1/72 Airfix Messerschmitt Bf 110 E Trop +++ FINISHED +++

[Fukuryu]

On 11/11/2021 at 7:16 AM, TonyOD said:

I don't know why but it's always tickled me that the Germans use the same word for "sky" and "heaven"

 

FWIW... It's also the same word in Spanish (cielo).

Edited November 14, 2021 by Fukuryu

[TonyOD]

As I said it lacks the finesse of my preceding Tamiya build, @opus999, but I haven't come across any issues with fit and the few little corrections I've taken on aren't very demanding. It's great fun actually. You could fly an X-Wing down those panel lines, mind 

[opus999]

3 minutes ago, TonyOD said:

As I said it lacks the finesse of my preceding Tamiya build, @opus999, but I haven't come across any issues with fit and the few little corrections I've taken on aren't very demanding. It's great fun actually. You could fly an X-Wing down those panel lines, mind 

"You worry about those fighters! I'll worry about the tower!"

 

I'm not sure if you've seen it, but @Bertie Psmith took to using 3d printing resin and a UV flashlight as a filler.  Apparently it works very well for filling in very deep panel lines -- not that I'm suggesting you do that now that your paint is already on!  I thought I might give it a go with my Airfix Spitfire Mk. 1 and pencil in the panel lines at the end.  Just an idea to tuck away for the future...

[Bertie McBoatface]

3 minutes ago, opus999 said:

I'm not sure if you've seen it, but @Bertie Psmith took to using 3d printing resin and a UV flashlight as a filler.  Apparently it works very well for filling in very deep panel lines -

 

I didn't test it on that. Hang on a minute though.

[opus999]

I must've heard some one else say it.  Or it might've been the voices in my head...  that's always possible.  

[Bertie McBoatface]

 

Airfix spitfire radiator.

 

 

Sorted. It passed the fingernail test. I can't feel a thing when I run a nail across it. (The resin is black)

 

Sorry it took so long. Most of the time was the photography!

[Bertie McBoatface]

Details on page nine of this.

 

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

13 minutes ago, opus999 said:

I must've heard some one else say it.  Or it might've been the voices in my head...  that's always possible.  

 

I did use it to eliminate some panel lines that I scribed badly. I remember now.

[72modeler]

On 10/20/2021 at 11:08 PM, VG 33 said:

the back of the upper wing engine cowlings are not so right. 

Yep- the upper nacelle fairings extend too far back, going over the wing flaps, when they should end before the flap line- fixable, but a pain in the a--; that is the most visible error, along with the trench-like scribing, but the two releases aren't really bad kits, and they do have some very nice detail parts. With better research, they could have been state of the art kits.

Mike

[TonyOD]

12 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Yep- the upper nacelle fairings extend too far back, going over the wing flaps, when they should end before the flap line- fixable, but a pain in the a--;

I sorted that with some sanding sticks, not that bad.

 

12 hours ago, 72modeler said:

along with the trench-like scribing,

...which remains in all its cavernous glory!

[72modeler]

8 hours ago, TonyOD said:

...which remains in all its cavernous glory!

Tony,

If the panel lines on the Airfix kit were merely too deep, you could fill them by brushing  primer  the gaps and then lightly sanding the edges smooth, but they are too deep and too wide, so if the gaps are filled, then you have to go back and rescribe, which will be almost impossible, as the filler inevitably chunks out. If you are up to it, some people I know fill the panels lines completely and sand the surface smooth; after applying a  coat of primer, they re-create the panel lines, using a drafting pencil. In 1/72 scale, this is very effective, and the pencil marks are sealed when the model is clear coating after the decals are applied. This technique is also very effective in highlighting panel lines that are  scribed, or highlighting control surfaces and trim tabs. It's actually pretty easy, but the filling, sanding, and penciling in all the panels is labor intensive.

 

Glad to hear correcting the upper nacelle contours wasn't   a real effort; I have the Airfix  Bf-110C and E/trop, as well as the Eduard C/D. F, and G kits, but I might just hang onto both and crosskit to do a Bf-110D/trop, as I really like the trop bits and the extended tail cone that housed a dinghy. Good luck on your project!

Mike

[Sturmovik]

5 hours ago, 72modeler said:

but they are too deep and too wide,

Maybe Airfix was thinking on those who brush paint? Brushing needs more coats to properly cover a surface than using an airbrush, maybe it's that?

