*** FINISHED *** Helmut Wick's Bf 109E4, October 1940 (Tamiya 1/72)

[jrlx]

Hi again,

 

 

Before proceeding to painting the remaining interior colours I decided to mask the canopy, so that I could paint it simultaneously. However, the moving part of the canopy is together in one piece with the fixed aft part of the canopy. Since I want to show it open, I had to cut the piece first. To do that I mounted it on a blob of blu-tack that completely filled the interior of the transparent part. This was done to avoid breaking the part while cutting it. Here it is, before start cutting:

IMAG2710

 

I also applied strips of masking tape to protect the glazing while cutting:

IMAG2711

 

Then I cut the piece. First I used a new sharp nº 11 blade to mark the joining line of the moving and fixed parts, making a shallow cut along the line. To finish with, I used a micro-saw. Here's the piece cut in two. It is rotated 180 degrees in relation to the previous photo, since I had to finish cutting on the other side:

IMAG2712

 

After removing and cleaning the blu-tack, here's the final result. Not too bad, I guess...

IMAG2713

 

The two pieces were washed with water and dishwasher liquid and given a new bath of Aqua Gloss.

 

After drying for more than two days, I started masking them. Since I don't have pre-cut masks for this kit, I had to mask them by hand, with small strips of masking tape. This was quite a lengthy process since the wind shield and the aft fixed part have some complicated glazing. I had to work under a magnifying glass. Tools used were an x-acto with a nº 11 blade, a pair of straight-nose tweezers and a toothpick.

Here are several steps of masking the wind shield (for the benefit of newbies):

IMAG2718 / IMAG2734

 

IMAG2735 / IMAG2736

 

IMAG2737 / IMAG2738

 

The moving part of the canopy was easier to mask, as all glass panels are rectangular:

IMAG2739 /IMAG2740

 

IMAG2741 / IMAG2742

 

The aft fixed part has some curves and difficult shapes:

 

IMAG2743 / IMAG2744

 

 

IMAG2745 / IMAG2746

 

The inside was also masked because there's an inner indentation that has to be painted:

IMAG2747

 

Finally, the armoured glass that goes in front of the wind shield was also masked:

IMAG2748 / IMAG2749

 

All this masking work took me about 3h30. I'm now a converted fan of pre-cut masks, even for smallish aircraft like this

 

Next step is concluding the interior painting, including the canopy.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Jaime

[CedB]

"Not too bad, I guess..." Jaime your modesty is admirable, as is your attention to detail (as I've said before)... "All this masking work took me about 3h30" and your patience!

I know all this will be rewarded!

[jrlx]

Thanks for your kind words, Ced In your last quotation is the explanation for my slowness, about which I was complaining about to Rob in one of my threads...

Edited October 1, 2015 by jrlx

[PlaStix]

Yep! That was obviously a lot of work! Well done!

[jrlx]

Thanks, Stix, much appreciated!

[jrlx]

Hi again,

 

Here's an update on the latest work done. This was done in parallel with work done on my other BoB GB builds and the Tiger Moth (updates on these already posted).

I started by sticking the canopy parts on toothpicks with blobs of blu-tack, to make painting easier:

IMAG2765

 

I know there's a huge debate about whether E4s already had their cockpits painted RLM 66 or still painted RLM 02. Since the official RLM instructions changing the fighters' cockpit colour to RLM 66 were issued in November 1941, I decided to use RLM 02. However, the interior colour of the canopy frames seems to have been RLM 66 in maNy cases. This post has a good sum up on the issue.

 

There's also a picture of an E4 from the BoB that is in the RAF Museum which shows the framing of the wind shield to be a dark grey (possibly RLM 66) and the framing of the other parts of the canopy, as well as the cockpit inner walls, to be lighter (possibly RLM 02). I'm not sure if this picture is reliable, since the moving part of the canopy seems to be from a G6 and the armoured glass structure within looks like the one used in later Gs.

 

Anyway, I decided to paint the wind-shield and the armoured glass that goes in front of it with RLM 66 as the inner colour, and the remaining parts with RLM 02.

 

The following picture shows the parts already painted. Aft fixed part and moving part on the left, armoured glass for the wind-shield and wind-shield on the right:

IMAG2768

 

I also had to paint RLM 66 on an area of the part that holds the instrument panel, but first I had to mask the areas already painted green:

IMAG2766

 

After painting and removing the masks, here's how it looks:

IMAG2767

 

I still have to paint a few back parts before finishing the cockpit.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Jaime

[jean]

Your canopy masking is not too shoddy! I would actually say it is really good!

