mark.au

I like it. You’ve done a really clean and precise job here Alistair, totally appropriate to the subject.

That sucks; the limitations of OHIP. I went private to avoid delay.

Thanks for the best wishes gents. Much appreciated. Recovery will be up to 4 months; my collarbone was fully separated at both ends and required plates, screws and artificial tendons to put it all back together. The metal comes out again in 3 months. I’m home from the hospital this afternoon and staring at the bench wondering if there’s anything I can be doing 🤓

What fabulously interesting looking airplane. That’s a shame about the bubbling, but you have a plan so I’m sure recovery is just around the corner. I’ve said it before, nothing good comes from priming! 🤓

Cracking on very well there Alistair.

Thanks gents. @AliGauld, I’m under no illusion that the physio will not be anything other than miserable 😂

The next job I wanted to take on was the weathering on the port side insignia. There’s some significant chipping in its centre and a dark paint patch to its left. It became quite clear, quite quickly, that I couldn’t fit that dark paint patch in because I had the insignia too far forward. After an attempt to fudge it I bit the bullet and decided to move the insignia. Here’s the before and after… It was a relatively simple mask and paint job to replicate, as best I could, the weathering (though I might continue to refine it). Then, I turned my attention to the goat. The first task was to create the hashed surrounding box. My current plan is to hand-draw/trace the goat itself, but that’ll have to wait. Some of you may know that I incurred some serious injuries in a mountain bike crash in February. Yesterday I had surgery to rebuild my shoulder which leaves me effectively one-armed for a few weeks. Hopefully I’ll have some sort of function relatively soon because there’s not actually a whole lot left to do on this one. Cheers.

I am just catching up CC after a long time. So sorry to read of all your troubles; I hope that animal gets a just outcome for his assault. I am happy to see that your enthusiasm is unbowed, as is your virtuosity!

And now with the tail done... I started with an outline mask for the white and then added the little square masks one by one before spraying the red. Not sure that's the best way, but I like the result nonetheless. I also started on the wings. Still not completely happy there, but weathering should blend everything together. Cheers.

Thanks gents. I agree, I'm painting it as an Rengensburg airframe. It's a long weekend in most sates, the ACT included, down here in Australia and so far it's been productive. I sat down this morning and finished the base paint scheme. All was done freehand because the reference photos don't show (to me, at least) a hard edge to the various other shades of paint this one wore. It's a tight edge, yes, but not as sharp as the croat insignia for example. While I was at it, I also tightened up the wings. The wings were quite heavily weathered so I think this will do for a base. Then I sat down at the computer and built all the masks. I needed the Luftwaffe masks for the overpaint on the upper wings visible in the photo below; it's an assumption that the underside would look similar. Then , I couldn't resist the temptation to try them out. I started with the white as it was going to be the easiest mask to align properly after the first colour was laid down. Then the black. The rudder was a casualty at this stage. And then big reveal... Pretty happy with that. Last, I softened up the aft end of the markings on each side as the reference photos show the same thing. After sealing all that up with a light clear coat I called that a good day's modelling. Tomorrow, I might have a crack at the fin flash, once the rudder is firmly attached again 🙂 Cheers.

Absolutely gorgeous.

I'm in awe of your tenacity.

Stunning, museum-quality work.

Today I did the first pass at the original paint scheme, the 74/75. Most of this will end up covered by the additional painting over the factory finish so I’m not too concerned that it’s not brilliant just yet. It a good base to start from though. The pic below shows the part of the original factory finish that will remain. There’s still a a bit of blending to do here but as a base it works I think. While I had 74/75 in the airbrush I started the wings as well. I used this image as my guide, inasmuch as the pattern looks pretty standard. I do notice as I type the the stabilisers appear quite dark compared to the rest of the factory paint - it appears they are painted the same colour as the fin. This really just a base coat as well. I free handed the pattern, and none too carefully, so I’ll likely revisit this at some point to get a slightly sharper edge. The I ran out of Windex, which for me and the paints I use is a showstopper! Cheers.

I see what you did there 🤓 I took the colour image posted earlier by Troy and tried to colour correct it. In order to increase the resolution I’ve sacrificed a little detail but the aim was to get a feel for how it was painted - how it really looked. For one thing, it appears there’s not a whole left of the original scheme. There’s a bunch of generic light grey slapped about to cover the Luftwaffe markings and a darker grey covering the fuselage band and almost all of the fin. Poking around the edges of all that are the remnants of the 74/75 original camo. The yellow nose will be easy, as will the rudder. The red and white checkered shield on the fin will not be easy; but I have a plan for that. I will be painting all the markings and will create the masks from scratch except the 4. Should be fun. After a bit of a pre-shade and some 02 for the wheel wells and slats we’re ready for some 76. I applied the 76 sparingly, I’m after a particularly rough look with this one. The camera has washed out a lot of the blue in these pics, I’ll try and get a better colour balance next time. The I sealed that with a light clear coat. There’s plenty of work left to do here but the base coat is on and done. Same sort of thing for the fuselage, including the poor colour rendition in the photos. There is more of the pre-shade visible in the flesh, so to speak. You’ll have to take my word for it. I’ll add a standard 74/76 pattern next, at least on the forward fuselage and towards the rear of the fuselage. Then, I’ll begin with the custom pattern. I tend to paint in the order the subject was painted so the 74/75 first, then the greys painted over that. Then, the yellow, the insignia and number. Looking at the pics again, they really are rubbish. I’ll make sure the next lot are better. Cheers.

I’ve not used epoxy on a model yet, but you make a powerful case for its use. I can think of a couple occasions where it would definitely have helped me.

Nobody alive today can tell prove you’re wrong. Totally ripping this idea for my upcoming 109s (and others, I expect). These both look really nice, I think you’ve nailed the camo for sure.

Why isn’t it visible at all in the prang pic then?

I think you mean the G-14. It’s in RAF colours plus D-Day stripes.

I had missed this up till now. Glad I've found it!

8 out of 10 cats said this was their favourite Jag. The other two were seen near St Dunstan's Hospital.

I didn't take it as mean, I like your directness 🙂 I may have just added a Tamiya 1/350 HMS Prince of Wales to the stash... Thanks again for all of the feedback, comments and likes, much appreciated. Cheers.

I am a long way from being anything like an authority on 109's, let alone the late-war variety, but logic would dictate that if the underside was unpainted it seems likely the wheel-well would have been left unpainted, too. It really depends on the production line at the time of its build; the 02 could easily - should have been, it was an anti corrosion paint after all - have been applied during wing assembly whereas the final paint might have seemed less important (and less intrinsically part of the process). How's that for straddling the fence? 😂

The pleasure is ours.

You give me too much credit my friend... 🙂 Ok, by way of a reset to this WIP which has gone a little chaotic, here's the current state of play. I shall be building four 109's in this series. The first, the Croat 109 as suggested by @Troy Smith. This is the one that is-progress on this thread so far. Next - perhaps concurrently, though that's not really my thing - is the OG (for this thread, at least) captured 109G-6, TP814 And also this 109G14: And finally, because it sort of completes a camouflage set, is this 109G-10 Not saying I'll do them all in one flow, I may droop in and out of this WIP depending on my boredom level with doing the same kit over and over. Cheers.