Italeri Junker's Ju-87 B2 in 1/48 Scale

Well it's the beginning of a new year and I just finished up this JU-87 that I started and sprayed with Future Wax then set it aside for at least four weeks before applying the decals.
This is a great departure in modeling for me in many aspects.  First, I built and painted the fuselage, wings, and smaller parts without attaching these parts into a completed model.  Once the wing was complete with most of the small parts attached, (most being the key word here) I masked and sprayed the three colors necessary for this aircraft.  Likewise, I did the same with the fuselage.  As this aircraft is a low wing aircraft, meaning the wings are attached to the bottom of the fuselage it becomes much easier to finish the model as separate pieces before attaching all the parts into a complete model.
Next I sprayed these parts with several coats of Future Floor Wax until a nice smooth coat could be felt over the surfaces of the model. Then it was set aside on the shelf for almost four weeks before I even looked at it again.
Finally, I started applying the decals on Saturday and Sunday.  As I found out, the background film is almost eliminated.  The other secret is to dab some decal set on the surface where the decal is to be applied first. This seems to totally eliminate the background film.  There were a few small decals where I missed the mark, but one has to scan the model carefully to find these.
As to the kit, it is an Italeri kit with several different markings available.  The kit was on sale at our local hobby shop and also comes with a small PE set comprising of seat belts and windscreen shield and a detailed engine should you want to leave the cowls off.  The part fit is right on and it was truly a joy to assemble.

The wing walks are also photo etch parts

What surprised me was the fact that our Grumman Hellcat is a more robust airplane for it's size compared to the Ju-87.  I have seen real Hellcat's close up, but never a JU-87 and the Hellcat seems larger in stature. Here are some photos of my completed Ju-87. Enjoy.

Happy New Year 2012 - LCAC Hovercraft

Christmas brought a 1/350 scale model of the Navy's LCAC Hovercraft by MRC.  It is a small but cute little model.  The entire model composes of 18 parts and measures less then three inches in length with two kits per blister package.
Total building time was about nine hours spread over five days including the diorama that the model now sets on.  Most challenging was painting the top surfaces of both side superstructures.  The diorama was constructed of a small piece heavy board stock given to me from a friend.  It came out of the zipper type garment bags used to store clothes.  The wood frame was cut from a wood paint stirring paddle thanks to Home Depot.  Water was from a small piece of Triang plastic sea from their 1/1200 scale waterline ship models.  This material has not been available in over forty years. Even today it is hard to find something suitable to serve as water without going into a large modeling project such a Woodland Scenics.

Completed model on the package it came in

The tan piece represents the beach which the hovercraft
 is about to come ashore on.

Here is the stern view with it's two large fan power plants.