Postcard from the edge

[The Wooksta!]

Postcard from the edge of what is likely to drive me mad.  This, gentlemen, is the Contrail Junkers Ju 390.

Rough does not even begin to cut it.  Most vac's have a nice smooth surface, this has pits, divots and wide crevices.  The panel lines make the Matchbox trench digger look like the fine work of Tamiya.
Much of the kit is crude, even by the standards of the 70s.  It's a product of a time where the modeller did much of the work.  No brass or resin, no white metal or even crude decals.  This is absolute bare bones modelling and the spares box is going to be challenged.  I've some experience of vacforms, but nothing this big.  And this is big!

You cannot view this attachment.

Most of the parts.  The nose and tail have some rather unusual crude turrets moulded in situ.

You cannot view this attachment.

The wings.  Cliff, those panel lines are wide and those engine fronts are at best a bad joke.  And what's that box thing?

You cannot view this attachment.

A start has been made, the fuselage mouldings have been given the last of a can of Halfords primer.  It'll be grainy, but I'll be sanding the hell out of it, so it'll be smooth enough by the time the fuselage is ready.

I've also added the Planet 390 fuselage as a contrast.  Night and day?

The turrets, the engines (at a rough guess I'd say they're BMW 801TJs), that box thing. Contrail have moulded the proposed ultra long range bomber.

So, how much of the kit is going to be actually used? Other than the fuselage and wings, very little.  There are some very crude bulkheads given, which may be useful as patterns.  I can see several kits being cannibalised, not least the one in the next post.

[loupgarou]

Hmmm. it's an ancient Sutcliffe/Contrail ?

[kerick]

Is this some form of right of passage ritual you are being forced to perform? 

[loupgarou]

Why yesterday evening I was seeing only your photos and only now the text? Strange

[Gondor]

Postcard from the edge of what is likely to drive me mad.  This, gentlemen, is the Contrail Junkers Ju 390.

Rough does not even begin to cut it.  Most vac's have a nice smooth surface, this has pits, divots and wide crevices.  The panel lines make the Matchbox trench digger look like the fine work of Tamiya.
Much of the kit is crude, even by the standards of the 70s.  It's a product of a time where the modeller did much of the work.  No brass or resin, no white metal or even crude decals.  This is absolute bare bones modelling and the spares box is going to be challenged.  I've some experience of vacforms, but nothing this big.  And this is big!

You cannot view this attachment.

Most of the parts.  The nose and tail have some rather unusual crude turrets moulded in situ.

You cannot view this attachment.

The wings.  Cliff, those panel lines are wide and those engine fronts are at best a bad joke.  And what's that box thing?

You cannot view this attachment.

A start has been made, the fuselage mouldings have been given the last of a can of Halfords primer.  It'll be grainy, but I'll be sanding the hell out of it, so it'll be smooth enough by the time the fuselage is ready.

I've also added the Planet 390 fuselage as a contrast.  Night and day?

The turrets, the engines (at a rough guess I'd say they're BMW 801TJs), that box thing. Contrail have moulded the proposed ultra long range bomber.

So, how much of the kit is going to be actually used? Other than the fuselage and wings, very little.  There are some very crude bulkheads given, which may be useful as patterns.  I can see several kits being cannibalised, not least the one in the next post.

Depending on which photograph your referring to when you say "that box thing" could either be a fuselage frame or an under-cockpit gondola. At least that's what I think you are referring to 

Gondor

[zenrat]

Good luck.
I hope the satisfaction you get from beating the thing and producing a build you are happy with is worth the suffering.

[NARSES2]

Why yesterday evening I was seeing only your photos and only now the text? Strange

Very 

[The Wooksta!]

That box thing, in the top photo with one set of tail surfaces, is a bomb bay according to the instructions.

The fuselage is cut out now and I've done some sanding, as well as filling the yawning chasm that is the cargo door and some of the worst of the divots.

The donor kit, pictured below, is providing an interior, possibly the canopy and the undercarriage.  I've made a start on some of the parts I'll need for the fuselage.  Ironically, with the remains of the 290 and another kit, I can cobble together another Ju 390.  But not at the minute.

Next task is to get some photocopies of the distructions so I can come up with templates for wing spars and bulkheads.  I know I'll need some locating ledges inside to mount the cabin floor, which will also need lengthening.  Some P38 filler to stiffen up the nose and tail could also be handy.  I also need it for the Heinkel He 277 at some point.

I'm deliberately leaving the wings alone until the fuselage is ready to close up.

[Gondor]

 Sounds like a plan to me 

Gondor

[Dizzyfugu]

Good luck! Looks menacing! 

[Pellson]

I have an old vac form Hastings C.1 somewhere in the Stash^TM that looks very similar to this. That's probably the main reason for not building it yet, btw.. However, as that "kit" is the only game in town, I'm still hanging on to it, but God only knows when I'll dare to give it a go. 
Looking much forward to lots of in-process shots on this project to learn from. 

[PR19_Kit]

I have an old vac form Hastings C.1 somewhere in the Stash^TM that looks very similar to this.

Yes, Contrail did a Hastings, and quite a few similarly large transports of the period. Not exactly finely detailed but a good basic outline to start with.

[The Wooksta!]

Formaplane did the Hastings and the mould is now with Neil Gaunt at Aircraft in Miniature.  It's unlikely to get repopped as  , and I'm quoting him "no one does vacforms now."

[Gondor]

S&M did a resin one in 1/72 but I think you would have better putting money on the Lorrety than of finding one. In 1/144 Micro-Mir do an injection kit.

Gondor

[Pellson]

Formaplane did the Hastings and the mould is now with Neil Gaunt at Aircraft in Miniature.  It's unlikely to get repopped as  , and I'm quoting him "no one does vacforms now."

A Formaplane it is. And I'm not quite up to contest mr Gaunts statement just yet..