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1/32 Eduard BF109-E4- A change of pace


Antb

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Hi everyone 

 

A bit of a change of pace after my last 3 builslds being modern jets and going back to my original passion. Second world War Luftwaffe aircraft. 

 

This one has been in the stash for a while and now seems as good a time as ever to build it. I haven't done a WIP for a long time but will be trying some new techniques out on this one so thought it would be a good one to WIP. 

 

Any advice or pointers as we go please chip in! 

 

Here's the general kit: 

 

20190907-210550.jpg

 

Not many sprues with this one but it looks ok. 2 PE frets and a masking set included. 

 

20190907-210707.jpg

 

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Sorry they're still in their packaging! 

 

The inbox marking options

 

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I'm going to town a bit and adding some extras. Don't tell the wife.... 

 

And I'm trying for the first time spraying the markings, no decals except for stencils. Having said that I'm undecided on the actual scheme as yet. Am i brave enough to head into mottle having never done it. Not sure. 

 

I have these bits thus far with some HGW fabric belts to arrive and aftermarket gun barrels. The kit ones are alright but in this scale not brilliant. 

 

20190907-210620.jpg

 

I'm also hoping to add some wires and the such as we go. Nothing major. 

 

Proper modelling. Finally. 

 

Making a start in the next few days when everything has arrived so a bit of a placeholder for now. 

 

Please chip in with words of wisdom, help, advice or criticism as we go. Every builds a learning opportunity after all! 

 

Cheers for now 

 

🐜

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Hi folks, 

 

The remainder of the aftermarket has arrived and I'm very pleased with it. 

 

20190909-141356.jpg

 

The barrels are lovely. 

 

20190909-141149.jpg

 

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I've even picked up some 0.3 and 0.4mm wire to add a few wires and bits and bobs throughout. 

 

Hope to get cracking in the next few days. 

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Should be good, mottling may seem daunting, but you soon get the hang of it. Thin your paint more than usual and play with pressures, find the best that works for you. Practice makes perfect and it's very satisfying when you get it how you want it.

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1 hour ago, Parabat said:

Should be good, mottling may seem daunting, but you soon get the hang of it. Thin your paint more than usual and play with pressures, find the best that works for you. Practice makes perfect and it's very satisfying when you get it how you want it.

Thanks for the advice. 

 

I think I'll have to give it a go. I'm quite fancying gallands bird if I'm honest. 

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And we're off. 

 

This is what we have to start off with. 

 

20190909-175836.jpg

 

A little plain and the wiring detail isn't the greatest. Using the kit PE and adding a bit of wiring we ended up with this 

 

20190909-190104.jpg

 

Not much done but an improvement. 

 

And t'other side 

 

20190909-190510.jpg

 

Strangely I didn't take any photos of my additions without paint 🤔

 

I've never pre shaded anything before so this build I'm going to give it a go. This isn't exactly that but I concentrated the RLM02 in the centre of each section and across the high points. 

 

First painted black 

 

20190909-203403.jpg

 

And painted 

 

20190909-214832.jpg

 

Oh, and I also added the PE in the front filters. Looks quite nice. 

 

20190909-213501.jpg

 

Might have issues getting the fuselage together as where this section is it doesn't go together very well. 

 

Watch this space. 

 

I've decided to have a crack at Adolf gallands 109. Should be fun 😊

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Good evening folks, 

 

Well, I've had a seriously productive day today. Had the past 2 days off work to do grown up stuff which was cancelled at the last minute and so left me with bench time. 

 

With the kids at school and SWMBO busy with her business I got busy with the Emil. 

 

It's quite an update and picture heavy so huge apologies in advance. 

 

With the side walls done for now it was onto the pit. First up the seat. Strangely the hole for the belts wasn't open so this was the first job. Weirdly the front didn't match up with the hole at the back. The rear hole was lower for some weird reason. The PE around this was a nice touch. If not a little fiddly. 

 

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Before i knew the pit had been built up. Not bad. 

 

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This was painted black and then RLM02. Again tried to go thin and leave some black showing through to give some depth and shadow. 

 

20190910-163542.jpg

 

Bits were painted their appropriate colours, lower part of the IP made up out of PE, fiddly as always and the tub was fitted to one fuselage half. 

 

20190910-163550.jpg

 

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I do like the shading the black gives me. No washes have been harmed in the process thus far, I'm really happy although if you guys think it could benefit I'm all ears. 

 

Back to the seat. Painted RLM02 a bit of wear using a piece of sponge, dark grey and a touch of gun metal. This got a flory dark dirt wash for a touch more weathering. 

