Junkers J.2 (E.I)
The Merlin kit has some very rough parts, with lots of flash and a lot of variation from side to side
The radiator part was opened up at both ends and a radiator made from sheet styrene and bits of mesh
All flying surfaces had to be thinned - here the ailerons, with the one on the left already thinned and the other still original
Wings and tail pieces before and after thinning. Tail has also been thinned down
All flying surfaces now thinned and new panel lines inscribed
The kit has a white metal propeller - here it has been cleaned up and an etched metal boss added
A shaft was also glued into the back
The actual aircraft had a serial on both side and also under each wing, but the kit decals only have 2 for the fuselage. I made some copies of the fuselage serials and printed them on decal paper for under the wings
Front of the fuselage had to be reshaped - reference drawings show it more tapered rather than the square front end of the kit. Here I've shaped the right side - the left side is the original shape.
Both sides now reshaped (one time I could be thankful for the over-thick plastic in Merlin kits!), and some filler on one side where I'd chopped some plastic out in error.
New panel lines scribed.
The nose of the kit doesn't match the drawings. It is part of the fuselage halves so to work on it I taped the halves together, glued only the nose and, when dry, separated it from the halves with a razor saw. Here I've already increased the height of the nose with scrap styrene
Nose reshaped to match the drawings (shrunk down from 1/48 to 1/72 on a copier)
The sides also needed building up with styrene and putty and were then sanded to match the new nose shape. Some sections became very thin and needed to be backed with more scrap styrene.
Further work on the wings - extended the wing roots with styrene to match the drawings. Also built an axle fairing out of aerofoil shaped styrene and different sizes styrene rod
Cut out a slot on the right fuselage half for the exhausts
Found a half engine with the right cylinder spacing. Added some exhausts and built a support structure to hold it.
Engine painted and engine bay painted black. Engine glued in place.
A floor and some structure added to the cockpit
Interior complete and painted. The metal wicker chair came with the kit but the control stick came from the spares box, a basic panel from scrap styrene and some etched bezels and an etched rudder bar.
Fuselage closed and wings attache
Tail surfaces glued in place - some cleaning up of the joints needed
Radiator glued on and drain plug made from a punched styrene disc and small piece of 0.4mm styrene rod
Undercarriage components - all out of styrene card, rod and aerofoil sections
All undercarriage components glued together. Also carved a tail skid out of card styrene
Undercarriage and tail skid glued in place
Upright and with wheels and prop temporarily on
Some further rework of the engine/exhaust area, based on closer inspection of photos of the real machine
Exhaust made, using an old Albatros exhaust (Revell I think based on the red plastic!) and styrene rod. Just pushed in place at the moment
Radiator return pipe (?) added above the engine, made from styrene rod and soft copper wire. The close up photos show some filling repairs still to do.
First coat of primer on - it showed up some areas that needed some filler
All painting done and remaining small parts attached
The old Merlin decals have yellowed badly, so I found some crosses of the same size and cut some white fields from white decal sheet
Decals all on - just rigging to do
Comments
21 18 September 2021, 06:54
Transall NGA collector kit !! I have only two pics from this aircraft, but there may be no more...
Good work.
14 December 2022, 21:59
Uwe KaedingThanks guys. Transall NG - have a look at the Aeronaut Books book Junkers Aircraft of WWI Vol. 1: Junkers J.1-J.4. Plenty of photos of it in there, and some nice 1/48 scale drawings that I've reduced down to 1/72
15 December 2022, 12:19
Uwe KaedingWelcome aboard! Work on the exterior is almost done (although I may need to beef up the wing roots a bit when comparing to the drawings). Next I'll have to figure out a cockpit interior.
4 February 2023, 06:55
Uwe KaedingA little bit of re-profiling of the nose section, based on a closer inspection of photos of the real thing
2 February, 00:53
bughunterIt is nice to see an update after a year 👍
You mentioned down scaled references from 1:48 to 1:72. Where one can find those drawings? I checked your project but found no assigned books. Thanks!
2 February, 20:03
Uwe KaedingThanks for the comments and likes. Bughunter, yes, haven't been doing a lot of modelling in the last year - work getting in the way. Anyway for references I've mainly been using the Aeronaut Books book Junkers Aircraft of WWI Vol. 1: Junkers J.1-J.4 (vol. 30 of their Centennial Series). I haven't really looked at adding my reference books onto Scalemates yet.
2 February, 21:37
bughunterThanks! Here it is: Book: Junkers Aircraft of WWI (by Colin Owers)
Just link it to the project like a kit. SM is wonderful 👍
2 February, 21:48
Uwe KaedingSome more work done on the front end - nearing the end of the scratch building work
9 March, 22:48
Uwe KaedingGood to have you Greg. In the home stretch on this one - primer/filler/primer time!
29 March, 12:50
Album info
This is my build of the Junkers J.2 prototype single seat all metal monoplane fighter of 1916, built as the first machine built
