Junkers J-10 Zivil - Converted Pegasus 1/72nd short run kit

 

(Photo from the ETH Zurich image repository:

https://ba.e-pics.ethz.ch/catalog/ETHBIB.Bildarchiv/r/90729/viewmode=previewview/qsr=junkers

 

 (The completed model is here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/01/junkers-cl1-j-10-civil-conversion.html

Among the most ungainly, gawky-looking, hasty conversions of service planes into postal/passenger carriers, the Junkers Cl.1/J.10 shines in all its corrugated splendor, giving the impression that such a thing could hardly attempt to cheat gravity.

Still, these conversions, very common back then, opened the way for what it will become one of the big modern industries and market in present times, the civil aviation industry.

This Junkers is quite uncommon, being a cantilever monoplane of metal construction, a pioneering formula brilliantly conceived by Hugo Junkers. Later in time Junkers -a pacifist and airline industry pioneer- was unfortunately being forced out from his own company by the despicable scheissekopf nzis, and shortly after died in obscure circumstances.

This civil conversion of 1918/1919 of the original plane was given a not bad-looking canopy to protect its only passenger (or cargo), and in photos we can see that the passenger seemed to have an instrument panel in the cabin, perhaps a clock and a couple of other basic instruments.

I was very happy to see this Pegasus kit that offers the possibility of such conversion, and even happier when I got it and realized that it was several notches up in many regards from their previous Junkers D.1, a kit I bought (and discarded) as a potential conversion long time ago. Why this kit is far better? to start with the wings come in halves, allowing to sand them from inside, thus reducing the unsightly thickness of the trailing edges. Furthermore, this kit has replacement resin fin, elevator and ailerons, contributing to the achievement of finesse, plus well-cast metal parts covering a multipart engine, wheels, bulkheads, steps, and other many bits. The decals look alright at first glance. To add to the vast improvement over the D.1 kit, the corrugations are in this case well done, especially for a short-run kit.

But...there is flash. And this is not any wimpy, wafer-thin, irrelevant  flash... it's Gourmet Flash: rich, luxurious, thick, abundant, lush, and quite expressive. It takes a time to clean all the parts, trying not to damage the detail and the corrugations. Be patient here, as any effort at this early stage will pay off down the lane. 

In dealing with kits like this, the modeler will obtain a noticeable musculature due to the amount of sanding, which, added to the normal quote of crouching, bending down and twisting necessary to recover the small parts that fall on the floor (and jump to other unsuspected, many times almost inaccessible, and often implausible places around the building area), will account for any gym time, besides saving  money. 

To achieve this conversion the modeler needs to discard any pumba-pumba parts, modify the engine hood, create all the parts for the cabin and canopy, and depending on taste, print the decals for this version. Photos show three different decorations for two machines, D77 and D78, and in some photos the plane appears with no marks (most likely a factory photo).

I do have a softy spot for cottage industry, short-run kits, and conversions, and this kit provides the opportunity to hone those skills at a fair price, even if requiring certain experience and no doubt some work.

At some point, maybe after closing the fuselage, it's perhaps important to decide which actual plane to model, as there are changes and details that vary from one to the other. The radiator is bigger in some photos, having some extended fairing vents on the fuselage side, most likely the result of a different motorization (BMW IIIa or Mercedes DIIIa). Props, Pitot, some protuberances, steps and of course markings vary too, as well as colored or plain canopy.

And finally a word to the wise: look at drawings, put them apart, and concentrate in photos of the plane you are modeling, as they tend to differ to a point that may surprising you. An area of special consideration is the added canopy, composed of three parts: a sort of magnified curved headrest for the pilot, the removable cover that allows access for the passenger, and a fairing following after, triangular in shape, not curved when seen from the side, but straight. 

