Bf109 A from Anton...1/48 Academy

[One-Two]

Thank you Giemme and TonyT for your kind words.

Tony, I think that a vacuum-form canopy would have been a better option than the plastic one, because of the thickness issue. But anyway, this is history now:)

 

I installed the tail reinforcement struts. They were too long, so I had to shorten them a bit, at the tip towards the horizontal stabilizer.

I also glued in place the rear face of the coolant radiator....it was a gaping hole there under the nose, cut by me in the initial stages of the build.

The rear face of the radiator is a big PE consisting itself of 4 separate PE bits and it was glued in the nose using white glue...and after the white glue cured, I also used some epoxy glue...just to be sure of a solid bond. I don't trust the brittle nature of CA  glue for such situations.

 

Ok, now I'm almost ready to install the engine cowling and to start working on the nose. This will be the next step.

 

Thanks for looking and regards,

[John Masters]

Mister you're a better man than I...

 

I have to agree with the surrounding crowd...

A) HobbyCraft/Academy kits are the worst kits made.  Just a poorly engineered shell.

B)They are the best kits around of you want to do all that you are doing with such skill and patience.

[TonyTiger66]

Nice work on the rear face of the radiator and stabilisers  

 

The photo etch looks very good indeed.

 

Those stabilisers are an aspect of A-E Bf 109's that can be a real pain. I'll admit to having made a mess in a variety of ways in that area, many times. Well done.

 

Best regards

TonyT

[giemme]

Great job with the radiator

 

Ciao

[Troy Smith]

On 15/12/2014 at 10:03, One-Two said:

Thus being said the painting issue comes into question.

It's a long debate about the colour/finish of the first Bf109's to reach Spain. Some are saying that they were RLM 02 overall...some that they were bare metal...but from what I read (Merrick - pic attached) I think that trey were most probably not painted with RLM 02, but with a zinc chromate primer (coded 7102), which was a very transparent and thinly applied anti-corosive primer (some sort of "transparent" light grey with a very subtle green tint).

Being almost transparent, the general look of the airframe must have been someting like a whiter bare-metal...with a slight green tint...or something like this.

 

been a while, but the most recent  information suggest a colour called "Silberweiss"

 

see here http://www.network54.com/Forum/149674/thread/1489460211

 

Quote

 

The documents indicate that all of the Bf 109 prototypes sent to Spain and the Bf 109 As were finished in a colour called silberweiss--literally silver-white. Volkswagen still has a colour by the same name and it is hard to describe. Look it up and have a look.

 

been described as 'white-pearl'   i  the thread, the VW colour  I think  is  L82

 

HTH

T

 

 

[One-Two]

Thank you Gents for your comments.

 

@Troy Smith....man, thank you very much for this new information regarding early 109's painting. This is really interesting!

I would love to see the new book those guys are talking about...it's such a controversial issue....

 

Anyway, I will consider this silberwieiss as a possible option, when it will come the time of painting. I have the RLM 01 silber from Vallejo ModelAir...it is codded 71063 and I think it is exactly this silberweiss that these guys are talking about. Didn't try it yet.

I also looked for this VW L82 "white-pearl". I looks strange...too white I think. Not much silver color in it...it looked to me like a bright white.

 

Other possible options are some RLM-63-like paints from Tamiya that I already bought...XF 20 and 25 (most probably XF20 which seems to be a lighter grey to me).

I am also thinking of letting a part of the engine cowling in bare metal...just for the looks of it...we'll see, I didn't decided yet.

Most probably, I will try the paints and I will take the decision depending on the looks...because unfortunately, I came to the conclusion that it is very difficult to find the historical truth on such an issue like very early 109's (Anton series) painting.

 

All the best,

 

 

[John Masters]

My most recent build, the Japanese 'Alf'. is painted silver-grey from Vallejo...

[TonyTiger66]

14 hours ago, One-Two said:

Thank you Gents for your comments.

 

@Troy Smith....man, thank you very much for this new information regarding early 109's painting. This is really interesting!

I would love to see the new book those guys are talking about...it's such a controversial issue....

 

Anyway, I will consider this silberwieiss as a possible option, when it will come the time of painting. I have the RLM 01 silber from Vallejo ModelAir...it is codded 71063 and I think it is exactly this silberweiss that these guys are talking about. Didn't try it yet.

I also looked for this VW L82 "white-pearl". I looks strange...too white I think. Not much silver color in it...it looked to me like a bright white.

 

Other possible options are some RLM-63-like paints from Tamiya that I already bought...XF 20 and 25 (most probably XF20 which seems to be a lighter grey to me).

