jackroadkill Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 Almost universally unpopular with its crews, the Bf110E was held to be too heavy, too slow and not agile enough for purpose. One pilot even referred to it as "a total dog", and crews were glad that it was due to be superseded by the Me210. However, as we all know, this didn't happen, and the Bf110F eventually became the more popular and fit for purpose successor to the E, before itself being supplanted by the Bf110G. Still, what the heck, I like the look of the thing, so I asked for this kit for Christmas in 2020, and it has now made its way to the top of the stash, so here we go: Being a generous kind of chap I bought it some AM resin parts, before realising that I'd now committed myself to building the kit with the starboard engine open, against all sorts of common sense arguments: Still, never mind, eh? What could possibly go wrong?! Construction starts in the cockpit, which is a dingy, RLM66 affair. Once the fuselage is closed up I think that you'll struggle to see much of what's in there, but we'll find out just how accurate this guess is as we go. I've got quite a bit of it done but there's a way to go yet. I've perhaps over-weathered the interior, but this is in an attempt to allow at least some detail to show once everything is closed up. The gunner might have an uncomfortable ride, but fear not, his cushion will appear shortly. See what I mean about the heavy weathering? That said, I don't think it looks ridiculous, but we'll see. I can always wash a bit of muck around if needed. Seatbelts pending; I'll fit them last before assembling the cockpit insert fully. I'm sometimes ambivalent about the use of PE but on this occasion I think it's looking pretty good for the instrument panels. There's more PE to go in on the port side of the fuselage, so hopefully that will look as smart as the IP's. Anyway, thanks very much for looking in; as always any criticisms or comments on the build are very welcome. Cheers, JRK 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 Pulling up a comfy navigator cushion! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dov Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 Hallo It is a nice project. To give an additional historic comment: The production line was alteady closed after the experience in the BOB and jigs put aside, when the order came to restart 110 production again due to the need in Russia. For my eye, the RLM 66 shade is too dark. Maybe in reality it is better. Happy modelling 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted February 12, 2022 Author Share Posted February 12, 2022 54 minutes ago, dov said: Hallo It is a nice project. To give an additional historic comment: The production line was alteady closed after the experience in the BOB and jigs put aside, when the order came to restart 110 production again due to the need in Russia. For my eye, the RLM 66 shade is too dark. Maybe in reality it is better. Happy modelling It is pretty dark, to be fair, but I think it's darker in the photos than in real life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfa1983 Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 I've always wanted to build this version. My LHS at the time didn't have, this, only the nightfighter version, so I ended up buying that. Assuming the kits are similar in buildability, indont recall it being a terrible kit but did need a bit of dry fitting and filler. Will watch this one with interest! Will you do the scheme on the box art? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 I’ve always had an interest in the 110, built a couple of G’s from the promodeller kit so very keen to see how this goes. I think exaggerating the weathering on this one will work well, it’s not the easiest canopy to see through with all that framing so your interior will need a little support if it’s not to be a black hole. Which paint did you use for the RLM66? It looks quite dark, possibly just the exposure though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted February 13, 2022 Author Share Posted February 13, 2022 9 hours ago, arfa1983 said: I've always wanted to build this version. My LHS at the time didn't have, this, only the nightfighter version, so I ended up buying that. Assuming the kits are similar in buildability, indont recall it being a terrible kit but did need a bit of dry fitting and filler. Will watch this one with interest! Will you do the scheme on the box art? So far it's gone together well; I've got the cockpit insert and the associated PE done now and the dry fitting I've done isn't too bad. There may need to be a bit of filler along the underside seam but that's all I've identified so far. Scheme-wise, I'm not yet sure. It'll either be the box art one or the Finland winter scheme. 3 hours ago, mark.au said: I’ve always had an interest in the 110, built a couple of G’s from the promodeller kit so very keen to see how this goes. I think exaggerating the weathering on this one will work well, it’s not the easiest canopy to see through with all that framing so your interior will need a little support if it’s not to be a black hole. Which paint did you use for the RLM66? It looks quite dark, possibly just the exposure though. It's Colourcoats's ACLW16 Schwartzgrau, and the colour is usually a good match; I think it's just the exposure on the photos that make it look a little dark. