mike romeo Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Hi folks, I tend not to do build logs on BM, but thought I'd show a photo of my current wip, the Airfix Bf109E, as I made a somewhat disparaging remark about it on my profile. It is a nice wee kit (the emphasis being on the 'wee', for those of us whose origins are North of Hadrian's Wall), but has some really annoying engineering / fit. Now I can bollix up a kit with an ability matched by few others, but when bits of a new tool Airfix don't fit off the sprue, then I get a bit annoyed. The wing uppers and lowers didn't match up and the lower edge of the LE slats sat proud of the forward edge of the lower wing, also the wing tips and ailerons didn't sit in the same plane, all of which required some fettling of the mating portions of the wing pieces to sort out. The sprue gates are quite oversized and I removed a chunk of the outer edge of the tailplanes (actually the elevators) when I removed them from the sprues with side cutters. That explains the rather odd shape of the outer edge of the elevators in the picture below. In addition, there are some really small pieces that I'm not looking forward to removing from the sprue (Pitot tube, aileron mass balances, gun barrels, etc.). Also removing the mould seams from the tailplane support struts was lots of fun. Right, rant mode is now off. Apart from the above, it's gone together fairly well, although some mechanical deformation of the upper engine cowling piece was necessary to aid fit, and some filler was required at the fuselage / wing underside interface. Anyway, I'm now onto painting, and the second coat of RAF Dark Green sorry, RLM71 dunkelgrun, has just been applied. I'm using the Bf109E colour demarkations from Michael Ullmann's Luftwaffe Colours book and I have just realised that I've got the positions wrong on the starboard wing. Oh poo! Still, we're hopefully on the home straight now, so just have to grit my teeth and get it done. regards, Martin 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike romeo Posted July 27, 2015 Author Share Posted July 27, 2015 (edited) So, having finished the painting, removed the tape, then carefully touched up where necessary, I applied a couple of brush coats of klear and let it dry. I then took a piece of 1500 grit wet n dry and rubbed it on another piece, ending up with - I guess - 3000grit. This was then rubbed on my jeans* for a while until it appeared shiny, whereupon I tried to knock back the raised paint edges caused by the tape. This was partially successful only . . .anyway, after allowing another klear coat to dry, it was on with the decals, which leaves us here: That looks OK to me anyway. Another couple of coats of klear to kill that white bloom around some of the decals, caused by decal setting agent, and I reckon a bit of a wash will be in order. Nothing too stark, maybe a nice mid-brown. Should look OK on the blue anyway. regards, Martin *oo-er - one for CedB, perhaps Edited July 27, 2015 by mike romeo 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Looking good Martin! I too had got a bit over enthusiastic using the edge cutters - the great results you get on 'suitable' parts made me reach for them for everything. Now I'm more careful (after chopping bits off parts, like you) to check that the 'join' is suitable for a clean snip, otherwise it's back to the scalpel for me, or nano saw if I'm very nervous. Horses for courses. Oh, and score 1, fnaar fnaar! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil32 Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Looking nice! Watch the aerial mast and pitot tubes... my 109 is missing them, only took the slightest ham fistedness! The aerial ended up glued on in 2 halves, looks a tad droopy. I found a good way to get around the tape paint ridges on this kit was running a scalpel blade down them before sanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winenut Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 coming along nicely The 109 is a wee slip of an aircraft. Looking forward to the wash Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike romeo Posted August 2, 2015 Author Share Posted August 2, 2015 coming along nicely The 109 is a wee slip of an aircraft. Looking forward to the wash Cheers Thanks, Winenut! Yeah . . . the wash. Didn't quite turn out as I'd hoped; didn't realise until after I'd varnished it. Needs some remedial painting . . . I'll get round to it. regards, Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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