Bf 109 F4 in Finland

[Isak]

Hi all

Here is a model I finished a couple of months ago, an Eduard Bf 109 F4 from the royal class boxing. one of the biggest challenges was to choose a scheme, but my choice was this one stationed in Petsamo, Finland, because I like the way it looked and Finland is a neighbor country to Norway. The Finnish role in WWII is also quite interesting, being allied to Germany, but its leaders did apparently not share the Nazi views on race. Finnish Jews did actually fight alongside the Germans against Soviet, how many other places did this happen?

The build was quite enjoyable with good parts fit and lovely detail complete with minuscule photo etch and some nice resin exhausts and wheels. I did not use the resin wheels simply because the styrene ones look really good already. One thing I didn't like was the windscreen armor that had to be glued to the windscreen. I gave that up after several unsuccessful attempts and just used a spare from the Airfix Emil.It fortunately was an almost drop in replacement. 

Constructive criticism is welcomed

 

Regards, Isak

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[zeuschile]

good job!!....congratulations....

[Vlad]

Very nice build, I really like the subtle mottling on the fuselage. You've picked a nice scheme that captures the lines of the F-4 very well.

[Parabat]

Great build, the Friedrich's certainly had the lines, always makes me think of a greyhound. Very nicely done and you got the VDM prop decals correct 

[Wulfman]

Beautiful build and finish, great modelling !

 

Wulfman

[Tbolt]

That's very nicely done and great work on the aerial wire I can never get them that good.

 

Since you  asked for constructive criticism I'll just mention a few points about the pictures. They are nicely composed but your shallow depth of field give makes the model feel very small. I noticed you've used f5.6 which is too large an aperture for taking close up pictures of a model, I would try at least f16. Also most of your pictures are a little dark, I see you've used multi-segment metering with no bias. The problem here is although your model is in fairly dark colours you've got a white background and since cameras meter for medium grey it's metered the whole frame and made them a bit dark. With a scene like this start by dialing in one stop (+1) of extra light and adjust from there.

[Spitfire31]

Beautifully crafted model of arguably the best looking 109, the Friedrich.

 

Adding to Tbolt's knowledgeable photo advice, I'd also suggest using a simple piece of white styrene or cardbord, angled as a reflector to catch the overhead light, in order to give a bit of fill-in light on the dark side of the object. A bit of soft bounce light is often helpful.

 

Excellent modelling!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[Isak]

Thanks for the positive feedback. 

@Tbolt, Great tips, will try to incorporate this the next time. Appreciate the specific nature of your help, very useful. Also, the aerial is a mig jimenez elastic thread, quite a handful to handle, but easy to tighten up right.

 

Isak 

[trickydicky210]

Very nice build