Bf109 A from Anton...1/48 Academy

[One-Two]

Hi Guys.

Now that I recently finished 2 projects (one Bearcat and one Lavochkin), it's time to move on with another one.

My next client will be the Bf109D in 1/48 from Academy.

I intend to use the Eduard zoom set for this kit also.

Because I want to convert it to a Bf109 A, I bought myself also the Kagero Top Drawings edition dedicated to Bf 109 early (A to D) series. I hope that it will guide me in order to obtain a decent 109 Anton replica.

First, I present you the mandatory pics with kit box and its contents.

Hope I will be able to finish this one. It will be a long-term project anyway, because I'm such a slow builder...

So, I'm thinking about Spain...1937...

Edited December 12, 2014 by One-Two

[Bonehammer]

Nice project. Be careful: I don't know what happened, but I couldn't for the life of me line up the wings and the tail correctly with this plane.

[Jessica]

Watch out for the landing gear legs. The Academobbycrap legs were apparently turned from telephone poles. You could do well to get aftermarket ones.

[matthew9447]

Quite ambitious for a rather new face to the hobby! Ive only just started too but I guess Im just cautious and chose to stay safe with OOB builds from easy kits from airfix xD
I will be watching this one with interest as those early 109s have a soft spot in my heart.

Edited December 13, 2014 by matthew9447

[neilh]

worth a look at the build by 109 guru Lyn Ritger at this site :http://109lair.hobbyvista.com/index1024.htmgo to modeling centre, then galleries and then 109 B-C. Some simple re scribing and filling of lines on the nose will make the kit much more accurate. I've build a couple of these early 109s and they assemble nicely. The only problem I have found is that the tail plane struts are slightly too long so need trimming back to ge the tail planes to sit level. A few useful build reviews over on modeling madness might help. Some people have experienced sloppy fit problems with the wings but happily I didn't experience that problem on mine. I built both of my Academy ( Hobbycraft) early 109s at the same time as a Classic Airframes kit so pinched the spare resin nose from the CA kit and used it on one of them. Might be worth seeing if anyone on the forum will give you their spare one. Its easy to adapt and improves the details in the nose area greatly.

[HOUSTON]

Refreshing build to follow.

Looking forward to this ..

Good luck.

[Doug Rogers]

Ah that's interesting. Didn't know Eduard did a detail set for these kits. Got a C and D to make myself.

Looking forward to seeing your build unfold.

[EagleOnyx]

I'm not very knowledgeable on German planes, what are the noticeable differences between the Bf models? I know there is one that has some sort of intake scoop on the side of the engine... lol am I an anomaly among aircraft modelers? The rare guy that hasn't built any German kits? If any German plane and a P-40, F-14 or other non German plane kit is on the shelf in front of me I just always pick up a non German kit first. I don't even have a conscious bias against them as I think they look cool (the main reason I choose any kit - coolness) It's weird. I only recently discovered that the BF-109 is the correct designation and the Me-109 name that is commonly used is a screw-up that just keeps going. I thought they were different planes for over 25 years...

Edited December 13, 2014 by EagleOnyx

[azureglo]

Hi One Two

First off let's say I have a vested interest in seeing how this goes:

Now you will probably find this book the most useful for your project:

As you can see from the deliberately poor photos (so they cant sue me!), they actually cover converting something into a 109A which is in 1/72 but should guide you. This is much more complex than it looks BTW as what a Bf109A is very much a matter of debate as a lot of the V series may have ended up in Spain as so called 109A's. That said at this book has a decent attempt to explain why and what.

You may also find the Part PE set much more comprehensive and in some areas a better fit that the Eduard and don't forget Montex do masks for this kit: Hannants link here.

Happy "Anton-ing" as the BF109 cognoscenti would say!

Anil

[One-Two]

Hello all and thank you very much for all this useful information!

@Jessica and Bonehammer - thank you for the warnings. It's good to know every issue of the kit !

@neilh - very good information, thank you!

@mathew9947 - it's not such an ambitious project after all...or a didn't consider it such. Actually, I started id thinking that only some rescribing will be involved...will see, I hope that it will not be much more complicated than that...

@EagleOnyx - ...some guys wrote some really thick books about differences betweeen the various Bf109 models. However, the most noticeable difference is the engine and it's various systems. Regarding preference for 109 versus other models, I guess that we built only the models we like...

@azureglo - man, I see that you have at least 4 reasons for being interested in such a project! I wish you good luck with all of them and I hope that soon we will see them here on Britmodeller.