Contents:

What you get:

Fair corrugations. The long stick is a length of airfoiled section, provided to make the landing gear struts:

The white metals casts:

The alternate resin parts:

After a couple of hours, all the parts are separated and cleaned up:

Again the metal parts minus the bonga-bonga items:

The replacements and the original parts:

NOTE:

From my nemesis and archenemy, Ebil Genius, Master Unmodeler and dear friend Sönke:

Small correction: the second engine was a Benz, not a BMW. D.78 was the Benz-engined version and although it carried the higher registration number, it was the first one to fly. This was the aircraft with the "Junkers Dessau-Weimar" markings. D.77 was the Mercedes-engined version. In his book "Retribution and Recovery"; Lennart Andersson wrote that it was planned to equip D.77 with a typewriter for the passenger, making it a "flying office", but that it is unclear whether that plan was realized.

Big correction: yet another cheeky remark about unbuilding colleagues and I will test my cruise facecake on you!

This quick sketch describes the three components of the civil canopy. In the mid-section, -the passenger cabin- there is a hinged side with a half-round flap that covers the round opening:

For that section to close properly part of the "vertical wall" in the aft position needs removal

In order to thin the wing halves from inside, it's necessary first to remove the ailerons, that will later be substituted for the resin parts:

Now they can be thinned-down, with care though, as at the root there is a little angle (so it's not completely flat):

And since we are at it, we deal with the elevator replacement too:

The wheel axle is replaced with a similar airfoiled length with metal rods, as I distrust resin and plastic axles, prone to breakage:

The prop is carefully thinned-down, and a metal shaft added:

You can see why it's important to thin down the wing from inside. Here is one thinned-down half an the untouched mirror part:

As the engine hood has the accommodation for the now discarded bonga-bonga bits, it has to be restored. There are different approaches, one is to replace the aft section with "corrugated" plastic:

First though, the "throughs" have to be filled with rod:

Adding elements to the interior. Two more bulkheads, "corrugated" sides, small "desk", cushioned seat:

Control column and rudder pedals are added:

The fit is checked before starting to paint the interior:

 

Apparently there was not instrument panel -as such- for the pilot (the kit provides none), but several instruments located where possible on the bulkhead frame. I couldn't find a photo of the interior, but found a few covering similar Junkers planes that have this arrangement. The passenger cabin as mentioned seemed to have had a few basic instruments (this practice was made common later in passenger cabins, showing a chronometer, airspeed, etc.). Nowadays in our digital screens we have the option to watch a movie, or follow the flight on a map, together with flight parameters. I would rather have a seat that wasn't designed by the Spanish Inquisition.

The rudder is given a metal pin, as it was a "flying" rudder (single surface), pivoting in its axis, but moved from that rod  at the front left and right:

Example of a quirky modeling practice called "wing bondage" 😏:

Primer applied:

The resin parts are glued to the injected ones. One photo shows the "patch" made to restore the surface of the hood without the armament provision as just a smooth piece of metal, not corrugated on the right side...

...so it's dealt with here in the same way:

The photo of the plane above also shows a different prop, the elimination of part of the hood to better clear the exhaust, and the corrugated "mustaches" that match the alternate motorization.

You may have read somewhere above that some sources stated that it was thought that a typewriter could be furnished. This is very unlikely, but for the sake of interest, I made one to be added on top of the small "desk" in the cabin:

Some instruments and the typewriter are added

As mentioned, Pegasus provides in the kit a length of landing gear strut material (the longer one in the photo), but no pattern or measurements to cut the parts or instructions to build it. In fact, you need two widths of LG strut, as the back leg is thicker than the fore, and is triangular in side view, so a length from the spares has to be used (the shorter length):

Furthermore, the color print they provide has a different landing gear, that doesn't much most photos of the Cl.1/J.10 (possible belongs to an earlier variant):

 This is the landing gear in all the photos I have of the plane:

The color print provided is not to scale, so no guide for measurements either (or, if you go boom-boom, no correct size to cut masks either):

The kit box (I didn't get one, my kit was sent in a cushioned envelope) does have the correct landing gear for most versions:

