Mitch K Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 (edited) Well, my next project is yet another Airfix Bf109E. This one's going to be a 109E3, so there's a little bit of deviation from the box to do. There's been about a million box shots of this kit, so I'm not wasting bandwidth with another one. I am however going to indulge myself with a shot of the pit before I close it up. The pit is almost out of the box, just some trim wheels and handles/knobs from sprue, and (after this) some toe straps from tape. I've added some brake lines on the U/C legs from wire. Good to go. Comparing the kit with photos of the aircraft in question, the differences are all around the canopy. The glazing itself is obviously different, but there's no cockpit head armour in the pictures, so that bit goes in the spares box. The canopy leaves me with two choices: convert the kit parts or go after-market. I didn't fancy my chances of re-profiling, re-grinding and re-polishing the kit part and being about to see anything through it so I punted for the Pavla vac-form canopy. I shot a coat of primer onto the airframe before going further. Blast from the past this was! My vacform skills were rusty when John Major was PM! Cutting it out was OK: the plastic isn't brittle, and a fine pointed scapel, combined with some sharp end-cutting snips soon got me something ready to play with. The part is quite nice really, and includes some bits of cowling and fuselage which would allow you fettle it in on any number of different kits. Getting it glued down was less of a faff than I thought, and a layer of thin, brush-on filler sorted the gap. Having sanded this down, there's a slight mis-match at the back of the canopy which required a little bit of fettling and sanding, and the handhold re-scribing. End result was this: I'm pretty happy so far. Let's get the glazing masked and get on! Edited August 5, 2014 by Mitch K 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOUSTON Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Yaayyyyyaaayyyy.... makes a nice lively change from spits and mossies. GREATstart. Good work I like Bf 109... good work.. how churlish would I be to ignore good bit if modeling cuz it's foreign . (I do like spits etc but I like anything that has a WINGY thingy.. after all its all about modeling) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winenut Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Looking forward to this. Like the work on the vacform canopy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted August 1, 2014 Author Share Posted August 1, 2014 Two steps forward and one back! I blew a coat of the underside colour on and found the underside fuselage seam was a total mess and needs about a shovelful of filler I'll the chance to check the upper seam too, although I suspect the colour will cover a multitude of sins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted August 3, 2014 Author Share Posted August 3, 2014 After re-doing the filler on the seams, I finally managed to paint the thing! The scheme is simplicity itself: RLM70 on the top and RLM 65 on the undersides. These are Tamiya acrylics, thinned with isopropanol, which spray a treat. At this point, the paint has had three coats of Kleer on it ready for decalling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winenut Posted August 5, 2014 Share Posted August 5, 2014 I'm really intrigued on the scheme. One colour on top and one colour on the underside. Don't think I've ever seen it. Also like the little detail with the offset on the rudder......I was within a whisker of doing that on mine! You didn't choose to drop the flaps? I thought everyone got sucked into that one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted August 5, 2014 Author Share Posted August 5, 2014 I'm really intrigued on the scheme. One colour on top and one colour on the underside. Don't think I've ever seen it. Also like the little detail with the offset on the rudder......I was within a whisker of doing that on mine! You didn't choose to drop the flaps? I thought everyone got sucked into that one. All should be reveal fairly soon as far as the scheme goes. I'm glad there's still some intrigue left in 109's! I didn't drop the flaps because I couldn't be bothered to drop the ailerons at the same time. The rudder just gives a little bit of movement to the build, which is all I wanted. More coming soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted August 5, 2014 Author Share Posted August 5, 2014 Well, mystery solved: Royal Yugoslav Air Force. L-10 was involved in the fighting during the German invasion, and scored at least one victory over a German 109-E. The decals are Kora, bought via Hannants. These are nice decals: thin, very, very clear (the data stencilling on the tail is totally legible), perfect register and the colours seem spot-on based on what I've dredged up. They went on without silvering with just a touch of decal solvent. I'd make two observations: first, all the decals are printed as a single unit - you have to neatly cut them out and separate them. Second, I'd say the white is a tiny bit thin, at least over the green. If I had a do-over, I'd underpaint with white under the upper wing crosses. The panel line wash was more successful this time, and less messy! The decals come with a set of resin wheels, which are super-nice. I don't know if you can see it here, but the detail is superb. One evening of final assembly and some matt, and I reckon she'll be about done. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch K Posted August 7, 2014 Author Share Posted August 7, 2014 Now over in the RFI section! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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