I have just discovered pre-cut masks myself... no contest really!

Have fun!

JR

[PlaStix]

Having just been looking at this and your Defiant build I have to say I'm impressed with how neat and tidy you do your projects! Very nice.

Kind regards,

Stix

[jrlx]

Thanks Jean! I'm now a great fan of pre-cut masks

Thanks Stix! Very kind words, as usual. Much appreciated

Edited October 1, 2015 by jrlx

[jrlx]

Hi again,

 

Only managed to post now, since my week's been quite busy. This is an update with work done mainly during last weekend, when I applied matt black to the parts of all my current builds that required that colour.

 

In the case of Wick's 109 I had to do some masking first.

 

In the wings, I had to paint the interior black over the gun cartridges ejector holes, so I masked the areas that should be painted RLM 02:

IMAG2799

 

The control column was masked, as well as the pitot tube (the base is black):

IMAG2800

 

The centre of the propeller was masked:

IMAG2801

 

Here are the wings, after painting and unmasking:

IMAG2811

 

The control column and pitot tube:

IMAG2812 / IMAG2815

 

The propeller:

IMAG2818

 

Some parts on the PE fret were also painted:

IMAG2816

 

The fret could now be completely unmasked, but this had to be done very carefully to avoid any damage to the pre-painted parts:

IMAG2817

 

The gun sight was also painted. First black:

IMAG2814

 

Then buff colour was paint brushed to its back, facing the pilot, and the mask of the clear part was removed:

IMAG2828

 

I also removed the masking from the landing gear legs and tail wheel, which were already painted RLM02 and Alclad white aluminium:

IMAG2819

 

That's all for now. Thanks for looking.

 

Jaime

[jrlx]

Hi again,

 

Last night it was the turn of Wick's 109 for application of the cockpit's PE.

First I had to paint a few details on the port inner cockpit wall: the tips of throttle levers and the trim tabs inner wheel (am I right? 😞

IMAG2850

 

Next I applied a PE bit to the oblique area behind the seat and glued the control stick in place:

IMAG2851

 

The seat belts will be applied after the weathering of the cockpit.

This was followed by applying the rudder panels with leather straps in place:

IMAG2852

 

Then I moved on to assemble the instrument panel. This is done in several steps. First, the panel back is cut off of the PE fret:

IMAG2853

 

The horizontal strip connecting the top and lower panels had to be bent at a right angle to the panels:

IMAG2854

 

The top layer of the lower panel was then glued in place:

IMAG2855

 

followed by the top layer of the top panel:

IMAG2856

 

Finally, the central lower console was glued in place:

IMAG2857

 

I still have to apply two levers to the IP but this will be done after glueing the IP to the fuselage.

 

The next task was applying the devices that go on the inner starboard wall. These can be seen in this picture of the fret (the black bits plus the green bit on the right):

IMAG2858

 

All these bits had to be bent before being glued in place. Here's the final result:

IMAG2859

 

A side view is better to show the details:

IMAG2860

 

On the port side I applied the outer trim tab wheel and the chain between the wheels:

IMAG2861

 

A better view, sideways:

IMAG2862

 

The pre-painted parts suffered a bit of scratching of the paint but that serves well as chipping and contributes "automatically" for one of the weathering steps

 

Let's just hope that everything fits when I try to glue the cockpit's base and seat in place and try to close the fuselage.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Jaime

[CedB]

Very nice Jaime, lovely detail

[PlaStix]

Excellent progress again. The detail in the cockpit looks great.

[Fatboydim]

Hi Jaime, you've done a first class job on the transparencies. Very well done. Joe

[jrlx]

Gents,

Thanks a lot for the supportive words and interest, really much appreciated

Cheers

Jaime

[GREG DESTEC]

Keep up the great work Jaime, this is looking really sharp.

[jrlx]

Thanks Greg, much appreciated

[jrlx]

Hi,

 

Just a small update, showing the application of the PE parts that represent the grids of the underwing radiators.

