++ Complete ++ Eduard 1/48 Bf110 G4 Schnaufer's 3C+BA

[trickyrich]

Well I almost completely forgot about/missed this one.

Like the majority probably will, I’m going for an Eduard model as well, though mine will be the 1/48 ProfiPACK G4. And being a Bf100 it was only even going to be a nightfighter for me and not just any, supposedly the last aircraft ever flown by Major Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, the greatest Night Fighter pilot of all time (there’s a lot of debate whether it was C3+BA).

Along with all the lovely gear Eduard supplies I’m adding their details set and Master models beautiful FuG 218 antenna set. As the model doesn’t support ( ) the FuG218 I had to steal the mast for my Dragon Ho229B.

For decals I’ll be using Peddinghaus’s beautiful decal set, plus I got a feeling I may have ordered some resin wheels as well!!

I’m really looking forward to building this one but am already super stressed over time! I know it’s 3 months but I’m about to go back to 3w/1w roster so will be away from home most of the time. It works out I have 15 full days at home until the February finish and no I can’t spend all that time locked away building...would be trouble if I did. So there will be a mad rush over the first few days of the build to get all the basics done, no step by step build this time!! :frantic: :frantic:

Roll on start time!!!!

[kwaterous]

You could always start early, as long as you don't get past the 25% markin the next 2 days...

K

[Arniec]

Nice pick Rich. I was planning to do the converted G4 from Martin Drewes, but as I am planning to move that is not gonna happen.

Did you know that Schnauffer flew his old G4 (with the codes G9 + AF) from NJG 1 also as commander of NJG 3.

Cheers,

[trickyrich]

well finally start time for me, no messing about as I just found out I head off now on Monday and not Wednesday!!!

Spent the time going over everything and seeing what’s what, you could almost build a complete model with the leftovers! In the time I have I'll focus on the big bits that don't require too much work, wings, engines and other bits I find.

For such a famous aircraft finding clear details on the colour scheme isn't all that easy. But the scheme looks to be nice and simple RLM75/76 with no wiggly lines or splotches!

With the time I have and a couple of late nights hopefully I can make a good start on this..........

Nice pick Rich. I was planning to do the converted G4 from Martin Drewes, but as I am planning to move that is not gonna happen.

Did you know that Schnauffer flew his old G4 (with the codes G9 + AF) from NJG 1 also as commander of NJG 3.

Cheers,

ok that's one I didn't find (or lost somewhere more likely..) but I did find the following and will be looking out for more while I'm away.

Below is some of what I've found with links to the authors, there some really interesting information out there!!

An Ordinary Crew and here FalkeEins - The Luftwaffe blog : Wolfgang Schnaufer's Bf110G

and that from LEMB in January 2008:

here is a list from the book, Sadly the author went to the trouble of posting his victories in a list, but strangely does not provide a list of AC flown with dates, AC sub type, W.Nr's etc. I had to go through the book page by page to find these, I hope I missed nothing?
1941-1942> G9+DC Bf 110 C with no forward searching radar.
1943> G9+DZ
1944-1945> G9+DF, G9+EF Schnaufer's favourite AC, G9+MD Spare AC Flown on Op when EF was unserviceable, scored two victories on night of 20/21 Feb in this AC.
Also Flew 3C+BA Mach 1*(See Note) and a second, different AC coded the same 3C+BA, This Bf 110G4 W.Nr. 180560 on final Missions, however no contact with enemy made. This AC was previously coded G9+DX and had code changed to 3C+BA and had all kills on both fins and Surrendered with Schnaufer.
*Note The first 3C+BA was destroyed by fire on or about April 14th in an Airfield attack, See Appendix A "Another Schnaufer Myth" in the book for further explanation.
On a side note, Schnauffer also flew Ju88 3C+AA on the flight to be awarded the Diamonds and back.


Vkz. from Flugbuch Rumpelhardt, crew of Schnaufer from 4 October 1942:

Bf110C +CC, +JP, +AC and Do217 +JM, +KM.
Bf110F +CC and +AC - October-December 42
Bf110G-4 +DC, +IN, +BC, +AC - March-April 43
Bf110G-4 +AZ, +BZ, FZ, +DZ, +CZ and +BF - May 43 to November 43.
Bf110G-4 +HZ, +DZ, +KZ, +EZ and AZ - November 43 to April 44.
Bf110G-4 +DF, +HF and OZ - April to July 44.
Ju88G-1 +AA - August 44 and a few times later, but not on operations.
Bf110G-4 +EF, +MD, +BA and +DX - August 44 to April 45.

The list is not complete...

[trickyrich]

Ok my first update. It’s been a long day but I have made good progress and not gotten too distracted by adding things...well almost!

Not sure where to start, have been all over the place though I’m trying to avoid the interior until I come back for my first break.

So wings, went together alright bit noticed minor gaps in the joins along the leading edge, quite strange...but a wee bit of filler sorted that out, then cleaned up the panel lines and rivet divots on the leading edge. Found there were huge gaps when I test fitted the ailerons, so I had to add small sections of plastic sheet to fix! Plus I couldn’t help myself.......added clear (now coloured) tip lights to both wings....

