Rabbit Leader Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 Whilst spraying about a bit of RLM 02 the other day, I thought to myself.. why waste the leftover paint in the Airbrush cup.. so time was ripe to pick up and start another classic Heller German subject. Now this little gem of a kit came about in quite surprising circumstances. Just before this huge GB started, a fairly off the cuff remark I made in one of @fightersweep’s many chat posts resulted in a surprise PM and an offer to send a copy of this kit my way. To say I was blown by the immense generosity was a huge understatement, so its only fitting I build this kit as both a tribute to Steve and to all the well natured and kind fellow BM members that share this fantastic pastime. Dennis @Corsairfoxfouruncle has already built a beautiful version of this kit, so that’s some additional motivation to add one of these to my cabinet as well. This will be my third German subject (in addition to the He 112 and Fw 56) and I also have the lovely Arado Ar 96 that I keep fondling with. This is a well known model and this later boxing still comes with fine crisp raised panel lines that might be hard to retain, especially those that wrap around the fuselage. I’ll stop short of re-scribing it and just enjoy building it as close to OOB as I can get away with. Cheers and once again big that’s to Fighetrsweep! ... Dave 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightersweep Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 Thank you Dave! The pleasure was all mine, and just trying to give something back to BM for all the help I've had in the past (Such as @Foxbat kindly sending me replacement decals for my P.11 build...more on that in the thread soon) Enjoy the build! This little Heller Messerschmitt is a gem of a model, and for it's age, looks like a recent release in the box. Another build thread to follow! The 109B was going to be the next kit I throw in the hat, along with the 109E. The Arado 96B was another on my radar, so I'm thinking we have very similar tastes. What plans do you have for the markings? Cheers; Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted October 30, 2020 Author Share Posted October 30, 2020 Nice to hear from you Steve. As for markings, I’m thinking a typical Spanish Civil War B model although the exact serial / number is still a little undecided. I quite like 6-27 which has a two tone upper scheme of RLM 62 & 63, although I’m also liking what appears to be the very early silver schemes too. I’ll do some more research and see how I get on. The only thing stopping me from tacking the Ar 96 is a decent set of decals, however I might just stump up for the Mark I Book / Decal combo set which has quite a few examples on offer. If I buy it, I can send you some decals too! Cheers.. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klr Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 28 minutes ago, fightersweep said: Thank you Dave! The pleasure was all mine, and just trying to give something back to BM for all the help I've had in the past (Such as @Foxbat kindly sending me replacement decals for my P.11 build...more on that in the thread soon) Enjoy the build! This little Heller Messerschmitt is a gem of a model, and for it's age, looks like a recent release in the box. Another build thread to follow! The 109B was going to be the next kit I throw in the hat, along with the 109E. The Arado 96B was another on my radar, so I'm thinking we have very similar tastes. What plans do you have for the markings? Cheers; Steve I rate the B/C and E as the best of the 5 Heller Bf 109 kits, and in other circumstances, I'd be building at least one of them for this GB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightersweep Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 3 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said: The only thing stopping me from tacking the Ar 96 is a decent set of decals, however I might just stump up for the Mark I Book / Decal combo set which has quite a few examples on offer. If I buy it, I can send you some decals too! Exactly the same here. Pulled the Arado kit out, went onto Hannants and found very little on offer. I think there were a few sheets for Ar-96s and Avias in solely Czech schemes, but I don't think the was one sheet available for any German options. Must say I was a bit surprised by that. Thanks for the offer though. Appreciated! 