Another Airfix Dogfight Double in 1/72

[Olmec Head]

Like everyone of a certain age, I remember the original dogfight doubles by Airfix.  I would like to do my next build for the GB as a dogfight double using the old favourites:

 

 

Both are skill level 1 which is ideal.

 

I have dug out some old decals and will do the two as:

 

 

I have done a few Spitfires, but not a Me109 (not since the age of 9 anyway).  Yellow 12 seems easy because it has no mottling and is straight forward, the only problem is that it has an early canopy and back armour plate and the Airfix kit has the E-4 later canopy.  Also any suggestions on RLM 02 for the wheel wells please as I am going to use Tamiya RAF MSG or Ocean Grey as a an approximate.

[Stew Dapple]

That's a bold venture starting two kits at this stage OH - gotta admire the cut of your jib

 

There isn't really an easy substitute for the Airfix 109 canopy I'm afraid, would be quickest and easiest just to go with the E-4 canopy and claim artistic licence/necessity. Depends how puritanical you are about these things. 

 

Dennis @Corsairfoxfouruncle has a mix for RLM63 here which is similar to RLM02, a little white to the mix ought to get you in the ballpark; if you'd prefer not to mix at all I think Ocean Grey would be a better approximate tonal match than Medium Sea Grey.

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

4 minutes ago, Stew Dapple said:

There isn't really an easy substitute for the Airfix 109 canopy I'm afraid, would be quickest and easiest just to go with the E-4 canopy and claim artistic licence/necessity. Depends how puritanical you are about these things. 

A lot of 109’s were upgraded with the later canopies for the armor protection. You could just say it was a field upgrade/damage replacement ? 

[Olmec Head]

7 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

That's a bold venture starting two kits at this stage OH - gotta admire the cut of your jib

 

There isn't really an easy substitute for the Airfix 109 canopy I'm afraid, would be quickest and easiest just to go with the E-4 canopy and claim artistic licence/necessity. Depends how puritanical you are about these things. 

 

Dennis @Corsairfoxfouruncle has a mix for RLM63 here which is similar to RLM02, a little white to the mix ought to get you in the ballpark; if you'd prefer not to mix at all I think Ocean Grey would be a better approximate tonal match than Medium Sea Grey.

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

I'll try the paint mix thanks Stew, yes you are probably right about the canopy.

 

6 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

A lot of 109’s were upgraded with the later canopies for the armor protection. You could just say it was a field upgrade/damage replacement ? 

 Thanks Dennis, unfortunately the photos of the original aircraft when it crashed show the early canopy I think.  But I might be the only one who knows that!

[Olmec Head]

I had forgotten that I was doing this!

 

Which is not good when it only has a week before the GB finishes.

 

The Airfix 1/72 Spitfire and Bf/ Me (whichever you prefer) 109e went together well, the 109e less so as it is a bit more complicated parts wise that the Spitfire.  I keep forgetting that painting before fitting together does cause problems in most if not all Airfix kits (modern at least, perhaps they should bring back the old rivets of the 60s and 70s - they seem to be in again).  The lower flaps seemed easy, but the lugs weren't accurate and so I had to judge and fit them, one side not so well, it might need rework perhaps.  They are now sprayed with Halford's white and ready for painting.  With next Saturday as the cut off, it will be a very much OOB simple build.

 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by Olmec Head
Redid links.

[Olmec Head]

Paint now on

 

Just a short update, I have airbrushed the two aircraft and removed the masking, both now need some minor touching up.

 

 

 

The Luftwaffe colours are probably a bit off and I overdid the lightening on the Black/ green for the 109, hopefully the markings will reduce this.  The Spitfire needs walkway lines.

The next main issue will be painting the 109 canopy as a E1 model,  I have sanded off the original kit frames for the E4 unfortunately slightly damaging the canopy when the sprue suddenly snapped.  Hopefully, the damage can be repaired with canopy glue as a filler.  I think I will glue the 3 parts of the 109 canopy to the model, remembering to fit the gunsight first, and then try to paint the frames.  The spitfire is easier! and only needs the knock out pane fixed on.  

[Cookenbacher]

Wonderfully quick work!

[Olmec Head]

49 minutes ago, Cookenbacher said:

Wonderfully quick work!

Thanks Cookie, its called a wet afternoon without anything to do , the pub being not much fun currently following the covid temperance rules that would make a Methodist blush and shops being like something out of a post apocalypse second rate film.  Next is decals and then trying to do the revised canopy for 109e.

[Olmec Head]

Pressing On - 

 

Just another quick update:  I have painted the cockpit framing for the two planes.  The Spitfire was easier, although the canopy is always a tight fit.  For the Me109, the canopy was painted to represent a E1 rather than the later E4 canopy supplied in the Airfix kit.  It was a bit bodgy and the canopy had taken a bit of damage when I had sanded down the frames originally.  That said it looks reasonable from a distance!  It does alter the look of the Me109.

 

 

The yellow nose has a bit of tape over it to stop me rubbing the paint off.  The aircraft was an E-1, but I am assuming it would have had the wing cannon refit.  If not, perhaps that's why it got shot down! 

 

Next are markings.  I'll use the 'Future' (Lakeland manufacture) mixed with a little water that seems to work well to bed down the markings without silvering.

[Olmec Head]

Abandoned due to Airfix poor kit design

 

I have put together the Spitfire XT-W without an issue as I know by now the design foibles of the kit.  I have abandoned the Me 109e as the poor design of the Airfix kit has finally defeated me.  Having painted it and decaled it i was ready to finish off the small parts.  The tail strut snapped and so I made another from plastic card.  The antennae snapped due to the large sprue gate attachment.  So I quickly did another plastic card replacement.  The horn balances I knew would not cut away easily again because the sprue gates were to large for the items.  As time was pressing I decided to abandon these.  The final straw was that the exhaust strips would not fit at all into the nose 'gaps', sanding the nose was not working and trying to reduce the exhausts to fit in was fiddly and again the fundamental problem was that Airfix had not designed the kit properly.  So unfortunately, I have abandoned the kit as the nose and exhausts were too badly damaged by the sanding to be worth salvaging.  I don't mind dealing with my errors, but I am not impressed by items just not fitting, yes I should have pre-fitted and tried it, but you would hope that modern kits fit.  It seems a definite problem with modern Airfix kits that you need to build them twice to find the problems and faults and nearly everyone I have built has had some form of significant fault in its design.  As you can guess I am not a fan of Airfix anymore!