Giorgio N Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 (edited) I had completely forgotten about this group build but it was lucky that I saw it had started right when my Meng G.91was becoming frustrating. When a model annoys me, what's better than starting another one ? Even better, an easy kit to build OOB to relax. So I climbed on the ladder and got a small red box from the part of the stash standing over a bookshelf... Ah, those famous Airfix red boxes that have been sending the modelling world into overdrive for the last few years... I am myself responsible for the rebirth of Airfix under the Hornby ownership, not because I have anything to do with them but because I bought quite a few of these red boxes. In particular I have 3 Emils in the stash, the one I'll be building here and 2 Series 1 boxes. The reason I've chosen this box is that my plan is to build a Trop aircraft based in the desert. Decals for one such aircraft are included in the box, however I'd like to build the famous 3 black of JG.27, the subject Airfix propose in their 1/48 kit. Actualy I don't know if this was an E4, an E4N or an E7, anyway hopefully these variants are not too different externally As I've got many of these red boxes, I know what to expect to find inside them Here we have all the good and the bad of the recent Airfix kits: some interesting detail, very clever engineering, soft plastic with very heavy attachment points. And flat instrument panels with decals. Now this kit is decently detailed, not as good as the latest ones but way better than the first Hornby era kits. The interior has some structural features but I decided I wanted something more... and so the plan of building OOB failed some 10 minutes after opening the box ! Where could I get some details ? Simple, from a silicone ruber mould I had prepared a year ago ! Back a few months, as part of a previous GB I had started looking at the Hobbyboss Emil (2 in the stash..) and this kit has very little detail. In the stash was also (and still is) the Sword Bf.109D and this kit comes with some nice resin biuts for the interior. So I made a mould for the sidewalls and the instrument panel, the D and E are not identical but most parts are common. This time I decided to simply cut some parts from the resin copies and glue them to the airfix sidewalls. The oxigen regulator and another couple of bits went on the right side, the trim wheel on the left one. I also added a plasticard throttle structure on the left side, ready to accept a throttle lever after the cockpit is painted (to avoud breaking it). I forgot to take a picture of the original Airfix parts but I'm sure most here are familiar with this kit. The resin panel came pretty well and even a hamfisted modeller like me could manage to paint the various details At that point I realised that the Airfix part features an extension under the main panel.. of course, that's the ETC control panel introduced when the Emil got a fuel tank or a bomb!. I'm not sure if my aircraft had this but I think it did. So I added a small panel, made by chopping one of the resin panels I had made for the G.91 Don't know why the part looks so bad in the picture, everything looks straight to my naked eye... Next step will be painting the cockpit. I know that many aircrafts received 66 painted cockpits after BoB, however as my aircraft reached Africa still in the original European camo scheme I'm here assuming that the cockpit remained in 02 and this is the colour I'll use (or better, I've used as I've already sprayed the cockpit but have yet to take pictures). Edited July 7, 2017 by Giorgio N 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 Right, since you're stuck in the middle of a frustrating build, you're starting a new one going into super-detailing ... sounds like a good plan, I'm in! Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeusa Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 When in doubt about how much effort, time and frustration your current build will produce, the start of a new kit will always lift spirits and ease worries about the current stale build. Looking forward to this build and the tropical color scheme. Nice start by the way. I'm always impressed by those that can form their own resin parts. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted May 10, 2017 Author Share Posted May 10, 2017 (edited) On 10/5/2017 at 3:25 PM, giemme said: Right, since you're stuck in the middle of a frustrating build, you're starting a new one going into super-detailing ... sounds like a good plan, I'm in! Ciao No real superdetailing here, I'll try to keep the model simple... I'll try, I promise ! On 10/5/2017 at 7:03 PM, georgeusa said: When in doubt about how much effort, time and frustration your current build will produce, the start of a new kit will always lift spirits and ease worries about the current stale build. Looking forward to this build and the tropical color scheme. Nice start by the way. I'm always impressed by those that can form their own resin parts. You're right George, even just opening a new box and cutting bits from the sprue is very therapeutic ! Regarding the scheme this will not wear a tropical scheme, the plan is to build this aircraft: https://www.asisbiz.com/il2/Bf-109E/JG27.I-MTO/images/Messerschmitt-Bf-109E7Trop-2.JG27-Black-3-Eduard-Neumann-El-Gazala-June-1941-02.jpg I've always been attracted to the "tiger striped" scheme of Black 3, I hope I'll be able to reproduce this paint scheme. Let's see some paint on the cockpit... first I sprayed one of my favourite Vallejo paints to reproduce the 02 colour. Then I started painting all the small details. Fixing the instrument panel in place wasn't easy and the position is not completely accurate because of the thickness of the plastic of the Airfix fuselage, however IMHO the whole assembly looks pretty good I should add that the control stick broke while I was trying to remove the part from the sprue. This is unfortunately a common problem with many Airfix kits, removing the smaller parts isn't easy at all. I'm so not looking forward to removing the aileron balance masses... Edited July 7, 2017 by Giorgio N 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 Cockpit looks great Even more so considering that in 1/72 it's sooo tiny Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeusa Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 I like that tiger scheme even more. Something to look forward too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted May 11, 2017 Share Posted May 11, 2017 Oooh. I love the tiger scheme. That is going to be very challenging in 1:72. Im sure you're up to it, and I can't wait to.learn how you do it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted May 13, 2017 Share Posted May 13, 2017 On 5/10/2017 at 7:31 PM, Giorgio N said: I should add that the control stick broke while I was trying to remove the part from the sprue. This is unfortunately a common problem with many Airfix kits, removing the smaller parts isn't easy at all. I'm so not looking forward to removing the aileron balance masses... Hi Giorgio, although it doesn't sound good, am I glad I am not the only one breaking small parts when trying to remove them from the sprues... I haven't managed not to break at least one part on each Airfix new tool kit I have touched... The last victim being the control column of the A-4B Skyhawk... Funny enough, I never broke anything on the 109E. But like you, I haven't yet tackled the mass balances. But they are nonetheless good models! Have fun. JR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted May 15, 2017 Author Share Posted May 15, 2017 On 10/5/2017 at 8:11 PM, giemme said: Cockpit looks great Even more so considering that in 1/72 it's sooo tiny Ciao Thanks ! One thing I have to do though is to post smaller pictures... with such large pictures it's possible to see things that the naked eye can't notice and makes the whole cockpit look worse than I see it.. On 10/5/2017 at 9:52 PM, georgeusa said: I like that tiger scheme even more. Something to look forward too! On 11/5/2017 at 6:13 AM, SoftScience said: Oooh. I love the tiger scheme. That is going to be very challenging in 1:72. Im sure you're up to it, and I can't wait to.learn how you do it. It is a very interesting scheme and it's no surprise that this subject has been proposed by several model companies and decals suppliers. I've seen a few different interpretations of the scheme, I think I'll folllow Eduard's instruction sheet from their 1/48 kit. I'm thinking of different possible ways to paint the stripes, I may try with a 0.2 tipped airbrush but I also want to do a test using hugly thinned paint and a small brush. Even better, I may use Vallejo glaze medium to get a semitransparent paint and then use this with the brush. On 13/5/2017 at 6:27 PM, jean said: Hi Giorgio, although it doesn't sound good, am I glad I am not the only one breaking small parts when trying to remove them from the sprues... I haven't managed not to break at least one part on each Airfix new tool kit I have touched... The last victim being the control column of the A-4B Skyhawk... Funny enough, I never broke anything on the 109E. But like you, I haven't yet tackled the mass balances. But they are nonetheless good models! Have fun. JR Same here Jean, there's always some bit I break on an Airfix kit. I found that Quickboost offers a set of 3 resin replacement control columns for this kit, I may buy the set so to be on the safe side next time. And guess what ? I also broke one of the tailplanes struts... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted May 15, 2017 Author Share Posted May 15, 2017 (edited) With the cockpit almost completed, I could start closing the fuselage. And here I found a small problem: the cockpit tub spreads the fuselage halves apart too much and these don't fit into the pre-prepared wing assembly (that I forgot to take a picture of). So I had to remove almost 1 mm material from the sides of the tub, don't know if others have ever had this problem before. Of course this was not a difficult job at all, but I'd have preferred to do this before painting. Anyway, once I removed the right amout of plastic, I could close the fuselage I painted the engine in black but I will not leave this exposed. It's a nice touch from Airfix but really I feel that this area would have required more detail and I was not in the mood to add any. So a coat of black paint to give the idea