3 hours ago, klr said: I rate the B/C and E as the best of the 5 Heller Bf 109 kits, and in other circumstances, I'd be building at least one of them for this GB. Agreed! I was having a look at a first issue 109E I have last night, and it is a very nice kit indeed. I now have a serious itch to enter it into the GB. I built one way back in 84/85 and I remember being really pleased with it. I've got a second issue K-4 on the go at the moment, and I'm enjoying that a lot too. Nice that Heller gave us the B/C/D, E, F G, and K. Can't think of any other company that offered that many variants of the 109. Steve 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 Hello Dave dont forget that 109’s had a panel line that runs the entire length of the upper and lower spine of the rear fuselage. So you don't need to remove that join line when sanding, filling this. If you need photo’s let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 1 hour ago, fightersweep said: Nice that Heller gave us the B/C/D, E, F G, and K. Can't think of any other company that offered that many variants of the 109 Hobby-craft/Academy did the entire line in 1/48 including the “T” not sure if they did them in 1/72 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted October 30, 2020 Share Posted October 30, 2020 Very nice! I'll follow the build as I've got a half-baked idea in the back of my head that I'd like to do at least one of each of the marks of 109 (don't ask about the sub-types!) and this could be the impetus I need to look seriously at an earlier version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted October 31, 2020 Share Posted October 31, 2020 Great stuff Dave You are going to have a great selection of completed kits at this rate. Cheers Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted November 6, 2020 Author Share Posted November 6, 2020 Update #1 - Construction starts Made a small start to this nice Heller kit, although still a little unsure as to the version and final scheme to do. From what I can tell the kit best represents a C / D version as these have the shorter leading edge slats and wing guns (which are fared over but provided by Heller). The kit also includes the round engine exhaust ejector stubs of the C / D, whilst the B version had flush exhaust pipes. Unlike my He 112, I’ve elected not to box in the wheel wells, although did add two thin plastic strips to add a little detail. All internal surfaces were painted Model Master RLM 02 and picked out with some other colours for a little fun! I’ve added some Wako Fabric seat belts that are not exactly correct, however will do the job to busy up the cockpit. Whilst applying a Matt coat, I stupidly placed the right fuselage half on some paper towel that was soaked in Lacquer thinner. When I finally realised what I’d done, the crisp plastic had reacted to the paper and caused some minor damage. To be honest, its not that bad, however very annoying and hopefully I can retain the fine raised detail when it comes time to sanding and repairing the damage. Cheers.. Dave 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 Ouch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted November 16, 2020 Author Share Posted November 16, 2020 Update #2 - Main construction completed Since I last updated this WIP, I did manage to recover the Lacquer Thinner mess above, so thankfully that was some relief. The overall fit of parts was quite pleasing, however I did think that the wing to fuselage gap was a little too large. I quickly made up a set off plastic card shims to close this up and these were sanded down to the height and contour of the wing upper surface. I'm happy with their outcome and the neater join that resulted. All the internal parts were glued in and when dry the two fuselage halves were cemented together. Quite a bit of time was spent sanding and filling all the joins to achieve that 'seam free' look, although lets see how they turn out once paint is applied! Naturally with all this sanding I did lose quite a bit of the fuselage raised panel lines so made an attempt to recreate these by cementing some small pieces of stretched sprue across the top and bottom of the rear fuselage. I think I may have sanded them down a little too much, however there is still a hint of them there which is the effect I was after. She's now pretty much ready for the paint stage, so it'll have some solid colour in the next update. Cheers.. Dave 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted November 16, 2020 Share Posted November 16, 2020 Hi Dave, great build so far of a Bipala! I am sure the final result will be tasty!!! Keep at it. JR 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Law Posted November 17, 2020 Share Posted November 17, 2020 Nice work Dave. I'm just catching up now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted November 17, 2020 Share Posted November 17, 2020 Nice work Dave... These really are some nice kits of the early 109’s. Id love to build more someday so many schemes to choose from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme H Posted November 22, 2020 Share Posted November 22, 2020 I built this one back in the '80's, still looks good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnson Posted November 23, 2020 Share Posted November 23, 2020 What a great little kit Dave! A bit more of an usual 109 (I'm getting temped...!) And coming on nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 Hi Dave Your 109 was coming together really nicely when we last heard from you. As we have been fortunate enough to be given an additional 2 weeks for this GB, I do hope you are able to return to this one to complete it. Cheers Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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