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

Thank you VERY much gentlemen! :)

I've made little progress because of real world issues these days. But all in all I hope to be getting back to work very soon  :D

I've only managed to get the left wing and the elevators finished up. They still need a clearing before I can move on to the other side of the fuselage and then begin work on the underside of the plane. I'd have finished it by now if oil paints didn't rub off so easily lol.'

Anyways, Pictures!

So yeah, not much done, but it's going along when I'm not day dreaming at the bench lol.

Thank you gentlemen, for all of your kind words.  :)

this is one of my favorite kits to pick up as a relax build: Simple, and with good fits!

yours is looking fan-freaking-tastic!!

Mike,

 I really like the way you did the mottling.  I think it's really turned out fantastic.

Groot

Stunning paint work.....and dont call me surely..

Looking really nice Mike.

Haven't checked in on this one in a while there Mike and man have I been missing out! That paint is just mind blowing!!! It's awesome how somebody can take a kit like this and turn it into a jewel. That's truly all modeling skill right there!!!

 This is great work, Mike.  Ya couldn't make the real thing look any better!!

  I have the same kit scattered out on my bench for the 109 Group build but work, grandkids, work and

  more work have squashed any progress.  Nevertheless your build is inspiring for sure!!

I applied the spinner decal with Testors decal setting solution, which I don't think actually does anything at this point (that's another story). I carefully prodded the decal into position and let it dry for about 15 minutes... or twenty. Once I had all of the water dried up I applied liquid cement over the decal. Using liquid cement is not something I recommend using for a decal fixer. The results are sometimes disastrous, and I'd prefer not to be known as the guy who taught all of you how to melt your decals lol.

After 7 applications of the liquid cement the decal still had not completely settled onto the spinner. I let it sit overnight to fully cure before I handled it any further. The next day when I returned to it I could still see bits that were still raised up from the spinner. I sanded those areas lightly until the raised bits were flush. Of course this leaves little areas were there is no decal. That's when I pull out my brushes and do some repairs and fix those areas I had removed by sanding. This also helps my decals look like they've actually been panted on by hand. By closely matching paint colors and then adjusting the warmth or coolness of a color you get some wonderful results.

After the repairs were made I cleared in flat.

That was my process. I hope that makes sense. lol

BrandonK, thank you sir.  :)

It looks great. The weathering is looking superb. Can't wait to see the finally.

BK

Thank you very much Jay.  :)

...and beautifully !

Coming along slowly...

...but surely.

I started into the last effects phase. Using white artist's oil paint I started to rub it into the panels creating positive post shading. Since the plane was too dark overall this seemed the logical way to go.

I've only done the right wing and side of the plane at this point. Its subtle but makes an overall impact on how the plane is shaded. Plus its nice that I can simply remove any excess if its too much with just a wipe of my finger tip.

You can see the right wing vs the left wing and the nose where I added some there as well, in the picture below.

I know it doesn't look like much is getting done. I've been taking my time.

Thank you my friend!  :D

I've only recently started using an Airbrush. I've been dry brushing for decades lol. I've been learning how to blend enamels by brush and more recently how to blend enamels and acrylics. Blending acrylics was easy after years of enamel work only.

So thank you. I am proud of that skill lol.

As for the modifications to the airbrush, well, if it were a good one I wouldn't have had to modify it in the first place lol. Genius, not really. But I did save some money on my....  (har de har, yeah, not funny)

I'm a smart guy, but anyone who gave it any  serious thought could have come up with that solution. It seemed pretty logical to just change the feeding system since it was causing the problems.

I'm glad everything worked out for you sir, I'm just another brother, from another mother, looking out for you!  Your dry brush is exceptional.  I am amazed by your improvisational skills in assembling a airbrush.  Your a genius.

Toshi

I ran a filter over it and it blended things a bit better. Its all still too dark, but I think I'm going either live with it, or go with a transparent white filter later to lighten it all up.

Life is going well guys, thank you for the kindness. :)

Just fixing all that broke down while I was depressed. Life gets away from you then and I've made quite a mess of things, but I'm back on track and things are looking good. Don't worry about me mates, I'm okay lol.

Okay, now for some updates. I decided to do something neat with the spots along the side of the fuselage. Having my AB break down on me at the beginning of summer has had me utilizing my dry brushing skills to get some interesting results.

