrong place. And issues with the nose glass, not wide enough for the fuselage. At any rate, it's never getting built. Life is too short.
The resin for the cockpit, wheel wells, the only way I figure it is this must be cheaper than making another sprue. Not to worry that the resin fits poorly or not at all (especially the wheel wells). I have a belief that I will bet a lot of money on, in that these Lim-run outfits DO NOT test assemble these kits before sending them out. The CAD's say it will go together, and that's that.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate these companies even doing some of these less well known aircraft we would never see otherwise. But somes is definitely better than others. Thanks SH for the beautiful 1/32 Buffalo, but that Maryland is B team material. Oh and feel free to bin anything you want, or as Cleaver says, "stomp it into it's component atoms".
Now, to tear into the Azur-Fromm 1/72 Vildebeeste...
Lol, thanks for the reassurance. I don't mind binning the odd one. In fact there is little space left. I've got a kind of one in one out policy going. My Tamiya Lance might be going out to make way for the Hong Kong Models one!
Tom has pointed out some very nice completed Marylands.
I want to build this kit because I love the Warburton story. Tony Spooner's book is a gem. Malta was full of these colourful (extremely courageous) eccentrics! Beurling, Gracie, Warburton, even Jack Satchell with two kills to a ground based twin Vickers.