 

Here's the lower wing part and the PE fret. The grids are in the centre of the lower row of the fret:

IMAG2863

 

The back grids were applied, after test fitting the top wing parts to ensure everything fitted:

IMAG2864

 

Then, the front grids were applied:

IMAG2865

 

The starboard back grid was slightly bent in the test fitting process but it will be put right before closing the wings.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Jaime

[CedB]

Tricky! Hopefully the grills will stay in place when you cover them with the radiators... fingers crossed

[jrlx]

Hi Ced! From the dry fitting I think they will. Let's just hope so. They'll be barely visible anyway, especially the back grids.

[PlaStix]

When I'm going through this thread of yours, the beautifully detailed plus neat tidy work make me forget you're working in 1/72. I literally just had to check back to make sure. Very nicely done as usual!

Kind regards,

Stix

[jrlx]

Hi Stix,

Thank you very much for your very kind words Much appreciated!

Cheers

Jaime

[Fatboydim]

Hi Jaime, your making a first class job with the PE parts. Joe

[jrlx]

Hi Joe,

That's very kind of you, as always

In the meantime I've been weathering the cockpits of my four current builds. I still have to apply a coat of flat clear and then apply the seat belts to finish the cockpits. Then I'll post some pictures.

It's been a quite busy week at the day job and my German classes resumed early in the month, so I haven't had much time to post here at BM.

Cheers

Jaime

[jrlx]

Hi again,

 

I finally manage to post an update of the latest efforts. I've been slowly progressing on my four current builds, but I've also been very busy in real life. So, I didn't manage to update the threads and didn't finish the builds in time for the GBs.

 

I was trying to finish the Bf 109 in time, as it was the simpler build, but didn't manage either, so this thread was moved to the KUTA GB as well.

 

In the last two weeks I weathered the cockpits. My weathering approach was very simple:

- a dark filter over the surfaces to create a dirty and worn look

- a pin wash under the inner ribs and in recesses to create shadows

- dry brushing with silver paint to create chipping in metallic areas

- matte varnish to finish with

 

I had a problem with the first matte varnish I used (Micro Flat). Micro Flat is very hit-and-miss and it turns out glossy instead of matte sometimes. This happened to me this time with the four builds, so I tried Winsor & Newton's Galeria Acrylic Flat Varnish. I thinned it with isopropyl alchool (IPA) at about 60% IPA / 40% varnish. The varnish has a grainy texture out of the bottle. I think I should have mixed it better because, after drying, I got several grainy spots on the surfaces, which I had to remove with micromesh. Anyway, it really provides a good flat finish and if I manage to avoid the grainy finish it could become my go-to flat varnish.

 

Here's the cockpit base and seat after weathering and micro flat (a bit shiny, especially on the top part):

IMAG2892

 

The PE seat belts were applied, which is not the easiest of tasks, since they are a bit difficult to bend naturally and the pre-painting is easily scratched. Here's the end result after application of Winsor & Newton's flat varnish (much better now):

IMAG2916

 

The inner cockpit walls were also weathered.

 

Here's the port side after application of W&N flat varnish. The trim wheel got a semi-gloss finish with Alclad's Light Sheen, applied with a paintbrush (according to the kit's instructions, the wheel was semi-gloss black):

IMAG2914

 

Here's the starboard side. The top panel with white buttons also got a Light Sheen finish:

IMAG2915

 

The same Light Sheen finish was applied to the propeller's blades (semi-gloss black, according to the instructions). I was too lazy to load the airbrush (and clean it after...), so I applied the varnish with a nº 0 paintbrush:

IMAG2895

 

This is the front bulkhead, with the rudder pedals, weathered and flat-coated:

IMAG2917

 

The instrument panel got drops of Aqua Gloss on the dial faces to simulate the protecting glasses:

IMAG2918

 

Then, I painted the yellow parts (RLM 04):

IMAG2919

 

Next, I started glueing the cockpit parts and the fuselage together:

IMAG2944

 

The instrument panel was glued with CA:

The other half of the fuselage was then dry fitted:

Here's what can be seen of the cockpit with the fuselage closed:

The fuselage halves were glued together with Tamiya's super thin glue, applied by short sections and using the capillarity effect. Clothes pegs were applied to keep things tight. Note, however, that the parts' fit is perfect and they almost hold together without glue

Next, I glued the wings' top and lower parts together. In this case I used Tamiya's regular liquid glue. It dries more slowly and provides more time for adjustments of these bigger contact areas.

After closing the top and lower wing parts, I applied super liquid glue on the joins, to reinforce the bond. Then, clothes pegs were applied to tighten things up:

That's all for now. Thanks for looking.

Jaime