I am also thinking of letting a part of the engine cowling in bare metal...just for the looks of it...we'll see, I didn't decided yet.

Most probably, I will try the paints and I will take the decision depending on the looks...because unfortunately, I came to the conclusion that it is very difficult to find the historical truth on such an issue like very early 109's (Anton series) painting.

 

All the best,

 

 

 

I like your idea to represent some of the cowl areas in a metal shade  

 

There are many photographs that support this choice, if the model is made to look like the photographs it would provide some really nice textural variation 

 

The exhaust streaks appear to have been wiped off by the ground crews quickly and efficiently,  soon after landing, in the early months of the war. It's kind of a shame for we modelling people, because in flight photographs show some really interesting exhaust stain patterns down the sides of the aircraft.

 

Regarding the historical truth aspect, it's something I would agree with for so many aspects of the Spanish Civil War (not just modelling). One thing that occurs to me now; it looks like very soon there will be new findings published.

 

Eek! What should we do in the meantime? Is there a chance the very day that something goes in RFI, that the new findings are published and our models are a different colour?

 

 

 

Making models of SCW subjects is just such fun, never boring. New discoveries every year.

 

Here's a completely bonkers idea for a colour I had years ago: Something based around Mr. Color 152 'Green Pearl'.

 

Maybe sprayed lightly over a very light grey or white or white aluminium base?

 

I guess that it's too 'out there', but this was at the time when many were discussing laquer with a greenish tint.

 

All internet photographs I can find of Mr Hobby/Color 152 don't look like the real colour, not the way it looks in real life. The plastic tops really are way too green. This picture, on my screen, gives the best impression:

 

 

It's quite possible that I'm completely nuts, but can you see where I was coming from with this one?

 

Looking forward to the next instalment 

Best regards

TonyT

 

[One-Two]

On ‎8‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 5:51 PM, John D.C. Masters said:

My most recent build, the Japanese 'Alf'. is painted silver-grey from Vallejo...

Yes that silberweiss is sure an interesting color John. I liked its looks on your model and I am more and more convinced that it would be suited for my Spanish Anton also. 

Btw...very nice job with the little Alf!

 

On ‎8‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 1:01 AM, TonyTiger66 said:

It's quite possible that I'm completely nuts, but can you see where I was coming from with this one?

Yeah TonyT I think I see and for sure you are not nuts with this.

The greenish tint possibility is also one of the most often discussed options for early Spanish 109's. I read about it and I even mentioned in one of my earliest posts from this build. However, while I was aware of it, I had no idea on how to achieve it. Now, you provided me whit a very nice idea on how to do it - thank you very much Tony!!

 

Back to my 6-7, I made some modifications to the upper engine cowling.

Now, while providing the engine cowling with the gun apertures, the Academy guys forgot to provide the barrels for the machineguns. No guns. Zero MG's. Nothing.  

So I decided to use some brass MG17 barrels - they look really nice.

I also modified the upper cowling in order to allow the installation of the MG's at a later stage, whiteout the risk of loosing the barrels in the empty space of the nose.

These plastic pieces I added to the cowling will provide support and proper alignment for the MG's, which I will install in final stages of the build, after painting.

Also I had to drastically thin the plastic walls of the upper front fuselage, in order to accept the newly added MG supports.

 

Thanks for looking,

Cheers, 

[Booty003]

Absolutely cracking work.  Those MG barrels look perfect.

[giemme]

5 hours ago, Booty003 said:

Absolutely cracking work.  Those MG barrels look perfect.

Agreed 100%

 

Ciao

[One-Two]

Thank you Guys.

 

I just closed the engine cowling and installed all the major pieces of the nose. Only the big two-bladed Schwartz propeller is missing.

Now I can see that some heavy superglue filling, sanding and re-scribing is coming. 

The nose area is by far, the worst part of this kit. It is so wrong that it could be completely corrected only with major surgery (like cutting off the nose, throwing it to garbage and scratching a completely new one). 

I'm not going to do this - I will just correct the major panel lines as much as possible, by re-scribing them.

 

Cheers and thanks for looking,

 

[One-Two]

Ok so while working on the nose job (reshaping some areas, complete re-scribing of the panel lines), I also installed various pieces.

 

First, it was the oil cooler. At the very early 109 series (Anton/Berta), the oil cooler was located under the wing, near the root. Later, it was moved a little bit more further away from the wing root. The reason was, I think, that when the landing gear was out, the gear leg was right in front of the oil radiator air intake, leading to high oil temperature while on taxiing.

However, according to Eduard instructions, the oil radiator should be installed over a flat PE bit - some sort of base for the radiator, whit some nice detail on it (rivets, etc.).

So I just installed the PE.