of depth (there are two intakes just behind the spinner on the top cowling) and the cowling was glued in place. While I was at it, I started gluing a few other bits and I quickly had something looking very much like a Bf.109E Fit wasn't too bad but the rear of the wing assembly stood slightly proud of the fuselage, so it was sanding time. Sanding meant losing some panel line detail and I therefore had to pass on the lines again with a scriber. The final result is not too bad. As mentioned in the previous post, one of the tailplanes support struts broke, so I will have to replace them with legths of Aeroclub foil shaped plastic rods of the right size. Annoying but in a sense it may make painting easier... the Airfix parts are glued in recesses in the fuselage and this means that for a good surface preparation they have to be added before priming and painting. Hower in this way the struts obstruct the area under the tailplanes, that in my chosen scheme had received some green paint. If I replace the struts, I can fill and sand all the recesses, prime, paint and then add the struts only at the very end. Edited July 7, 2017 by Giorgio N 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 49 minutes ago, Giorgio N said: One thing I have to do though is to post smaller pictures... with such large pictures it's possible to see things that the naked eye can't notice and makes the whole cockpit look worse than I see it.. Yeah I know, macro effect on pictures is a curse, especially for this scale! Great progress BTW, it's really looking like an Emil now Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 Hi Giorgio, I did find that the underwing radiators needed a lot of sanding to stop them looking like they belonged to an armored vehicle... But it's a great model. What RLM 02 have you been using? The Xtracolor RLM 02 I used seems a bit too dark and months later I am still dithering! Damn! JR 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted May 16, 2017 Author Share Posted May 16, 2017 On 15/5/2017 at 2:09 PM, jean said: Hi Giorgio, I did find that the underwing radiators needed a lot of sanding to stop them looking like they belonged to an armored vehicle... But it's a great model. What RLM 02 have you been using? The Xtracolor RLM 02 I used seems a bit too dark and months later I am still dithering! Damn! JR 1 Jean, after reading your comment I checked this part and sanded the areas around the radiatos, you're right, they really looked too thick. The colour I used is Vallejo 886 from the standard Model Color range. I'm not sure is really accurate, but doesn't look too bad when compared to pictures of cockpits from real aircrafts, of course with all the caution needed when looking at old pictures or pictures of old painted items... Maybe it's a bit too green, I'm considering adding some grey when I'll paint the 02 bands of the camouflage scheme 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BerndM Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 Good work, these little red boxes are perfect as mojo restarters. Will your marking choice the JG 27 aircraft ? Good luck with that camo scheme. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted May 21, 2017 Author Share Posted May 21, 2017 (edited) On 16/5/2017 at 9:42 PM, BerndM said: Good work, these little red boxes are perfect as mojo restarters. Will your marking choice the JG 27 aircraft ? Good luck with that camo scheme. Bernd, I'll build a JG27 aircraft but not the one proposed by Airfix, rather I'll build the one shown in the link I posted above. This was a 71/02/65 painted aircraft that had received some overpaiting to cancel the previous codes and likely also a yellow cowling. According to a number of sources, yellow remained on the rudder and the lower engine cowling. I'll sure need luck for this scheme, particularly to paint the stripes on the fuselage sides. I have experimented with a couple of possible techniques and I'm now leaning towards using a good old paintbrush to reproduce the stripes. Some tests using very thinned Gunze paint seem positive, I'll know very soon if this is the best way to go ! In the meantime I've progressed a bit. Actually I've progressed quite a lot as I've started painting, unfortunately I forgot to take pictures... All main parts were glued in place and with these on I primed the model. After the usual check for flaws, corrections, more primer and so on, I started by spraying white over the rear fuselage, the lower engine cowling and the rudder. The fuselage band was then masked and yellow was sprayed on the cowling and rudder. With the yellow dry it was time to mask the areas expected to remain yellow. With the cowling, I masked well over the yellow area, I'll sort this when the time will come to spray the RLM 71 green. The rudder is not shown in the pictures because I'm painting this separately (no need to mask this part when I can glue it in place at the end). The following step was to spray some RLM 65 on the lower and side surfaces (Lifecolour acrylic). I sprayed the first coat very thin, too thin actually, so I had to spray a second coat. And this is what the model look like at the moment As soon as the final RLM65 coat is properly cured, I'll start painting the stripes