Greif

NIce job Nigel ! A collegue of mine has started the same kit last week; he was a bit disapointed regarding the simplicity of the kit...

That's exactly what I do ! I have a "Travel Tiger1 " in 1/35 that has already followed me in two different places!

Hi modellers, time to give an update. I'm learning slowly what is the real meaning of short run kit... this big Greif will be RFI, IMHO, for 2018 due to the quantity of work required to make these bits of plastic turning into a credible He 177 A-5. During holidays I had the time to carry on the books, photos and drawing to organize in my head the corrections to be done and the building sequence to follow. Let's start with the picture.... Here is the mid turret area as provided by MPM... unfortunately it's wrong and very incomplete: the floor doesn't exist in the aircraft! The first thing I've done was to search for a mid fuselage drawing for the inner Stations arrangement. The bulkhead dividing the fuel tanks and the mid turret area was the Sta 27, and it's the only one provided by MPM in this area. The location is correct by the station is missing the oxy bottles ( a lot of!). So I take some marks to locate the following missing stations; I won't do all of them, I will do only the barely visible things in this area though the only thing that gives a view is the turret cupola, and it's about 1.5 cm diameter.... so very small point of view! Also Sta 43, the tail wheel bay bulkhead, is consistently located. To give you an idea about the view offered by the turret cupola... here's the turret as provided by MPM, also here many errors : the worst one is the turret transparency that has a wrong opening ( the kit is centered, while the real one had the opening offset on the left) and it's a big issue for me as I have no idea how to solve it... . ​ The other issue regards the turret shape and inner dimension, two slim, with no details. The good news is that inside the box, due the sprues arrangement, are provided two front an mid turrets. This gives some good base to scratch build the inner missing ring of the turret! Using the second front turret, it's easy to rework an inner ring. And here is the first raw result; still a lot of work to do in detailing, but the main part is ok. Note that also the turret structural ring cover is missing on the fuselage, it will be added later . At this point it was necessary to think about giving a solid and trusty location system to the fuselage; being short run kit, there are no locator pins on the kit, sorry, I'm lying, there is one to locate the control column on the (wrong) cockpit floor So I glue some plastic bits inside the fuselage halves, taking care of using these also to adjust the closure flaws: they are precisely located in order to force the skin up where it was too low and vice-versa... I hope this will pay in term of filler and sanding reduction... The lower gondola had a fitting that was just catastrophic... now it turns better. I then move to the stabilizer area to check the overall fitting and, TADAAAAA !!!!!!! The slots on the tail area are misaligned, making the left stab diving and the right stab flaring.... so let's close the slots and create new corrects ones... At this point I decided to add the inner stabilizer spar which is missing and very visible in the tail wheel bay. The spar is materialized by the thin yellow tape, and it's slightly misaligned too.... No comment... It was time to check the cockpit area for macro-issues, here is the list : - bulkhead cockpit / fuel tank area, oversized. - aft floor locator too low; it makes the floor lying in an aft sloppy attitude. - front turret skin not flush with the fuselage skin (filler, a lot !) - aft circuit breaker panel has a wrong shape - missing front avionic frame - wrong floor - wrong left pilot console layout (and Eduard did so also) - wrong gunner seat location Well, here we are not talking about assembling anymore, but about reconstruction. My will is to make a late A-5 version with the large square laterale windows... I don't know if I will be able to scratch build it, but I want to try! I start recreating a missing frame of the front bubble window; but I 've realized today that I should do the complete frame and not only a part of it... Next step was to create the aft window frame with the new square shape to correctly distribute the structure and glass area; of course this job has been done following pictures of the real A-5 Greif. The thin yellow tape materializes the frames and the transparent areas. That's all for now. I know that it seems that it's nothing, but believe me that it took me hours to rectify the fuselage and to double check everything against the original pictures. I will alternate this build with a Revell BF109G-6 in 1/32 ( I will start the WIP shortly) to guarantee a psychological heath and mental stability... and prevent me to set this kit on fire Critics are, of course, more than welcome ! Happy modeling to everybody. Cheers Erik

It means that Eduard identification is correct. Thank you Fernando for your help, now I can proceed with the assembly! Cheers

Just like I was thinking! Thanks for your replies guys.

