1/48 Revell Messerschmitt Bf-109G-10 (Completed)

It takes somebody with a load of patience and good skills to bring one of these puppies to life. Looks like you've got both Mike.

Thank you very much Mustang! I did not expect a reply so quickly lol.

This is coming together really well for me. It was this or their Dauntless kit with it's all raised details and this one won hands down, but mostly because this is one of my absolute favorite birds.

For a kit released in 1979 it still fits together really well. The decals are rather thick but I know how to make them conform to my will lol.

Thank you again for your compliment! :D

I echo Mustangs sentiments.  Looking great Mike...

Thank you very much Lawdog. :D

I didn't know it was that recent of a kit. PM sent.

Mike,

 Looking really good thus far, particularly the IP and spinner.  I've never heard of using liquid cement on decals, could you elaborate?

Groot

To M. Brindos,

The detail and discipline needed to to your level is nothing short of amazing!

Toshi

Great detail work within that cockpit, it looks awesome! Looking forward to seeing her clothes go on, now!

Cheers,

Martin : )

Ah, yeah. The liquid cement trick is not for everybody and I can't recommend it. You can totally ruin decals with this trick. It takes vast patience and you have to be 100% sure you never want that decal to move ever again. If you are still interested send me a PM and I'll fill you in on it. But it's a scary thing to watch and if you are not confident in your brush painting skills then you risk ruining your model.

Thank you Toshi! I totally recommend this kit to you my friend. It has just enough detail to make it fun to add stuff. Scratch building 101 is all I've done here. Nothing advanced except for the spinner I suppose, and that only because of the trick I used to get the decal stuck on there. You will really like this kit. The decals are thick as card stock and the paint schemes are a bit tricky, but the kit itself goes together really well and that is a bonus.  :)

Thank you Martin! Not too much further to go before I can start painting the "clothes" lol. The schemes are tricky though and I'm thinking of using some oddball tricks to get the Fuselage patterns right. I've chosen the second scheme which was based in Sweden in 1945. The camo is more intricate on the alt scheme, but the primary box art scheme confuses me. I like the yellow on the primary scheme, but those dark grey patches just don't make sense to my artsy side. They don't belong on one side of the plane only and my OCD triggers just light up when I think of it lol.

Thank you guys for your comments. :)

You, sir, are doing a fantastic job on that one. I'm looking forward to following it!

-BD-

Thank you very much Brandon.  :) I'll be watching your 190 thread as well.

Great work here! I'm really digging the look of those seat belts. So you're a brush painter huh? Tough to do Luftwaffe stuffs that way. Looking forward to your results.

Super work on the 109, Mike. Some great scratchbuilding skills you've got there. Impressive work indeed. I'm certainly looking forward to the finished product.

 Got any updates for us there Mike?

Thank you for the compliments guys!!

I do have a small update for you. I found the Achilles heel of this kit; the canopy glass. Its something I wish I had the money to replace.

The gap is 1mm wide in 1:48, wich is about 2.48 inches in 1:1. I'm not sure how I'm going to fix this yet. I've been thinking it over and fortunately I have some black Sheet styrene but it is on the thick side. The canopy frames are not pronounced and if Revell were to update this kit it wouldn't take much besides re-working the canopy in this kit.

I'm glad I'm not displaying this one with the canopy closed, but I could fix it easier if it did it that way. Hiding the new sheet parts when the canopy is not a uniform thickness is going to be tricky enough.  :/

I am indeed an experience brush painter and for the last 5 months now I've been using an air brush and loving it. But yes I think I'm going to put down the main colors with the AB and then brush the camo onto the sides. I've done it before so I know what to expect.

I did this 1/72 109 from Testors last year and had loads of trouble with the decals and had to paint half of them on there after a masking tape problem lifted them off. You can see the mottling on the sides. The entire model was painted by brush and turned out okay.

You can clearly see that the swastika on the tail was far too big for this kit. They all were. So I made this one up as a game piece and it sits on the shelf looking pretty.

So yeah. That canopy is going to take me some time to figure out.

Thanks for your interest. I'll get more pictures up after some more progress has been made.

Hey, nice brush painting skills alright If posing the canopy open, I wouldn't fix a thing. No way to tell there would be a gap if it were to be shut. But I'm sure Squadron has a Vac Canopy for like 5-7 bucks?

Good point Nathan. Wanted to paint the canopy on the model but I can just do it after I paint the plane. I'm too used to closing up canopies lol.

So, yes, perhaps a plan "B" is needed.

Just decided to go with a tip on the wing marker lights. I'm going to use the Gel type super glue for the lenses.

I cut out where the lights will go.

and then colored them in. after the paint dries I will set some of the gel in there and wait for that to dry.

I admit I do not like having to wait lol.

Thanks for looking.  :)

Nice work so far, the spinner spiral looks really nice, I still have to do one of those. be interested to see how those lights come out.

Looking great Mike!!  I had the same issue with the spinner decal on my 1/32 109G-6.  I couldnt for the life of me get the darn thing to lay down properly.  Finally after a couple of coats of decal solvent and coating with clear it finally smoothed out.

I posted the tip on a FB group I just joined and the only comment so far has been "Micro Krystal Klear". I would use it if I had it lol. Here I am being all helpful and stuff and somebody just has to be a smart guy lol.

Micro krystal klear is not the only answer to this problem. I could have gone with some clear sprue, but this is something I've not heard of, nor tried before and I'd like to share how it works.

Just more proof that there is more than one way to do anything.  :)

Ah well, that's nothing new as far as FB goes. Hard to tell how someone has toned their statement just by reading it. Its probably not meant to be sarcastic, but how am I to know?

I may not be part of that group for long. Hard to say so far.

Bish- YOU haven't done a spinner decal before?? Be prepared for a bit of frustration. They don't want to lay down easy at all lol. If it were not for the liquid cement trick I'd have painted it solid and just moved on. Normally it only takes a couple of swipes to get anything to lay flat.  :/

Best solution to the problem that I've read about so far has been to use the decal as a mask and just paint it on.

jelliott-  I only possess some Testors decal set at this time. Wish I still had my Set and Sol still. Those always worked well.

I know, hard to believe with all the German subject I do. I was going to do one on the big 1/18th engine I recently finished, but after trying to mask for 30mins, I didn't have a decal for it, I gave up and went with the same spinner you did on your 72nd build. But I will have to before long.

Speaking of spinner spirals, Eduard has a nice set of spiral masks of all shapes, sizes, and scales. They work awesome. Just burnish them down real well. Not saying you have to use them, but another option in case you all didn't know.

ye, I have seen those. Unfortunately they don't seem to do them in 72nd any more.

If you have the talent you can try it with a brush while the spinner is on a toothpick. I tried it once a long time ago with fair results. Not good enough though.

My friend Ted was not wrong when he said it would take a long time to dry. I waited an hour, then two, then four, and then finally waited overnight. But the results are actually pretty good in my opinion.

To pass some time I made a cannon barrel for the nose. Good ol' toothpick for the win here. I tried using some sprue for this but it would get hot and them bend on me long before I whittled it down enough. The toothpick worked great.

And that worked out really well after I painted it.

This morning I sanded and polished the marker lights.

And finished up the landing gear. Even though the wheels came in halves they still flattened perfectly. A Bic lighter and a desktop was all I needed.

And I'm sittin' pretty lol.

I did more work on the landing struts and installed some tiny brake lines.

Thanks for looking.  :)

M. Brindos

? Be prepared for a bit of frustration. They don't want to lay down easy at all lol.

 Great work on the 109 there Mike! I like that position light method you are doing. Will have to adopt that one!

That's looking quite NOICE!!!!