Messerschmitt BF109 GB 2012

70 - the cowl fit's no picnic either. Easily the worst part of the kit IMO. Besides, that's one beauty of a mill...

Heck, you did such a great job on the engine, just leave the cowl off, make a base and do a maintenance dio or something, paint up the cowl and set it on the ground next to the airplane.

                    I gave up on my pos too,,,,,,cowls on forever and it mates up on top like @$%#,,  on the Trump kit the cowls make up most of the fuselage integrity in front,,, I gave up after hours of trying to get it to work open,,,,mabye on the next one,,,,,,,

I thought of this and MAY try and pose it as one getting the weapons dialed in, lifted tail and flight crew, if I can find a set of blackbirds out there. Anyone have any clear photo's of the prop while this is being done? It has a pair of large discs mounted to the prop but the detail is to fuzzy to see what is notated on them.

Ah cowl fit issues... Seems to be the norm! I'm gonna have some trouble too once I get there, I only want one panel open for mine, but given the design of the kit overall, this is going to be interesting. The kit was designed to have all panels open, to include lower cowl, or none. What I can't seem to figure out is the distinct difference in construction of the pit/engine assembly. On the closed version the pit firewall and engine are mounted as one. In the open version they are mounted separately with a different upper gun cover. We'll see how this goes soon! Just started the pit.

Funny how on one of the worst kits out there for a 109, the 1/24 Airfix 109 e3, e4, you can do a little grinding to get it all to fit open or closed. More than enough meat in the cowl pieces to grind down what has to be to get it to fit. Too bad so much detail is missing (wheel wells for example) or that it pretty much has a sink hole at every mounting pin point. Panel lines and rivets are a little heavy to but you can still build a pretty good kit. To think I pretty much pulled away from this kit for this Edwards. Airfix did send me replacement parts so that one is a go again when I'm ready for it.

You want to know what else I miss? Too bad, I'm telling anyways. Back around 1993 or 4 there was a rag out called Military Model Reviews. Guy did build ups of donated and purchased kits but without paint. Gave a breakdown on every step of the build. In the end he had about 6-8 categories he would rank it on using a 5 star rating as top. So many kits had shortcomings/design issues that more kits were coming in pretty poorly than not. Ultimate his sponsors quit donating kits and pulled their advertising and the thing went under. Still it was better than having nothing but glowing reports on-line for everything like you see now.

Bye the way, this is my summer kit work still in process. Now has everything from the firewall back in place. Just click or cut and paste it.

photostream

70gtvert

Funny how on one of the worst kits out there for a 109, the 1/24 Airfix 109 e3, e4, you can do a little grinding to get it all to fit open or closed. 

In fairness to the Eduard, I believe they're using a to-scale DB601. It's common in cowl on/off kits to offer a smaller-than-scale engine to make either position workable, since the plastic is out-of-scale thick. I know this is the case with ICM Spitfires, Zvezda's Bf 109F-2, etc. That's actually one of the really big deals about Tamiya's Spitfires and Mustang - the ultra-thin cowl pieces make a to-scale engine and cowl on/off workable.

One thing I wish Eduard had done differently...that Tamiya did spectacularly with the Spit and I think Cyber-Hobby does with their 109E-4, is to do the firewall-forward as literally its own kit that slots up with the rest of the airframe. I decided to do my Eduard E-7 closed up, and when that went awkward, I was stuck, since there was no way to re-open the fuselage to cram the engine in place.

snagged a revell G-10 today. will throw it in the GB also. not sure on markings. 

this kit impresses me every time. 

                          Herman and I made some progress,,,time for some Future 

                                             Thanks for lookin!!

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got started on the revell kit.

hit the cockpit with XF-24 very close to RLM66

hit the wheel wells with XF-22 lightened with XF-2 to make RLM02 

exhaust hit with MM metalizer burnt iron.

may go with White 11 markings or raf captured White 44. 

Hey handi... Looks good, but interesting paint scheme. What color is that tan? I'm not sure I've seen that variant before... Do tell!

Geof

Hey handi... Looks good, but interesting paint scheme. What color is that tan? I'm not sure I've seen that variant before... Do tell!

               Thanks Geof,,, what looks tan in the pic is actually RLM02,, my camera SUCKS!!!!!!

     Tha paint scheme is for the BF109F-4  Hauptmann Kurt Brandle III JG3  "UDET"    somewhere in early 42

the colors are a mix of rlm02, 70, 74, 04, and 76,,,,,  they just look like disney colors if I take the pics under the wrong light,,,,,or even the right light sometimes,,, mabye it's me not the camera,, 

Only pic I could find of weapons maintenance involving some kind of equipment was this BoB era photo:

I have a couple other photos from the desert of an F series having it's tail jacked up and firing it's gun, but the only panels removed is a small one where the guns are located, so didn't bother scanning and posting.

