Bf 109 G-8 1/72 Fine Molds

[109 fan]

My 1/72 scale 109 collection continues with the photo-recon G-8 coming next. This will involve some small modifications to the Fine Molds G-6 kit. I find this variant interesting since it appears to be a collection of parts from various other versions. It looks much like a typical 109 G-6, but with large wing bumps associated with the larger main wheels. However the only two photos that have surfaced indicate that it used the smaller 660 x 160 wheels. It lacks the lower gear covers and has a camera port under the rear fuselage. The color scheme is also interesting, with an extensive area of yellow on the nose and very light version of RLM 75 on the upper surfaces. The project begins with disassembly, cutting out the flaps and slats.

I am using an older BarracudaCast interior. I added my own casting for the right sidewall and a Quickboost 30mm cannon breech cover. The parts were painted with (the much missed) PollyScale RLM 66, drybrushed and washed with oil paints. I also dirtied up the floor with Mig pigments.

I've made the rear cockpit hatch from .005" card. It seems that all 109 G-8s and G-6 R2s had the battery moved forward to accommodate the camera. This necessitated a housing since it protruded further into the cockpit area. This piece came from a Fine Molds G-10 kit.

The wheel well inserts come from a photo etched sheet from Eduard (73272). I annealed them over a candle flame and gently bent them using the body of a Bic lighter (perfect shape for this) in the palm of my hand. I tacked them in place using Micro LiquiTape, followed by superglue gel.

The wingtip lights have been made from clear sprue. First it was cut to an angle matching the cutout in the wing.Then a small, shallow hole was drilled on the inside. This was painted the corresponding green and red. After wiping off the excess, I painted both the rear of the light and wing cutout with black acrylic paint. This is necessary to give depth to the light. Painting both mating surfaces insures that any mishaps when superglueing the lights will be minimized. After attaching, the sprue was shaped with a file, then refined with sanding sticks and finally a nail buffer. Finally, I applied a coat of Future to the wingtip. Also the wing slat covers have been glued to the wing leading edge. All that remains in these photos is to trim the lowed area and refine the edge with a sanding stick.

Work progressed with the recon camera housing. Somewhere back in the caverns I have a resin part for this item. But with the caverns being what they are, I gave up after searching for an hour. I then realized that an accessory sprue included in a number of A-Model 109s contains this part.

After checking with drawings it became evident that the part is significantly oversized. The camera port is actually a sheet metal base with a slightly smaller aerodynamic fairing on top. A-Model makes no distinction here. There is also a curved (water/oil?) deflecting strip around the camera port. This is all molded in a rather crude fashion. I decided to try to clean up the part as molded, but the further I went, the more obvious that a complete makeover would be necessary. Here's how I approached it:

First, I cut a .005: plastic sheet base. I curved it as much as possible using a paintbrush handle and the palm of my hand. Then I taped it to the fuselage and glued it to the fuselage in small sections.

There is not much left of the original part after sanding it to the correct dimensions. I enlarged the camera port to match a disk that could be made with a Waldron Punch & Die set. This will be used to make a lens from clear plastic after painting in complete. After trying a number of options for the deflecting channel, I decided to use .015" solder. It is easily bent and after shaping the curve, it could be flattened using a steel ruler. Actually, the original was made from "U" shaped strip, but my attempts to cut a groove in the solder were less than successful.

Painting began with the first coat of RLM 76. I used Gunze Sangyo lacquers for the base coat due to their durability. Here is another shot of the camera port under a coat of paint.

Here the painting is essentially complete,. This particular plane had a very light version of RLM 75, or perhaps RLM 77 as some sources claim. I like the contrast, which is one of the reasons I picked this plane to model. Gunze Sangyo acrylics, as usual.

The masking was removed from the nose and the model has been gloss coated. I used Gunze Sangyo GX-100 with very satisfactory results. After thinning approximately 3 to 1 with Gunze leveling thinner, it sprayed very well and dried hard quickly.

Decals have been applied. The number "8" was taken from Kits-World decal sheet KW172029, Luftwaffe Fighter Numbers. They performed beautifully, being thin and drawing down into panel lines very well. The radio access panel is a replacement, showing different camo pattern and a mismatched fuselage national marking. I made this by cutting a sheet of solid white decal to the exact shape. The corners were rounded with a sanding stick (obviously while still on the paper). This technique has many uses, including making the oval repair panel in the left wing root. I masked the area of the white cross segment and sprayed the camouflage. The red cross was larger than seen on most German aircraft, but I found one in the spares box.

