DRAGON'S Bf110C

[Wolfpack]

Before starting this thread, I would like to thank all those modellers out there who's builds of this kit have inspired me to go to town on this model.

First, the boxtop in case anyone hasn't seen it yet:

Having scoured the web, these are the errors I have found in the instruction sheet:

Dragon Bf110C-7 1/32 Scale.

Instruction sheet errors and omissions

Step 1:

The ventral weapons cradle, E19, and E22, which are shown to be assembled beforehand with D20. Don't do it that way! Cement E22 to the cockpit floor, along with E8, which the radio equipment panel, E9, attaches to. The ventral weapons cradle E19 should slide in from underneath. D20 should be glued to the cockpit floor in the recess on E14. Also there is a second part D20 not mentioned in the instructions. Two extra ammo drums (each made up from parts D55 and D58) should be installed in in the racks. This is not mentioned in the instructions.

E11 needs to be thinned quite a bit at the rear face for E8 to fit against it and the cockpit floor E14 squarely. Also on the front side of E8, the bolt head details for the diagonal stays interferes slightly with the above mentioned fitment.

The pilot’s throttle quadrant is incorrectly labeled part E46 on the instructions. It is actually part D46 on the sprues.

Step 2:

Part E3 is a long fairing that should be installed at the top of part E13, the starboard sidewall. This is not mentioned in the instructions.

Part E1 is a small box that should be installed on the port sidewall. The part is pictured as installed, but not mentioned in the instructions.

Step 3:

Part D59 is the trim wheel. This should be installed on the upper port side of the pilot’s cockpit. This part is not mentioned in the instructions.

Step 5:

The engine rocker covers (parts J23 and J24) should only be installed after the rear engine parts, as these fit over locating tabs moulded onto part J27.

Parts H16 are engine instruments. These are not mentioned in the instructions. Part H16 should be installed on the inboard engine mount for each engine (parts J17 and J18). These will need to line up with the three small holes in the side of the engine covers.

Step 6:

The illustration of the exhaust panel seems to show the parts back the front. Check carefully before assembly.

I would recommend leaving the installation of the exhausts until the rest of the model has been assembled. There does not appear to be any way to secure the exhausts to the exhaust fairings.

The rear wheel well arch supports (parts A5 and A6) should not be attached to the wheel well ceilings (part N12 and N13) as illustrated. There is no locating position on the wheel well ceilings for these arches. However, there is a positive locating groove inside the rear of the nacelles. The arches should be glued into these grooves.

Double-check the front firewall for the wheel wells (parts F34 and F35). These may be incorrectly labeled on the instructions. If the wrong combination is fitted, the wheel well and engine assembly will not fit inside the engine nacelle properly. I had the wrong bulkheads installed and did not find out until attempting to install the wheel wells. I had to remove and swap the bulkheads (this might have been my mistake, but check carefully and test fit anyway)

Parts F15 and F16, the main gear door actuators, should be glued to the gear legs (parts F17 and F18) in Step 6, not in Step 8.

Step 8:

To show the gear bay's internal bulkheads/formers. The way to figure out the left gear bay is, once the right wing's bay is done, match up the relevant parts for the left, bearing in mind the bays are mirror image to each other.

The radiator faces (parts C2, C3, C4 and C5) are pictured with the faces pointing inboard (i.e. toward each other). The grille detail should actually be facing outward. They also appear to be pictured upside down. These parts should actually be fitted into recesses in the bottom of the wings. The locating slots make their positioning quite clear.

Parts N5 are small braces for the radiator. These are not mentioned in the instructions. The braces should be installed near the front opening of the radiators.

Step 11:

Part N29 is the pitot tube for the later Bf 110 E. Do not open the locating hole or install this part. The correct part for the Bf 110 C and D is the “T” shaped pitot tube, part N8. This part is pictured installed in Step 11, but it is not mentioned in the instructions. The locating hole for this part is already open in the bottom of the starboard wing.

I started with the nose section, if I cocked this up.................

The detail was added for the compressed air piping and bottles, the pipe colour used from the official Luftwaffe pipe colour guide. I used coated copper wire of varying thicknesses, available from Little Cars at a very reasonable price for the pipes and wires. The fastenings are from adhesive foil. Also, a new rear bulkhead section from card with a hinge? from stretched sprue.

Just the ammo feeds now and it's about done. Only took two weeks! Oh, the bar sticking out the front is the mount for the camera, check references before building as it may have to be added.