Thank you so much for all this information...I didn't knou that Part have some PE dedicated to this kit, but seeing the link you provided it's clear to me that their product is indeed more comprehensive than Eduard's. I'm really considering buying the Part PE...

Now, this is the machine I intend to represent.

It is one of the earlyest Bf 109's to reach Spain in 1937 and it's registration was "6-7".

I'll use the Kagero book decals for it. Now I know it's a matter of debate (azureglo also mentioned it), but from what I read about this subject I belive that most probably this "6-7" was a Bf109 from the so-called A series.

The main reason why I think this is because this airframe has some features that are more likely attributed to some Bf109 prototipes that to the early Bf109B series...like no radio installed and total lack of venting slots on engine cowling...

Thus being said the painting issue comes into question.

It's a long debate about the colour/finish of the first Bf109's to reach Spain. Some are saying that they were RLM 02 overall...some that they were bare metal...but from what I read (Merrick - pic attached) I think that trey were most probably not painted with RLM 02, but with a zinc chromate primer (coded 7102), which was a very transparent and thinly applied anti-corosive primer (some sort of "transparent" light grey with a very subtle green tint).

Being almost transparent, the general look of the airframe must have been someting like a whiter bare-metal...with a slight green tint...or something like this.

Although have an ideea about the external finish (or at least I think I have an ideea), it is true that I have no ideea about how I will achieve this finish - but there is still a long way to go until painting stage anyway.

And another question is the interior colour (cockpit, wheel weels, etc).

RLM 02 or some silver-like interior primer?

Any of you guys have some info about this?

Thank you guys for your interest and comments and hope that soon I will be able to post some WIP pictures...

[azureglo]

Now, this is the machine I intend to represent.

It is one of the earlyest Bf 109's to reach Spain in 1937 and it's registration was "6-7".

I'll use the Kagero book decals for it. Now I know it's a matter of debate (azureglo also mentioned it), but from what I read about this subject I belive that most probably this "6-7" was a Bf109 from the so-called A series.

The main reason why I think this is because this airframe has some features that are more likely attributed to some Bf109 prototipes that to the early Bf109B series...like no radio installed and total lack of venting slots on engine cowling...

Thus being said the painting issue comes into question.

It's a long debate about the colour/finish of the first Bf109's to reach Spain. Some are saying that they were RLM 02 overall...some that they were bare metal...but from what I read (Merrick - pic attached) I think that trey were most probably not painted with RLM 02, but with a zinc chromate primer (coded 7102), which was a very transparent and thinly applied anti-corosive primer (some sort of "transparent" light grey with a very subtle green tint).

Being almost transparent, the general look of the airframe must have been someting like a whiter bare-metal...with a slight green tint...or something like this.

Although have an ideea about the external finish (or at least I think I have an ideea), it is true that I have no ideea about how I will achieve this finish - but there is still a long way to go until painting stage anyway.

And another question is the interior colour (cockpit, wheel weels, etc).

RLM 02 or some silver-like interior primer?

Any of you guys have some info about this?

And so it begins: This early grey colour is the subject of much (mostly boring) speculation. I think you could Google this and watch a week disappear: The most likely bet from adding up everyone's views is RLM 63. I have some by Xtracolor and it is surprisingly dark and very green but much lighter than RLM02, then I read that early B&W film used in Germany tended to be not very sensitive to the green end of the spectrum, hence these pictures showing a "light" grey.

Then I read there are at least 2 variations of RLM63: V2 is a light grey!

The Merrick book is also ambiguous, see this thread about this so called 7102. That said if you want experiment in trying to achieve this transparent greeny primer, Mike, the root admin of this site, did something very similar using Alclad and voodoo for his Spitfire prototype that may be of help

FWIW I decided to use RLM 63 for my early 109s and will challenge anyone who disagrees to show me an actual period colour photo! If you want have real fun, start a debate about the BF109 V14 racer and whether it was wine red or blue. Apparently it was blue, then everyone said its red and now some experten are saying it was probably blue again, who knows maybe it was Condor Legion grey? Trying to guess colours from black and white photos is certainly an interesting way to pass the time...

Anil the Chromatically Challenged

[HOUSTON]

Anil,

Nice lots of references etc...

One-two. Like the old photos.

Looking forward to your progress soon.

[One-Two]

Thank you very much Anil for all this useful info

What do you think about the interior colour?

RLM 02 or something else?

Looking at these photos (it's Otto Polenz's 6-15 captured and tested in Russia) it sems to me that there is no visible difference between the interior colour of the cockpit and the exterior colour of the airframe.