But while researching a little bit on this issue, I discovered (pictures of 109Berta 6-15 captured in Spain) that in reality there was no such base. The oil radiator was installed directly on the underside of the wing, with no additional base.

So off with the PE bit (bad research Eduard!!) and I installed the oil radiator directly on the wing.

 

Then I moved to the air intake on the nose. I think it was the carburetor air intake...I don't think that at that time the Jumo engine of the first 109 series was using direct fuel injection.

Nevertheless, I had to choose between some PE piece (that had to be bent to shape somehow, and installed over the cowling) or the kit's plastic part, which was just a piece of solid plastic. I forgot to take pictures before modifying it. I mean it was just a blob of plastic.

Because I was skeptical about the PE piece, I preferred the plastic one...which was modified to look like a proper air intake.

 

That's all, for now, cheers.. 

Edited August 28, 2017 by One-Two

[giemme]

Steady progress there, One-two   Not far from painting stage, I think.

 

Ciao

[One-Two]

On ‎8‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 11:47 AM, giemme said:

Steady progress there, One-two   Not far from painting stage, I think.

 

Ciao

Not so fast, Giemme!

I know only 3 speeds...slow, very slow and extremely slow:)

 

For the moment, I continued with the nose job.

Now, the Eduard provided a PE for the disc plate behind the propeller. It has some small holes on it...which were acting like additional cooling slots - they are visible on the drawings also, just behind the propeller boss which was a little bit smaller in dimensions so that the cooling holes from this plate were exposed directly to the airflow.

However, while checking the PE piece provided by Eduard for this detail, I discovered that it's good only for the trash bin.

The cooling holes are wrongly positioned...they are too far from the edge of the disk plate, so they will never bee seen as they are completely covered by the propeller boss. And not all of the holes are represented anyway.

So I just drilled some "cooling" holes directly in the plastic....and after a dry fit I was convinced that this was a far better solution than the Eduard PE. 

I also worked on the propeller. Although the kit is for the 109 Dora series, in the box there is also the representation of the wooden two-bladed Schwartz propeller, that was mounted on the Anton and early Berta series.

The problem is that the Schwartz propeller is horrible. I already modified the shape of the blades and I don't think that this is enough.

Also the propeller boss was far too long - I had to shave off all the plastic that was present behind the blades (sorry I forgot to make a picture before modification - I just marked on the last picture the area that was eliminated.

That's all for the moment.

Thanks for looking,

Cheers

[One-Two]

Hello Guys.

 

I shifted my attention to the landing gear area. The situation here is not so happy.

The academy gear legs are unusable. They are ridiculously thick....like telephone poles. So I looked for replacements. I choose the gear legs from an old ICM F4 kit that I'm never gonna build, since both Zvezda and Eduard came with far better options in the meantime. And since I requisitioned the ICM gear legs, I also took the related gear covers.

So the landing gear for my 109Anton will consist of ICM F4 gear legs and covers and the original academy wheels, which are decent enough.

Now while being reasonably good in shape and dimensions, the problem with the ICM gear legs is that do not match with the related holes from the academy wheels (this was solved easily) and also they absolutely don't match with the contact area with the wing. This will be difficult to sort out later on, because the 109 landing gear geometry was quite complex and any aligning of the pieces is compromised since I'm using parts from another kit.

However, in the meantime I focused on the gear covers. The inferior edge of F4 gear (the wheel cover) that I'm using was not a straight line...it was somehow angled...for sure this angled edge was related to ground clearance when the aircraft was at 3-point attitude.

According to Kagero drawings, in the case of the 109 A-B series this angle was also present, but not so pronounced. I marked on the picture the areas of interest.

However, while studying the reference photos for the 109 Berta registered 6-15 which was captured intact in Spain and studied in detail in France and Russia, I discovered that for sure, the 109 B landing gear cover didn't have that angled edge at all. The inferior edge of the wheel cover was a completely straight line, as can be seen in the photo bellow. Nice work, Kagero!

Therefore, I modified accordingly the gear cover pieces.

That's all for now, thanks for looking, cheers.

[giemme]

That's the essence modelling IMHO, great job One-Two  

 

Ciao

[matteo44]

Perfect job! 

[yarvelling]

Incredible research   This all so fascinating to see:  and history books being re-written right here   Excellent stuff... well done!  And lovely modelling too

[Bobk]

this might be the book that "tells all" about color and deployment of Bf-109's in Spain. https://www.amazon.com/German-Eagles-Spanish-Skies-Messerschmitt/dp/0764356348/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525968675&sr=8-1&keywords=german+eagles+in+spanish+skies

[Azgaron]

Excellent work so far!

 

Håkan