on the fuselage sides. The reason for this is that I feel it will be easier to paint these before adding the upper fuselage colours. In case I make a mess of the job, this will also mean that I only have to respray the sides in RLM 65. Edited July 7, 2017 by Giorgio N 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BerndM Posted May 22, 2017 Share Posted May 22, 2017 Looks great and the choice for the markings is very nice. Difficult as well. Guess here comes a stunner ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted May 22, 2017 Share Posted May 22, 2017 Hey, I turn my back and all at a sudden you're already painting her! Looking forward to how you handle this very peculiar camo scheme Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted May 22, 2017 Author Share Posted May 22, 2017 (edited) On 22/5/2017 at 8:37 AM, BerndM said: Looks great and the choice for the markings is very nice. Difficult as well. Guess here comes a stunner ! yes, the various overpainted areas in particular makes this scheme let's say interisting... hope I can manage to reproduce this decently On 22/5/2017 at 9:01 AM, giemme said: Hey, I turn my back and all at a sudden you're already painting her! Looking forward to how you handle this very peculiar camo scheme Ciao This model is really moving fast on my bench. fortunately the assembly posed no drama so I managed to get to the painting stage quickly. How will I reproduce the scheme ? I've painted the "stripes" using thinned acrylics. The picture I linked above shows that these are actually quite well defined, with very little overspray. I hope that the solution I used works fine. Then I masked the lower and side surfaces and started spraying RLM 02. Ok, I know I should have taken a picture of the stripes before masking... anyway, first coat of (lightened) 02 is now on I'm not sure about my mix, I feel that the resulting colour is a bit too grey. In any case I'll then pass with a darker, greener paint to add some depth to the surface. This hopefully will capture the character of this colour better. Some of the tests I've done for the stripes are visible on the engine cowling. The thicker line is the most representative of the stripes as they are now. Since the cowling will be painted with a solid 71 coat, the stripes there will disappear. The flaps are being painted separately, as I want to pose them open and feel that things will be easier this way. Of course when the time will come to add the RLM 71 areas, I'll have to at least put the flaps in position to mask them correctly Edited July 7, 2017 by Giorgio N 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted May 22, 2017 Share Posted May 22, 2017 Brush painting the stripes seems very effective from here Looking forward to the next stages Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted May 22, 2017 Author Share Posted May 22, 2017 I think I've sorted the 02 problem now. As anticipated, I've prepared a darker and greener shade (simply the same original Vallejo paint with less light grey added) and then sprayed this to accentuate panel lines and other features. This is a standard technique for me and many others. Where I use a different approach from others is in the use of Vallejo's Glaze Medium. This is a medium that when added to any Vallejo paint turn them into a glaze, that is a semi-transparent paint. Such a paint allows me to add more or less of the upper coat just by insisting more or less on the chosen areas. In this case, I focused more on the panel lines and areas in shade but also sprayed the whole surface with light coats. In this way I managed to turn the finish to a more accurate green-grey while adding depth to the finish at the same time. What's the difference between using the Vallejo Glaze Medium and the more common use of highly thinned paint ? Simply that the consistency of my mix is similar to that of standard paint and as I don't like working with highly thinned paint I find it easier to work with the usual consistency. I've been using this method for a few years now and I'm very happy with it. As for a picture of the current finish.. that will have to wait til tomorrow, taking a picture now in artificial light is not going to show the finish well 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted May 23, 2017 Author Share Posted May 23, 2017 (edited) As promised here's the picture of the modified 02 coat. Much better IMHO ! Unfortunately the differences between the various areas are not too visible. I often make this mistake, I go easy on this aspect and forget that the following clear coats will tone down the finish. The effect would be subtle as I like it at the moment, but may not survive the next few steps. One of the good things of using Vallejo paints is that they dry quickly so I could use some spare time in the morning to add not one but two coats of RLM 71, again a lighter base coat followed by a darker "glaze". Here's the final effect I like the finish, for some reason the green doesn't look great in the pictures but looks good to the naked eye. I often have problems in correctly reproducing greens with my camera, guess some day I'll have to run a proper calibration... Masks were made using the Eduard Bf.109E royal edition instructions