Eduard 1/72 Messerschmitt Bf110D

[SaminCam]

Morning all! In these strange times I seem to be getting more modelling done than usual - I'm working from home and life continues but no socialising or sport means more time at the bench...

I've just finished Eduard's lovely Fw190 and while I've got my eye in thought I'd go for another Luftwaffe subject, Eduard's Bf110.

 

 

As is traditional I've started with the cockpit. After assembling the main parts I gave it a coat of flat black and then aluminium:

 

 

I sealed this in with a coat of gloss, sprayed some hairspray and then covered it with RLM02. After letting it all dry, I used an old, stiff brush to chip away some of the top coat. I've then been weathering with artists oils (thinned and unthinned). Here's where I've got to so far, the side wall is nearly there and I've started the rear section of the cockpit:

 

 

The kit comes with photoetch parts and the control panel goes together great:

 

 

I used a nice trick I saw on here recently (sorry, can't remember who it was) where you apply gloss varnish to the back of the etch to form shiny, see through covers for the dials. It's a bit hard to photograph but this made me irrationally happy 🙃 . For the paint job I'm going to represent the aircraft on the front of the box:

 

 

I like the look of the bombs and fuel tanks and the yellow keeps the theme going with the other Luftwaffe aircraft on my shelf:

 

 

Thanks for looking, more to come soon. Look after yourselves! Sam

 

 

Edited March 24, 2020 by SaminCam
Typo

[Roger Newsome]

Lol, another one!

Good start Sam. 👍

[Hook]

These are lovely kits, aren't they?

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[SaminCam]

On 3/24/2020 at 10:03 AM, Roger Newsome said:

Lol, another one!

Good start Sam. 👍

Yep, another one! Some great looking Bf110s getting built on here at the moment! 

 

On 3/24/2020 at 4:44 PM, Hook said:

These are lovely kits, aren't they?

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

They really are! My experience with these Eduard ProfiPack kits so far has been terrific. 

 

A little bit more done on the cockpit, weathering has been done with hairspray chipping, drybrushing and artist oils. Not too far off getting the fuselage zipped up now:

 

 

 

 

 

[SaminCam]

Started rivetting... this isn't great but should get better by the time I've done the whole thing!

 

 

 

[SaminCam]

Evening all,  I took some "beauty" shots of the cockpit before sealing her up. The weathering is a combination of chipping, oils, dry brushing and some pigment scraped off newly acquired pastels. Might be a bit over the top but I'm enjoying learning these new tricks. Thanks for taking a look. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hook]

That looks very convincing.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[Christer A]

A beautiful cockpit, that's for sure!

[James G]

On 3/28/2020 at 11:16 PM, SaminCam said:

Started rivetting... this isn't great but should get better by the time I've done the whole thing!

 

 

 

Looks great to me! Fine work so far.

[SaminCam]

@Hook @Christer A @James G, thanks gents! Still rivetting here, top side of the port wing left to go and then should be able to get most of it together and start painting! Does anyone who has made this kit know if it's better to glue wings together then assemble to fuselage (as instructions say) or glue bottom surface to fuselage then add the tops (any reason not to do it this way...)? Thanks! 

 

 

 

[Roger Newsome]

I followed the instructions and didn't encounter any difficulties Sam. 

Nice riveting! 👍

[SaminCam]

Morning all, pretty much there with riveting and last night got the wings and fuselage attached. No major issues, the join and the wing root is spot on and only the leading edge will need a bit of filling and fettling. On the fuselage I've filled and sanded the seams and then carefully redone the panel lines with an engraving tool. The engines and tale assembly are dry fitted for now - looks like these will need some more tlc to get a good join. Once I've won this battle I should be able to start painting!   

 

 

 

 

[Kitchen Modeller]

Looks great so far - nice work on the rivets!

[SaminCam]

8 hours ago, Kitchen Modeller said:

Looks great so far - nice work on the rivets!

Thanks John, they're a bit rough here and there but when you step back and look at the overall effect it's ok... Still, i can't help but wonder if it's possible (and at all sensible) to try and fill and redo key rivet lines which are annoying me. I'm thinking mask, fill, sand and polish, but might just make matters worse? Must not rush into it!

