PART 1: A Quiver of Bulgarian Arrows - Early Emil (1/48 Eduard Bf-109 E4 -> E3) ***FINISHED***

[modelling minion]

Neat bit of masking on that canopy Ray, nice to see someone else who makes their own rather than using pre-cut ones.

She does indeed look to be very close to getting some paint on her.

[Ray_W]

And some paint.

 

I undercoated areas where I wanted to check the finish with White Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 thinned with Mr Color Leveling Thinner (MLT). Usually I use grey but in this case the white also provides a nice base for the yellow. 

 

 

 

I then sprayed the RLM 04 areas (Mr Color 113 + MLT) with quite a broad coverage to ensure the area to be masked is fully accommodated. Note that the yellow over the white gives quick and easy coverage. Seems I got a little energetic in some places. I will respray with Black Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 to provide a consistent base for the camo colours after masking the yellow.

 

 

 

I will now leave this till the weekend. I always prefer to give plenty of drying time before applying masks even over a quick drying and robust lacquer coat.  Besides, I now have to mark out and make the masks. 

 

Ray

 

 

[modelling minion]

Very nice Ray, the white primer has worked very well and really made the yellow a nice colour.

[Ray_W]

Up very early this morning and thought the yellow was sufficiently dry so decided to crack on and get some other colours on.

 

Masked the yellow.

 

 

Gave it a black undercoat with Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 being careful to not load the edge of the masks.

 

 

 

Marble coat with Mr Color C115 RLM65.

 

 

And finished.  

 

 

Next the top coats.

 

Ray

 

 

 

 

 

[Retired Bob]

Nice masking and paintwork Ray, I always use a matt white primer for red and yellow as well. 

[Steve 1602]

Looking really good Ray 

[Longbow]

Beautiful build so far !!

You aircraft guys get everything looking so neat !!

I should just take up knitting, before I embarrass myself

[Ray_W]

On 6/4/2021 at 7:12 PM, Retired Bob said:

I always use a matt white primer for red and yellow

 

Hi Bob, simple solution isn't it? 

 

On 6/4/2021 at 8:00 PM, Steve 1602 said:

Looking really good Ray 

 

Thanks Steve, it is coming together nicely. Turning out to be a most enjoyable deviation from usual Luftwaffe mottle.

 

On 6/4/2021 at 9:45 PM, Longbow said:

Beautiful build so far !!

Thanks for the kind words, it certainly is pleasing thus far and even more so after the step just completed. Read on.

 

Nice afternoon, perfect weather to finish the painting so onward.

 

I decided to go with Dénes Bernád's research of RLM71, RLM62 and RLM65 and used Gunze Mr Color lacquers. The Bulgarian camouflage seems a simple splinter so I kept it that way, as best I could from the references. Finished the top colour with a little bit of Gunze H85 "Sail" (yes it is out of the aqueous line but still mixes well with their lacquers) mixed in with the base colour to represent some fading and scuffing and then it was time for the drum roll and remove the masks.

 

Result?

 

Very pleasing. "Life is like a scale model covered in masking tape ...... "

 

 

A little bit of patching will be necessary on the top of the yellow stripe on the port side (darn, it will not be covered by the decal - "missed it by that much") and some over spray on the port elevator. 

 

 

The Bulgarian RLM62 scheme makes an interesting change swapping out the RLM02 or RLM70. 

 

 

 

I will leave this to dry overnight and then touch up the yellow and onto gloss coat and markings ... maybe 🤔 ... might need to do a little thinking about whether the Kora decals have sufficient opacity over those yellow stripes.

 

Ray

[Roberto]

Very very nice! Great paint job.

[Retired Bob]

Looking good Ray, that yellow really pops out against the drab camouflage.  Apart the cockpit and some detail parts I'm still quite away from a primer or camouflage painting. 

[Mottlemaster]

Lovely Paint job Ray . This one is going to standout in the gallery.

[MattG]

That looks lovely Ray! Great paint job. And I have learned something new with the white primer under yellow paint trick - I will use that on my 109!

 

Matt

[Ray_W]

15 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

that yellow really pops out against the drab camouflage

 

The photographs really do make it "pop". A little too much at the moment. I hope to tone it down with a faint filter.

 

5 hours ago, Mottlemaster said:

Lovely Paint job Ray

 

Thanks so much, all good so far. Soon at the decal stage when things can quickly go off the rails. For me, still the greatest variable in modelling. As you can tell by my collection and this is excluding what I have at home in Australia.

 

 

The left Revell bottle is Future. I am keen to try the Tamiya Decal Adhesive. Could be good for those nasty silvering decals that lack sufficient adhesive.  My preferred - Micro Set and Sol and occasionally bedding small decals in thinned Future. The Gunze NEO's ain't like the old Gunze Non-NEO's. 

 

Back to the 109, I put on a gloss coat of Gunze GX-100 Clear. With Gunze semi-gloss lacquers you can skip this step, if need be, and go straight to decals. I do like the gloss coat for protection of the colour coats, forms a consistent finish and, besides, it does assist with decals.

 

 

Coats are lovely and thin so build more gloss to your taste without losing detail.

 

  

My mix is about 3-4 parts Mr Color Leveling Thinner to 1 part GX100, shot at 15 psi (if you can believe my gauge) through my Iwata HP-CS 0.35 needle. Coats are moist for self-levelling, not wet. Do not flood. If you do, have a hair dryer handy to quickly evaporate the excess thinner. Add a little more thinner if hitting the surface dry.  Watch your overspray. I tend to work close.