 

20190910-163613.jpg

 

Et voila 

 

20190910-185750.jpg

 

Fabric belts yet to be added but I'll add those much later down the line I reckon. 

 

Onto the rear of the engine. Bulkhead bit?? The plastic had a really weird quality to it. 

 

20190910-185807.jpg

 

Bizarre. It wasn't raised its actually moulded in the plastic. It's this bit that goes behind the engine. I'm guessing it shouldn't really be like that? Bit of a poor fit too... 

 

20190910-191001.jpg

 

See G18. Sits flush on the end apparently. 

 

20190910-191007.jpg

 

Snip, trim and sand. 

 

Next up, the top section that covers this and sits behind the IP. I'm good with the technical names for bits of aircraft aren't I. 

 

This is what Eduard gives you. Not bad but could be made better. 

 

20190910-192313.jpg

 

This moulded cables came off and were replaced with some wire. I didn't take photos as obviously enjoying myself so much. 

 

Built, primed black, and painted. 

 

Oh yeh. And added to the fuselage side. 

 

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The dark iron colour is still drying so looks a bit pants at the moment. 

 

I'm pleased with progress so far,.It's going quite well. Engine next. 

 

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9 hours ago, Thom216 said:

Great progress. Love the paint in the 'pit. The 109 is not my favorite Luft fighter, but you are making me like this one!

Thanks mate. 

 

8 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

Nice work so far Ant B) 

 

I recently picked up the 109E-3 Profipack (which I think I will save for next year's BoB Group Build) so will tag along, if you don't mind :) 

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

Cheers stew. More than happy to have you along. Can't promise it'll be ground breaking though 😂 depending how this one goes might have to pick up another and join in with the group build. 

 

7 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Great work and with all the extras this will be a real work of art. 

 

Dennis

Thanks dennis. You're too kind. Don't be too disappointed with the final outcome 😂

 

6 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

I havn’t built a ‘109 for a long time although I have three 1/32 versions in the stash, so I’ll tag along too please.

 

John

More than welcome John. 

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On 11/09/2019 at 16:10, Crimea River said:

Looks great so far Ant. I like your cockpit preshading, which turned out great!

 

Looking forward to more.

 

Andy

Thank you Andy. 

 

Since my last update I've had a bit of time at the bench. 

 

Started on the engine. This is what the kit offers. 

 

20190911-191139.jpg

 

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A bit rubbish really. First job was to remove the moulded cables and wiring and replace these with wire. Didn't go to plan and it was something of a struggle. Still I plugged on and came up with this, after painted with Tamiya X1. 

 

Really really not happy with this at all. 

 

20190912-193630.jpg

 

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Absolute garbage. 

 

I tried to rectify the issues with the scratches by sanding but it's still rubbish so ended up buying an aftermarket engine. It was staring at me from the aftermarket wheels packaging so was an obvious choice. 

 

Not cheap at all but To be fair, it looks unbelievable. 

 

20190912-205504.jpg

 

This build was never intended to have all these additions but it's turning into a proper project. 

 

The engine should arrive in a couple of days so had a play with a dry fit if the fuselage halves. This was interesting as you will see from the photos. 

 

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Warped and one side is longer than the other. 

 

This is going to be hard work I think. 

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Is that with the fuselage fully taped together? And if it is a short shot on one side, do the wings fit up alright? If it's not just a warp, just wondering where you'd shorten/lengthen it for adjustment.

Edited by Thom216
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21 hours ago, Sturmovik said:

I think the left fuselage half is warped inwards, making it look as if the right half was longer. 

The more I play around with it the more it's looking like it. I've got the 2 halves together but they're not straight and it looks like the nose is off. 

 

20 hours ago, Thom216 said:

Is that with the fuselage fully taped together? And if it is a short shot on one side, do the wings fit up alright? If it's not just a warp, just wondering where you'd shorten/lengthen it for adjustment.

I've got the rear and the front portion taped together. The very front where the propeller sits is taped up now and as above the whole section is on an angle. 

 

I'm going to see whether I can pull everything straight. Might be a job but when the engines in I'm hoping that pulls everything together and straight 

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I like your interior and I had the same problem with the front end. I had to use a candle light to warm and true up the left side.A little filler on the underside joint while I had the engine dry fitted to make sure and it wasn't perfect but they didn't make them perfectly is my excuse but your right the engine does pull it all together my friend 

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2 hours ago, Joel Abery said:

I like your interior and I had the same problem with the front end. I had to use a candle light to warm and true up the left side.A little filler on the underside joint while I had the engine dry fitted to make sure and it wasn't perfect but they didn't make them perfectly is my excuse but your right the engine does pull it all together my friend 

Thanks buddy that's helpful. 