And as far as I know, this airframe was not painted in RLM 02...apparently was an exterior finish very close with that of 6-7.

Also, the pics above with 6-7 crashlanded are indicating (at least to me) an interior colour very close to the exterior one...

Edited December 16, 2014 by One-Two

[azureglo]

Hey 1-2 (see what I did?),

I think trying to judge colour from B&W film tonality will drive you crazy: I do know that even modern monochrome film is not very sensitive to blue/green so these could be totally different colours but the same density, a lot of the experten fail to take the behaviour of monochrome film/paper into account.

I think RLM 02 for the interiors and go for artistic license as well a convincing effect: remember we are only suggesting what the real thing is not trying replicate Besides knowing the German penchant for order, even if the RLM interiors for all planes came later, there's a good chance the Condor 109s would have been field painted to the latest spec as it was quite a leisurely part of the war compared to what was about to come. As an example have look at the many Doras and fitted with what are E-1/3 canopies during field maintenance.

I think you should just make a decision on the colours and go for it, the HB kit has a lot of surprises for you that will soon take your mind off the colours!

Here's some more links for aftermarket that might help:

Canopy (these actually work with the Montex masks and are better fit if you can tolerate vacform)

Seats the HB/academy is a bit crude and these look great, if you want a close up I have lots of the non harness version

Wheels, not essential but they are pretty stunning, if you want to show off they should have a "whitewall" applied (but not always!)

Jessica mentioned replacement landing gear legs, these don't really exist in the UK anymore so you might have to hunt for them, I've never seen any recently: The kit ones can be made to work with added detailing, and bare metal for for additional section rings as well as left unpainted for oleos.

Anyhow, enough yak, get out those side cutter and starts snipping plastic!

Cheers

Anil

[Jessica]

These legs aren't exactly correct for an Anton, but they're much more svelte than those garden posts the kit provides, and they'll look convincing once they're in place. I'm not sure about availability in the UK though.

[One-Two]

Hi Jessica and Anil and many thanks for your help!

Indeed, apparently many parts of this kit are not so nice or accurate,

For the seat and wheels, I'm considering some replacing parts...hope I will find a solution.

The u/c legs are really too thick, as Jessica said. I'm thinking to use instead some legs from one ICM Bf109F2 kit (which I'm not gonna build because of the much better Zvezda kits). Their great advantage is that I already have them...hope that somehow I will be able to adapt and to use them on the 109 Anton airframe.

I think you should just make a decision on the colours and go for it, the HB kit has a lot of surprises for you that will soon take your mind off the colours!

I'll see later about exterior colors. For the interior I'll probably go for the RLM 02.

Well Anil, it seems that you are right again my friend!

I've started some plastic work and immediately I was confronted with problems.

The kit's canopy is a piece af crap. It's too short when comparing it with the Kagero drawings and some of the windscreen frames are completely wrong.

In my opinion, the kit's canopy cannot be used at all.

Thinking about an available replacement, I remembered that I have some Zvezda Bf109 F2-4 kits...and all of them contain a surplus canopy in 109E1/3 style.

The Zvezda Emil-style canopy is much better than the Academy's original one - but is too long and is sitting too low on tha academy airframe.

However, comparing the Zvezda E1/3-style canopy with the Kagero drawings (for 109 A), it seems to me that no obvious differences are visible and the Zvezda part is pretty close to the correct dimensions.

So I made the neccesary modifications on the academy fuselage - so it can receive the Zvezda canopy.

I still don't know what impact will have this operation on the interior bits (academy cockpit is now a little bit longer), but this adaptation was sucesfully completed.

This stage being finished, I discovered that I was more and more unhappy because of a moulding defect of the Zvezda canopy (marked on the last pic)...which is quite obvious, although only from some angles.

So...although the Zvezda canopy is much better than the academy's original one, I'm still thinking that I should seek for another solution...

This is for now.

Hope that I will be able to post some more progress soon.

Thank you very much for your help and suggestions - they are much appreciated.

All the best,

Edited December 17, 2014 by One-Two

[One-Two]

Now while I'm searching about some more solutions with the transparencies, I shifted my attention to fuselage halves.

As I thought to try to pose at least some of the control surfaces in more dynamic positions, I proceeded with separating the rudder from the rest of the vertical stabilizer.

The 2 pieces of the rudder were then glued toghether and filed/sanded.

I used some half-round evergreen in order to replace the lost material and represent the rest of the rudder.

Also I covered the forward venting slots from the upper engine cowling...as these venting slots were not present on Antons...

