1/48 Finnish 109 G2 in Finnish Service ***FINNISHED!***

[Max Headroom]

Afternoon all.

 

Like many with time on their hands, thoughts turn to getting things built. One in particular has been in the back of my mind for a while. A few years ago I bought this for the princely sum of £5.00 in a Llandudno bargain book shop....

 

 

 

It also came with a nice set of stickies (1/72 and 1/48) for three types in Finnish Service

 

 

I was rather taken with this subject

 

 

The particular attraction here was that it wasn’t in the Luftwaffe’s mottled camouflage, something which I would find difficult to reproduce as I don’t have an airbrush.

 

A quick request on this forum a few days ago, narrowed my choice down to Eduard’s Weekend Edition of the G-2 as a suitable victim for my attention.

 

 

Thanks to our very own @Duncan B of Black Mike Models fame, I went online to his shop and ordered it. It arrived safely a few days later. Good service and highly recommended.

 

Thats the intro done. Excuse me whilst I start putting it together!

 

Cheers

 

Trevor

 

 

[Vesa Jussila]

Now I have some doubts related to MT-213. My understand is that Juutilainen was flying MT-222. And when  this photo of MT-213 is taken it was already assigned to 2/HLeLv24 and pilot was 1. Lt Jorma Saarinen. He was ace too.

Edited April 10, 2020 by Vesa Jussila

[Max Headroom]

@Vesa JussilaThanks for that. I only chose this one because it’s one of the featured schemes in the booklet and most importantly doesn’t need an airbrush!

 

I’ve been busy this afternoon and hope to post some pics later.

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

Before we begin and as it’s an Unwritten Rule, we need to have a look at the contents.

 

 

First off, here is the sprue map. You can see that a good 50% of what’s in the box isn’t needed for a G-2. That’s a lot of stuff for the spares box. Maybe I need some other manufacturers 109’s to use them on?

 

The wing sprue is fairly simple

 

 

The fuselage sprue, whilst packed with parts, only requires the fuselage halves

 

 

Note the surplus tail parts no doubt to be used on another boxing.

 

 

 

That’s a lot of plastic. Obviously for my project, the main markings sheet won’t be necessary, however, some of the stencilling may well be useful later.

 

As is traditional with these builds, the cockpit is the first to receive attention. Relatively few parts, but fiddly with it. Tweezers are definitely required here

 

 

What’s that white thing you ask? It’s a replacement rudder pedal. I cut the two parts off the sprue and was then distracted and had to leave the table. 30 seconds later, the carpet monster has gobbled it up. Cue ten minutes spent on the floor looking for the darned thing. 
 

Failed.

Never mind. Once it’s painted and tucked into the fuselage, no one except you and me will notice.........

 

The build continues.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Trevor

 

[Max Headroom]

I had a mini session this afternoon.

 

I assembled the cockpit parts including the clear part serving as the fuel pipe on the starboard side and had left them overnight. (Incidentally, whose bright idea had been to put it there in the first place?). The instructions would have you assemble this as part of the cockpit tub. I had a problem in that the part was fragile and broke in two as I snipped it off. So I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get the two pieces together and attached in the recommended fashion. Problem was, when the tub was dry fitted to the starboard cockpit, it was obviously wrong. I’ve seen other builds and it fits, so it must be me. However, the solution was simple - glue the pieces directly onto the fuselage half. That way, I could ensure that it was placed correctly in relation to everything else. It fitted no problem and dry fitting the tub again showed that everything was in the right place. Result!

The interior is RLM66 but as I didn’t have any, I looked at colour comparison sites, photos of real cockpits and home brewed my own. It may not be a 100% accurate match, but I’m happy with it.

 

The fuel pipe was picked out in yellow and black, making sure to leave a clear part top and centre. The blue handle and cable was also picked out. Left it all for a while and then an almost dry brush with a mere hint of aluminium was gently wafted over the high points. Here are the results of my actions - sorry if some are a tad grot, as I use a mobile phone (David Bailey I’m not!).

