1/72 Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-2/5/6 - Kit No 230 - *** FINISHED ***

[Johnson]

Heller Classic GB - 36 days left

 

I'm going to try to get this finished before the GB ends. According to the list of builds, no-one has built this kit yet, which seems a bit odd as the Me 109 is top of the 'Top 10 Popular Subjects'. I'm sure @JeroenS can correct me if I'm mistaken.

 

 

 

It comes in for a bit of criticism regarding it's accuracy, something to do with the fuselage length/shape, but it looks pretty good to me ! The detail - fine panel lines and fabric on flying surfaces - look beautiful.

 

With the time left, I think it's going to be pretty much OOB. OK some seatbelts and maybe the i/p seeing as the canopy can be modelled open which I always like.

 

Haven't thought about finish and markings yet.

 

Cheers,

[JeroenS]

Congratulations @Johnson, you are build #200! We've reached an amazing number of builds in this GB. 

 

Anyway, you're right, you're the first one building this particular Bf 109 kit. Your kit 230 actually descends from the new tool kit L081. @Toryu built the Bf 109F which also descends from this original tooling (according to our administration). For the rest we have B's, E's and a K. 

 

Including yours we now have 9 Bf 109 builds. 

 

Good luck with your build and I hope to see it in the gallery come January!

[JOCKNEY]

Well done Charlie

Not only a new kit to the GB but number 200 as well ! 

Cheers Pat 

[Wez]

Well done Charlie, congratulations on being No.200 in our humble little group build.

 

I was a big fan of this kit back in the day and made several of them.  ISTR the fabric surfaces had a very coarse representation of fabric on them.

 

Good luck with it.

[Johnson]

7 hours ago, Wez said:

ISTR the fabric surfaces had a very coarse representation of fabric on them

You're right of course Wez, if the weave were enlarged 72 times it would probably resemble very course sackcloth! And I have to ask... What does 'ISTR' mean? A new one on me (I will of course kick myself when I find out!)

 

Cheers,

[jean]

Nothing like a gentle sand papering to remove the hessian effect! It will still remain OOB.

ISTR: I seem to remember? Just guessing.

Great kit!!!

 

JR

[Johnson]

39 minutes ago, jean said:

ISTR: I seem to remember? Just guessing

Of course! Thanks Jean.

[Wez]

I seem to recall /remember, either works.

[Toryu]

My 'Friedrich', which seems to be from the original moulding, didn't have the fabric imitation on the control surfaces - so I added an optical illusion - but it was heavy with raised panel lines and rivets which I sanded off. Otherwise I guess your Gustav has the same weakness of too short wings and fuselage. I'm looking forward to compare your OOB build to see if any differences will actually be visible.

 

Good luck number 200. Michael

[vppelt68]

 for nostalgia: iirc my very first Britmodeller GB participation was this Heller kit in the first Bf 109 STGB. But, having also built the Heller F kit, I can assure you there's nothing in common with these two kits, except the manufacturer's logo!

V-P

[Johnson]

A start on the painting. RLM66 Schwarzgrau on the cockpit areas;

 

 

Seemed to go OK.

 

Then I needed to paint the wheel well bays, U/C and leg covers in RLM02 Grau, I know there's a tin in the box that's hardly been touched;

 

 

Hmm, that's not so good! And it's only 1998! 

 

I've got Humbrol Authentics going back to the 1960s which are still OK. A letter to Hannants I think! 

 

In the meantime, I may have some more in the stash, hopefully a bit newer.

 

Cheers,

[Toryu]

It's interesting - I looked again at the moulds above and saw that the prop has unusually narrow blades for a 'Gustav', while mine where much too paddle-blade for a 'Friedrich'. I did quite some sanding to adjust the profile. Had I seen yours before, we could have exchanged the props... 🤔

 

I also had problems with older Xtracolor enamels; they tend to become oily over time. Their acrylics are very good, though. I used a 10 year old RLM 02, and it was perfect.