[Kitchen Modeller]

On 4/7/2020 at 8:44 AM, SaminCam said:

Still, i can't help but wonder if it's possible (and at all sensible) to try and fill and redo key rivet lines which are annoying me. I'm thinking mask, fill, sand and polish, but might just make matters worse? Must not rush into it!

If you’re really unhappy, you can just sand them out but that also means alot of re-scribing and of course redoing the rivets. If you’re careful you can wipe out specific lines - you will sand over lines you want To keep slightly but it’s easy enough to redo them. I went through this process many times on the FW190 I did last year before I realized the rivet tool I was using was actually wobbly 😬 The other thing to bear in mind is that although certain ‘bad lines’ stick out like a sore thumb to you, most viewers will never spot them. I found this out scrutinizing plasmo’s builds - his rivets seem perfect at first glance - but if you really look... not so much! It’s the overall effect that people see - not individual slightly out lines. 

[SaminCam]

Wow,  gorgeous day sat out here on the patio,  probably going to get burnt! I masked, sanded and re-rivetted one line right in the middle of the upper port wing which was particularly bugging me (Thanks John). Hard to tell here but i think it's sorted now. The other rivets which were a bit naff were on the inner wing flaps. I've sorted these by hiding them under thin strips of tape which match the raised lines on the outer flaps. Hopefully should look good once i get some paint on. 

 

 

[Mattlow]

Nice work on this kit. The riveting looks good, what tool are you using?

 

Just so you know and can make an informed decision, the lines from the ailerons (outer flaps) you've reproduced on the landing flaps are tapes that go over the stitching on the fabric covered outer flaps. So technically speaking you wouldn't have those tapes on the inner flaps as they're made of metal.

 

Whatever you choose, I suspect it's going to look good.

 

Matt

[SaminCam]

@Mattlow, ah thanks, that makes sense. Think I'll keep the tape on for now, at least to see what it looks like under a coat of paint, I'll just have to call it artistic license!

 

I've used the Rosie the Riveter tool with 0.5mm pitch, takes a bit of practice but I worked out an approach which works for me: I've been using dino tape as a ruler but I combine with Tamiya tape so it stays sticky for longer. I draw lines on with a sharp pencil, take tape off and check I'm happy, then tape back on and go for it with the riveting tool. I make sure the light is in the right place so I can see what I'm doing and arrange the part and tool so I can see the wheel going into the plastic, pushing away from me. Finally, I've "borrowed" a vernier micrometre from work (while we're not allowed to go in) and this really helps with measuring evenly spaced lines of rivets (to the nearest 10microns!)

 

 

[SaminCam]

Main parts all assembled now so getting closer to spraying some paint! The engines fit ok in the end, they'll only need a touch of filler I think. The trick was to clamp tightly enough to slightly squeeze the wing so the join lined up. I'm going to add a bit of detail to the wheel bays and then get an undercoat down so I can see where needs attention.   

 

 

 

 

 

[SaminCam]

Started to add some detail in the wheel bay, these will help make the doors fit more securely too. Holes look a bit wonky once photoed but the big one was done with a .8mm drill bit, they look ok in real life! 4 down 12 to go...

 

 

 

[Walter]

Nice rivet work I'll take on that challenge one day. 

[SaminCam]

Think that'll do for the wheel bays, one last check over seams then time to spray some paint!

 

 

[SaminCam]

This afternoon I got the cockpit canopy masked (using the set included in the kit) and glued in place. This assembly is actually quite fiddly as there are five separate pieces but all's well in the end  as it fit together perfectly. Next step: some paint!  

 

 

 

 

[SaminCam]

Looking mean with the "stealth" flat black undercoat:

 

 

It's actually Tamiya Rubber Black thinned roughly 50:50. Joins all look ok so now on to preshading - this is where it gets fun!

[SaminCam]

Evening everyone! I've been plugging away with the 110 for the last few weeks and this afternoon got to here: 

 

 

I've not posted for a little while as things haven't been going that smoothly! I tried hairspray chipping the nose but it was a disaster and i ended up sanding it back and starting again - i think it's ok now but will be a bit nervous when the masking comes off. Hmmm, what else went wrong... got some weird residue from masking the splinter camo (maybe went on before the paint was properly dry?) but seems to be ok with the gloss coat on. I guess the underside's not too bad and the mottling could have gone worse, it needs a few touch ups but hopefully I'll be able to get some decals on this week. Thanks for taking a look, any thoughts greatly appreciated!