as a pattern: I downloaded these in pdf format, cut and pasted the upper view into Corel Draw, modified the size to match the 1/72 model and printed. Then I cut the 02 areas and applied them on the model, slightly raised to allow some light overspray I have yet to finish the cowling as I've not overpainted yet the lower yellow areas. I'll do this freehand to reproduce the feathered effect that Eduard suggests in their instruction sheet. There are also a couple of spots that need touch-ups. With the model so painted, the next step will be to add the various repainted areas under the individual letter and add some 02 mottling in the tail area. This will require more masking but for the moment I preferred to remove everything apart from the masks on the white band for one simple reason: I'll be taking a week off tomorrow and I don't want to leave tape on for too long. When back, I'll mask where needed and start painting again... Edited July 7, 2017 by Giorgio N 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 (edited) Great camouflage job, G! 17 minutes ago, Giorgio N said: I have yet to finish the cowling as I've not overpainted yet the lower yellow areas. I'll do this freehand to reproduce the feathered effect that Eduard suggests in their instruction sheet. Freehand airbrushing in 1/72?? Brave man! Looking forward to it! Ciao Edited May 23, 2017 by giemme 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted June 4, 2017 Author Share Posted June 4, 2017 (edited) On 23/5/2017 at 4:10 PM, giemme said: Great camouflage job, G! Freehand airbrushing in 1/72?? Brave man! Looking forward to it! Ciao Well, let's say that in the end I wasn't really that brave. Ok, I wasn't as bad as Sir Robin the not quite so brave as Sir Lancelot but I also kind of bravely ran away... In the end I sprayed freehand the RLM 02 areas on the fuselage and the tail, but masked the yellow area on the nose before spraying the rest in RLM 70. The 70 area on the fuselage was also masked, in this case larger than required, so that I could add some overspray. Not sure if the final result really looks like the picture, but let's say for this time it will work. One more view from the above here to show what the model looks like One thing still missing is paint on the canopy frame. The Airfix canopy has very little defined frames and to sort this I've decided to try decals. I've sprayed the same 02 paint over some clear decal, once the paint is dry i'll try cutting strips of decal and use them for the frames. Fingers crossed... Edited July 7, 2017 by Giorgio N 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted June 12, 2017 Author Share Posted June 12, 2017 (edited) Some progress over the weekend: I started applying decals. Now with all the various resprays this aircraft went through, I'm not sure how many of the stencils survived. The picture I have only clearly shows the triangle indicating the fuel type on the fuselage, nothing else seem to be visible. However some of the stencils are small anyway, so I'm following the idea of applying all stencils where there's no heavy respray while leaving the others off. "My" aircraft seems to have standard crosses. however the position of those on the wing top surfaces differs from what Airfix suggests and may be smaller. I did change the position of the crosses but used the Airfix ones. The JG.27 emblem of the nose was initially the cause for some scratching of the head... the Eduard instructions show the emblem handed, with the lion head always facing toward the spinner. Airfix however supply two identical emblems and so do Hobbyboss in their kit of the E4-trop (BTW, one is the same aircraft proposed by Airfix, the well known black 8 in desert scheme). Googling showed several images where the emblem was actually not handed on a number of Bf.109E and none with a handed emblem. True, none of these aircrafts was in the same scheme of my chosen subject, but to me it's enough evidence that the common practice was to use identical emblems. In the pictures below there's no emblem yet on the right side, but this will be the very next decal to apply. Also note that the flaps are simply slotted in place and not glued yet reason why one is on the model and the other isn't (only noticed when uploading the picture...) I'm now also thinking of the individual number. I've considered cutting a maks and spraying at least the red border (the black part can be printed on decal paper), however I'm now considering chopping the 8 included in the Airfix sheet as the shape of my 3 is very close to this 8... A word on the decals: they are not the thinnerst but are thin enough and went on without any silvering on a Klear coated surface using the Microscale liquids. The crosses however are slightly off-register and some white of the background shows at one edge. I may touch up with black paint. The JG.27 emblem does not look great to me, seems a bit oversimplified. In any case, it will work for this model Edited July 7, 2017 by Giorgio N 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BerndM Posted June 12, 2017 Share Posted June 12, 2017 Neat and clean, love the stripes. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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