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Airfix 1/48 Messerschmitt Bf109E-4/N TROP


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Hi all!

 

After really enjoying the Hawker Sydney group build and seeing everyone's builds come together, I thought I'd get involved here too.

 

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I've had this Airfix kit hanging around for a while. Looks a basic but good little kit. Not half as nice a the Eduard 109s, but then again, looks a lot simpler and should be a nice quick build.

 

This is the exact aircraft I shall try to reproduce.

 

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The main reason I bought this kit is the beautiful scheme! I shall see how I get on with it...

 

Here are the sprue shots:

 

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First up is work on getting rid of pesky ejector pins... circled in red

 

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Which has been done here:

 

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And then I got the cockpit tub together. Detail is ok in here, but nothing too special. She's going to be a quick-ish OOB build so I'll leave it as it is and have the canopy closed.

 

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I also got a few other items together:

 

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So, time for a quick dry fit.

 

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So will need a little filler at the rear wing root, but other than that it looks excellent. Liking this kit!

 

Next stage was to undercoat all the RLM 02 areas in black.

 

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And then paint them RLM 02, shading where required.

 

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Excellent... But I've now discovered it should be RLM 66 in the cockpit areas of the Bf109E-4! 😂

 

Bit if a problem... I don't actually have any. What I will do is use Tamiya German Grey. I think that will close enough with the cockpit down. We'll see.

 

Ok, more soon!

 

Cheers,

 

Val

 

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12 hours ago, Blitz23 said:

Good to see I'm not the only serial kit starter!

Thanks mate, I'm looking forward to attempting it!

 

Oh yes, I have loads on the go at anyone time! It's not efficient, but they all will get finished..... probably!

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Cheers guys!

 

So, I've changed the colour of the cockpit to (an approximation) of RLM 66 and painted the details.

 

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The colour was Tamiya German Grey, lightened in places with the details picked out with Vallejo Model Colour. I've since glossed up ready for a wash, will then matt coat and then add some chips. Then we're about ready to get her together.

 

Cheers,

 

Val

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Hi all!

 

So I gave the cockpit a good gloss coat and weathered with AK Paneliner for sand and desert camo as this is a nice medium-dark brown. I cleaned it off with a cotton bud and then gave the pit a coat of Xtracrylix matt varnish. This is the result.

 

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I dropped some Alclad Aqua Gloss into the dials on the IP to give them a glassy look.

 

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That's a about it, more soon!

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  • 4 weeks later...

So, she's together. No dramas here really, generally fell together.

 

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No real dramas. Just a bit of Mr Surfacer on the front joint and around the gun panels on the leading edge. They were an ok fit but just wanted to calm the panel lines down. Only genuine gap was at the rear of the wing where it joined to the underside of the fuselage.

 

I painted up the inside of the air intakes and area on the wings where they attach. Again, a good fit but a touch of filler was needed.

 

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I've got the glassing on, again a good fit but not perfect. The middle canopy is purely for masking purposes!

 

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Here's the middle canopy which will be used. I'm going leave the canopy open now I've decided.

 

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I've also rescribed where required. An easy job on this kit as the panel lines are deep. I also rescribed the panels down the belly and spine. It's weird, I've spend years trying and often failing to get perfect seams on the fuselage join, and on this kit, my first ever 109, I'm putting them back in!

 

Just need to sand in the air intake filler areas and then she's ready for priming. More soon!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok, Major update time! Painting is all but finished!

 

First thing was to black out the glass after all the rescribing was finsihed.

 

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I then primed her with Stynylrez and then pre shaded her. A couple of tiny areas were made good as you will spot.
 
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I then painted the white band before then adding some more pre-shading while I had white in my brush.

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After repriming the areas which were worked on, I then got the blue down (Vallejo RLM 66).

 

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Next step was the RLM 02 (Tamiya XF-22)

 

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This took a while as it was about 20% paint 80% thinners and a low air pressure, I'd guess less than 10psi.

I then did a bit of post shading, although more will be done when the decals are down.

 

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And then RLM 71 which I used Tamiya XF-61. The colour is good but not perfect. However, I wanted to use Tamiya over Vallejo as I felt I could control it easier.

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And that's where I'm up to. Next step is gloss and then decals!

Many thanks,

Val

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thank you!

 

I thought I'd missed the deadline, but it turns out it's Sunday... I might might just do this! So let's keep you all updated. First of all the decals:

 

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As you'd expect with Airfix, they were flawless! Brilliant work, Cartograf!

 

After a gloss layer, Flory Dark Dirt was applied to give a panel line wash.

 

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Then a layer of Tamiya Semi-gloss clear was applied, followed by Flory Sand wash. The idea is to sand it off and give a smooth, metally but sandy look.

 

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I've started sanding it off but not pictured it yet. When that's done, I need to finish the tail, the landing gear and the small bits and she's done. It's probably 60/40 I won't get this done in time, but there's a chance!! More soon!

 

Val

 

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Looking really neat Val. 

I seem to have trouble with splatter on initially trying to spray fine mottling, with Vallejo ModelAir and Xtracrylics.  I seem to remember not getting it with MRP paint when doing a Camel build. Maybe solvent based paints are better, re; more controllable, in this regard?

 

:goodjob:

 

Davey.

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10 minutes ago, DaveyGair said:

Looking really neat Val. 

I seem to have trouble with splatter on initially trying to spray fine mottling, with Vallejo ModelAir and Xtracrylics.  I seem to remember not getting it with MRP paint when doing a Camel build. Maybe solvent based paints are better, re; more controllable, in this regard?

 

:goodjob:

 

Davey.

Thanks mate!

 

Yeah I'm with you with Vallejo and Xtracrylics. The problem I find with those paints is that they seem to work fine to begin with, but after a few mins they start spitting and it's a nightmare! I've not tried fine details with MRP yet, although I do like those paints in my limited experience. This is why I chose to do this paintwork (the green bits anyway) with Tamiya as opposed to Vallejo, I find them the most controllable and still cover well even when very thin. I sacrificed a little colour accuracy for control, although the colours look pretty good to my eye anyway. I think the difference is they don't dry as much on the needle. However, the plenty out there do wonders with Vallejo and Xtracrylics, so maybe it's just me!

 

 

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20 minutes ago, Val said:

Thanks mate!

 

However, the plenty out there do wonders with Vallejo and Xtracrylics, so maybe it's just me!

 

 

No, not just you, I have exactly the same problem. I got a small bottle of Vallejo Flow improver to try, but so far doesn't seem to make much difference, with Xtracrylic anyway.  It's all a learning curve mate!

 

Davey.

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