Next will come oil paint washes and general weathering. Comments welcome.

Barry Numerick

[Duncan B]

Another nice 109 Barry, I'm a big fan of your 109 builds over on 72nd scale Aircraft and find them inspirational. As always, your airbrush skills leave me drooling with envy. Thanks for posting such a great WIP.

Did you lighten the Gunze paints (particularly the RLM76) in the same manner as you've discussed before, i.e. 50-50 RLM76 to RLM75 then mixed with white or is it straight from the pot?

Duncan B

[dfqweofekwpeweiop4]

Good work so far! Did all G-8's have that camera fairing? I've got the AZ Models G-8 and that doesn't.

thanks

Mike

[The Crusty one]

seriously impressive work mate,hard to believe its 72 scale!:-)

[StephenCJ]

Very nice model you have there

[109 fan]

Thanks for the compliments, guys. Duncan, I lightened the RLM 76 50/50 with white. That's more than usual for me, but some photos of late war Luftwaffe aircraft indicate that the RLM 76 was nearly white. In addition, I needed some contrast with the RLM 77. Mike, that's a very good question regarding the G-8 designation. Prien & Rodieke in Messerschmitt Bf 109 F, G and K Series: An Illustrated Study, indicate that this plane was a G-8. However, other references show it as a G-6/R2. The weight of evidence may come on the latter.

[Duncan B]

Good work so far! Did all G-8's have that camera fairing? I've got the AZ Models G-8 and that doesn't.

thanks

Mike

That is the main issue I have with the AZmodel 109's, they are too generic for my liking and some of the colour scheme options are dubious e.g. the G5 edition where Graf and Barkhorn's aircraft are claimed to be G5's but in all likelihood were actually Erla built G6's as photos show that they didn't have the G5 sealed canopy and head armour (which aren't included in the kit parts anyway).

For my G8 I have a resin aftermarket camera fairing, IIRC there should also be a robot camera fitted in the leading edge of the port wing too.

Duncan B

[Duncan B]

Thanks for the compliments, guys. Duncan, I lightened the RLM 76 50/50 with white. That's more than usual for me, but some photos of late war Luftwaffe aircraft indicate that the RLM 76 was nearly white. In addition, I needed some contrast with the RLM 77. Mike, that's a very good question regarding the G-8 designation. Prien & Rodieke in Messerschmitt Bf 109 F, G and K Series: An Illustrated Study, indicate that this plane was a G-8. However, other references show it as a G-6/R2. The weight of evidence may come on the latter.

Thanks for the info on the RLM76 Barry, I'm struggling with an Me 410 at the moment that I painted at the same time as a couple of Fw190's. The Fw's look fine but the Me 410 top colours look too dark with the RLM76 looking too blue yet they are the exact same shades so I'm looking to tone the 410 down with lighter shades of 74,75,76.

Duncan B

[Winenut]

speechless.....

Very impressive.

You post and hopefully I'll learn

[109 fan]

I spent the day with a palette of oil colors and seriously dirtied up the 109. As usual, these were not washes, but rather thick applications of paint, in this case a muddy mix of white, black and burnt umber. There was a distinct difference in the intensity of the white on the replacement radio access panel and the fuselage cross. I rubbed oil colors repeatedly on the fuselage cross (and all national markings) to tone them down, while leaving the panel untouched.

After checking for any unintentional messes, I will seal the oils with another application of Gunze GX100.

[Winenut]

Are they just standard artist oil paints?

I always find they take a million years to dry.

Are you just rubbing the raw paint directly onto the model and it dirties up highlights the panel lines?

Is it all over or do you apply the paint where you want with a brush and then maybe a soft cloth or paper towel to rub it over??

The effect looks great and your finish looks truly superb.

Looking forward to seeing the end result

[109 fan]

Thanks very much for the compliments, Winenut. For the wash I use Winsor & Newton oil paints applied heavily along panel lines and randomly within panels. After setting up for 15-20 minutes I scrub them off with a cotton bud (Q-Tip). You will go through a LOT of Q-tips. The advantage of using thicker applications instead of washes is that the paint stays where you put it and the excess will provide staining along the panels. I much prefer this method to the standard pre-shading, which all too often looks contrived. When a Q-tip gets a fairly heavy accumulation of paint, I will scrub it into random areas of the surface the break up the uniformity. I do the same with the white areas of the national markings to tone them down. Here are a few photos to illustrate:

I'll be happy to answer any further questions.