First I decided to clean off the fuselage markings just a bit more as I didn't think what I was trying to do was looking like I wanted it to. It kinda worked from a distance, but looked like crap when you got close to it. I'm sure most of you looked at those last pictures and thought that looked horrible and that's okay. Turns out I didn't like it either lol.

I decided I needed add more spots and break this camo up a bit more as, after looking for reference pics for this plane, it looked nothing like it was supposed to. So first up was more light blue.

Okay, so that's not bad. But then there are those really big patches of blue. AH! I got it.

I'll add more of the lighter grey in there and break up the dark grey...

And add some dark grey spots in the big blue areas.

Yeah, that's really busy now. his aircraft should have light grey along the sides with dark gray spotting, but I'm in a zone, I suppose, and I'm going to filter this up a bit and see how it turns out.

Any ideas about toning it down just a bit without losing it all?

I finally figured out what was wrong with my AB and it turned out that the siphon wasn't feeding the brush at all. It would pull up little bits of paint at a time and there was not consistency, which was causing the splattering.

So being the smart and creative monkey that I am, I built myself a gravity feed system from the siphon jar parts and some left over metal smoking pipe pieces I've had for decades.

I simply gutted the siphon lid for the connector and the siphon tube and stuck  the chromed mouthpiece on the end of it with a good tight fit. Then a small metal pipe bowl for a splash lid. Now I'm getting a consistent feed. This particular type of clone AB doesn't and never has been the greatest for fine line spraying, but at least I have one and its working again.

I think I will be using it on the bottom of the plane now as I was looking at doing it by dry brush until now. Big sigh of relief there lol.

In conclusion, things are good... and who knew those parts would ever come in this handy lol.

Thanks for checking in. :)

Looking good there Mike. Hope life sorts itself out for you soon.

I hope everything is fine for you in regards to your life.  If you need any assistance, please don't hesitate to contact me at anytime.

Your weathering and final phase of your build is astonishing!  I am very excited in seeing the final product of this build.

Toshi

Well here's an update. Been working on fixing things in my life recently and have not spent as much time sitting at my pig sty of a desk. But I picked up my brushes earlier today and made some progress.

I finished getting all of the decals on it and clearing them with flat. They're really dang thick and my trick with the liquid cement didn't even phase these things. I gave the top and bottom of the plane a dark grey acrylic sludge wash and let that dry before scrubbing it down with tap water and a fairly stiff old toothbrush. After that was all dry I then dry brushed some of the RLM 76 sky blue back into the scheme.



After I did that I then used a small brush dipped in paint thinner to go over the "5" and the Balkencruse to remove some of the effects and brighten them back up. They were looking a bit too faded out and I approached it as if the ground crew made an effort to scrub some of the grime off of those parts. I know, they look horrible in this picture but I didn't make any adjustments on my camera before quickly taking these. They don't appear to be glowing when its sitting on my table.

So that's where I'm at with it right now. I've been having fun with my effects again lol.

Mike most impressive.  Neat work on the cammo.

Joe

Mopar, you're welcome. I'll look for your thread.  :)

Mustang, oh man. Sometimes its frustrating enough just to get good pictures lol.

Brandon, lol maybe. But I've seen so much better.

Thanks guys! :D

I have this kit in my stash. You've done a fantastic job on it. You most certainly have set the bar very high. Great work!!!

BK

M. Brindos

Normally I use a better camera, but my laptop needs an ISP  so I can upload pictures lol. I haven't been near an ISP with my laptop in a week. So I'm using my wife's droid. It works.

Oops... I hit reply too soon.  Thanks again for the tips.  I tried them out and my 110 looks so much better, particularly the sides of the fuselage!  Really makes a difference!

When using the multiple thin cotes just let them overlap each other a little. That way they should blend a little so you don't have a stark line between the colors. It will take time and it won't look like its working at first. Just be patient.

Good luck Mopar.

Glad to see there's life after splatters!  I'm painting my first kit in 20 years and am having a difficult time getting that nice smooth camo line on my 1/72 Airfix Bf 110.  I'm slowly figuring out the right combination of paint/thinner/pressure/masking/etc... but its nice to see others work through it too.  I'll try the thin multiple coats method to cover up some of my splattered lines.  Nice work btw!

Well thank you very much Toshi!  :D. That is a huge compliment indeed. I don't know if it belongs Ina museum, but its something I'll be proud to display when its done.  :)

From what I've seen of your most recent work, you're not too far behind me buddy.  :)