Thanks for looking.

W

[Martian]

Looks promising!

Martin

[Calum]

Great work so far

[AnonymousDFB1]

Nice start, love the extra detailing you're putting in.

[Wolfpack]

UPDATE 15.02.09

Detailing work continues. Firstly, the cocking /locking handle on the MG FF added from brass wire with a blob of white glue for the knob.

Then each MG FF drum had the carrying handle added from sprue.

The missing side of the gunners MG17 ammo box. Funny, this is almost an exact replica of Eduards kit, but a bit larger.

The interior had pipes for the compressed air feed to the MG FF added and the test fit was so delicate to do, it was cemented in place there and then. The pilots seat had the rear armour plate added, along with a wooden handle for the seat height adjuster from sprue. After this photo, it was attacked by the carpet monster and it's pet, the chair leg. Although I found all the bits, one left for interstellar space, launched by the tweezers and I've had to scratchbuild a seat support from card.

The locking bars for the MG FF drums were added from fusewire, wound round a drill to make the springs.

Hopefully, repairs will be completed after Huddersfield show today.

Thanks for looking.

W

Edited February 15, 2009 by Wolfpack

[AnonymousDFB1]

Nice work, following this one

[Wolfpack]

Update 17.02.09

The problem with kits this large, is where do bits go? By that I mean little things like the seatbelt attachment points. Here is a large modern kit, full of details like engines and stuff, and all they put in the instructions, is a vague "stick it here" picture.

The pilots harness attaches at the back of the seat and passes though an opening in the seat back. Dragon give you a seat with a moulded and raised oval. They don't tell you to open up the oval, just give you a picture with half the seat harness missing and tyhe rest stuck to the seat front. As for the lap straps, I ended up drilling a small hole through each side of the seai and fixing them on with a small loop of fusewire.

Thankfully, I got me a new book at Huddersfield show, Messerschmitt Bf110 C,D and E by John Vasco of Bombsights over England fame and Fernado Estanislau. That shows a nice pickie of the harness for the pilot, but nowt for the Bordfunker or rear gunner. Modelling can be so frustrating at times. Needless to say, there's a photo of the actual a/c that Dragon supply markings for. Hey, guess what, it's not even a real C-7! It's a re-manufactured C-2. Go figure. Not only that, if Dragon had supplied four or five more parts, the C, D, or E could have been made from this one kit. As for spending £99.99 on the D variant, I'll give that a miss.

Anyway, here's where the cockpit interior is at.

A couple of blobs of paint and some pastels to weather it and it should be done.

Once again, thanks for looking.

W

[Wolfpack]

Update 23.02.09.

This really brings back memories of the Eduard kit. The cockpit seems to take forever. Still. last lap now I think.

Don't add part E15 to the sidewalls as per the instructions. This sits on top of the cockpit, not in it. It's best added after the fuselage halves are together.

If you are building anything but an early C series, the port fuselage aerial lead in needs filling. You can just make it out in the circled area. It's certainly not applicable to the two options in the kit.

After some weathering, the cockpit is almost ready to be added to the fuselage. It's a shame that all those MG drums will be concealed. Hey ho.

thanks for looking.

W

[GEM]

Shoot - you don't have to thank for looking, your guide and pics of the details are excellent. It's cool to see them. Thank you.

[Wolfpack]

Update 25.02.09

With the cockpit almost finished, time to move onto the engines. Dragon provide two, unlike some mfrs who just give you one. However, the instructions for assembling said engine are not very clear and when combined with the lack of detail concerning the anciliaries, it means that more work is needed if you want to show the model with a cowling or cowlings off.

The kit parts wil do for either side, what you have to watch out for, is the side you mount the extras. With mine, it means the stbd side engine will be shown, the other will have the cowling fitted.

As an aside, if you have the new Eduard 1/32 Bf109E-1, the engine in that kit does not have the bolt detail on the top. By only using one Dragon engine, the spare top can be used on the Eduard kit, saving a lot of time and effort adding all those small bolts.

The engine instruments are given as a kit part (#G16) but are not mentioned in the instructions. Later shots will show where it mounts on the engine bearer.

Anyhow, here's the progress to date.

You can see the bolts I mean on the second and third photos.

Thanks for looking.

W

[Wolfpack]

Update 01.03.09

This kit is a pig. There, I've said it. £65 worth of pig.