The cowlings went together without issues, again just a wee bit of filler to tidy up joins. Started adding the PE bits.........I hate PE! The exhausts took quite a bit of work to clean-up as the join between the main section and the ends is quite poor, I wish there was some aftermarket stuff for this style of exhaust.

The dreaded join between the nacelles and wings was a bit of work, there is still quite a gap after lots of test fits and adjusting! You can only go so far before any further adjustment makes things worse. The final gaps aren’t too bad, will use stretched sprue to fill, it’s much better than filler. Now have to finish adding all the PE detail to the wheel wells, just could get it to fit right unless it was all together. There was a bit of work required to get the various cooling doors cut out and replaced with PE.

You could drive a small train in that gap!!

Started hacking bits out of the cockpit for the new PE bits....again more fun was had there! I wasn’t going to start painting but was on a roll. No the Red/Brown is correct, was the primer/protection coat for the metal, so that went on first then RLM66 (not RLM02 as mentioned in the instructions). Tried a wee bit of initial “weathering”, getting the effect I’m after, but lots to go. I won’t go too far as I suspect this wasn’t a really high mileage aircraft (hopefully someone will have some pre-history knowledge of this aircraft????).

Was a very busy and productive day, did lots of other little bits to, hopefully I may get one more big day tomorrow before I head off.........maybe!

[smuts]

Looks good so far

Andy

[Ettore]

WoW ! Very fast!!!

Ettore

[Stew Dapple]

Blimey Rich that's what I call making good use of your time

Cheers,

Stew

[galgos]

Did you know that Schnauffer flew his old G4 (with the codes G9 + AF) from NJG 1 also as commander of NJG 3.

A small correction for the sake of accuracy if you don't mind.

Schnaufer was promoted to be Kommodore of the entire Geschwader of NJG4 on 26th October 1944, taking up his post on 14th November. NJG4 flew Ju88s but as Schnaufer's Bordfunker, Fritz Rumpelhardt reports:

"When we first went to NJG4 they were flying the Ju88. At first Schnaufer said it made no difference.......though he felt he should fly the same aircraft as his men. We got a new aircraft, a Ju88, and did a few familiarisation trips in it, not operations. Schnaufer didn't feel happy with it and after the final night take off he landed it, parked it and we didn't fly in a Ju88 again for a time. He decided to stick with the Bf110...."

Not only did he stay with the Bf110, but he also kept the one G9+EF that he had used with IV./NJG1 in which he scored an impressive number of kills.

(Paraphrased source: "Ace of Diamonds" by Peter Hinchliffe

Max

[Arniec]

You are right Max. It should have been NJG4. I did it from mind and didn't look it up. What a mistaka to maka.

Cheers,

[trickyrich]

Blimey Rich that's what I call making good use of your time

Cheers,

Stew

as I mentioned no messing around with this one have only three short stints at home between now and finish and one of those is Christmas!!! So need to stay focused and not "add/modify" too much!

May have a long session tonight , can sleep on the plane on Monday...

[depressed lemur]

goodness me, you look almost finished and I haven't even photographed the box yet.

Damn fine start sir, keep up the good work.

[smuts]

Bloody ell!,you're motoring on this one,only just cracked both boxes open on mine today..

Andy

[trickyrich]

Blimey Rich that's what I call making good use of your time

Cheers,

Stew

goodness me, you look almost finished and I haven't even photographed the box yet.

Damn fine start sir, keep up the good work.

Bloody ell!,you're motoring on this one,only just cracked both boxes open on mine today..

Andy

well it all came the a grinding halt!!

Unfortunately I didn’t get much...well nothing done yesterday and a wee bit today after packing. Grand plans for a big Sunday session got taken over by pre-travel stuff plus my son is joining the army tomorrow, so modelling took second place.

Ok this will be the last update for a while...

The wing/nacelle joints as suspected didn’t come off as planned even after all the pre-fitting and stuff!!! One wing ended up ok but the other didn’t play the game so as you can see I had to use a bit of filler. The other wing still had some gaps but stretched sprue will sort that out.

I continued with the initial PE work on the sides of the main wheel wells.....boy that was fun!!! :wall:After nearly chucking the PE stuff away a couple of time and using the kit plastic walls I finally got it right....only three sides to go!

It looks a bit crap but that will clean up ok, incredibly fiddly.

And that’s it, just a couple of other little bit done and the bench cleaned up.......24 days to go before normal service returns!

[Mottlemaster]

Hi Rich

Like your work rate . Its going to take me weeks to get this far on mine . Nothing like time consraints to focus the mind.

Alistair

[trickyrich]

ok while I’m indisposed I have a question that someone can hopefully answer for me?

My beasty has the FuG-218 radar in a single mast antenna setup for which as mentioned I'll be using the mast assembly from a Ho229B. The thing I’m not sure of and am having a little trouble with is how the mast attaches to the nose? I know where it attaches but how and what it looks like at the nose junction I don't.

It sounds a bit silly but I'm sure it doesn't quite like someone has just drilled a hole in the nose....surely???

[Arniec]

I have been looking at a few pictures and what I see it is just one pol with no braces. The onlythin g i noticed as well is that there is a extra metal ring on the nose of the 110 togive it extra strength.