 

Cheers, Michael

[Johnson]

3 hours ago, Toryu said:

I looked again at the moulds above and saw that the prop has unusually narrow blades for a 'Gustav',

Haven't got that far yet, I'll have to check them against the Tamiya G6 in the stash.

 

3 hours ago, Toryu said:

problems with older Xtracolor enamels; they tend to become oily over time

Yes, they go a bit solid and oily and that's the end of them, even when there is apparently lots left.

 

The second attempt at getting some RLM 02 on went much better;

 

 

and I even managed to brush some on the 'walls' of the wheel wells.

 

The Heller kit gets a bit more complicated when it comes to the bumps on top of the wings that accommodate the different size G2/G5/G6 wheels. To model the G6, the moulded on bumps have to be removed - easier said than done - and replaced by kit parts supplied. If (!) I've followed the instructions, this is what you get (not glued yet);

 

A - Wheel bumps according to Heller instructions

 

Probably a bit on the large size, but this is an OOB build and I think that they look OK. But compared to plans (I have three sets in different books), and the Tamiya G6, they should have the 'straight' edge of the bump on the outside, like so;

 

B - Wheel bumps according to plans

 

(Sorry about the grubby plan!)

 

Anyway, I'm not going to get in a spin about this, This is an OOB build and I'm going to follow the instructions as in the top photo A - Wheel bumps according to Heller instructions. But if anyone has a strong opinion on this, or you think I've misinterpreted the Heller instructions, please shout.

[Toryu]

You could maybe sand the bumps on their underside until they get flatter and then even cut a straight line with the scalpel?

[Johnson]

7 minutes ago, Toryu said:

You could maybe sand the bumps on their underside until they get flatter and then even cut a straight line with the scalpel?

 

Thanks Michael, I could alter the shape but I'm not intending to make any mods to the kit, it will be OOB. That wasn't really my question.

 

The way Heller would have you apply the bumps, they would be the wrong way round - according to the plans. Does it really matter? The more I think about it, the more I think I'll do it the Heller way.

 

Cheers,

[PeterB]

Hi Charlie,

 

I have had a look in a few of my books - Kagero, Mushroom, Squadron-Signal etc and both photos and plans show that the kit version is the wrong way round - should look something like this AFAIK.

However, it is entirely your choice as it is meant to be fun, not 100% accurate, which is impossible with most kits anyway, particularly ones of this vintage.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

 

PS "crossed in the post" with your last reply

Edited December 22, 2020 by PeterB

[Johnson]

As usual my OOB build is drifting away...

 

 

I added seatbelts, the latest Eduard steel prepainted jobs. Very thin and easy to bend and arrange, but I'm not entirely convinced by the 'shading' Mr Sulc was so pleased with 'Relief is achieved through a somewhat complicated application of colours, and to that was added a weathering-slash-staining effect.' Hyperscale review here. I also added some old Reheat models rudder pedals.

 

The people at Heller obviously used their imagination with the i/p. It's a complete fantasy and bears little or no resemblance to the real thing at all. And looking at the pic (funny how you see things in a pic that you miss when building) the control stick looks a little on the hefty side! But hey-ho, it will look fine I'm sure.

 

I've also compromised the OOB build on the wing bumps that I was agonising over earlier. I decided I couldn't live with what Heller were suggesting and I've straightened the long edge (as Michael @Toryu suggested) and reversed them to match the plans. The long edge shouldn't be exactly perpendicular to the leading edge, so I measured it from the plans and from the Tamiya Bf 109G-6 1/72 wings (and noticed that the Tamiya's bumps are very slightly different in their angle!) I did reduce their size a bit but they're still a bit on the big side. Still, If I wanted a spot-on accurate 109G I be building the Tamiya kit (probably not the last time I'll say that).

 

Thanks for looking.

