Messerschmitt Bf 110C-2 - Airfix 1/72

[Stew Dapple]

Hi Ced,

 

Forgive my (extreme) tardiness please, it's been a busy week (again)... I'm bang up to date with your build now; nice work - and as for Plastic Tony *kisses fingertips* - impeccable

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[CedB]

20 hours ago, Ascoteer said:

I haven't bveen to Bath (save to drive through) since I left Lyneham aside from a couple of visits to an MG specialist in Batheaston.

 

Pity really, I always thought it a rather nice wee city.

 

Thanks Debs - I was born here so biased, but we love it

 

18 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

"Tailmaster" eh. Love it.

looking great Ce.... sorry Tailmaster. 

 

Thanks John

 

18 hours ago, sean said:

 

bbudde, I've a English/Aussie/Northern Irish accent, so it would be ......Toneah..Tiegher

 

Sean

 

17 hours ago, bbudde said:

Uhh That's hard. Harder than Ced, the "tailmaster" did on Anton Tiger. Uff.

 

17 hours ago, bbudde said:

@sean. For me as a German: https://www.facebook.com/Kraftfuttermischwerk/photos/a.304146032952197.80248.145986478768154/1298714863495304/?type=3&theater

 

 

Thanks Sean and Benedikt  Crikey, even the German URLs are really long...

 

6 hours ago, AlexN said:

Unusually quiet in here at the moment, no doubt because of excess  and .

 

 

 (the closest that I can get to "ouch, my head is going to split open";  a close 2nd)

 

Just kidding .

 

Looking forward to more tailmeistering (fnaar, fnaar).

 

Alex

 

Hi Alex Correct. A little fragile again today and catching up on my sleep! 

 

5 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

Hi Ced,

 

Forgive my (extreme) tardiness please, it's been a busy week (again)... I'm bang up to date with your build now; nice work - and as for Plastic Tony *kisses fingertips* - impeccable

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

Hi Stew and of course you're forgiven! Welcome and, hopefully, there'll be an update soon.

 

I've sanded a bit and had three goes at balancing the closed gear doors on the nacelles. Best left until I'm more awake methinks!

[CedB]

John (The Spadgent) was asking about Micro-mesh (the manufacturer's name for it) in Tony's thread and I said I'd post some stuff here.

I LOVE this stuff. It's magic. If you want to know the science there's a blurb about it here but here's a summary:

 

Conventional sandpaper is designed to be aggressive so that it will dig deeply. In its manufacture the crystals are electrically charged so that they will stand up. They are locked into a hard resin and when you apply the paper to a surface it will literally tear in and remove the substrate of the material you are sanding. The crystals cut in a negative raking motion, leaving inconsistent scratch patterns.

Micro-Mesh™ does the opposite. The backing is long lasting cloth to which an ultra-flexible cushioning layer is applied. This cushioning layer will determine how far forward you can push crystals before they will penetrate the cushioning layer. On top of this layer, we have a very resilient glue, not a hard resin, but a completely flexible glue that will hold the crystals while allowing it to move and rotate. The crystals can turn in any direction without coming loose. When you start to apply pressure to sand with Micro-Mesh™, the crystals will go into the cushioning layer while beginning to cut a bit. If you push harder, they will go further into the cushioning layer, which serves as a safety valve. It determines how much pressure you can exert in a doward direction. Instead of a deep scratch that sandpaper makes, Micro-Mesh™ produce a refined scratch that is close to a RMS of 1.0. The cushioning layer also allows the crystals to cut with a planing motion that leaves an extremely consistent scratch pattern and allows you to achieve extraordinary levels of gloss.

 

The upshot of all this is that, for polishing and cleaning up, a gentle back and forth takes off the lumps without scratching the surface. I now use an angled sanding stick for all my clean ups (100/150 coarse or 180/240 for general stuff) and the polishing pads for paint and canopy polishing. You can wash them out and clean up with a nail brush a few times so they last longer than cheap sanding sticks IMHO.

 

Try it if you haven't already - you won't be disappointed. Paul has a full range here but it's readily available (I think!)

[The Spadgent]

That's ace thanks Ced. Very comprehensive.  I was going to get the 15 pound set. I'm guessing I need the liquid polish?

 

John

[CedB]

I think the set's a good buy - if your budget's up to it I'd buy a coarse and medium angled sander too to save postage later.

The liquid polish is the last step for canopy polishing; I blob it on with a cotton bud, smear it around gently and then use more cotton buds to gently polish until it shines.

Gently does it... you don't need to use pressure at all really (which is great for lazy chaps like me!)

[The Spadgent]

4 minutes ago, CedB said:

I think the set's a good buy - if your budget's up to it I'd buy a coarse and medium angled sander too to save postage later.

The liquid polish is the last step for canopy polishing; I blob it on with a cotton bud, smear it around gently and then use more cotton buds to gently polish until it shines.

Gently does it... you don't need to use pressure at all really (which is great for lazy chaps like me!)

Right oh. Thanks Ced. 

[CedB]

Cleaned the little hinges off the doors, taped them together and stuck 'em on:

 

 

 

 

The nose is just BluTak'd on for painting so don't worry that the guns aren't fitted! Just the engines and sticky out bits left now so perhaps tomorrow will be primer?

[Spookytooth]

Micro Mesh, the stuff is magic IMHO.

I got a set of their pads a while back and can vouch how good they are.

Looking fine from here Ced. 

 

Simon.

[The Spadgent]

All ordered. I'll have the shiniest high fitting seafire canopy around. 

 

Thanks again Ced. Btw. I ordered my ez line from Paul earlier this year. Nice chap. 

 

john.