The wing / fuselage join on one side will need some card filler. this is due to the underbelly piece only fitting where it touches. The wing intake is too large for the wing and needs sanding down to fit flush.

the radiators are too large for the wing recess, the fairing will not fit flush. Even after sanding with a megafile, there still too large. If I ever build another, I will cut out the radiator recess entirely, fix the radiators to the fairing and let 'em sit partially inside the wing.

The engine turned out nice though!

Notice Mr Surfacer to get the fairing flush with the wheel bay.

Mr Surfacer again to fill the poor fit lines of the intake.

At least this fits.

W

[Thunderjug]

No sympathy you should stick to shake and bake at your age.

[Wolfpack]

Update 18 March 09

They say there's nothing simple in this life and it certainly applies to this kit. I'm probably half way through it now and the wings are on, one engine has been attached and of course it didn't fit :shithappens: . Thank god the one I spent all that time on does.

Some of you may be wondering about the brown part on the engine. See if you can guess where it came from.

Anyway, just a couple of pics for today.

TTFN

W

[Angels49]

OMG!!!....from must seeing what's done already we're in for a treat!!!........are ya done yet?!?!....

[Wolfpack]

Am I done yet? I wish!

One more problem with the kit. The fuselage has the hot air vent for the gunners heating system, first found on the 'E' sub-type. I can't imagine the rebuild this particular a/c went through included such as that, the photo of the real thing does not have the nose intake for the pilot!

Soooo, I gonna finish this as an early 'E'. These had the same style engine cowl, short 'C' fuselage and some even had 'C' wheel hubs. Crust, it's never ending. Why did I buy that ruddy book?

TTFN

W

[Wolfpack]

Update April 12

It's been a long time coming, but here's the latest.

Small assemblies have taken up most of the time, u/c, wheels etc., but I've got to the stage where it's got some paint on. Firstly, the engine would not fit into the cowling, a bit of a bummer when it's going to be seen. The culprit (in the red circle) is the radiator intake extension inside the cowl itself. It has been reduced by about half and I can now get the engine in.

The MG cowling had had the pilots heating vent added from scrap card.

If anyone wants to build an early Bf110, you need this book.

Now onto masking canopies. I am going to try Mr Masking Sol R, as recommended by R. Brown esq. of MDC fame. Wish me luck.

W

[Wolfpack]

Update May 7

This update has been a long time coming, sorry to those who have waited patiently, this kit has been so much of an arm wrestle, I've put off doing things as I tried to work up some more enthusiasm to build it.

I tried MDC's new imported masking fluid for the canopies and for straight sections, the ability to trim the dried medium works well. Not so good on curved sections as the knife blade (new) drags too much in the corners and lifts the mask. Out with the tape again.

The wheels are on and I decided to try Miracle masks for the fuselage codes. Our very own Holdfast produces these and they look simple to apply but with my skill level, who knows.

Mal made me some test shots that I experimented with and the actual set turned up on Tuesday. My biggest problem was lining up the letters. Using the carrier film to transpose the mask, makes the mask virtualy invisible, so the good old hit and miss method was applied. I think the final result shows I got more hits than misses.

Mal also recommends using a gloss finish to mount the masks on, but being an acrylic paint user, I didn't think this would work for me. I gave the model two coats of matt varnish from a Valejo rattle can then applied the masks. They were fixed into place with Tamiya tape initially, then the surround was masked using normal decorators masking tape.

With great trepidation, I mixed the black using Revell acrylic and sprayed at about 20psi. After the black and following the instructions, these letters were masked off and the red 'G' sprayed with Citadel gore red. This is a nice dark red, suitable for the German Rot applied over comouflage. The 'G' was replaced when the paint dried and the thin surround carefully removed. Valejo white was then sprayed and the whole kit and caboodle left to dry.

Removing the masking tape also removed the fuselage crosses from both sides. these were masked with Tamiya tape not the decorators before you ask. The tape did not remove the masks so they were carefully picked off with tweezers.

The result you can see here, more down to Mal's superb masks than my modelling skills. I've been singing his praises ever since.

Applying the transfers, revealed the total lack of stencils on the kit sheet so I had to use some 1/48 scale stencils, these are just about right. The fuselage and upper wing crosses are wrong for the model so were replaced from the stash. So now it's off to finish the canopies and weather the beast.

Thanks for waiting.

W

Edited May 7, 2009 by Wolfpack