[Duncan B]

Great tips for toning down the markings there Barry, I always find that the white decals are too stark as applied but hadn't found a method of toning them down that I liked.

Thanks for that.

Duncan B

[The Crusty one]

great advice im going to give the oil a try as pre shading never seems to work for me thanks mate:-)

[One-Two]

Hi 109 fan.

Very good looking model.

Interesting wash technique. I was somehow afraid to apply thick oil paints directly on the survace of the model - for the panel lines I mean. I thought that it would be too messy - but not the case, as may be obviously seen from your buld.

In order to clean up the excess ol paints, are you using only Q-tips? I mean do you use some kind of thinner (white spirit or what?) in order to clean the excess oils?

Thanks,

[109 fan]

Hi One-Two, and thank you for the kind words. I use dry Q-tips to remove the paint, and replace them very often during the process. Using thinner removes too much of the oil paint, leaving only stark, too highly defined panel lines. When removing the paint with a dry Q-tip, you can push the paint around onto the surrounding areas. If you build up too much paint in an area that is difficult to access, a pointed brush just moistened with thinner will effectively remove it. The paint dries in about a day, and can be adjusted hours later.

Here the flat coat has been applied. This is one of the transformative phases of the build, when the model moves from a glossy toy to a replica. I've used Vallejo Flat/Satin in a 2/1 mix. This was thinned at least 3/1 with Tamiya Acrylic thinner. I am very pleased with these Vallejo overcoats. They spray very effectively and evenly, with no graininess.

[Doug Rogers]

Wow, what a fantastic paint job you've got, it looks like a much larger model. I absolutely agree about pre shading although I have huge respect for the techniques people that do it use, it's just not what I see when I look at an aircraft. Putting a wash in the panel lines after paint, or using your very effective technique yields a much more realistic finish, to my eyes anyway.

[109 fan]

Thanks for the compliment, Doug. I made bit of progress tonight on the drop tank. I'm using a tank from the Tamiya Bf 109 E. There is an unusual contour to the tank in photos of this plane and the Tamiya item matches it best. First, I removed the molded-in solid strap with a clipper and files. This was replaced with a strip of .005" plastic sheet. Then holes were drilled at the four mounting points. The mounting posts are far too thick on the kit part, so I removed them and made replacements from Albion Alloys telescoping tube and wire. The posts were glued onto the tank first, then test fitted to the mount. Finally, the whole thing was sprayed a lightened shade of Gunze RLM 76 lacquer. When this sets up, I'll give it coat of gloss, then oil wash, and finally flat coat.

Finally, the plane got to try on its spiral spinner for the first time. The spiral is a decal in this case.

[RNoAF Aerobatic Team]

I love your work!

[K404]

I LOVE that mottle

[James Quinton]

Some seriously impressive work!

[Winenut]

She's a beautiful 109 and thanks for sharing your tips and methods so generously.

Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Top stuff

[woody37]

Who'd believe this is 1/72? Stunning work

[109 fan]

Thank you again for the kind words, they are much appreciated.

This plane just gets dirtier and dirtier. I've added the exhaust stains using Gunze acrylic flat black. This is the finest ground pigment and flattest black I know. However, I thin it down to just a dirty wash for this application and spray on a LOT of coats to build up the stain. When this much thinner is used on any paint, the result is a glossy finish. I'll let it dry overnight, then spray on some Vallejo clear flat, which is the flattest overcoat I've used. A tip regarding the cowl guns on all Fine Molds 109s. They must be glued on before the cowling is attached. Rather than trying to paint them in place after the camouflage is done, I paint them first and mask (so to speak) with s strip of paper, in this case the instruction sheet. Cut a piece to the same width as the cowl opening, then fold it in half. Insert the V-shaped paper over the guns and into the cowl. It usually doesn't work perfectly, but the only touch up in this case was the very tip of the gun barrel.

[The Crusty one]

that looks just brilliant mate..thanks for the tips on the weathering techniques you use, can i just ask would you use the heavy oil panel lines technique on 1/48 scale models as this is my prefered scale ,thank you:-)