The fuselage is closed using the Spanish Inquisition approach:

Some airbrushing:

Fabricating replacement vents, as there were two, and not rectangular as in the kit, but rounded at the open end:

The seams will require some tiding-up (but you can skip the areas where the hood goes). I prefer the four-sides approach to the fuselage construction that other manufacturer use when corrugations are present. Cutting the masks for the wheel hubs:

Landing gear, to be adjusted later:

The vents, inaccurate for the civil version, are removed:

First coat of primer:

A wood plug will be carved for the canopy. Then a clear sheet will be vacuumed. The aft cone will be sawed off and replaced with corrugated plastic. The windows will be masked and the rest painted. The two semicircular side flaps will be added later. That's the plan anyway 😓:

Working on the shape:

Using the Mattel Psychedelic Machine two shells are vacuformed, one clear and one opaque. Now I am down to four clear sheets left for my scratch projects 😨 :

The opaque shell is trimmed and used to try the fit:

Now for the fun  part:

The corrugated pattern is "copied" from the wing, patiently pushing thick aluminium kitchen roll sheet delicately into every groove with a toothpick. You will love it, as it takes several tries and many insults to get it right:

Then the aft section of the cabin (the cone) is cut from the molded part, and its base sanded a bit to account for the thickness of the corrugated foil. Holding the corrugated material is if it were as fragile and temperamental as Tinkerbell, a coat of medium density superglue is laid on it, and then, very carefully, and aligning the spine of the cone with the corrugations, the part is positioned, and the foil wrapped around it. Once the glue has set, the excess is trimmed off. Needless to say, this also took a number of attempts. And the best part is that any undue pressure, any hesitation, any deviation, will ruin everything. I told you, it's so fun!:

Little adjustments will be made, but the approach seems to work quite well (dry fit):

The vacuformed shell and its corrugated aluminium skin:

The clear shell is now cut to size. Two bulkheads will support the canopy, a partial one in front of the passenger and another at the seam with the corrugated part. The windows will be masked and then paint applied with the rest. I plan to leave the entrance hatch open (the hinge was located to the right of the top section):

The instrument panel for the passenger, seen in photos, is fabricated:

The wings are on. I kept looking and looking as it seemed to me that something was not quite right.

After some pondering I realized that Pegasus has molded the wings with wash-in, instead of the mandatory wash-out (that is, the airfoil at the wing tip should be set at an angle lower than the root, to avoid or delay stalling). Oh freaking well. What can you do. Not only that, but the fuselage somehow twists a bit along the axis, meaning you align the tail and you get the wings out of wack, and vice-versa. As usual, compromises are made. Not my happiest build, but I really want the civil version you can extract from it. 

Hey, manufacturers, would anyone tackle the civil canopied version, with a four-sided fuselage, so you don't have to endlessly mess with the corrugations at the seams in the middle of the standard-molded fuselage? Revel almost did well with their F.13, a similar plane. 

Sigh...

Engine and hood added:

Landing gear, rudder and new vents added. A gloss grey base coat is applied:

The canopy is given a headrest and an aft bulkhead. The windows are masked to proceed with painting:

Metal color airbrushed:

A windmill speedometer seen in photos on the right wing is replicated:

I must disagree with this manufacturer's statement about their decals. They were not really thin (more like mid-range thinness), had noticeable carrier around (which shows clearly on a metal finish), and won't adhere properly to the corrugations, laying flat after drying (i.e., not getting into the corrugations' indentations). These decals may work on flat surfaces, but they don't do well on corrugated surfaces:

I have applied now three coats (allowing for drying) of setting solution (Micro Sol) to little effect so far. We'll see what happens after that third coat dries.

Other parts of the canopy are added. The left side will have the other two components folded open:

The rest of the cabin components are added, as well as wheels and prop, plus two other decals:

The decals arrived from Arctic Decals:

The completed model is here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/01/junkers-cl1-j-10-civil-conversion.html