109 With an Italian accent

[109 fan]

Since I have a little time on my hands after finishing the Iraqi 109, I decided to concentrate on the Hobby Boss kit that has been lurking on other threads for years. Some time ago it occurred to me that this kit may be the best option for an Erla 109 G-10, with all of the subtle changes that are involved with this variant. In retrospect, this may not be the case, but we'll see how it turns out.

The main reason I considered this is the streamlined appliqué pieces located below the windscreen that covered the gun breeches on the 109 G-10. On the Erla built machines, this does not exist on the left side; the fuselage gently bulges out until it meets a vertical line at the windscreen. The panel on the right side is more shallow than that on other 109 G-10s. These panels are represented by Hobby Boss as simple scribed lines, not raised sections as done by Fine Molds. Other changes on the Erla variant include longer gun troughs, lack of bumps on the lower front cowl, wider and shallower oil cooler and general a slightly more beefy appearance to the nose. Once you identify these features, the more 109 G-10s you will recognize as Erla built. Ion my opinion, it is the most attractive of the German 109s.

This build was intended to be a quick and dirty experiment to prove the feasibility of taking the Hobby Boss route, so not all of these modifications were made.

I have reached the finishing stage, with decals and gloss overcoat applied. Here I have used the Sky Models sheet, probably the best bang for your buck decals on the market. I have never seen a more packed decal sheet. These are made by Cartograf, so the printing is exceptional. They were a bit thick however, but snuggled down nicely with some Gunze decal softener. 

I'll deal with the pros and cons of using this kit a little later, but for now here are some photos.

 

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[109 fan]

Oil wash applied.

 

 

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[Pete in Lincs]

Erla G 10 = No bulges + different panel lines.

You learn something new every day!

Thanks for that.

Nice build.

[Martian]

Impressive!

 

Martian

 

 

[Max Headroom]

The minutiae of Gustav variants is lost on me unfortunately, (anyone got a vector on a good on line source?).

 

That said, that is one cracking finish and a handsome looking beastie.

 

Trevor

[matteo44]

[109 fan]

Thank you all for the kind words.

 

Tonight I added some bits and gave 109 its flatcoat. Since this project is basically an experiment, I decided to try something different. At the 2016 IPMS Nationals I picked up some bottles of Mr. Paint (not the Gunze kind). Among them were the semi matt and matt overcoats. I started with the semi, which appeared far too glossy. I then progressed to the matt finish and am rather pleased with the results. The flat brings everything together, paint, decals and weathering and is possibly the most fun five minutes in modeling.

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Trevor, here is a nice summation of the Erla 109 G-10:

 

http://109lair.hobbyvista.com/articles/g10/g10.htm

 

So this one joins the ranks of currently acceptable flatcoats. But then again, they all look good while they're in the workshop. However, some transform from smooth to positively grainy in appearance when you put them on the table in a hotel ballroom for a contest. Must have something to do with the lighting. Others seem to get more glossy over time.

What flat do you guys use?

[109 fan]

Made some progress this weekend. The landing gear and wheels are on as well as a number of the fiddly bits that tend to drag on as a model approached completion. They included the shoulder belts, stretched clear sprue fuel line, some canopy frames, etc. The Hobby Boss kit does not include aileron or elevator trim tabes, so these had to be made from .005" plastic card. During the build I knocked off the tab from the left elevator, so a replacement had to be made and attached to the painted model. 

 

 

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[Intruder503]

Nice progress. Very interesting subject!

[109 fan]

A little more progress; she's on her gear.

 

[ArmouredSprue]

Hi there!

Nice little kit you've got here.

 

I love these late war Messerschmitts, I just finished my Me109G-10 from a Promodeller kit (you can see it on RFI section of the forum).

 

I regards to matt coats, I use both Gunze and Tamiya with no issues so far.

 

Keep up the good work mate.

Cheers

[109 fan]

Endgame. I've attached more of the fiddly bits (loop antenna, underwing Moraine mast, and quite a few doo-dads in the cockpit and on the canopy). It is now sitting tail-up with the canopy in held in place using a brace. Diluted white glue was used as the adhesive.

[Martian]

This is looking rather splendid!

 

Martian

[109 fan]

Thank you, Martian.

 

Done. Well mostly. This model continues to have little flaws that crop up like mushrooms after a rain. I've nailed down most of them, but will continue to check and fix for a while. This was the most difficult antenna rigging job I can remember. The canopy is a fragile affair so I had to be careful when tightening the line. Since I use stretched black sprue, I didn't want it to yank the canopy out of position when I waved the ember of a burnt toothpick under it to tighten things up. It took quite a few attempts, but it is finally in place. In the next post I'll list all of the corrections made to the kit, and also how I'll go about making a better one. In the meantime, here are a few photos.