2015 Messerschmitt Bf 109 Group Build

If you have a problem seeing 1/72 fighters,go get a bomber, or better yet(at least for being able to see stuff), get a patrol plane. Those things are huge! The 72nd P2V Neptune ,P5M Marlin ,P-3 Orion, P-6 Seamaster are as big as some 48 scale bombers. If I remember correctly, the P2V in 72nd is as big as a 48 B-25.

I'm still too much into the single engine fighters for now. Thanks for tryin' though.

Hey Joe... I thought I'd have all my stuff ready to begin my next build, but I'm still waiting on some resin to get going. However... I'm going to start on the trimming, fitting and riveting on the kit. Not a bad looking kit, but as with most , it needs some nice detailing that only resin and pe can lend.

The particulars are as follows...

This will be a Bf109 G2  by Academy,  1/48  and will be Yellow 12, the craft flown by Oberleutnant Heinrich Ehrler , Staffelkapitan 6/Jg5 , Petsamo/Findland spring 1943.

It will be in the wilter camo , white with large dark green splotching. This craft shows 77 Soviet kills but his final score was said to be between 201 and 220. Wip to follow soon!  Thanks...

Doug

Got you added Doug!!! This outta be real good!!

Doug, that's been one of my favourites for many, many years and I look forward to building it myself!

M

After a crazy week of work and trying to concentrate on things, not helped by the lurgy of the season in the house, I can report the E-4 has legs under her and I'm onto the fiddly bits -- you might see some pics tomorrow...

M/TB379

Hey Mike, yes, I have seen several examples of his air craft but being a winter scheme, I was imeadiatly drawn to it. I dont know if you have ever read the history on this pilot, but its written that he was held personally responsible for the sinking of the Tripitz, due to lack of ability to provide air cover, was court marshaled,  sentenced to three years in prision, AFTER the final victory. He later retrained in Me262s , and was killed ramming a B17 with his 262 just DAYS before the end of the war.

I mean, just, damn!

Any way, after this I want to do at least 1 more, this time the G2, (Black 2) flown buy Gunther Rall, Russia, 1943. I have to read some more but this was (I belive) the aircraft he flew when he was so badly injured and had to recuperate for 9 mo before being able to fly again. Being he was the 3rd highest scoring ace of all time, I feel that had he not been on the side lines for that time, he would have been #1 by wars end.

Any way, looking for some wip pics on yours, you have done an amazing job building 3 at a time! Take care...

Doug

Looking forward to it, Doug. You don't see many builds of Rall's 109s, so that will be good as well. Don't think he would have caught Hartmann or Barkhorn though. Rall himself said that time in hospital probably saved his life. Once he was moved to the west the race was over.

Jay

Sorry, forgot about the previous injury to his back, so it's possible he could have been right there with the other two. Pretty amazing that he survived the war at all. Of course they may have made him stop flying at some point like Graf.

Jay

Hey Jay, yeah, I had thought about that too, I guess not wanting to take any thing from any one who has the guts to climb into a cockpit , knowing they may not make it back, and your absolutely right, I think only 16 of his victories were western aircraft. I still have to admire any one (Oberleutenant Rall)  who would crawl into his 109 with a cast still on his leg. They said that they knew he was approaching the pre flight meetings by the clanging noise his nads made when he walked. Lolol...

Any way, my first GB here was his Black 13,  Take care my friend...

Doug

PS... hope your not done yet, I look forward to your 109s taking shape!

Doug -- thanks for the background information, it's always great to get to know something about the personalities behind the aircraft, adding to the history we are preserving and commemorating here!

The Airfix E-4 is about done, at long last! The masks did not come of cleanly, which seems to be a recurring problem for canopies (anybody remember that Stuka I did last year?), and the pigments did not seem to want to adhere to the lustre, but otherwise I'm more or less pleased with this one, and am prepared to put any shortcomings down to the "limitations of scale." Proper gallery pics coming tomorrow (when I've removed two more tiny masks I missed earlier), for now here's a teaser shot:

There's no antenna wire because there no actual antenna. As with the last Airfix 72 I built, I can't get through the kit without breaking one of the minute parts, and just as with last year's Mustang, it was the antenna mast that bit the dust. This one is a sliver of .020" plasticard attached with a micro-blob of superglue, and I'm not game to stress it's fragility with tensioned EZ-line.

I'll get those two last masks off and line up some gallery shots tomorrow.

Cheers, M/TB379

Great looking build there Mike. The issue I have with canopy masks is taking some of the paint off with them. Antenna aside, she look really nice.

Dang Mike that's a great lookin' plane!!! Instead of EZ line you could stretch some sprue, cut to length and lay each end onto the masts and glue into place. After that is a hot (blown out)  match underneath the sprue. It'll sag momentarily. Once you see it start to snap quickly remove the heat source (match). When you pull the heat source away it'll snap taut. Little or no stress on the glue joint of your fabricated mast. I don't know where your skill level is regarding this so I tried to cover the basics anyway.

