Messerschmitt Bf 109-F2 Build Review

[whitestar]

Mike Great Looking 109 Iam doing the Hasegawa BOB 109 And had and still having problems with the Gelb (yellow) on the nose and tail how did you manage to get the yellow looking so good!!

[Mike]

Alclad white primer first, then some Lifecolor Gelb... piece of cake

I realised that I have put too much yellow down yesterday. The tops of the wingtips and the rudder both need a repaint to the camo color... keeps me off the streets

[whitestar]

Thanks Mike

I Have a large stash of Tamiya Paint about 1 hundred 10 mil bottles to get thru and the yellow coverage seems to be built up of a ridiculous amount of thin coats

what PSI did you shoot the yellow lifecolor paint at

Thanks

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Thanks Mike

I Have a large stash of Tamiya Paint about 1 hundred 10 mil bottles to get thru and the yellow coverage seems to be built up of a ridiculous amount of thin coats

what PSI did you shoot the yellow lifecolor paint at

Thanks

Your Tamiya yellow will work just fine, whitestar - its the white undercoat thats the important bit. Yellow needs a white undercoat for it to show up properly. Yellow pigment isnt the strongest for coverage, and it needs that white base to make it look properly yellow. Mike uses lifecolour yellow, I use tamiya, others use humbrol. With a good white base coat you need 1 to 3 thin coats of yellow, depending on how thin you spray it. Job done.

PS also works for red too, or any colour that needs to be really "bright".

HTH

Jonners

sorry Mike - jumping in here, assuming you are winding the nipper

[whitestar]

I was wondering that too Jon

Thanks for the help and Mike May I add my Congratulations on your new Addition

[Mike]

Watching telly actually. The little monkey's finally dropped off, so we're doing some "normal" stuff. Indeed the white undercoat is your friend... gives you control over the shade of the yellow/red/orange that you're spraying. Apply more and it seems deeper - apply less and it looks more washed out or faded

[Troy Smith]

Where did this Zvezda quality suddenly come from, all I know them for is for making rather basic, softly moulded Tank kits?

A few years back, check out their 1/48th La5 and La5FN kits, full engines as well, very neatly done and well moulded.

Having been doing the Airfix 109E, I'm going to point out that the Airfix kit is £14 and the Zvezda is £16, with a proper engine, well detailed cockpit and I believe a load of neat detail in the wheel wells too, and from the reviews I read, no annoying errors.

good work Mike.

[Mike]

Thanks Troy Yes, the wheel well detail is nice. There's also some rib & stringer detail in the panel outboard of the landing gear, but I didn't see the point in adding it, as it was only going to be covered up with a panel.

[Rabspat]

Very nice Mike, nice paint work, having only ever built one german prop thingy i can't say much. But i have to say though. WHAT ABOUT THE VIPER??????? And i thought i was slow..

[Dave Gibson]

Watching telly actually. The little monkey's finally dropped off, so we're doing some "normal" stuff. Indeed the white undercoat is your friend... gives you control over the shade of the yellow/red/orange that you're spraying. Apply more and it seems deeper - apply less and it looks more washed out or faded

To get a rich red, try white, then yellow and finish off with red.

Dave

[Arkady72]

I read so much good things about this model that I have to buy it. And certainly it will build once and show here. Thanks for the inspiration Mike. I waiting for the end of your work and RFI thread.

[Mike]

Thanks Most of the decals are on now - if I get chance today I'll pop the rest on, and take some more photos. Then it'll be on to the weathering

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Thanks Most of the decals are on now - if I get chance today I'll pop the rest on, and take some more photos. Then it'll be on to the weathering

Hi Mike - how are the decals with the kit?

Jonners

[Mike]

Hi Mike - how are the decals with the kit?

Jonners

Ok - the IP decal is a bit poor, but the rest settle down nicely. The one thing that I'm not that impressed with is the clarity of the smaller decals - they look almost as if the ink has spread when it was printed. Close enough for government work though

[Mike]

Took a quick snap before I popped the protecting coat of Klear on the decals and wing tips etc.

[Mike]

Gloss coat went on either yesterday or the day before - the days are all blurring into one at the moment

I washed the panel lines with Mig dark wash, then wiped the excess away with a sheet of kitchen towel. I added the glare shields over the exhausts, and fabricated the long beam that runs over the top of the cowling from strip. I made a new pitot probe from steel tube and brass wire, and painted, then highlighted the head armour in the opening part of the canopy (you can't see it now).

Next is a matt coat, then the weathering begins in earnest

[Mike]

Matt coat on... workshop off... night all!

[Skii]

Looking fantastic fella, 'specially that pilot dude. Can't wait to see this finished

[Smiffy]

Now that is rather nice.

Now that I finally seem to be getting the hang of acrylics, I may have to try some of these Lifecolour paints.

[Mike]

Cheers boys... finally the end is in sght

[Dads203]

Wow Mike, saw this last week and it didn't look like this !!

[Mike]

Wow Mike, saw this last week and it didn't look like this !!

Is that a good thing?

Did a bit of weathering with some Lifecolor schwartzgrau, then some silver and gun metal. I added a few dirty patches with some Mig Pigments, and sprayed on the exhaust staining after a bit of research to make sure I put it in the right places. As usual I used some Tamiya smoke, then added a little Tamiya Flat Brown to the mix later on to break up the color. I noticed that a few 109s had a bit of staining under each wing root, so I replicated that too, and added a bit of muck to the wheel well doors at the bottom too.

I glued all the small parts on, including the engine cowling, aerial mast, cowling props etc., and added some aerial wiring using black invisible thread. The insulators were added by using dots of PVA applied using a needle. Once dry they were painted dark grey. The little fly-lead was added by drilling a 0.4mm hole in the fuselage, adding a length of thread, then arranging it with a bit of sag and dabbing some CA to bond it to the main aerial. Everything was then cut to length, once the glue had set up.

I had to pin the tail wheel with some 0.5mm brass rod, as it is a bit weak, so kept collapsing - no big deal, but easier to do before you've painted and added all the little bits.

I've just noticed I've not painted the wingtip lights... I'll sort that out in a moment.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed the build, even though some of the construction stages were a bit mystifying until I realised they were talking about Version 1 and 2 being landed and flying poses respectively. I therefore made a few rods for my back, but managed to get around them in the end. Things to watch out for include whether you should install the bottom cowling panel open or closed when displaying the engine - might be best to leave off the cylinder heads if you leave it closed. Align the engine properly too, as otherwise you'll have trouble with the drive shaft once you put the prop on. When you construct the pilot, test fit his raised arm against the coaming and windscreen. I had to shave a bit off mine to allow it to fit into the cockpit.

I finally have a mainstream Bf 109 for my collection of finished builds, and am looking forward to the next releases from what looks to be the start of a successful line of kits of this venerable fighter.

[Jens]

Beautiful job, and very informative review Mike. Thanks!

If it wasn't for my stash of 136 1/48th scale Hasegawa Bf109s I would have bought several of these!

Jens

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Beautiful job, and very informative review Mike. Thanks!

If it wasn't for my stash of 136 1/48th scale Hasegawa Bf109s I would have bought several of these!

Jens

Jens you need to sell 27 of these to have a properly balanced stash me thinks.

Jonners.

PS nice one Mike

Edited August 10, 2010 by Jon Kunac-Tabinor

[Mike]

No he doesn't Jonners - he needs to sell 27

ps - thanks