[TheBaron]

How in the Great Prophet Zarquon's name did I miss this Ced?  Wings on and everything! I was worried that I had missed the ritual unveiling of 'Ced's New Tool Acquisition' that I've  come to love as a feature of your recent builds. As nothing's appeared yet,  it must be something pretty damn awesome this time around eh? Micromesh drone that hovers and buffs canopies? Resin aircrew maker? The mind boggles!  (Not sure why we have this emoticon for 'rabid mad person' in the forum..)

Tony

[sean]

On 9/23/2016 at 10:09 PM, bbudde said:

@sean. For me as a German: https://www.facebook.com/Kraftfuttermischwerk/photos/a.304146032952197.80248.145986478768154/1298714863495304/?type=3&theater

 

 

Easy, I know German....I've got Rammstein records!!...

[CedB]

Thanks Simon

John let us know how you get on with the Micro-mesh - I'll watch out for it in your posts!

 

Hi Tony and welcome - no new tools (yet) and I have to admit I have quite a collection so I can't see any new additions soon... but I always say that!

 

Danke schön Sean

(That took some effort - I didn't know there were so many ways of saying 'thanks', but then I guess there are lots in English too!)

 

 

Pathetic progress. Yesterday was brief episodes of sanding and re-scribing, this morning I finally got ready for primer. Tony, it appears, is able to attend to his nose bleed and be ready on the gun:

 

Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr

 

and the canopy is now on (GREAT fit, for a change). Waiting for the Gator's grip to dry before masking the gun:

 

 

Note that all the parts for the engines are being kept separate as one of the rings is going to be yellow. I'll probably spray up the props and spinners separately. Probably.

[CedB]

When I closed down my browser I saw my desktop picture again:

 

 

We've agreed yellow spinner tips and one ring behind the Stbd prop but what colour are those shiny bits where the prop blades connect? Silver? And the bits behind the props on the front of the nacelles? Am I being too fussy?

[Spookytooth]

Steady work Ced.

Good to hear that the canopy fitted well.

As for the connecting bits to the props?

No idea mate, could be grey or silverish ?

 

Simon.

[TheBaron]

31 minutes ago, CedB said:

but what colour are those shiny bits where the prop blades connect? Silver? And the bits behind the props on the front of the nacelles? Am I being too fussy?

Basically what Simon says. I would guess from the basic material qualities in the photo that the shiny where the blades meet the hub are bare metal Ced....says the resident non-expert here on things Messerschmitt...  The other parts you mention look similar to that in tone and lustre also, but I've learned not to make definitive colour deductions from old photographs, given that the yellow here could be mistaken for white. A tricky one.

 

A very evocative photo of the subject though, that has left my work colleagues wondering what I'm doing spending lunch-break staring at it whilst dropping crumbs all over the office keyboard...

 

Tony

[giemme]

Another vote for bare metal here, but please note that I know little to nothing about this specific airplane (and about many others, for that matters  )

 

Glad to hear that the canopy is a good fit, looking excellent so far

 

Ciao

[Procopius]

On Saturday, September 24, 2016 at 0:02 PM, The Spadgent said:

All ordered. I'll have the shiniest high fitting seafire canopy around. 

 

I have found that a final going over with toothpaste makes for an amazing level of translucency on clear parts. Unfortunately one night at 1 AM, Mrs. P walked in on me furiously brushing a Harrier canopy in the bathroom with a toothbrush. She didn't even try to process what she'd seen, just wordlessly turned around and walked out.

[Procopius]

Oh, and definitely silver:

 

[giemme]

Great pic, PC  

 

Ciao

[Leonl]

18 minutes ago, Procopius said:

I have found that a final going over with toothpaste makes for an amazing level of translucency on clear parts.

 

@Procopius tastes great and look at that shine!

[The Spadgent]

Great work Ced. Iv'e just had a quick web search and nearly posted the same pic as Procopius.  . There are a few more that show silver joining sections so I would say silver too. 

 

Johnny. 

[bbudde]

Hello Ced, i would go with aluminium color:

http://www.luftarchiv.de/index.htm?/flugzeuge/messerschmitt/me110.htm

http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/armour-weapons-aircraft-recovery/german-vdm-aircraft-propeller-dorset-18794/

http://www.militaria-fundforum.de/showthread.php?t=303821

http://ww2-weapons.com/me-110/#jp-carousel-2478

I think they were made of alu at that time and not of wood and painted black..

Edited September 26, 2016 by bbudde

[Procopius]

8 minutes ago, bbudde said:

I think they were made of alu at that time and not of wood and painted black..

 

The spinner and prop blades were generally painted RLM 70 Black-Green on Luftwaffe birds, though it's so dark it can look black.

[CedB]

Ooer, when I went to post this, the text from the last post was still there... spooky!

 

Thanks Simon, Tony, Giorgio, Leon and Jont 

 

3 hours ago, Procopius said:

Unfortunately one night at 1 AM, Mrs. P walked in on me furiously brushing a Harrier canopy in the bathroom with a toothbrush. She didn't even try to process what she'd seen, just wordlessly turned around and walked out.

 

Er, great tip PC... does it have to be at 1am?

 

Great pictures from PC and Benedikt (thanks B!) - I've downloaded a couple of those for future reference. Silver / aluminium it is. It also looks as though the bits behind the props and around the exhausts might be unpainted NMF.

 

I've masked up the gun with a bit of insulation with a blob of Blutak on the end to (hopefully) seal the canopy. I've also scraped the flash off the aerial post and stuck that in:

 

 

then on with the primer:

 

 

Hopefully the white will lighten the Vallejo colours and it will form a good base for the yellow.

[giemme]

Ced, that's a very smart setup to hold the AC for airbrushing!  I'm still thinking about how to hold my Harrier GR9 when the time to spray some primer/paint on comes ...  

 

Ciao