nsmekanik Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 (edited) For the last while trying to post in progress builds has been a Mojo killer so I haven't bothered. Lately I've been getting back into the swing of things so I've been posting this one in a group build on WW2aircraft.net, GB-43 1/48 Bf-110 G-2 - Aces' Aircraft of all Eras, and I thought why not post one up here as well, so here it goes. I bit of cut and paste if you all don't mind. Some time ago I had a read of "Night Witches", by Fergus Mason, and in it is a chapter of how a Bf-110 night fighter, Piloted by Josef Kociok, brought down 4 Po-2's of this unit in one night. At the time I thought it would be nice to build some models of these aircraft but didn't pursue it due to a lack of much of anything. Then, to my surprise, I was browsing the Owl Decals eshop and came across Owl Decals 1:48 Bf 110 F/G J Kociok 10(N)/ZG 1 and promptly snapped them up. A quick google brought up Falke Eins Me 110 G-2 "8V + ON" 5./NJG 200 Josef Kociok, Eastern Front Nachtjagd - Daily Luftwaffe Ebay photo find #119 Thank you sir for your efforts. So lets get on with it Eh...... First the story as I've pieced it together Josef Kociok (26 April 1918 – 26 September 1943) was a German Luftwaffe fighter ace during World War II and a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. which was awarded for extreme battlefield bravery or military leadership. Kociok was credited with 33 confirmed aerial victories in more than 200 combat missions. He was killed after a collision in the dark, when he bailed out and his parachute did not open. Josef Kociok began his military career in the fall of 1940 to be designated to serve in 7./ZG 76 (7th Staffel of Zerstörergeschwader 76), headquartered in Norway. On 24 April 1941, he was transferred to 4./SKG 210 - later redesignated 4./ZG 1. This unit was soon engaged in the invasion of the USSR, where he obtained his first aerial victory on 30 June 1941, when he shot down a Tupolev SB bomber. In this squad, Kociok executed attack missions against airfields, vehicles, trains, tanks, field artillery positions and antiaircraft artillery, and infantry attacks against the Soviets. For his performance in these missions, Kociok was awarded the Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe on 1 June 1942 and the German Cross in Gold on 2 December 1942. In February 1943, integrated into 10.(Nachtjagd)/ZG 1, Kociok already accumulated 12 aerial victories, 15 aircraft destroyed on the ground, four tanks, four cannons, 141 freight cars, 80 different vehicles, 4 locomotives, two bridges and an anti-aircraft battery. In the night, he obtained several victories multiple, especially three Russian bombers killed on the night of 9/10 May 1943, followed by four others on 15/16 May 1943. When he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 31 July 1943, he had achieved 15 wins in the night. However, on the night of 26/27 September 1943, after downing a DB-3 bomber in a fight over the location Kerch, (Crimea), his Bf 110 G-2 broke down (according to some sources, when he collided with a crashing Russian DB-3), forcing the crew to jump. But Kociok's parachute did not open, although his radio operator Feldwebel, Alexander Wegerhoff, survived. When he died in combat, Josef Kociok had executed a total of 200 combat missions during which he earned 33 victories (all on the Eastern Front), of which 21 were at night. After he shot down four Polikarpov Po-2s of the famed 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, nicknamed the "Night Witches", Nachthexen, by the Germans on the night of 31 July 1943, it resulted in the first time that regiment was grounded. Because of this, he was nicknamed Witch Hunter, or Hexenjäger. Posthumously, he was promoted to Leutnant. An excerpt From "Night Witches", by Fergus Mason On May 9 he shot down three U-2s from another regiment. Then on the night of May 15/16 he encountered the Night Witches. The 46th were out in force that night, to harry the Germans as they fell back on the Taman Peninsula. The deputy regimental commander, former airline pilot Senior Lieutenant Serafina Amosova, was leading a squadron in an attack on one target when the Germans tried to replicate the “Flak circus” tactic that had caused so many problems at Stalingrad. It was less successful this time; in retreat they found it harder to set up the elaborate traps, and the bombers were running at the target one after another. The guns weren’t well enough sited to catch them and the tracers were flying harmlessly wild. Then Amosova saw a trail of sparks race up into the sky and burst in a green flare. Instantly the guns stopped firing. Two miles away and 1,000 feet above, Josef Kociok was orbiting the target zone in a wide circle. Looking out the side window of his Bf 110G-2 he searched for the tiny shapes of the Soviet bombers in the glow of the swinging searchlights. It was a confusing image, with bomb explosions and curving streams of tracer shells