 

You can see I threw on the prop for the photo op. Started the prop weathering with a silver metallic blade. On the rear face I sprayed the RLM70 black green toward the tip pulling up a little short. I notice on the photos of White 4 it tends to have this tip wear pattern. Also a tiny amount of silver showing on the leading edge.

 

 

Ray

[Johnson]

Lovely work as usual Ray. It's going to look very spectacular, and isn't it funny how putting the prop on the front makes a difference? Looks great. Good luck with the decals!

[Col.]

Smart paintwork and nice weathering work on the prop Ray  

[modelling minion]

Excellent work Ray, she is looking fantastic.

Interesting that the Bulgarian Emils were not painted in 70/71/65 but I really like the effect as there is more definition between the colours.

Looks like you have a nice glossy surface already, should really help with the decals going down.

I understand your concern about the opacity of the Kora decals, are you thinking of masking and spraying a white square for them to go on?

[Ray_W]

5 hours ago, Johnson said:

and isn't it funny how putting the prop on the front makes a difference?

 

Charlie, Sure does, and a nice stage we all like to reach.

 

4 hours ago, Col. said:

Smart paintwork and nice weathering work on the prop

Thanks Col. It is a really fun build so far.

 

2 hours ago, modelling minion said:

are you thinking of masking and spraying a white square for them to go on?

 

Hi Craig, I think the following answers your question.

 

Measured the decals with my trusty dividers and cut some masks a little underside.

 

 

Tip for those who may not have masked their markings before. Use the cut out piece as your guide. Much easier to position and get in the correct position. Then come back and lay the surrounding mask around the outside. Very true with roundels. Centre the little one and work your way out building it up. Then, remove the areas you wish to paint. 

 

 

Some white paint and ready to go. 

 

 

Looks like I have a masking stain on the top of the fuselage spine above the white square. Sure sign I masked too early. No problem. It will probably cover with a gloss coat although I will give it a light sand with 3000 and then touch it up with top spine colour. 

 

I did not bother with white squares on the underside.  Decals are on blue grey decal paper and look OK.

 

The white "4" also cuts across the yellow strip in two places. The leg of the 4 and sloping portion. 

 

 

Tomorrow I will mask those locations and spray across the yellow strip with the RLM62. At least give the decal a base with some commonality.

 

Ray

[modelling minion]

Well that answers my question doesn't it.

Very neat squares Ray, should help with the white of the decals.

[Ray_W]

7 hours ago, MattG said:

That looks lovely Ray! Great paint job.

 

Thanks Matt, glad you like it and happy the white undercoat for yellow was of some value.  

[Ray_W]

Just now, modelling minion said:

Very neat squares Ray, should help with the white of the decals.

 

I was going to write "Great minds think alike" but someone always has to say "And fools seldom differ".

[franky boy]

Great work as always Ray. 

 

Another stunner coming along the production line!

 

James

[Ray_W]

Thanks James @franky boy one of those nice builds with no drama up till now and the decals done!

 

It was the right call to do the white base for the national markings.

 

 

I made the decision to patch the "4"'s after application having seen one of the 4's was damaged on the decal sheet. A little post spraying will be necessary, once dry and encapsulated in some GX-100. 

 

 

The Kora decals were a delight to apply. You have to trim the carrier film. No issue and the carrier fill is nicely robust. Shame the printing was also not a fraction more dense and also similarly robust. Note the X on the port wing also needs a little repair. The Kora Decals have no such problem for my next build.

 

 

Very little in the way of stencilling visible on these Bulgarian E-3's. That's good, although I must admit I was raring to give them a go. First time use of Tamiya Decal Adhesive and found it an excellent product. I tend to think silvering has less to do with surface finish and more to do with decal adhesive and this product seems to solve the problem nicely. 

 

 

I decided to try the Tamiya product on the best (or should we say worst) decal for silvering in any 109 build - the "Frostschutzmittel". The key part of the word is frost for frosting or in other words silvering.  I cut myself a little slack on this stencil as this may of been in Cyrillic or not applied on these aircraft. The Tamiya product did a nice job indeed. A good result. We will see if I keep my enthusiasm on future builds. The next G-6 build is fully stencilled. 

 

 

The first decals I applied were the underside national markings (don't we all?).  These were done my usual way with Micro Set (under the decal) and Sol (top of the decal). All other markings were done with the Tamiya Decal Adhesive with an under decal application only. 

 

 

Look at that Tamiya treated black 4. I did not trim the carrier film from inside the 4. Can't complain about that result.

 

So time to leave this alone to thoroughly dry and then lightly coat the decals with GX-100 and then onto some weathering and finishing details.

 

Ray

[modelling minion]

Excellent job on the decals Ray, and definitely the right call to spray a white square for the upper surface markings.

I have not heard of the Tamiya decal adhesive before but it certainly seems like it has worked very well, one to look out for.

[Ray_W]

16 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

I have not heard of the Tamiya decal adhesive before but it certainly seems like it has worked very well, one to look out for.

 

I think so. Now has me keen enough to do all the stencilling on an F-4 suitably motivated by your great build in the Interceptor GB. 

 

I masked and painted over the numeral decals using snippets of Post-It label and de-tacked tape. Straight section at a time. Much better.

 

 

 

When you post pictures of your work you always see more to do. I must drill out that fuselage tail lift hole.

 

Ray

 

[Longbow]

That’s looking fantastic !!