 

 

 

 

 

I have the seatbelts to do next. Now in this Weekend version, they are provided as transfers and are shown as being fitted directly onto the seat. Obviously that would look a bit flat if modelled with an open cockpit (that’s the aim at the moment. I have An Idea, but will mull it over until tomorrow.

 

See you then!

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

A few more steps this morning. First off, I thought that I’d add the pipe work for the brakes that are a prominent feature of the legs. 5 amp fuse wire, and drops of superglue applied with the end of a cocktail stick. I figured that for delicate work like this I would need both hands, so securing the leg on a blob of blutack on top of a paint pot allowed me to concentrate without fear of gluing plastic to flesh! About ten minutes work had both legs done.

 

 

Now then the seatbelts. Although the transfers look nice, they will be rather ‘flat’.
 

 

So what to do? A thought painfully made its way to the front lobe. What if I painted some 10 thou plastic card in brown (both sides), placed the transfers on them, cut them to shape and then bent them to conform to the cockpit?

 

 

What could possibly go wrong?

 

Don't know yet........

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

Nothing as it turns out. It may look a bit rough and ready here, but in the plastic it looks a lot better. I’m well pleased with the result.

 

 

A little bending of the shoulder straps so that the fastening points at the top lay flush - they do, it’s just not obvious here and gentle rolling of the bottom ends to sit on the seat. The lap straps had to be cut into three pieces each to conform to the seat shape. All the pieces were affixed with Contacta Clear and a cocktail stick. This has left a shiny residue, but I have a rattle can of flat varnish and will waft it over the proceedings later. 
 

That’s all for today. Thanks for looking.

 

Trevor

 

[Vesa Jussila]

Nice progress. And good advice to my G6 project that I will start later this month.

[matto21]

Nice choice and a lovely kit to build, if fiddly in places. 

 

Wish I could find a bargain like that in Llandudno! 

[Max Headroom]

@matto21If I remember rightly it was one of about three copies in the shop. I have a stalled 1/48 Hurricane I from the same book. The shop is one on the high Street near M&S and opposite a church. I always pop in when there and there’s usually something the tempt me. I think the owner also has the one in nearby Betws-y-coed. That one is by the railway station and is another must-go-to destination too!

 

@Vesa Jussila. Two pieces of advice so far for you so far. Stick the fuel pipe direct to the starboard fuselage. It’ll make for a much stronger join. Be careful of the four part wheel well assembly too. It is a tad fiddly, but does fit the wheel well. 

 

Now I just need to find a decent Mohawk to complete my trio from the book!

 

Trevor

[matto21]

I know where you mean and have been to both. I must look harder next time I'm there! 

[Max Headroom]

A very small update.

 

No sooner had I posted my last words yesterday, I did indeed waft some Matt varnish on the tub. Blue tacked to a piece of cardboard, I went outside (it was warm), rattled the can vigorously and gave it a couple of passes.

 

This happened

 

 

Not sure if you can see it properly, but some areas went a bit milky, noticeably the cannon breech and seat back and top.

 

The only thing I can think of is that I put the piece to dry indoors in my garage which could be a few degrees cooler?

 

Anyway, what to do? I have a well worn piece of wet and dry and am gently rubbing it against the affected areas to see if I can remove, or at least minimise the effect. If that doesn’t work, then either I’ll test hand varnish an area to see if that makes a difference, or else I’ll have to try and remember my home brew RLM66 mixture.

 

Ho hum.

 

Trevor

 

[Max Headroom]

The good people of Britmodeller came to the rescue!

 

 

I’ll have a crack later.

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

Okay.....

 

I tried the regloss and matt again method and although it sort of worked, I decided to have a repaint of the affected areas, matching as best I could the home brewed RLM66. 
 

 

I’ll scuff it up a bit afterwards.

 

A few more small jobs to do in preparation for joining up the fuselage (probably tomorrow). 
 

The gun troughs are a separate part and to be honest, they are a sloppy fit and this was the best I could do.
 

 

The other side is similar. Both will need fettling. Looking online, I see that for other versions the fuselage halves use one of the drop-in cowling tops. It seems odd that it wasn’t a option here.

 

Never mind. Onwards and upwards.