All the best,

[One-Two]

Hi Guys,

Next, I tried to bring the main pieces (wings and fuselage) close to the Bf109A main features.

On the underwing area many panel lines/inspection covers (characteristic for B/C/D series) were puttied/sanded and and some new ones were scribed.

The same for the upper parts of the wing - but here the main difference was that I had to enlarge the leading edge slats. On Bf109A and B1 series they were longer. I did this by simply prolonging the existing slat. But when I compared the result with the Kagero drawings, I was not very happy. As per Kagero drawings, the slats were of pretty much the same width...but the academy guys made them norrower near the wing tip and wider towards the middle of the wing.

This means that most probably I will cover them with superglue, sand and then rescribe new ones, according to the drawings.

On the fuselage, I covered almost all the venting slots on the nose area, as they were not present on Antons.

Also some new inspection covers were scribed here and there.

I also removed the reinforcement rib which was present on the cockpit sides, above the wing fillet...and replaced it with a simple panel line, using a scriber. This reinforcement rib was a feature of the Emil not of A/B/C/D series.

Also some problems I found in the tail area.

These slots ahead of the elevator's attachement point (immediately behind the vertical stabilizer's leading edge) were wrongly positioned. I moved them nearer the elevators.

That's it for now.

More work is neccesary in the fuselage/wings area..

Cheers,

Edited December 19, 2014 by One-Two

[giemme]

This looks really interesting ... You set yourself to a really huge surgery job

Ciao

[Winenut]

I'm with Giemme.

This looks like an ambitious project and interesting.

Anil's knowledge seems pretty good on this subject and with 4 1/48 109's in the stash he's either adiccted to 109's....or plastic......or both! LOL

Good luck. Will be watching this one for sure.

Cheers

[One-Two]

Thanks for your interest Guys.

Not much modelling time lately...however I figured out how to solve the canopy issue.

As you know, the kit's canopy was rubbish...and too short anyway.

I tried Zvezda, I also made some adaptation for it - but this one has a casting defect.

But I also have the Eduard's Royal Class edition of the Bf109E...which contains plastic for 2 complete kits...E1/3/4/7 sub-types.

This means that I have 2 sets of E1/3 style of transparencies...and since I intend (when time will come) to to make most probably one E3 and one E4/7 out of the Eduard's Royal Class, I guess this means that I have one E1/3 extra canopy.

This being said, I removed the Zvezda adaptations and dry-fitted the Eduard E1/3 transparecies...and to my surprise, they are too long !!

From my measurements, knowing already that the Academy canopy is too short and the Zvezda one is dimensionnaly very close to the Kagero drawings, I guess it means that Eduard also made a mistake...however my decision is made and I will go with the Eduard transparecies.

So again I was forced the elongate even more the academy cockpit...hope that this will not interfere too much/obvious with the interior bits, considering the significant diferrences in lenght when fitting the old Academy canopy over the modified fuselage...

[One-Two]

I also corrected the wing leading edge slats, as they were too wide.

So the old lines were filled with CA and sanded and new leading edge slats were scribed - as per Kagero drawings.

I was thinking about separeting them completely from the wing...and modifying the whole thing to represent the slats in deployed position...however it seems to me that the slats were manually pushed back when the a/c was parked (probably for protection reasons), because I saw only very few pictures with early 109's having leading edge slats deployed while parked.

The olil radiator shutter was also cut, as it will be replaced by PE in open position.

That's it for now.

A Happy New Year for all of you Guys.

[giemme]

Very nice One-Two, your surgery job is very intriguing

Ciao

[One-Two]

Not much progress lately.

I just separated the elevators from the horizontal stabilizers. I intent to put them in a more dynamic position...not in "neutral" as they were represented.

I also made some modifications in the taiwheel area.

The tailwheel bay was represented closed/faired over by academy...which is not right for this type of 109.

So the tailwheel was removed (it will receive a new strut) and the tailwheel bay was "carved out" of the solid plastic.

[One-Two]

So these are the main Academy cockpit parts.

I will not use the plastic IP and cockpit sides...as they will be replaced by PE.

As said, I'm using the eduard PE set for this one...81 pieces, some of them ridiculously small.

Exepting some previous PE seat belts and other very few bits, this is my first serious PE adventure..

However, this is the current situation/status. Still lot of work to be done in the cockpit.

The eduard bits are not exactly falling together...it was neccessary to adjust almost each part for a good fit.

What kind of CA do you guys use for glueing PE?

Is there some sort of superglue which does not leave those "frosting" traces?

Regards,