galgos

And I thought I was a slow builder! Max

A precision fit if ever there was well, fantastic Aires!! Just the instrument panel, pilot's and bordfunker's seats and schrage muzik cannons to fit then the fuselage can be zipped up. Max

Excellent job Stew, just watch out for those machine guns sticking out of the nose, they'll snap all too easily! Max

I've been doing a little work with fitting the very tight Aires cockpit internals into the fuselage, all dry fitting (in fact thinking about it I probably don't need to glue it in place at all). The main problem area as I see it is the cross piece spanning the fuselage which is behind the pilot's roll-over brace and in front of the bordfunker's radio/radar display. I think it's too deep on the kit and possibly in slightly the wrong position, so I've cut it out and will replace a modified one once all the critical bits are firmly in situ. In the grand scheme of things this cross-member is pretty insignificant so a small piece of plastic card will suffice! I'm planning to prime the wings tomorrow, I've cleaned up the prop blades and so they and the tyres will get a spray of German grey this evening. My Eberspacher exhausts have arrived but I am unlikely to use them on this model, no doubt they'll come in handy for yet another Bf110G4 some time. Photographs of progress tomorrow. Max

I'd be thinning the inside of the engine compartment too Alistair, that'll give you more critical space for the engine and most importantly a "scale" look to the front edge of the upper nacelle. Max

A rather good drawing from the Luftwaffe Experten site which may be of some use: and a photo of it mounted in a Ju88: FuG218 Neptune V/R was a combined AI and tail-warning radar that saw limited service on Ju88's and Bf110's in the last months of the war. Its nose array for the AI component (Neptune R) resembled that of FuG220, but used a single central support. The tail warning set (Neptune V) used an antenna positioned on the tailfin, just forward of the stern post So the question is, if you're doing FuG218 as a forward array, are you also going to do the aft!!!?? Max

So it should look like this: Max

Cockpit interior in progress, the details on the bordfunkers radio/radar etc yet to be picked out: Max

Absolutely Stew, that's EXACTLY what I'm doing, see my latest update! Max

That won't be a problem, just a bit more fiddly! Will get some pictures up later. Max Cut at this point, then turn the removed section quarter of a turn anti-clockwise like this: Hope that's clear enough!?

And yet the colour photographs in my two "walk through" books clearly show bundled looms of electrical cabling, predominantly yellow. The bundles are far too large to have been run in conduit and I can't see any reason why the conduit would have been stripped out in an aircraft which is clearly in "as original" condition. Max

No, don't know that set at all, but yes it is the same kit. There's a small correction needed for the intake which has to be placed on the inboard side of the starboard nacelle. If you're not aware of it I can give you the details, easy fix! Max

Ah ha, another surgeon! Whose set is that Carts, I've not seen one with ailerons before. My flaps were short too but I added a fillet of plasticard. So glad to see a "parallel" build! Max

Hello Andy, how are you doing? Haven't spoken for a long time! Max

Thank you Alistair and Ettore, it's all coming along very well so far with only a couple of minor snags which are easily overcome. The wings are pretty much complete as far as alterations are concerned: The resin insert for the slats was superglued in place, just a little sanding to get a good fit: Then the upper and lower halves joined and the flaps added: I won't be securing the slats in place until most of the handling is complete to avoid damage. I'm also working on the cockpit internals, hopefully finishing the painting this evening so closing the fuselage up shouldn't be too far away! Max

Pics from yesterday's work: The wings are ready for assembly. The flaps were a little short so this was made up by the addition of plasticard: Spot the difference, kits supplied items v Aires set: A dry fit of the floor, starboard sidewall and bordfunker equipment, tight but OK: Max

Sounds like a fascinating and very ambitious project, good luck with it. I'll be interested to see how it progresses. Max

A day of significant progress, though no pics as yet! The new engine humps are in place and looking good, just a little filler along a couple of seams. All the major surgery is completed for the flaps and leading edge slats. It occurred to me as I was whittling away that I had previously made a 110 with dropped flaps and another with the corrected engine humps but not one with both. My cause for concern was that where the hinged edge of the flap meets the wing upper surface there was about a millimetre strip of plastic holding the upper wing surface as one, the view in post 12 above illustrates a little. Careful planning required not to mention knife work! I also spent a long time getting the Aires cockpit sides, floor and bulkheads to fit. Brett Green found them too large with some bits unusable but I found (I hope) that with a bit of imagination, sanding and carving it all can be shoehorned in. I've done several dry fits and it seems to be ok, just, but the proof of the pudding will be when it all comes together over the next couple of days. Hopefully some paint on the cockpit interior tomorrow. Max

I believe so Stew, I think blue denoted compressed air. Max

Stew, these are the colours that Brett Green used in his book on modelling the Bf110. This cockpit colour is RLM66 Black Grey used in the F and G series so not applicable to yours in RLM02 Green Grey, but the wiring should be common to a large extent. Max

I like the thought and research that you're putting into your build Bob. The white dot's position corresponds to the first aid stowage, a white circle with a red cross on it. Max

Looks good to me Carts. A small problem that I hope you don't encounter is making the schrage muzik cannons fit accurately through the holes in the rear canopy. I remember much gnashing of teeth on one of my builds getting it all lined up and sitting properly! Max

Port wing major surgery; the "offending" hump on the wing has been removed and the resin insert cleaned up ready to be superglued into place, it fits beautifully. Also addressed are the areas for the leading edge slats and the flaps, starboard wing tomorrow. This is an extract from Lt Rolf Ebhardt's flugbuch showing four of his eight victories (abschuss). On two of them, both Halifaxes he was close enough to be able to read the squadron codes, duly noted in his flugbuch. Max

I meant when the Bf110C2 kit was first released a couple or so years ago. I did a review for Scale Modelling Now and really it was my major area of criticism: "I liked the build of the Airfix kit, the consideration that has gone into making it easy for the modeller to achieve a creditable model was clear throughout and its accuracy compares very favourably with the other two of the same scale. Would I build another one, or recommend it – most definitely! Would I attempt to use the decals provided…….oh no! Mr Airfix, you have to address this problem as soon as possible." Max

Looks like an excellent start Simon with an interesting scheme. The RAF may have made changes once it was in their possession, but regarding the propeller blades Luftwaffe ones are usually finished in a dark grey and don't have the yellow tips, but perhaps it's British elf'n'safety! Regards Max PS Disregard the above, I've just checked the colour profile book by John Vasco where there is an example of an Iraqi captured one flown by the RAF with black props and yellow tips. Press on regardless!