 

Trevor

 

 

 

[Max Headroom]

I did a little bit more today and finally buttoned up the fuselage. This build is rattling along by my standards, given that I’m now officially furloughed

 

 

As you can see, the thinness of the plastic causes what we in the modelling fraternity refer to as a ‘wonk’. This meant that gluing everything at once was a no-no. I recently learned that not only was the 109 fuselage built in hoops, but that each hoop was also split vertically. That means that there should be a seam along the top and bottom. This makes my teeth itch as I am pre programmed to Eliminate All Seams. Not here. I took the decision to glue the upper fuselage behind the cockpit first and get it lined up as good as possible. Liquid glue, capillary action and after a few moments, blowing on the area ensured that any fettling has been kept to a minimum. After that, it was the ventral area and finally the nose.

 

 

On my example, the area immediately in front of the cockpit wasn’t a snug fit. In the end, I used superglue and more breath blowing. Bearing in mind that if you leave any residue for too long, it’ll become harder than the surrounding plastic, I trimmed the excess after about five minutes. I’ll polish the seam later.

 

You'll see that there is a gap between the gun troughs. No that’s not me being ham-fisted,  rather it’s a gap that is meant to be filled with a long thin strip replicating the cowl hinge line. Obviously depicting this would be impossible otherwise.

 

I also tackled the dorsal gun troughs by applying some filler and sanding back. I still can’t decide whether it’s a poor fit or I’m being ham-fisted. I’d be interested to hear others experiences here. Once sanded and smoothed, some PVA glue was run in the trough to smooth everything out.

 

 

Note that the instructions would have you install the guns before cementing the halves together. This seems odd, so I’m leaving them off until it’s time to attach the wings. There’s plenty of room to manoeuvre the part in later.

 

Small steps!

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Trevor

[Vesa Jussila]

Good progress!

[Mattlow]

Hi Trevor

 

Those troughs. They all go in from the top for that style.

 

Are they too well glued in to remove? Don't worry about the inserts as I could send you a replacement pair from one of my Eduard later G models (those parts are in every kit).

 

The drawing for that stage is a bit misleading as it shows the part going in from the top, but the fuselage is upside down...

 

Matt

[fubar57]

Those fittings into the gun troughs fit very well in my G-6 dual combo kit however stupid me forgot about them and had to fit them after I had glued the fuselage together. I too had that small gap directly in front of the cockpit

[fubar57]

Just had a look at the instruction sheet on Scalemates and they do indeed get installed from top as noted by @Mattlow Odd that they change it with the G-6

Edited April 14, 2020 by fubar57

[Max Headroom]

@Mattlow and @fubar57

 

Wot?!???!

 

I agree that the drawing is misleading. I would never have thought to drop them in from the top!

 

Well and truly glued in now so I’ll have to live with it 

 

Trevor

[Mattlow]

Well, don't get too disheartened. I reckon with the filling you've done and some tidying up they won't look too bad at all.

 

Especially once everything is in place and the paint is on..

 

Matt

[Max Headroom]

Morning all!

 

Good progress on this. At this rate I may even get an undercoat on by close of play today.

 

A quick question to all 109 aficionados. I have just added part I 13 to the wing underside and which shows as two rectangles on the outside.

 

 

Is this how it looks or should this be filled in and smoothed over?

 

Thanks!

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

Some have them, others don’t. As far as I can see, the RAFM G-2 and this one in Rechlin don’t have them

 

http://warbirdsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/Messerschmitt_Bf_109_11_Rechlin.jpg

 

So filler time!

 

Trevor

[matto21]

I also had issues with the gun troughs in mine - fit was OK but nothing special. 

 

Good job with the belts, you could have also applied the decals to foil then they'd bend and fold more easily. I did this on my F-4 build but didn't use the decals at all. 

 

Sorry about the hijack, but a picture is worth a thousand words and all... 

 

 

Matt 

 

[Max Headroom]

Thanks Matt! Hijack away, it’s all good. I toyed with using foil, but my concern was that if I ended up with something too bendy, the transfers might crack up. As it is and given how dark the pit is now that it’s buttoned up, I don’t think they look too bad.

 

Am enjoying this build!

 

Trevor