1/72 RS Models JKRV Do17k
A long time ago I’ve decided to do every machine thet flew under the banner of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force. I’ve done Ca310, many Bf109s, Ik-3,Bf108… So, the time has come for something unique, Dornier. But Do17 in K variant. This is very important machine for RYAF because it was produced in Serbia under the Dornier licence. It was built in Kraljevo, city in the Serbia. This was light, fast, pretty well shaped… bomber consisted of the crew of 4; pilot, 2 gunners and bomber.
Yugoslav authorities get the licence finally on the 27. june 1838. The workers in the State plane factory in Kraljevo had salaries in todays account of some 7000 euros! Our enginers did many modifications on the main Do17, but German controllers protested because after modification Do17k performed better than the German Do17. After protest production was moved to the other hangar were Germans couldn’t attend.
After the April’s war Germans seised the factory, shot some 540 workers, dismounted machines and transferred them. After the WWII rest of the machines were transferred to train factory in Kraljevo.
During the April war many Do17k were destroyed on the ground due to defeatism amongst the Croat commanders in the RYAF, later they flew to The Independent State of Croatia where they piloted stolen Yugoslav Do17s over the skies on the Eastern Front.
Worthy mentioning is the story about pilots of Do17k who bravely scrambled on the 6th of april 1941. and attacked german motorized units on the move and Luftwaffe runways. Also, some crew escaped to Egypt and later joined Allies during the WWII.
So, this was brief, at least I hope so.
Let’s move to the model itself. Well, after many research and consulting with fellow modellers I had to get RS Model kit of Do17k.
This is short run model in pretty cardbox with top opening and quality box art. Decals inside the box depicted Do17Ka-1, 209. squadron, Obilic, June 1940. As a referrence I decided to use excellent book Do17 A Yugoslav Story.
Plastic parts looked good, there were also PE parts and resin as well.
But, lets hop to the build. I had to redifine all the interior and scratch it because it couldn’t fit otherwise. All the scratch cannot be seen after the closing the model. Horror, absolutely horror. Terrible fit, parts were misaligned, smaller, bigger, fragile, clear parts couldn’t be built without horrific sanding. In the pics of the build process You will able to see the upper fuselage and the problems that came with it. I really can’t remember all the horror I had to do tom make the model worth. I sanded it until I’ve lost all the panels, then I had to rescribe them all from the scratch! I will show You the build process in the pics. I had to use car putty from my friend’s workshop because Tamiya, Gunze and other putties were not enough…
After build process I primed it, then again I had to sand it. Then came the colors. RYAF colors for Do17 are very hard to match because of the lack of the documentations. I did my best to try to match the colors. I used Vallejo, Ak, Ak real colors, Revell, Mig… and I achieved this a sa a final result.
I scratchbuil antenas and did a just a little bit of weathering because all the planes from RYAF were exceptionally maintened. Afterm many hours and days I had finally finished Do17k in RYAFCheer and feel free to comment.
A great model finished in a very intetesting and attractive scheme, Djordje!
Well done!
Ευχαριστώ 🙂
Main problem about RYAF aircrafts is connected with color scheme. Every single historian amd modeller has hisown opinion about correct shade. I hope that I was close enough to achieve correct shade.
Remarkable result of a super-demanding build. Applause to your willingness to stick with it to the end. All good.
Thank You 🙂
I hope that I gave a little bit of insight about build process. It is interesting that I have not lost patience during the build. Only thing that made me mad was putty. Ultimately I've decided to use a car putty, just because there is 1kg of it in the jar. It was exhausting but fun build, I had an opportunity to learn some new technics at least 🙂
A victory of persistence, stubbornness and talent over plastic!
The end result looks great.
Thank You 🙂
My wife approached me during the build and said that I was made to be surgeon after she had seen all the cuts to the model 🙂
Excellent result, Djordje @sheol
Your persistance resulted in a beautiful aircraft.
I was not aware that Yugoslavia used the Do17.
Thank You, John 🙂
We also exploited Savoia's, that is one of my future projects. Unfortunately many od Do17s were destroyed because Croat commanders collaborated with Germans and let that happen. There is excellen documentary about April's war. You can find it on Youtube under 'Kada je nebo bilo crno nad Beogradom' and 'Branili su nebo otadzbine'. Many actual footage, interviews with pilots... I think that on these videos You can turn on titles for translation 🙂
A beautiful result from all that work. Looks great!
Thank You 🙂
I fought tooth and nail, in the end I'm satisfied 🙂
Nicely done Djordje, looks good in that scheme.
Thank You, Allan 🙂 I hope that I achieved pretty close shade to original plane 🙂