 

The brassin engine should be here tomorrow, looking forward to seeing how good it is. 

 

Hopefully we will.make progress this weekend 

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It's arrived 😀 and it's very splendid. Bloomin expensive but it's a cracker. Just hope I can do it justice! 

 

Comes in a rather nice box

 

20190914-173451.jpg

 

Stuffed full of resin and a sheet of PE

 

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And here's the main engine block 

 

20190914-173551.jpg

 

A couple of plugs are missing from the other side and aren't in the bag which is a bit of a nightmare but I can get away with it as it seems when installed these won't really be seen anyway. 

 

Going to take some work but I just hope it will be worth it in the end. This build has grown arms and legs... 

 

Also realised the saw I have is far too big so ordered a micro saw. Nothing spectacular just to get me through this build and I'll look for a proper one at Telford 

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Cheers thom. 

 

So today has been a really productive day and I've been able to make huge progress. Not on the engine but getting the airframe together. Looking at the instructions it appears that the engine can be installed much later down the line making painting that much easier. Well, that's the plan anyway. 

 

To start off with this morning I joined the fuselage together. This was tricky as there were no locating pins. 

 

20190915-112855.jpg

 

Ignore the wonky rivets, these have been sorted since. The front sections were left unglued as I had a plan. I would fit the lower wing section on and join the front fuselage to this in the hope it pulled everything together. 

 

The fit of the wings was interesting. Massive holes at the back where the moulding of the fuselage seems to be poor. 

 

20190915-112938.jpg

 

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The fit at the front wasn't too shabby though. 

 

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Glued in and then it was on with the front. 

 

20190915-113802.jpg

 

Not brilliant and work required 

 

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I also installed the air vent in the nose which doesn't seem to sit properly. Massive gaps at both sides which can't be right? 

 

20190915-121559.jpg

 

Filling sanded smooth, panel lines back in along with rivets then on with the tail planes and the upper wings. Here's where she sat. 

 

20190915-160334.jpg

 

Obviously the wing guns needed fitting so it was on with the brass barrels I'd bought. Compared to the kit ones they are a different league. 

 

20190915-163741.jpg

 

Tight fit and a touch of filler on the wings required. 

 

20190915-163551.jpg

 

The gap along the wing root was disappointing but this has been filled and will dry overnight. 

 

20190915-163606.jpg

 

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And this is where we are as of this evening. 

 

Can't say I'm overly enjoying the build if I'm honest. The kits a fighter which I honestly wasn't expecting and some bits are really poor. I'm sure some of it is my doing but the lack of locating pins in the fuselage and on the wings is frustrating. 

 

My plan for this week is to get the rest of the external parts fitted, complete the kit add the windscreen and get her ready for a shot of primer. 

 

The engine will probably be one of the last things to go in as masking it to paint the airframe would be difficult I think. 

 

Anyway, enough rambling. 

 

If you've read this far then thank you. Please feel free to chip in with any advice or criticisism 

 

Cheers folks 

 

 

 

Edited by Antb
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Hi Folks

 

Nice build! I've just finished the E-7 Trop boxing and your fitting problems look very familiar….

 

Fortunately for you, you've decided to let the engine visible. Fitting the engine cowlings in the closed position is also an adventure… guess how I know.

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On 16/09/2019 at 09:16, Biggles87 said:

I think you got a ‘ Friday afternoon ‘ job there. That’s a surprisingly poor wing /fuselage fit for Eduard.

 

John

Certainly is surprising. I've tried to see whether it's anything I've done but I don't think it is 🤷‍♂️

 

6 hours ago, phil23 said:

Hi Folks

 

Nice build! I've just finished the E-7 Trop boxing and your fitting problems look very familiar….

 

Fortunately for you, you've decided to let the engine visible. Fitting the engine cowlings in the closed position is also an adventure… guess how I know.

Thanks Phil... and welcome to the forum 😁

 

3 hours ago, Thom216 said:

She may be making you work for the enjoyment, but she's looking real good.

Keep up the great work!

Thanks buddy. 

 

I haven't had much go to do a lot on the Emil for the past few days but had an hour tonight and got a little bit more done. 

 

No photos but the rear flaps, ailerons and wing flaps got fitted. These are a poor fit as seems to be a running theme with the kit. 

 

Once dry I decided to check the seams and gaps I'd filled to see how they looked. I'm priming this one with Mr surfacer so should fill in any small problem areas but have used a touch more filler where needed. 

 

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Couldn't resist a touch of paint on the wing cannons too 

 

20190917-214152.jpg

 

Overall, not too many problems and should be simple to sort. 

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