I'm interested also by this plan. Can I have it too please? Thanks in advance Erik

definitely Tamiya!!! I have the luck to go to Tokyo for three weeks in october.... I will pick up a Zero from Tamiya, or maybe a corsair, or maybe a Mustang....argggg let's take all three!

Hi modellers, I've started a 1/32 Revell Bf109G-6 that I will upgrade with the Eduard Brassin cockpit. I've noticed a discrepancy between Revell and Eduard regarding the MG151 and the MK108 Maschinenkanone (both firing threw the spinner hub): It seems that the late production G6 were equipped with the MK108 gun, but Revell specified the opposite?!? Furthermore, Revell and Eduard swap the components... As you can read, Revell give as early weapon the MK108 and the MG151 as the late version, which sounds strange to me.... Then, Revell identifies a cover intended to be for the MG 151, but Eduard gives the other one.... and vice versa.... who is right? - does anyone has a picture of these guns cockpit fairings, by the way I can understand which fairing is the right one ? - Is that confirmed that late G6's were effectively equipped with the MK108 or MG151? Thanks in advance for your help and happy modeling! Erik

Absolutely gorgeous!! She looks so real. Congratulations Artur. Cheers

Lovely built aircraft! Congratulations!

Great work! In 8 month I've been able to do only one model!

Lovely build! I had the Matchbox Privateers when I was kid.... Lot of souvenirs!!!

This Mustang looks amazing!! Congratulations!

Amazing ho bon the canopy Quang!!! You're pushing far beyond my modeling limits . Maybe you could be a precious help for me to resolve some problems I have on the clear parts of my 1/48 He 177. I will contact you in mp... Cheers

I realized that I had missed 4 pages of wip. The progresses are very interesting and the result amazing. It's a kit that I was planning to do in the future, so thank you for all the tips....and keep going with the brilliant work! Regards Erik

Good start! I follow this build with interest!

Hi modellers, well, let's give a WIP: after 10 months of work I can finally say that the Me 109 is nearly RFI, I consider her at 98% ready. Why only nearly ? Because she still requires some few light weathering here and there, and since I don't want to overdo it, I prefer to have a short break on her, and to come back for the real final touch after a while. I think that after focusing on a model for months it's easy to "get used to it"; a break will help me having a new vision on her. In fact, in the meantime I'll do a Me 109 G6 late version (just for changing!!), kit from Revell still in 1/32. Beautiful kit that has turned my opinion into positive about the German Brand. My intention was to reveal both the Me109 sisters in a unique post in RFI... So I give you appointment in the end of 2016 for this. I'm not completely satisfied with my job in some areas.. but I love the overhaul result, so I 'm really happy with it...it's far beyond what I was expecting from my skills... But I won't leave you without pictures until this moment.... So pictures !!!! Comments are, as always, more than welcome! Enjoy your summer hollydays and see you all in september with an another 109! Cheers.

Nice P47!!! How can you manage to complete a model in one day ???

That's what I was planing, to do a bit of practicing... My doubts are essentially regarding the time ... How long should I leave the oil wash applied before cleaning it; I've seen on internet that some people wait about 20 minutes before starting cleaning, is that correct? My other doubt is : once the wash is finished, how long should I wait before the final matt coat? 4-5 days? I can't wait to finish my Me 109, but I realize that It will require time again. Cheers

Thanks Tony! In fact, I use Lifecolor RLM paints. They are easy to airbrush and I like the rendering. For now, I should seal the decals with a gloss coat before applying the Matt coat and oil weathering. I'm a bit nervous regarding the oil wash since it's the first time I will use this technic. I hope to deal correctly and not damage the work done until here. Cheers

One of my favorite WW2 German plane! Very nice work in this beast. I've got an A-12 variant from Tamiya ready to jump out of the box soon.

Excellent build!! Keep going !

Hi modellers! Time to update this topic. The 109 has received his camouflage and the decals... Of course I had some surprises and issues.... unwanted chipping, fingerprints, problem with the gloss clear.... but after all I love the result, even if I'm still far from the end! Pics !!! (comments are welcomed) I show you only few pictures because I would like to conserve the final surprise effect !!! A good Week end to all and happy modeling. Cheers.

Amazing job on this aircraft. The detailing is amazing and the elegance of this old flying machine gives a magic touch to the diorama.

Waow Andy , that's an amazing job!! Congrats!