Maybee the picture on this site helps.

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/radar/setup-fug-218-fug220-sn2-fug202-fug212-30207.html

Cheers,

Edit: I have just read the page myself and they say it is propably for a Fug 212. I still think that it will almost be the same.

Here is another link with 2 pictures of his airplane. they are not high quality, but maybee usefull.

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/aircraft-picture-requests/pictures-schnaufers-bf110-3c-ba-5807.html

Edited November 6, 2014 by Arniec

[trickyrich]

thanks for that, I figured/hoped that was the case.

I think the centre pole of the mask is a bit more solid than that which is supplied with the Dragon kit.

[galgos]

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

[trickyrich]

thanks for that, I've seen the Ju88 setup before and would have followed that as a last resort. But the first photo in the first link Arnold posted is the perfect photo!

I now have to manufacture the mount setup which shouldn't be too hard, plus there's some nice detail (from what you can see) of some of the wiring in that section. The centre poll for the mast will be a piece of SS tube in a mounting that will allow to to remove it easily for protection.

Oh and yes I had forgetten about the tail antenna, so I'll use a spare one (antenna) from either the Horten or a Ju88G6 I have.

[trickyrich]

ok it seems like ages since I did any work on this, but unfortunately that’s work for me!!

I didn’t get as much done this break as I had hoped, had a couple of things to do but just found it hard to get going again. Oh and sorry about the lack of photos during the build....forgot!

Most of the work was taken up by getting the cockpit area finished so I can close the fuselage up. This seemed to take forever as there was so much PE to be fitted, would have preferred if the cockpit had been resin!!! Finally got it to a stage I was sort of happy with and managed to close it up today.

It wasn’t until I took the photos that I noticed all the dust....the dust bunnies have been very busy! The additional armoured plates around the cockpit were fun to fit....superglue gives you now freedom to adjust, I could use the slow drying type but would then have to hold it while it dries....and then find out I stuck my fingers to it! One nice thing is that this particular 110 didn’t have the rear guns fitted (from what I gather most of his later 110’s didn’t have them fitted). Schnaufer considered the benefits of the guns didn’t outweigh the added drag and weight they caused... so out they went! I don’t know what was done to fill the gap but I will make up a wee canvas cover for the opening.

I don't like how the PE mesh seat looks so may ripe that out and redo it!

More PE adventures were had in the wheel wells, I changed to type of superglue to a gel which sort of made the task a bit easier.....sort of!! For the amount of exposure the wheel wells will get I would have been better off leaving them standard....but who and I to do things easy!

Don't worry about the over spray, lots of painting to be done here!

After lots of filling and sanding the nacelles are almost fitting the wings correctly with little noticeable joins showing, just a wee bit to finish off. The fitting of these has to be the worst part of the kit...very poor (actually not impressed at all with this model!!!)!

As a result of the poor nacelle fit the underside gap between them and the flaps was quite uneven and too wide (on mine anyway), so I added a small strip of plastic on the rear edge of the nacelle to correct, looks ok so again it just needs a wee bit of filler to finish.

Exhausts are almost done, again just a wee bit of filler required here and there then off to painting!

I started to play around with the FuG218 radar antenna array, I’m going to make this so that the antenna can be removed for protection as it is very fragile. I started by inserting a small plug to where the mast pole will go and then made a wee plate to go around this as on the aircraft. A small bit of 0.8mm wire will serve as the mast. I don’t have many and haven’t seen many photos of this antenna fitted to a Bf110’s (let alone detailed ones) so have to sort of guess at the correct mast length, no big dramas. The actual antennas will be fitted last, for obvious reasons!

Well it’s starting to look like a 110 now, I still have a long way to go, cleaning up the fuselage joins for a start! Hopefully on my Xmas break I can get it finished ready for painting. I’ll be painting it a light grey all over first to help hide the plastic colour else it will play havoc with the RLM76, by making it too dark.

Well now have another three weeks to think about the build!!!

[galgos]

That's very fine work Rich, I know what a difficult kit that is to build to any sort of standard but you're doing an excellent job.

Max

PS great photography too!

PPS I've just re-read your first page, I missed it the first time but one of your references is my website, www.ordinarycrew.co.uk

[trickyrich]

I was wondering when you'd notice, great site and very helpful. Just wish there was more info on his aircraft, especially the later ones and of course photos!

[galgos]

Rich, you may find this interesting. This plate was given to me by Belgian author Wim Govaerts, he was given access to Schnaufer's photograph album and logbook then wrote a biography of the great man. The plate, made from pewter or similar measures 11cm by 8 cm and was made by a watchmaker who served with the Geschwader for a reunion.

It's based on this famous photo to commemorate all of Schnaufer's crew having the Ritterkreuz, a unique achievement:

But the gentleman who made it got several details wrong (kill numbers and RK award dates) on his first attempt and he missed the Iron Cross off Rumpelhardt's jacket: mine is this wrong one but very valuable to me nonetheless! Compare it with the perfect one:

Max

[Arniec]

Great work Rich.

The Fug218 looks great.

Cheers,