Edited November 16, 2021 by Sturmovik

[Hook]

5 hours ago, Sturmovik said:

Maybe Airfix was thinking on those who brush paint? Brushing needs more coats to properly cover a surface than using an airbrush, maybe it's that?

I almost get the impression that the idea was to make a die cast model-slash-toyof the CAD drawings. This would also jive with the missing bits like the aileron mass balances and underfuselage towel rail antennae. 

10 hours ago, 72modeler said:

as I really like the trop bits and the extended tail cone that housed a dinghy.

The Eduard kit is the only 1/72nd one I'm aware of that correctly represents the prominent Bf 110D style port side cable connecting the dinghy location to the cockpit.

 

It could be added to the Airfix with a bit of stretched sprue and Tamiya Extra Thin to melt it to the fuselage. 

 

On 11/14/2021 at 8:00 PM, Fukuryu said:

 

FWIW... It's also the same word in Spanish (cielo).

"Hemel" is the same in Dutch - it can be used both for the actual sky (for which we can also emply "lucht") and the metaphorical thingy. 

 

Cheers,

 

Andre 

 

[72modeler]

14 hours ago, Sturmovik said:

Maybe Airfix was thinking on those who brush paint?

I don't know a lot about injection molding and creating the dies that are used to stamp out the parts, but IIRC, to make a scribed versus raised panel line or panel on an injected kit, there must be a raised surface of some sort to create the indented detail. To put the kind of a raised surface that you see on say a 1/72 Tamiya, Hasegawa, Arma, Fujimi, or Special Hobby kit, must involve some very fine and precise moldmaking. The Airifx kits seem to me to achieve their panel lines by maybe using some very fine metal strips brazed/welded? to the molds, as that would appear to be quicker and easier...that might account for the excessive width of the scribed details. Back in the day, raised panel lines were easy- you just cut a line into the mold, and Bob's your Uncle, as they say in the UK! (Sure would love to see a Tamiya or Arma Hobby mold maker at work, but I guess they would have to kill you after you'd seen their secrets!) 

Mike

 

@Hook

Wow- I had forgotten all about the dinghy release cable; thanks for reminding me so I don't do something stupid and sand it off as a mold defect!  

[Bertie McBoatface]

20 hours ago, 72modeler said:

if the gaps are filled, then you have to go back and rescribe, which will be almost impossible, as the filler inevitably chunks out.

 

But not if you use the UV resin as a filler. Then you can scribe very fine lines in exactly the same places as the Airfix ones. But as you say, VERY labour intensive!

[TonyOD]

On 11/16/2021 at 4:51 PM, Bertie Psmith said:

But as you say, VERY labour intensive!

 

I don't "do" labour intensive! 

[TonyOD]

Chaos reigns. Started getting some Sandgelb on. The colour and the panel lines lend it the air of a flying armadillo. Nothing much will be happening this weekend because SWMBO has unexpectedly signed my pass to clear off to the Lakes and climb some mountains. I suspect she has a fancy man.

 

[TonyOD]

Well, the Biffer is painted up, the many coats of Sandgelb haven’t done any harm where those panel lines are concerned. There’s a bit of debate out there on what was and wasn’t yellow on this bird, but I’m happy to go with the callouts. The resin exhausts add a bit of something. The nacelle joins are going to need a little attention… I like the look of this plane and am looking forward to getting the decals on.

 

 

[TonyOD]

I got the main decals on last night…

 

 

…and have started on the many stencils.

 

I’m quite tickled by the prominent warnings on the drop tanks: Achtung! Kraftstoffbehälter! (Warning: fuel tank!) and Keine Bombe! (This isn’t a bomb!) I’d like to think that ground crew would have known the difference, so I assume that these were for the benefit of any civilians who might come across a discarded tank?

 

 

The decals are going on really nicely, the white is a tiiiiiny bit out of register but you’d have to look pretty hard…

[Hook]

29 minutes ago, TonyOD said:

I assume that these were for the benefit of any civilians who might come across a discarded tank?

That's exactly it. 

 

Coming along nicely!

 

Cheers,

 

Andre 

[opus999]

16 hours ago, TonyOD said:

Keine Bombe! (This isn’t a bomb!) I’d like to think that ground crew would have known the difference, so I assume that these were for the benefit of any civilians who might come across a discarded tank?

I used to think the same thing about the ground crew!  (They needed a reminder????).  I recently read in one of my books that there was a small reward for civilians who returned fuel tanks they found, which explains the lengthy text I've seen on some of the drop tanks.   Wish i could remember which book, though...

