WiP +++ 1:72 AGO Ao 175 A-1 "Flamingo", 'H7+BA', Stab/NAGr 11, Northern Italy, 1941

[Gondor]

"Never again" is practice for the next time. It's looking good Dizzy, definitely a different use for a Ju 87 fuselage.

[Dizzyfugu]

definitely a different use for a Ju 87 fuselage.

W/o the original wings the Ju 87 is a really elegant aircraft! The new parasol layout makes it visible, now, the whole thing looks surprisingly sleek and "balanced"! 

[NARSES2]

W/o the original wings the Ju 87 is a really elegant aircraft! The new parasol layout makes it visible, now, the whole thing looks surprisingly sleek and "balanced"! 

It does indeed 

[Old Wombat]

Things start to look very good, though!

Yes .... Yes, they do! 

[Dizzyfugu]

Late addition, from the painting phase. Putting the Ao 175 into MTO service was a good excuse to apply a German North Africa paint scheme, brought to Northern Italy with withdrawing units from the South and maybe even Africa. The plan was to create an aircraft with field camouflage over a standard paint scheme, and to this end the painting process became a bit more complex than usual.
The core scheme is a simple, uniform RLM 78/79 (Himmelblau and Sandgelb) livery with a low and straight waterline, plus white MTO markings on fuselage and wing tips. For the Sandgelb I used Modelmaster 4789, which is a nice brownish tone that is not too bright and yellow-ish, and Tamiya XF-23 for Himmelblau, which is a tad darker and more greyish than RLM65. At this stage the white wingtip undersides were painted, too.


1:72 AGO Ao 175 A-1 'Flamingo'; "H7+BA" of the Stab/Nahaufklärergruppe (NAGr) 11 under Fliegerführer 2/Koluft 8, Deutsche Luftwaffe; Udine, Northern Italy, early 1944 (What-if/kitbashing) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 AGO Ao 175 A-1 'Flamingo'; "H7+BA" of the Stab/Nahaufklärergruppe (NAGr) 11 under Fliegerführer 2/Koluft 8, Deutsche Luftwaffe; Udine, Northern Italy, early 1944 (What-if/kitbashing) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

For the post-camouflage look the markings were added now – puzzled together from various sources. The tactical code is a mix of the Academy Storch's individual "BA" code, which is a staff code with an unusual green letter, with a smaller unit code. The underwing "Bs" came from the Storch, as well as the fuselage Iron Crosses. The national markings above and under the wing came from a TL Modellbau aftermarket sheet, the Iron Crosses on the upper side lack black edges, so that there is no stark contrast with the Sandgelb around them. The unit badge under the windscreen is fictional, IIRC from a late German Bf 109, though. A light black ink washing was used to emphasize some seams, esp. for the flaps, and a light post-shading was done to add surface structure.


1:72 AGO Ao 175 A-1 'Flamingo'; "H7+BA" of the Stab/Nahaufklärergruppe (NAGr) 11 under Fliegerführer 2/Koluft 8, Deutsche Luftwaffe; Udine, Northern Italy, early 1944 (What-if/kitbashing) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[Old Wombat]

Up on her feet she's starting to look insanely feasible!   

[Dizzyfugu]

Doesn't it? After that the tedious process of adding a meander pattern with RLM 80 (Olivgrün) over the Sandgelb base, around all markings. For the sake of easy application, I used acrylic Revell 65 (Bronzegrün, RAL 6031). Everything was done with a relatively small brush and took some time and several turns to cover area by area with the green wiggles. Some wet sanding was later used to simulate some wear and tear around the leading edges.
The propeller spinner became green with a white spiral, repeating the staff marking from the individual code letter. The propeller blades were painted with a very dark mix of green-grey and black.


1:72 AGO Ao 175 A-1 'Flamingo'; "H7+BA" of the Stab/Nahaufklärergruppe (NAGr) 11 under Fliegerführer 2/Koluft 8, Deutsche Luftwaffe; Udine, Northern Italy, early 1944 (What-if/kitbashing) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 AGO Ao 175 A-1 'Flamingo'; "H7+BA" of the Stab/Nahaufklärergruppe (NAGr) 11 under Fliegerführer 2/Koluft 8, Deutsche Luftwaffe; Udine, Northern Italy, early 1944 (What-if/kitbashing) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 AGO Ao 175 A-1 'Flamingo'; "H7+BA" of the Stab/Nahaufklärergruppe (NAGr) 11 under Fliegerführer 2/Koluft 8, Deutsche Luftwaffe; Udine, Northern Italy, early 1944 (What-if/kitbashing) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


As finishing steps some soot stains were created with graphite behind the exhausts, the position lights were made with clear paint on a silver base, the camera lenses (black decal material) received a glossy finish with ClearFix, and the wire antennae from the wingtips to the fin were created with heated black sprue material. 

[su27rules]

  

[PR19_Kit]

That's very innovative thinking and construction Thomas.   

[Dizzyfugu]

That's very innovative thinking and construction Thomas.   

Thank you, Kit. It "evolved", since the original plan would have looked very awkward - but with the Storch wings the whole thing looks really plausible, and even "good"! 

[NARSES2]

I do like that scheme   

[sandiego89]

Wow!  a Lysanderluft perhaps? 

I had my doubts, but you are pulling this one off well as usual!