My rendition of Yellow 5 is now complete.
After all the process steps, the goal of low contrast between the dark green and brown RLM 81 was achieved. Viewed in B&W, the aircraft looks like it could be one color.
The instructions call for the landing gear struts to be red and the gear bays and gear door interiors to be RLM02. Looking closely at the photos I concluded that the struts were RLM 66 and the door interiors looked like RLM 76. And I painted the gear bays silver because the exterior of the wing underside was NMF. So I went off-script a bit.
I used the Eduard kit decals for the "5's" and the stencils. All other main markings were painted on with Montex masks.
The spinner decal went on fine.
I broke some new ground and successfully removed the decal film from the new Eduard decals. My method started with the normal decal application technique -- Microsol and solvaset. After thoroughly dry, simply use Tamiya masking tape to loosen and pull up the film. It actually worked like a champ, I just kept sticking and pulling the masking tape up until the film started to loosen. It took maybe 10-15 cycles but then the film was loose and could be safely peeled off. If you try it, make sure you remove all the film from around the edges as well. Don't use a hobby knife.
I sanded the wheels as usual to give the impression of weight on the tires.
One issue with the Eduard decals is that the RLM04 is too lemon yellow. It should be an orange yellow color. So I carefully sprayed a thin mix of red and yellow over the "5" decals to adjust the color so it looked right to my eye.
The resin fat-tire wheels supplied with the kit are nice.
I also added brake lines with fine wire along with foil strips to represent the band-it ties.
I used an oil wash for the panel lines and like how it came out. Weathering was very light since the machine was just about brand new and would have been grounded most of the time. The photos show almost no weathering (scratches and wear) although there's the usual airfield dirt and some very light exhaust staining.
The used a camo pattern I found on some third party decal instructions for Erla G-10s.
Based on what I've been able to piece together, the Erla factory painted a number of 109s in April 1945 a solid dark green color with some unkown number of the machines with some brown camo pattern. There are photos of a number of these machines and it's difficult to determine the pattern and certainly the colors.
I used the photo etch part from the kit for DF antenna.
The MG 131 barrels and the exhaust were painted in burnt metal from Mr. Color. Some black pastels were used for the exhuast staining and gun smoke stains.
I added a little wear around the cockpit and canopy edge with silver pencil.
The final flat coat was Mr. Color GX114. Great stuff.
Thanks for looking! Now to figure out my next build...