The shelf of doom becons....

[BarryW]

... possibly for my JU88, it might be the first ever occupant.

This has been a most frustrating build, it has fought me all the way. The terrible Revell engineering and dreadful instructions combined to rob me of all enthusiasm for this model.

But I have persisted and this morning removed the masking after finishing the splinter camo.

For the first time ever two patches of paint came away leaving clean plastic showing. Not large areas, no more than a square inch in all but very annoying. The paint job looked great until then.

After that, while removing the masking from the undercarraige, one of the legs broke away with the masking.I had problems with that poorly engineered area of the build anyway. On both undercarriages the wheel axles have broken off completely anyway, mind you these are inadequate and would need something done with them.

OK none of this is terminal. I can repair it all but I just have no enthusiasm left for it. Even then I suspect that when I remove the masking from the front transparency some white filler will show through and if so the whole model will end up in the dustbin anyway.

That is it - I am taking a break from it for a couple of days and will decide Monday evening what to do. I have never given up on a model before but sometimes enough is enough.

[Guest]

You have my sympathy and empathy Barry...I had the same feeling from the "memphis belle" and put it in a cupboard out of site for 4 days till my enthusiasm for building anything returned. In the end I finished it, hated it and it became very personal.

Im sure you will return to it and do it justice..

Danny

[spanner570]

Barry, no matter how tempting it may seem, never bin any model. Save it and either use it for painting experiments or crashed / wrecked dioramas, whatever, but always keep them......

Ron

[stona]

My main problem with this was early on getting the bulkheads into the fuselage and aligned correctly which has an effect on the fit of the wings!

I did have to fix both mainwheels on with metal pins as I broke them off too.

I agree about the instructions,particularly building the interior. I referred to a lot of photographs.

Cheers

Steve

[Andy2035]

Why not pop it on the shelf for a while and then come back to it in a few months or something, just give yourself a decent break, or, why not build a diorama and have it crashed or in bits in a hanger getting repaired or something to that effect...

But please don't waste it by throwing it, I've done things like that in the past and regretted it later, now if something starts getting to me I leave it for a while and eventually go back to it...

Best of luck...

Andy...

[Guest]

Barry ,I've been there too and know how frustrating it is. I find it easier just to set it aside for a bit and start something new ,then later attack again with a fresh sense of purpose! cheers Trey

[flyjoe180]

Ditto Barry. Could it be the basis of an excellent little diorama for a crashed Ju88 perhaps? If you have to, don't be afraid to hand paint the canopy framing. I had a similar experience with my Ju52. Maybe take a few days and start something simpler and more satisfying on the side. If you throw it out it has won the battle.

[Dave W]

Didn't have any problems with my JU88 apart from the weak axles.Fixed that with a drill and some cut down pins.Mind you, I made it after a 4 month build of a vacform 1/48 Halifax.Anything would be easy after that!.

[papa 695]

Don't let it win

[Guest]

If i can get it to look "something like" with my aircraft building ineptness then i'm damn sure you can Barry.

[BarryW]

A quick 'head up'

Monday I cemented the u/c legs into place and last night fitted steel pins into the wheels and onto the u/c. Tonight I plan to touch up the paintwork before my gloss coat and decals.

We will see if the repair is strong enough, right now it is sitting on its wheels.....

[Dave W]

Good to hear you've sorted it.Ive been thinking back to my build since you posted this.I remember now I did have some trouble working out where some of the cockpit parts went.It was the most detailed cockpit of any kit I've ever built though.

[BarryW]

LOL Dave - the Tammy 32 scale 'wonder' kits are a lot better as are a lot of the Trumpy 32 kits like the Dauntless. This one does have a complex cockpit and the detail is certainly good but there are a couple of very mis-shapen bits of plastic there... One bit, vaguely resembling an oxygen tank I ended up throwing away as the fit as suggested by the instructions was ludicrous. I thought better not to have it in the end as I suspect it wont really be seen anyway! The poor engineering really did make thing worse. I think I am a bit spoilt these days though as back 'in the day' I would not have thought anything about this kind of thing....

[Dave W]

Youve built some superbly engineered kits,so i understand you get frustrated when things don't go together perfectly.Ive built a lot of old kits mainly because I had a stash of stuff bought in the early 90's before I gave up modelling for 15 years or so.So I get excited when the parts fit together well!.Id love to build a ZM kit.Will probably get the 1/48 TA152 when they bring It out.