[Toryu]

On 24/12/2020 at 13:37, Johnson said:

I've also compromised the OOB build

 

Oh yes, Charlie, you're really mistreating this poor Heller gem! 😁 But it looks so much better. My own last OOB model dates back 25 years or so. Nevertheless, I love looking at fine OOB results - you see so many here in this groupbuild.

[Johnson]

The kit went together very well, a little filler needed here and there and a nice join of the wings to the fuselage.

 

 

 

The aerial mast, which needed to be moved forward a tad, immediately disappeared and was presumably a victim of the carpet monster, An intensive search failed to find any trace of it despite help from the dog, who always appears when I'm praying to the Carpet Monster Gods. Of course, it may have been a victim -  as are many items in our house - of the dog. New one fabricated from the original Heller plastic so I still count this as 95% OOB.

 

And yes, I can see the gap on the MG131 cowling bulges. I'm hoping the Mr Surfacer primer (tomorrow when Ms J is out shopping) will hide the gap.

 

Thanks for looking!

[Johnson]

The suggested Heller scheme for a G-6 and decals weren't really what I wanted, so a rummage in the decals box and I found some old Aeromaster Decals; Reich Defense, part IV - Gustavs;

 

 

I've settled on scheme C, Black 8 of 2/JG 302. But it won't be finished as the profile above which specifies RLM84 (we won't go there) with RLM 82 and 81A (A?).

 

Asisbiz has a couple of good photos of this plane. The band around the front cowling and the rudder are probably white, not yellow. From the pattern of paint just visible on the starboard wing, this looks like it might have been a Regensburg produced aircraft finished in RLMs 74/75/76. Asisbiz label this plane as Red 8, which I suppose it could well be, but is it possible to tell from the photos? Red and black looking much the same on ortho b&w film.

 

 

Although it isn't visible, the spinner would probably have been 1/3 white, 2/3 RLM 70 schwartzgrun. This is just visible on the second plane in this photo;

 

 

Progress has been a bit slow, but the paint is now going on.

 

 

 

Cheers,

[fightersweep]

That Gustav is coming along very nicely Charlie! Looking good. Nice choice on the colour scheme too, although option D on the decal sheet is pretty cool also.

 

Steve

[Johnson]

Thanks Steve!

 

24 minutes ago, fightersweep said:

although option D on the decal sheet is pretty cool also

 

I quite agree and this was initially my first choice, a very different and challenging finish. But the Aeromaster decals of the bat against the sky on the cowling are probably incorrect, all other sources have a blue circle behind the bat. So I've decided that I'll build Ofw Arnold Döring's Red 6 with the Tamiya G-6 and the Owl decals in the Bf 109 STGB which starts at the end of May.

 

This is what it really looked like;

 

 

Modelled really well by Brian Geiger; http://hsfeatures.com/features04/bf109g632briangeiger_1.htm

 

As you say - cool!

 

Cheers,

[fightersweep]

Thanks Charlie for the info on Arnold Doring's G-6. The appearance of the hastily applied colours on the "correct" version make more sense. Shame though as the "incorrect" profile on the decal sheet looks really nice.

[Johnson]

9 minutes ago, fightersweep said:

Shame though as the "incorrect" profile on the decal sheet looks really nice.

 

Absolutely agree Steve, and easier to paint as well. The 'mess' they made of his G-6 in an effort to make it invisible at night will be hard to achieve at 1/72.

[Johnson]

The bumps had to go! 

 

Anyone following this may know that I was trying to keep this build as OOB as possible, but also that I had issues with the size of the parts that Heller provided for the wheel well bumps on top of the wings. I'd already reduced them in size, but they were still bugging me. A comparison to the Tamiya bumps was the last straw;

 

 

There was no way I could live with them, so out with a new No 10A scalpel...

 

 

A bit of clean up with 400 wet & dry, new bumps from .0020" plasticard;

 

 

A coat of Mr Surfacer;

 

 

It was all a bit of a faff - I should have done this to start with, but a better result, and I can live with them now .

 

Now maybe I can get some paint on the wings!

 

Back soon, cheers!