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted February 17, 2022 Author Share Posted February 17, 2022 Am painfully aware that I haven't done much on this over the week but real life has proved busier than I thought it would. That said, I have managed to get a few bits done, primarily finishing off the cockpit, closing the fuselage and doing some fairly drastic (for me) remodelling of the starboard wing and cowling to make the Quickboost engine fit. The engine itself needed some fairly robust sanding and hacking to make it fit, and there'll be a good bit of tidying up to do before I've finished with it. I think the next job will be spraying the RLM02 on the interior parts. I have an unexpected day off tomorrow, so you never know... NB - the engine isn't fixed yet! Cheers, JRK 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Posted February 18, 2022 Share Posted February 18, 2022 (edited) Looking forward to seeing how it turns out Edited February 18, 2022 by Walter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted February 19, 2022 Author Share Posted February 19, 2022 Rather unusually for a (reasonably) recent Eduard kit, this one is taking a bit of engineering to make it behave. The wing root joints needed the male elements thinning (both length and width) to get them to mate up with the female parts and then the wing root joints needed quite a bit of filling, so much so that two goes were needed. I've also had to fill the joint between the rear gun mount / panel and the fuselage, as the insert was of a tighter radius than the fuselage. Still, it's coming together: As you can see, there's some grinding to be done but other than that she's looking good. Cheers, JRK 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted March 6, 2022 Author Share Posted March 6, 2022 Due to life getting in the way I haven't managed any kit-ruining for a couple of weeks, but yesterday I managed to crack out the airbrush and slap a bit of RLM 02 around on the Bf110. Unfortunately I seem to have missed the inner surfaces of the U/C doors, so I'll have to get those sprayed in the near future. It's not that much of a calamity as I tend to fit all of the bits I'm likely to knock off the airframe as late as I can possibly get away with in the build. The kit is still taking some wrangling, especially where the engine nacelles are concerned. They just did not want to fit, and much poking, bracing and jiggling was needed to make them conform. Unfortunately, as shown in the picture below, the nacelles don't meet up with the fairings on the underside of the flaps, which may require yet more filling and sanding. The overlap is 1.5 - 2mm, so it's not insignificant. The nacelles' poor fit has also led to needing filler adding at the leading edges and between the upper cowling panels and the rear fairings, which looks pretty ugly. Again, the gap is in the region of 1.5mm, which is disappointing for and Eduard kit; however, it's a relatively old kit now at 15 years old, so perhaps I shouldn't expect too much. You can see the ugly results of this poor fit here: It'll take some cleaning up, as will the starboard side, which I have butchered in order to show off the lovely Quickboost engine..... which doesn't fit well at all. We'll get to that in the future. However, as can be seen from this last picture, she is at least beginning to look like an aircraft. The tape on the front end it to protect the insanely finicky and very brittle nose guns whilst I mess around with the rest of the airframe. The radiator housings are now fitted and the next major job is to mask the cockpit canopy up, which, judging by the amount of pieces that make up said mask, might be a herculean effort! Before that though, I have to decide on which scheme I want to use and see if I can trace the Werknummer so that I can determine whether or not to fit bombs on the aircraft. Answers on the proverbial postcard to Roadkill Acres, please. Cheers, JRK 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antb Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 I may be wrong but the underside fit of the nacelle is as it should be. It forms part of the flap and allows the flap to move. It shouldn't be fixed in position and so doesn't need filling 6 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted March 6, 2022 Author Share Posted March 6, 2022 2 minutes ago, Antb said: I may be wrong but the underside fit of the nacelle is as it should be. It forms part of the flap and allows the flap to move. It shouldn't be fixed in position and so doesn't need filling Well, if that's the case I'm well happy! Thanks for the tip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 Glad to see forward progress on this one. Keep plugging those gaps, eventually there will be none left to fill! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattlow Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 18 hours ago, jackroadkill said: Well, if that's the case I'm well happy! Thanks for the tip. Yep, the part attached to the flap goes into the rear of the nacelle when said flaps are lowered. HOWEVER, the tolerances were quite tight and in 1/48 scale you probably wouldn't see a gap (in fact the part attached to the flap may already go inside the nacelle - even with flap fully up (hope that makes sense). Trying to find an image, but it is not a well photographed area... This isn't the best shot. It shows the area in question but it looks like it is being worked on (is that masking tape?). Despite that you can see that to the casual observer, this could be a single part. This is RAF Museum's 110G-4 but this area is same on earlier marks. https://www.largescaleplanes.com/walkaround/images/94/94-8.jpg Matt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfa1983 Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 Yep this is how I remember this build going too. But soon enough you'll have it filled and ready for primer! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted March 7, 2022 Author Share Posted March 7, 2022 14 hours ago, mark.au said: Glad to see forward progress on this one. Keep plugging those gaps, eventually there will be none left to fill! I don't know why, but I seem to collect builds that finish up being 90% filler! Thanks for the encouragement (again!), Mark. 1 hour ago, Mattlow said: Yep, the part attached to the flap goes into the rear of the nacelle when said flaps are lowered. HOWEVER, the tolerances were quite tight and in 1/48 scale you probably wouldn't see a gap (in fact the part attached to the flap may already go inside the nacelle - even with flap fully up (hope that makes sense). Trying to find an image, but it is not a well photographed area... This isn't the best shot. It shows the area in question but it looks like it is being worked on (is that masking tape?). Despite that you can see that to the casual observer, this could be a single part. This is RAF Museum's 110G-4 but this area is same on earlier marks. https://www.largescaleplanes.com/walkaround/images/94/94-8.jpg Matt Ideal, thanks Matt - I'll probably leave it as it is due to the work involved in making it all align, but I'll know for the next one (a Bf110F) that I might be able to cut the flap fairing off and move it before assembling everything. 15 minutes ago, arfa1983 said: Yep this is how I remember this build going too. But soon enough you'll have it filled and ready for primer! I'm sorry if I've triggered any previously buried filler-based trauma! Hopefully there's not too much in the way of filling and grinding left now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted March 7, 2022 Author Share Posted March 7, 2022 1 hour ago, Mattlow said: the part attached to the flap goes into the rear of the nacelle when said flaps are lowered. HOWEVER, the tolerances were quite tight and in 1/48 scale you probably wouldn't see a gap (in fact the part attached to the flap may already go inside the nacelle - even with flap fully up (hope that makes sense). I've taken a better picture to show the poor alignment: 7 At the left-hand side of the image you'll easily see the misagligment, and it's the same on the right but here the flap fairing overlaps the nacelle. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattlow Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 I see what you mean..! That is quite skew whiff.. Well, one advantage is that this area isn't very obvious on the finished article. I'll have to dig out my G-2 and see if it has similar issues.. Matt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antb Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 Ah. That's not great. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted March 7, 2022 Author Share Posted March 7, 2022 2 hours ago, Mattlow said: I see what you mean..! That is quite skew whiff.. Well, one advantage is that this area isn't very obvious on the finished article. I'll have to dig out my G-2 and see if it has similar issues.. Matt Yeah, it's a bit wonky, isn't it? You can also see the poor fit of the radiator fairing. I see filling and sanding in my future... 1 hour ago, Antb said: Ah. That's not great. No, not what I was hoping for, I have to say. One day, one day, I will build a kit that falls together perfectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jens Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 Are you sure you put the starboard nacelle onto the starboard wing? Jens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted March 7, 2022 Author Share Posted March 7, 2022 18 minutes ago, Jens said: Are you sure you put the starboard nacelle onto the starboard wing? Jens Unfortunately, yes! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted March 13, 2022 Author Share Posted March 13, 2022 I've gone in for a bit of extra detail added to the Quickboost starboard engine. It's not fixed in place yet as there are still things that need doing, but here it is in situ waiting for the right time to be CA'd in: Cheers, JRK 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted April 6, 2022 Author Share Posted April 6, 2022 Somehow a month has gone by without much progress. Real life sucks, and it gets in the way of things I'd much rather be doing. Work, personal life and the pressures of an enforced house-move have all conspired to make for slow going. Even so, I've got this far: Airbrush troubles (again...) led to an experimental nearly-black-basing being trialled, at least initially. Cheers, JRK 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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