I am adding this to the GB since I haven't seen any Stuka builds proposed yet and have been meaning to build this for a long time. It will be my first project relating to the Italian Campaign. More to come on the Allied side in other forums elsewhere. I will do it with the kit decals and the Eduard interior detail set shown. I am looking forward to using my Iwata Custom Micron to do the freehand "wellenmuster" squiggles. It will probably take a lot of practice on test models to get the hang of this kind of camo - the large scale Stuka is also a large canvas and more forgiving of errors along the way, I hope. At least I will enjoy not having to worry about the color of wheel wells on this one!

I have ten photos of Ju-87s of Nachtschlachtgruppe 9, Italy that I found on-line. Most are pretty low resolution and it is hard to see how defined the Balkenkreuzes were in relation to the squiggle camo (i.e. if they were painted over or not). The numbers and swastikas and even stenciling look like they were well defined, though. Profiles paintings show them well-defined. Perhaps markings were re-applied over the squiggles. Anyone have a book with clearer pics?

A Stuka is always an impressive machine . Much more with this camo scheme . Hasegawa's Ju87 is a really nice kit and with the Custom Micron by hand (literally one of the best airbrushes globally) , do not worry about the result . I have this airbrush , he is fearless in the face of any camo , just feed him with a good thinned color and shoot !
Perfect choice for both (kit & airbrush) I will follow 100% !

Great entry, Colin. @coling
Especially with this camouflage scheme.
With this Micron, you are already on the right track and I'm sure you will get this pattern done.
Looking forward to your build to get inspered and start my Airfix Stuka as well.

Thank you , Pedro, Michael, Spiros, John and Louis. Sorry I haven't replied or updated in some time. I have not been posting for nearly a month due to life stresses. I am glad to get back into modeling and sharing again to get some of that behind me.

Here is an update on the Stuka build. I have included quite a few pics of the interior work, since it is nice demo of the results you can get from the kit detail married to the Eduard color etch set. I have photographed it with and without sidewalls built up to show how the detail gradually comes together into its full depth. I spent awhile getting the right shade of RLM 66 to match the etch tones. This entailed spraying on a Flat Black pre-shade, out of bottle Tamiya XF-63 German Gray followed by a dusting of the same lightened considerably with Flat White.

After a coat of Tamiya Clear, I did further highlighting with an oil wash. Although many of the knobs on the controls were pre-painted, I painted them again to enhance their appearance and thickness. I used most of the etch set which required painting for the ammo boxes, gunners seat bracing, pilots forward viewing window and various boxes, i did not use the etch seat. I did not feel it was particularly accurate representation of the real airplane's armored seat and also reasoned that the kit seat would support the pressure of the etch belts better as they were pushed down and bent into conformity. I did thin the seat plastic a bit by sanding, however. I also added a layer of styrene to give depth and texture to the seat pad. The leather of the pad and headrest was painted Tamiya Red Brown. The results look good to me. I used early Eduard Luftwaffe seat belts, which had to be painted. I dispensed with the metal strips for the harness however and used the buckles in the set with paper belts I made myself. These were much easier to handle, bend and glue in than etch. I have not done the rear guns yet as these will be left to late in assembly painting. I will probably do the barrels with the etch I have, but I may find resin replacements. Overall, as the pit finally came together, I liked the results.

I have now closed up the fuselage, attached the wings and tail and filled all gaps with stretched sprue, welded in with liquid glue.

I find this is cleanest and most precise method to fill gaps without leaving excessive residue of plastic or glue. The main gaps are between the inverted gull wing joins and around the wells for the wheels to attach. I have attached the cowling and propeller assemble with tape only for now as I am still working on the intake screening. Overall, I really like the lines of the Stuka. For all the conventional talk of its ungainliness, I think the more streamlined later models are really rather sleek and hyper-aggressive-looking. This one will be soon ready for the spray booth. I will attach the wheels and clear parts shortly and sand all filled gaps. Here is my "basket' of wheels and undercarriage assemblies for the Heinkell, Bf-109s, and Stuka about to be painted in RLM colors and black tones tomorrow.

So, that's it for now. I hope you like the progress. I should think it's a pretty good ad for Eduard photo-etch,even if it was also enhanced with some modelling skills.

Awesome modelling Colin @coling
That interior is looking very realistic and to my opinion the seatbelts are great.
Love the way you filled those gaps using stretched sprue.

Thanks for your feedback , Tom. I really like the NSG. 9 Stuka build you did - it is one of my favorites on file. I really like your airbrushing of the wellenmuster squiggles. It must be hard to get the separation between squiggles as opposed to just overlapping them. Photos show both kinds of application on Stukas for this unit. I'd be curious what airbrush you used and how difficult it was to do in the end. Speaking of photos, I have 13 wartime pics of NSG 9 Stukas in Italy - all but one of them - which is not clear - show wheels with spats. Do you have the Ghost Bombers book or some other good photo sources that show wheels with no spats? I do like the look of the wheels with spats removed but I didn't have a clear pic of a real aircraft in that state.

Thanks, John for your kind words. I haven't been as dedicated as you in getting my projects done but I am moving along fairly steadily now. This will be quite a simple build with the interior now finished.

Thanks, Spiros. The Eduard etch is some of the best I have worked with. I took more time and care then usual so as not to bend anything the wrong way and it worked out well. It will be some challenge to do the photo-etch gun barrels. If those turn out OK, I may forge ahead with the armament set for the Revell B-17G I am playing around with now. So many models, so little time.

That is some massive progress Colin! I do like your seatbelts if I should point one item, but overall this is looking great. I have a few pictures of stukas without spats, and in order not to infringe copyright I have sent them to you in a PM. They are from the splendid series from Luftfahrtverlag START and their "Luftwaffe im Focus" series - highly reccomended!