Thanks Bish and Mustang. the problem with the lifting paint around the masks makes me think seriously about using the old decal procedure in future. They seem to have stayed good on that Stuka over the last year... Re the radio wire, stretched sprue sounds like a good way to go. I've collected a huge number of sprue pieces against having a go at learning how to do it, so one day that might be a great option to rig some of these 72s that are so delicate.

Okay, without further ado, here are the gallery shots. I had trouble holding focus at small scale, but also did some correction for the standard fluoro lighting, so hopefully they look okay.

Any one you like for the gallery, Mustang.

Oh, I heard today I can get a replacement canopy for that G-2, so I'll be coming back to finish that one later in the year. For the moment, the next one up is the Hasegawa E-7 in Balkans campaign markings, which is nearly ready for decals.

Cheers, M/TB379

Mike - your Emil looks brilliant!

Would never of guessed it is a 72nd scale, nice work!

regards,

Jack

That's a fine looking bird, Mike.

1/72, Really? Wow.

Lovely job Mike, your doing the scale some real justice there.

Excellent work, Mike! I really like how it turned out. Well done.

Jay

Thanks Jack, Greg, Bish and Jay! 72 is a challenge, for sure, but I find myself enjoying these new-tool Airfix kits. I did their Mustang last year and have their new Fw 190 and Hawker Typhoon, along with some of the newer-tool Revel Germany subjects, such as the Hurricane, P-47D and P-51B. Some Academy and Fujimi 72s are in the stash too. I don't build at this scale often now, though it was my chosen scale as a kid (they seemed ... larger in those days!) I was impressed enough with the Mustang to look at doing two, back to back, on each year's build roster in the hopes of working through my backlog of Mustang decals eventually.

Cheers, M/TB379

Beautifully done, T-Bolt. I've actually never built an Airfix kit myself, but I'm looking forward to doing one someday.

Time for me to throw my humble hat into the ring. I've basically finished painting the pit, so I figured I'd snap a pic before I close it up. (This is the Zvezda 1/48 F4 kit, btw. I just got my magazine in the mail and am excited to read Aaron Skinner's build. )

Mike: What a masterpiece!! It looks all 48th scale from here!!! I can't believe it is the 72nd scale that it is man!!! I'm glad to have you as a part of the GB bud and will get your finished pic up tonight on the intro post. Which one of your builds is next up?

Steve: I just got my copy of FSM showing Aarons paint techniques. I'll be looking into that as well. Nice job so far. These Zvezda kits lend themselves freely to the patient builder. Looking forward to see you work your magic here in the aviation world as well.

Mike: Gotcha posted!!

Thunderbolt -

Excellent work on that one. I would have sworn it was 1/48 if I didn't know better. Your attention to detail is great.

I haven't hopped in here as much lately, as my remaining 109s are not on the bench at the moment, but I follow along every time I get an email alert for a new post, and I am continually impressed with the work. It has me wanting to bust out my Eduard E-7 and really get going on it. Soon..

Keep up the fantastic work!

Now if only my new FSM would arrive...

-BD-

Brandon: Looking forward to having you in here again buddy!

Thunderbolt379 - Have you seen what Tamiya has done to their 1/72 Zero's?

Full interior( with an actual IP,not a decal!),full engine,and a lot of other improvements. They have a level of detail you expect from a 1/32.

Is there a word for that feeling you get at the moment when you realize you've got the fuselage halves glued together just right but forgot to put in the cockpit?   Luckily this kit is pretty forgiving of that minor oversight, as the pit attaches at the bottom. Here we are so far. The tail was actually separate from the fuselage; never seen that before. The fit is quite good, other than a bit of stubbornness from the engine firewall, and should clean up nicely with a bit of light sanding.

That looks great so far Steve!!! Of notable mention is the fact that you might have installed the machine guns a bit early. At this point you have a lot of handling and building to go on this little jewel. Its been my experience that these details often get broken if installed too soon.

P.S. I know what you mean about the cockpit. There aint nuthin' like sitting back looking at a great accomplishment in model building and then out of the blue the thought flashes into my mind...."Uh oh! Forgot to put this or that part in or did something out of order. Been there done that.. lol

Very nice work so far, Steve. Looking forward to more.

Jay

Thanks, guys. Joe, you gave me one of those "duh" moments. All too often I stick so closely to the instructions that I don't look at the bigger picture and think ahead to what's going to happen to those fragile parts further along.

Odds are you'll be ok if you just take it easy.  Wasn't trying to chastise or anything. It all looks really good. You may be able to work around them which is what I would probably do at this point Steve. It all depends on how well glued down they are.