Hobbycraft Dornier DO-17Z in Finnish Markings.

 

The HobbyCraft 1/48th scale Dornier DO-17Z.

A little about the DO-17.

The DO-17 was a cutting edge schnellbomber for Germany in the 30s, nicknamed the Flying Pencil because of the slick, streamlined lines of it's early variants. But the final variant, the Z was a bit chunkier thanks to the demands of real wartime needs. By the time of the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940, it was definitely showing it's age and was becoming easy game for the English interceptors it was encountering. This may help explain why, in the late Fall of 1941, Hermann Goring felt he could gift Finland 15 ex-Luftwaffe DO-17's. 

Still, the Finns were happy to get anything to help them carry their war to the Soviets. The only other bombers they had at the time were some aging Bristol Blenheims. The Finns used the Dorniers for bombing, reconnaissance, and even for dropping commandos behind enemy lines. The Dorniers continued their service up until the armistice in September of 1944. By then the remaining Dorniers were principally used for photo mapping. (The Finns also had a number of JU-88's which had become their main bomber type.) 

Dornier DO-63, the subject of my model, was delivered to Finland on January 1, 1942. It served with 1/LeLv 46 until June 30, 1944, when it was shot down by Soviet AA.

A shot of the actual aircraft, DO-63.

And here's my 1/48th scale version!

The kit.

I remember first seeing a Hobbycraft, (HC) DO-17 at a model store in Great Falls, Montana over 30 years ago! I was excited to think somebody made one in that scale, but didn't buy it as I wasn't yet modeling then. Much later, when I saw the same kit on eBay, I snapped it up. I didn't know any better. Had I been more aware, I would have realized that there are much better kits, (ICM, Classic Airframes) available now. The HC kit has many, many accuracy problems. Quite frankly, I decided to address only a few of them.

The kit, the decals and PE, and a very nice reference by Kalevi Keskinen and Kari Stenman.

The first problem is the HC's kit fuselage profile. It tends to sit "Tail-high", and has earned it the nickname "the Banana". Because of the way HC has designed the fuselage, the fix is actually pretty simple. HC has seen fit to mold the fuselage in upper and lower halves. I actually like this since it eliminates the seam in the middle. It also makes correcting the fuselage easy. you just have to saw the bottom half in two and remove a small wedge of material from that lower half. The top half wants to be straight, so you can use that as a guide. 

Here's a link to a good description of the "fix".

There are many other problems with this kit; the interior lacks a lot of detail, the landing gear is difficult to install. The cowlings are wrong. The whole nose is incorrect. There is a window missing on the starboard side and the bombsight housing is located on the wrong side. Some of these problems I addressed, some I just ignored. I decided to just work the kit as much as I felt like and not worry about it. After that, I kind of enjoyed the build!

Fixing the "banana".

After that is done, I turned to working on the interior. There are lot's of interesting parts on the sprue tree, but only certain ones are meant for the DO-17Z! The instructions are pretty vague about the actual location of these parts, and there's lots of empty spaces. At this point I just started ad-libbing and made up a bunch of stuff that looked like 1940 era avionics! Anyway, a lot of detail will get lost after everything is buttoned up, right? I did splurge and used some Eduard seat harnesses.

Okay, after that fun, I assembled the wings, cowlings, and nacelles. The two vertical fins on the tailplane had misplaced locating holes, so I filled one of them. At this point, I should mention that the cowlings are not quite right...the side intakes seem to be located on the starboard side on both engines. So you have to orientate them that way. In doing so, you will find that all the scribed paneling does not match. I've also heard that there are no cooling flaps on these aircraft either. You should just fill all the lines on the cowlings. I didn't figure this out until way too late, so I just let them be.

The wing fit to the fuselage is not too bad.

I used a mask set meant for the ICM kit which is not optimal. I later found that there is a mask set for the Hobbycraft DO-17!

Well, with much of the main assembly finished, I was able to begin having fun. Time to paint! First, I applied the yellow theater marking over a base of white. Than, I taped the separation between the upper and lower camouflage but I used Silly Putty worms for the soft edges of the upper camo colors.

I was pretty happy with the results. Incidentally, the paints used were all Tamiya. Nato Green XF-67, Nato Black XF-69 and for the undersides, a 50/50 mix of Light Blue, XF-23 and Flat White XF-2.

Decals were next. Actually pretty simple for this aircraft.

Then time for more assembly. I used stacked Legos to support the vertical stabs while they dried.

Moving along with the engines. These are in no way representative of a DO-17Z engine, but at this point, I just didn't care! This view also shows the landing gear, which had to be supported by a chunk of Lego!

Getting there, the canopy isn't cemented in place yet.

Here's a peek into the finished cockpit, just in case I can't see it through the canopy!

Almost there, still have to glue the canopy.

Well, it's done! Not the most accurate model on my shelf, but it will fill the DO-17 shaped hole in my Finnish AF collection until I get the gumption to build an ICM kit! That won't happen for a loooong time!