Not much on google either but did find a rare colour one:

As for digital cameras, opinion is that it's their nature to distort colours.  Not only is it acceptable, but also expected that posted pics need to be photo-shopped in order to bring the image back to what you actually see in front of you.

regards,
Jack

I like that color pic of the engine change Jack, would make for a sweet dio...wonder where that was taking place? Balkan theater?

Thanks. The one I have is in the Squadron 109 part 1 (through the E series). It has one with a pair of discs on the prop mount. I suspect they mounted it then test fired it and then review where the rounds fell in relation to the blades. It is just fuzzy enough to give you no idea as to what is printed on it. I suspect there are other shots to, such as you found (thanks by the way) and perhaps another with a clearer shot of what is printed on them. John.

FYI - first review of Eduard's new 48th 109E-1:

http://www.hyperscale.com/2012/reviews/kits/eduard8261reviewbg_1.htm

Nathan - the colour photo setting, you are probably correct in guessing the Balkans.  One caption had it at Kresna Pass airfield in Bulgaria, 1941 while another one just stated in the desert somewhere.

Doogs - thx for the above review link.

regards,

Jack

E-1.....i want

going to go with  Walter Oesau markings on the revell kit. 

got some work done on both. 

                    Not trusting my judgement,, Herman consulted the other Germans living in the house,,,,,           

                    It appears they like the Future coat on it,,,,,   on to markings and weathering after it cures for another day or so,,,,,,,,,,,,,   Thanks for lookin,,

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Lookin good Handi. I never saw a pattern like yours. Who's aircraft are you modeling?

Worked some more on my engine and cockpit. Decided that yes, I will leave it, the cowl, open (but boy do I sure wish it could have been engineered to close).

Nice work vert!! Like the hand crank!

Handi your 109 is looking great! Like the pattern on the wings! 

70gtvert

Worked some more on my engine and cockpit. Decided that yes, I will leave it, the cowl, open (but boy do I sure wish it could have been engineered to close).

  

As stated before, it would be a crime to cover that up.

70gtvert

Lookin good Handi. I never saw a pattern like yours. Who's aircraft are you modeling?

Worked some more on my engine and cockpit. Decided that yes, I will leave it, the cowl, open (but boy do I sure wish it could have been engineered to close).

 

 

                              

 

Glad your leaving it open 70 ,,,, your doing a amazing job!! looks great!!   The paint scheme is for the BF109F-4 Hauptmann Kurt Brandle III JG3 "UDET" somewhere in early 42,,, at least thats what I'm trying for,,look forward to seeing yours come together,,,I think mine pales in comparison,,

PZL thanks for the kind words,,,,, look forward to your build comin together too!

This has been such a good BG I've decided to build another,,,,,,just haven't figured out what for sure,, mabye the Has 1/32 G,,,,,,,,,,oh well,,,,gotta finish this one first

I have decided to do a different 109 for this gruppe build..

Since I am a fan of the Emil model I will do the trop.. Its my favorite version so much so I did one many many many years ago. Though the model itself is MIA somewhere, it was my favorite. Going to get the Airfix 1/72 as to match my on going 1/72 models I am currently building.

Something about this just looks good:

Theres some sweet work goin on in here...bout time i post my progress on the G-10. Resin pit installed now along with wings and tail surfaces. Heres the shot just before the pit went in. Man these Hase kits just fall together...

oh yes, they do. 

The pit has begun... A few wires and some other minor mods. A decent start. Also, a pic of the finished DB601...

Hey 70, how is that kit,? I'm working on the FW 190 right now in that scale from Airfix and it had some major warping along the fuselage, and the cowling was a two day nightmare... and yet I'm still enjoying it. A LHS has the 109 for $32, so I think I'll pick it up in the next couple of weeks.

That engine looks fantastic, absolutely stunning, bravo.  That was the highlight of the 190, and my buddy just finished the Mustang in this line and the Merlin was a beauty. And yeah, I really, really wish more pieces were operable on my kit too. Still though, cheap.

Geof

The pit has begun... A few wires and some other minor mods. A decent start. Also, a pic of the finished DB601...

 

                              Geof that looks mighty fine !!!  Comin together great! Here is a pic of the color scheme I'm basing on my 109,,I might have taken a few "artistic" twists to it but followed the same body lines where the colors are,,, I equivilate this Trump kit to my ex-wife,,, love at first sight and no one could tell me different,,,,realising this is going to be rough but trying to make the best of it and work thru it,,,and after it's over going,,, what was I thinking?

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handiabled

 

Geof:

 

The pit has begun... A few wires and some other minor mods. A decent start. Also, a pic of the finished DB601...

 

 

 

 

                              Geof that looks mighty fine !!!  Comin together great! Here is a pic of the color scheme I'm basing on my 109,,I might have taken a few "artistic" twists to it but followed the same body lines where the colors are,,, I equivilate this Trump kit to my ex-wife,,, love at first sight and no one could tell me different,,,,realising this is going to be rough but trying to make the best of it and work thru it,,,and after it's over going,,, what was I thinking?

 

Been there, done that, got the T-shirt...

 

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