confusing his eyes. Still he watched patiently, until he saw what he was looking for: a line of moving specks, four of them a few hundred meters apart, all heading directly for the target. He opened the throttles and banked, swinging the big fighter round until he was directly ahead of the bombers, then chopped the power and pushed the stick forward. The Bf 110 tipped into a shallow dive. He lowered the flaps to keep the speed down as far as he dared – the Destroyer had a higher stalling speed than even the Bf 109 – and thumbed the transmit button on his radio. He gave the bearing of the incoming bombers then finished with, “Attacking now.” Seconds later the green flare popped open and the guns fell silent. He was clear to make his attack run. Weaving around in the decoy role off to one side of the defenses, Amosova saw the searchlights swing away from her towards the inbound group. It was hard to hold the Kukuruzniks in the beams but enough light was being thrown in their direction that they were suddenly clearly visible. There was no flak though, so they kept going, boring in on their target. The first of them was within yards of the drop point now, already starting to climb to avoid the blast of its own bombs. Then, to her horror, it seemed to stagger in the air as small explosions erupted all over the forward fuselage. Instantly it caught fire and spun out of control as the roar of powerful engines suddenly swelled out of the darkness. The Bf 110 was now hugging the ground, not much higher than the Soviet biplanes flew. As the first bomber blazed up like a candle Kociok pulled back on the stick to leapfrog the falling wreck, then dropped the nose again. The onrushing shape of the second Polikarpov swam into the glowing bars of his sight. His thumb stabbed down on the button, white flames erupted from the nose and the floor vibrated under his feet as the cannons thundered. The second U-2 was snatched aside by the stream of shells and bullets; it, too, erupted into flames and fell towards the steppe. Kociok was already lining up his guns on his next victim. Amosova could only watch in horror as the Messerschmitt skimmed along the line of bombers, blasting them one after another and sending all four crashing down in flames. Around her the other crews were already scattering and heading for home. There was no choice. A one-second burst from a Bf 110’s guns threw out over four pounds of metal and explosives, all travelling at more than twice the speed of sound. It was enough firepower to shatter a U-2 in an instant, and this pilot had the skill to pick off his targets with a single, lethal blast. If they tried to attack again they would be wiped out. Amosova forced her own plane a little lower, practically hiding behind hedges all the way back to the airfield. When Major Bershanskaya heard about the massacre she instantly grounded the regiment for the night; a third of a squadron had been destroyed in a minute, and she wasn’t willing to risk it happening again. Amosova, Popova and the others walked back to their billet in an old school building and sat, weeping, looking at a row of eight empty camp beds. I seriously doubt one would be able to find out exactly what any one of those Po-2's looked like exactly so I expect I'll be building a generic model so to speak, there are some pics on the net, some with and others without individual aircraft ID, so if anyone can add anything a bit more definitive within this time period please do feel free to pop in a post or two. On with the kit I'd started this one a while ago (along with so many other kits ) so fortunately I had the kit and it wasn't to far along One of the disadvantages of the "Eduard way" is that there are parts which are designed for using Photo etch which end up being featureless with out that wonderful enhancement, and the Scotch in me is to cheap to buy it if I think I can get away with out it ......still it's a pita being cheap sometimes.... The engines remind me of a typical short run experience, I decided it would be easier to get a better finish and to paint the radiators if I install the insert after I clean up the main halves, not the best fitting parts but doable I look at these kits as high quality short run kits rather then a so so Mainstream product, sort of sets a level of expectation that avoids disappointment, and which should lead to a better result I think. Case in point, one nacelle halves is a bit shy on material. Over all though the nacelle fit to wing is pretty decent and much better then the 110C/D/E kits. Ah yes the weaving is done and seat installed Not exactly what it's supposed to look like but close enough for the bureaucracy The Eduard kit, like every other kit on the market, is a series of compromises intended to leave an impression, some are good, others OK, and some........well not so much. What is what all comes down to what the expectation of the beholder is.......what's worth adjusting and whats better off taking a dive into file 13. Case in