 

This is looking very nice with the desert scheme on it now.

[TonyOD]

9 hours ago, opus999 said:

I used to think the same thing about the ground crew!  (They needed a reminder????).  I recently read in one of my books that there was a small reward for civilians who returned fuel tanks they found, which explains the lengthy text I've seen on some of the drop tanks. 

 

My curiosity piqued, I did a bit of Googling, seen a suggestion that this practice started around 1943 (which would make sense as resources were getting scare for the Luftwaffe by then), as a 1941 plane this one may not have actually had the. Well, I've put 'em on now. Given the theatre 3U+KS was operating in it's probably unlikely many discarded tanks would have been salvaged and sent for reuse I guess"

 

9 hours ago, opus999 said:

This is looking very nice with the desert scheme on it now.

 

It is indeed a smart look, I like it a lot.

[Jochen Barett]

On 28/11/2021 at 10:44, TonyOD said:

I got the main decals on last night…

…and have started on the many stencils.

 

I’m quite tickled by the prominent warnings on the drop tanks: Achtung! Kraftstoffbehälter! (Warning: fuel tank!) and Keine Bombe! (This isn’t a bomb!) I’d like to think that ground crew would have known the difference, so I assume that these were for the benefit of any civilians who might come across a discarded tank?

+++

The small print in the lower right hand corner

http://kitchecker.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Bf-109G-Zusatztank-4.jpg

 

 

reads:

"Sofort bei nächster Poliziediensttelle

oder Fliegerhorst Lage melden!

Belohnung RM 10,-"

 

Roughly ("melden" is "to report")

"Immediatly inform nearest police station

or airfield about location!

Reward 10,- Reichsmark"

 

Aluminum supply was scarce in the Reich and the biggest source for aluminunm was shot down / crash landed allied four engined planes.

(one of the reasons why the allies introduced the "paper" drop tanks)

So, these tanks were quite valuable to the Reich if dropped over own territory and they wanted farmers and school boys to report these and not just drag them home and build something cute for the garden out of the dropped tanks.

[TonyOD]

In the world of 1/72 scale modelling, is there any feeling more satisfying than when the last stencil goes on?

 

It's a pretty nice set of stencils to be fair, but I almost went blind prodding them around with a little brush. The only ones I didn't apply were the numerous miniscule numbers that apparently went alongside each panel line on the port side of the fuselage for some reason. They bring nothing to the party so I left them off. I mean, it's not like the panel lines need any emphasising.

 

 

There's something a bit weird going on with the engine nacelles on the callouts. They show the stencil placement for the port side of each nacelle, which I guess makes sense - port and starboard engines wouldn't have been built the opposite way round, as it were, and would have both been accessed from the port side by ground crew so the placement makes sense - but it is a bit strange that one of the exhaust stacks is shown back to front... (Edit: I've just realised - with an actual, literal slap of my own forehead - that it isn't backwards, it's the ones that point upwards as opposed to downwards. D'oh!)

 

 

Next up will be a bit of an enamel wash followed by a matt finish. Nearly there with this one!

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2021 by TonyOD

[Jochen Barett]

On 30/11/2021 at 11:47, TonyOD said:

In the world of 1/72 scale modelling, is there any feeling more satisfying than when the last stencil goes on?

 

It's a pretty nice set of stencils to be fair, but I almost went blind prodding them around with a little brush. The only ones I didn't apply were the numerous miniscule numbers that apparently went alongside each panel line on the port side of the fuselage for some reason. They bring nothing to the party so I left them off. I mean, it's not like the panel lines need any emphasising.

+++

Thanks for looking in.

They are denoting the part numbers (the "Spant Kennung", frame number) of the 1/1 scale model.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_(nautical)

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spant

 

So in an easy case, they make clear communication easier ("Hans, go and patch up that bullet hole in Spant Nummer 9!" "Jawohl Herr Feldwebel!") and in a more complicated case it helps repair personal to build one or two "new" planes from 3 or more "wrecks" (naturally in real life you will always have the same segments damaged and a surplus of certain other segments, but it helps to assess the situation and communicate in a clear way).

 

("The Spant Kennung on zis plane was painted over venn it received the Tropentarnung." (never argue with any experts wether the RLM 78/79 Tropentarnung was applied in the factory, in a Werft along the way or in Africa))