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Eduard 1/48 Bf 109G-4 R6 Trop ***Finished***


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Bf 109G-4 R6 Trop

Oblt Frank Schiehs CO 8/ JG 53 

Tindja, Tunisia April 1943

 

After a hiatus post the Battle of Britain GB thanks to a combination of family and work commitments, I’m hoping to get back in to the GB groove!

 

Now bottom line upfront.... I know absolutely zip about the 109, so I’ll be reliant on Eduard’s research, t’interweb and fellow BM’ers!

 

This 109 (potentially the first of a few!) is an Eduard weekend boxing and I’ve chosen the desert scheme, partly because I think they look cool, but mainly because I’m a little nervous about mottling for my first one for this GB so applied the ‘Keep it simple, stupid’ rule!

 

On to the line of departure....

 

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This will be pretty much straight from the box - although I have a cockpit mask (for a G-6) and an instrument panel and belts (for a G-10). Hopefully those will be ok (close enough for Government work) but if I’m about to set myself up for a drama please do let me know and I’ll see if I can find the appropriate variant extras. 
 

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1 hour ago, Steve 1602 said:

I’ve chosen the desert scheme, partly because I think they look cool

Absolutely agree Steve, I hope to do a desert scheme in this GB as well. Best wishes for your build.

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Hi Steve,

The Weekend Editions often put a couple of excellent subjects in the box and going for the desert scheme is an excellent choice.. Welcome back to the GB's.

Ray

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6 hours ago, Ray_W said:

Hi Steve,

The Weekend Editions often put a couple of excellent subjects in the box and going for the desert scheme is an excellent choice.. Welcome back to the GB's.

Ray

Cheers Ray - yes there are some really nice weekend kits out there (although I think the ‘weekend’ claim is a bit of a stretch for me!  It’s good to have some time to get involved in the GBs again!

 

Some glue to plastic this evening and the cockpit tub is assembled. Should be able to start some painting tomorrow at some point. 
 

Early days but I like what I’ve seen so far of this kit. 
 

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A little bit of progress and some paint on the ‘pit. 
I used Eduard etched seatbelts rather than the decals, but other than that it’s per the box. 
I may try to get the fuselage joined up this evening. It’s a really nice kit to build so far. 
 

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1 hour ago, modelling minion said:

Very nice job on the cockpit Steve, good detail painting.

 

27 minutes ago, jackroadkill said:

She's looking great, Steve.  I'm enjoying seeing her come together, and if the rest looks as good as the cockpit....

Thanks both! 
 

I thought it would be worth a close up of the IP - this is one of the Eduard look sets. It’s for a G-10 rather than a G-4, but it seems to fit and it’ll do for me (apologies for any 109 devotees who have just spat coffee (ersatz naturally) all over their monitors at my ‘close enough’ approach!). Sometimes little or no knowledge is a good thing! 

 

 

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I have this kit and planning to do the other paint scheme.  The problem with all these BF109's is they have so many cool paint schemes that you always end up wanting to build another one.  I'm really looking forward to seeing the desert scheme.

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On 6/6/2021 at 12:06 AM, The Rib Man said:

I have this kit and planning to do the other paint scheme.  The problem with all these BF109's is they have so many cool paint schemes that you always end up wanting to build another one.  I'm really looking forward to seeing the desert scheme.

Thanks - yes there certainly seems to be a huge variety of schemes to choose from, so much so that I may have to build more of them (at least it will balance out my Spitfire obsession!)

 

A bit of progress over the weekend and the cockpit tub and IP were installed

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I found the the inserts for the nose mounted MGs needed a little fettling to get them to sit correctly, but they finished up ok

 

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Then it was just a matter of lining everything up and closing the fuselage with Tamiya extra thin.

 

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I had to take my time with the fuselage as there are no locating lugs - which was a surprise. there's also been a bit of flash to remove - nothing major but not something I have encountered with the Eduard Spitfires. All that said, it's a really lovely little kit to build. Rapidly approaching the point where I can start putting some paint on it.

 

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Nice work Steve

 

I built an Eduard G-10 Erla last year, to date my only Eduard 109, and was surprised like you to find a bit of flash around the fuselage halves. Not a big issue but as per the lack of location pins but just not what you might expect with bang up to date Eduard. 
 

Keep up the going work. 
 

James

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Thanks James 👍

Im glad I’m not the only one who was surprised - I had to double check that I hadn’t accidentally sanded off locating lugs!

 

And now we have wings! I hope to finish the rest of the major assembly this evening and then I can start to treat the seams. 

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Nice progress Steve. Good job with the gun fairings and thanks for the reminder, I had found the same on a previous build of this kit and since forgotten. Looks like you did very well with the alignment of the fuselage halves.

 

Ray

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9 hours ago, Ray_W said:

Nice progress Steve. Good job with the gun fairings and thanks for the reminder, I had found the same on a previous build of this kit and since forgotten. Looks like you did very well with the alignment of the fuselage halves.

 

Ray

Cheers Ray - it’s definitely one of those “check and check again before gluing” moments! 

Im still going to lose some of the detail on the spine and in front of the cockpit unfortunately- some rescribing May be necessary 

 

6 hours ago, Mottlemaster said:

Looking good Steve. I'm hoping to get a G6 AS started later next month and your clear build tired will compliment the Eduard instructions.

Cheers Alistair

Thanks Alistair - I have just discovered that I didn’t open the holes for the cannon fairings under the wings, so don’t follow too hard! 😆🤦‍♂️
 

Steve

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16 hours ago, srkirad said:

Looking good so far - PE belts really raised the look of cockpit!

 

Cheers,

S.

Thanks S - they are really nice and very easy to work with. Certainly worth the extra £. They came as part of the Eduard Look set - so instrument panel and belts.

 

The airframe is largely complete now with all the things that should be hanging down well hung….

A bit of PPP along the seams that needed it and I think that after a final tidy up and some rescribing,  I’ll pretty much be ready for some primer.

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Tidy work Steve. Now am I mistaken or have you filled the central seams running down the rear fuselage?

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1 hour ago, Col. said:

Tidy work Steve. Now am I mistaken or have you filled the central seams running down the rear fuselage?

Not completely Col - there were a couple of small gaps that needed filler but in the main I’ve taken as much filler away as possible and will then lightly rescribe once the filler has hardened along with the frame lines. I think it should have some evidence of panel lines fore and aft - but I’m far from a position of knowledge here! 
 

Steve

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1 hour ago, Longbow said:

If you don't mind, I may take that tip for masking the area prior to filling and sanding !!

I had never thought of that !!

Of course! I think I picked it up on the Spitfire group build when trying to avoid taking away panel detail on the cowling. There’s some lovely detail in the mouldings here which I didn’t want to lose with wayward sanding! 
Steve

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