point is the roll over protection, here we see what looks to be an early version, one thing to note is how the braces on the top are squared and attach to the canopy frame work. And then there is the Eduard version, note the shape and location of the canopy attachment points. The Eduard bits line up on the outside of the canopy frames so I've decided to shorten the stub and leave it at that. Truth is if one wants to get anal about it there is so much more back there to drive one batty and I want to finish this one within my expected lifespan while maintaining what little illusion of sanity I have. Edited October 8, 2019 by nsmekanik 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 Looking very good, I like your description of early Eduard as short run kits. I've built a few now and the misalignment of parts on the sprue resulting in a large step is quite common now, especially on their older kits. Just hope their new stuff doesn't go that way in a few years, I have 20yr old Hasegawa kits, purchased recently, that show none of this on their parts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elger Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 3 hours ago, colin said: Looking very good, I like your description of early Eduard as short run kits. I've built a few now and the misalignment of parts on the sprue resulting in a large step is quite common now, especially on their older kits. Just hope their new stuff doesn't go that way in a few years, I have 20yr old Hasegawa kits, purchased recently, that show none of this on their parts I agree. The best way to think about Eduard's 1/48 110s is as very well-made short run kits. It's pretty much the last kit like this they made before Eduard truly went "main stream" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 1 hour ago, elger said: I agree. The best way to think about Eduard's 1/48 110s is as very well-made short run kits. It's pretty much the last kit like this they made before Eduard truly went "main stream" The year after the Bf110 C/D they launched the Hellcat and that one is where they started their turn IMHO. Anyway, it's good to hear that at least the 110G is a little simpler to build than the C/D! Also that gunners "seat" looks splendid! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 7 hours ago, Christer A said: The year after the Bf110 C/D they launched the Hellcat and that one is where they started their turn IMHO. Anyway, it's good to hear that at least the 110G is a little simpler to build than the C/D! Also that gunners "seat" looks splendid! Not sure about the turn with the Hellcat, just started one now and the same thing with small parts, misaligned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retired Bob Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 I usually buy my kits as soon as they are released, hopefully this avoids any mold wear problems. Like olive oil, extra virgin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsmekanik Posted September 6, 2019 Author Share Posted September 6, 2019 Thanks for poppin in My own personal view of the situation is that manufactures do not produce kits to be built, rather they are manufactured to be sold, that they can be built is a reasonably good selling point, one that seems to have been overlooked by a few......... I'm not really complaining about the kit, as it is just another stop on they way around the learning curve, and I'm certainly glad it was Eduard that decided to do it as they are good for giving us most of the variants. I do hope they see fit to re release some of these in the future, especially the 'F' as I missed out on the last batch. The 1/72 series are a real treat, to me anyway, but the canopy's are a pita if you want them closed up, although the fit is very good, so I wish they would have included that style on the sprue........oh well I guess one can't have everything one wants Right, so moving on next up is the seat, Eduard would have you simply drape the belts over the back, wrong. The seat remained unchanged through out production and was the same, or similar to what was in the early 109's, so if you want to add belts just grab a set of 109 belts and you are good. While this one is 110C it is typical. At least Eduard was kind enough to leave an impression as to where the slit in the back should be. Now this tool is genius, Dirt cheap on Ebay from China and the only thing I did is lubricate the swivel at the top, no muss no fuss one size fits all. Way nicer then a couple of pricier ones I've had. Eduard kindly supplies 2 seats in this kit just in case you screw one up, like, you know, vac canopies....... Now that tiny little bit you might be able to make out stuck on the end of the toothpick actually comes from an HGW seat belt set for the 109,the very bottom right corner of the etch fret. Unfortunately they lied, there is only enough straps for one plane, well at least in the set I got so I've decided to use some etch belts from another set. This set is pretty good value for what you get, with some extra goodies even. and then there is what it's supposed to look like....... And finally the pilots lounge area The rudder pedals actually came from another HGW set for the 190 that also includes rudder pedals, but I figure that in most cases the kit pedals will do in the 190's as they are nicely buried in the cockpit but the ones in the 110 are a bit more obvious. Originally I was going to go with the kit parts.........but......no Add some straps to the pedals and good to go Well that's it for the moment, thanks all for takin the time to pop in, and may your personal carpet monster suffer the ravages of hunger for all eternity......... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted September 6, 2019 Share Posted September 6, 2019 Great work in the cockpit! I'm taking notes 😃 I really should get back to my 110C anyday... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsmekanik Posted September 6, 2019 Author Share Posted September 6, 2019 I hope you manage to soon not sure how far along yours is, but just in case here's a tip on attaching the engines to the wings, the trick is to shim up the wing where the rear of the upper nacelle sits, just under where the arrows are. As you can see I also shimmed up the back a bit as well Not perfect but it definitely reduces the amount of filler and sanding required to get things close to presentable. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsmekanik Posted September 7, 2019 Author Share Posted September 7, 2019 Time for a bit of an update, this time around I tried using vallejo's chipping fluid over Humbrol's Metal Cote, with mediocre results on the pilots seat using Vallejo's RLM 66, and a complete bust on the floor of the rear compartment using Lifecolor's RLM 02 (for I think obvious reasons but hey, I had to try it) anyway here is a before and after shot of the pilots chair And a before pic of the rear compartment One thing I'll say is if you want good adhesion using Lifecolor paints spray it over thinned Chipping fluid when it's thinned with water, I couldn't scratch the stuff hardly, so what I ended up doing was dry brushing the MetalCote on and buffing it with a Qtip, maybe a bit overdone but I'm happy with the results 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimea River Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 Good stuff Tim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsmekanik Posted October 9, 2019 Author Share Posted October 9, 2019 Thanks Andy well after a short? hiatus I'm finally getting back to the bench Not much to show at the moment but it's a start. Also been moving my pics to a different hosting site and updating the ones here, which is taking a bit of time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted October 9, 2019 Share Posted October 9, 2019 Lokking nice so far! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsmekanik Posted October 11, 2019 Author Share Posted October 11, 2019 Thank you sir And moving forward......The individual radio components might seem to be a bit fiddly, QuickBoost does make a radio wall for anyone looking for an easy way out, but for my purposes they work better. All painted up and ready to go in. Eduard, thoughtfully, put the attachment points on the bottom and in place The Bordfunkers Office is now complete, now on to the cockpit 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 That is a most lovely cockpit! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Law Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 Nice work on the cockpit. I look forward to seeing further work on it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsmekanik Posted October 12, 2019 Author Share Posted October 12, 2019 I will do my best not to disappoint Everything all painted up And all put together, and ya, the seat and roll bar are a bit misaligned, earlier on I broke one side of the roll bar loose and had to re-glue the......ahem....thing . It looks worse in the pic, then in person. And a test fit, so far so good next up The instrument panel and then I'll be able to button things up 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holzhamer Posted October 12, 2019 Share Posted October 12, 2019 (edited) Very good WIP on a kit I found pleasing but somewhat over engineered, not to mention the engine nacelles awful fitting. Curiously I’m revisiting the C version at the moment, building a all black NF, which was something I wanted to build for ages, and most (if not all) of the vices you present here are the ones I again revisited. I absolutely like your way to get the rear gunner seat made, looks way bette than the PE I used back on mine. Thumbs up! Btw here’s a pic of mine, the cockpit area Edited October 12, 2019 by Holzhamer 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsmekanik Posted October 12, 2019 Author Share Posted October 12, 2019 Nice one, thanks for posting it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimea River Posted October 13, 2019 Share Posted October 13, 2019 Looking good Tim. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsmekanik Posted October 15, 2019 Author Share Posted October 15, 2019 And moving right along, been putting off IP for a bit but finally bit the bullet and had at it, used Mike Grants wonderful generic instrument decals, not 100% but good enough for government work 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsmekanik Posted October 21, 2019 Author Share Posted October 21, 2019 Weeellll we had a little boo boo.........ok maybe a big Faux Pas.......sigh, essentially glued the nose cannon base instead of the nose MG base into the nose..... Nothing else to do but man up and pull out the power tools, At first A cut off saw, and after a swipes with a scalpel I figured I would shortly be cutting my thumb in half I chucked up a milling tool to finish things off. The surprising thing is that even though I had flooded the thing the day before with Tamiya's Extra Thin, by working the knife blade I was able remove some of the plastic from the slots which saved a lot of work getting things to line up. One thing to watch for is if the front bulkhead, to which the air bottles are glued, is glued in vertically, it will not clear the cannon exit holes, so I glued mine in at an angle. I'm not doing anything more then I need to to mount the guns as I'm not opening this area up. Going back to the short run analogy, the joint between the nose and the fuselage needs a bit of cleaning up, the lip on the nose that slots into the groove in the fuselage needed to be trued up with a knife as it was pretty crude and the groove in the fuselage was a bit uneven, but with a bit of care all fit very well The top cover is also a bit on the short side, one could sand down the nose to suit but I think it would be better to add a shim to the back. so slightly high at the fuselage joint, given the thin plastic at this point I will probably sand the bottom off a touch 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Poultney Posted October 21, 2019 Share Posted October 21, 2019 I love the a Bf110. I have an Airfix kit to build, but Eduard's kits are as mile and a half ahead of that kit. I might go for their 1/72 one next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsmekanik Posted October 21, 2019 Author Share Posted October 21, 2019 (edited) Adam they are little gems, I would pas on the Airfix one and go straight to the Eduard, I've got a few on the go......I really need to finish one soon but I'm building the 1/48 one for a Group Build...... So after the aforementioned fiasco I managed to get the cockpit and fuselage sans nose completed.the fit is actually pretty good so very little filler used. One does have to take a fair amount of care as it's very easy to get things twisted and out of alignment. It's better not to use the panel lines as a guide as they are very slightly misaligned. Here the nose is assembled, I just installed the MG mounts, waiting for the glue to dry then it will get a coat of gloss black inside as looking through the cockpit you can see the bottom of the nose. Also added a shim to the back, waiting for that glue to dry to finish trimming. And getting the wings ready for some assembly. The tabs need to be thinned to fit into the fuselage slots, a couple of swipes with a knife fixes that problem. Edited October 21, 2019 by nsmekanik 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsmekanik Posted October 22, 2019 Author Share Posted October 22, 2019 (edited) And so here's where it's at at the moment, got the upper nose fitted, the shim I think worked out much better then sanding down the lower part to fit. and all masked up to paint the sill, I use Badgers Stynelrez when I'm not using Mr.Surfacer. Stynelrez can be easily thinned with alcohol if it seems to be getting a bit on the thick side, I use Tamiya's X20A, which I no longer use to thin paint with and I still have a lot of. I've tried Vallejo's but I don't get on well with it. Now the main fuselage is finished up except for the set of gauges behind the pilot, I'll ad the tail planes after I put on the main wings...... Oh yes......the wings.....the way Eduard engineered the landing gear things are a bit delicate and easily broken if one is not careful, so having the nacelles partially assembled even is a bit of an insurance policy Ah yes......sticky outy bits looking to get mangled, the air tanks and the landing gear has to go in before the wing halves are joined I just glue the wing halve up to the flap line from the fuselage joint, and make sure everything is squared up, they are warped a bit but the trialing edge behind the wheel bay has a lip so that section is quite straight. Once that bit has set up I flood the tabs with Extra Thin sand hold them together with a pair of pliers as they won't close up on their own. Edited October 22, 2019 by nsmekanik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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