Endgame 1946 GB - 1/1/09-12/31/09

Well, here it is, my 1/48 Czech Model ME-309.  I have to say that overall I am quite happy with the results, all things considered as I think of myself as a beginner in many ways having only recently returned to modeling(less than a year ago I think).  I would have to say that the kit itself was a nice challenge to the current level of my abilities...a lot of cursing to be sure!  Overlall I wish that I had put a little more time and TLC into the build but, that said, I am amazed at what I was able to do in what amounted to 10-15 hours total time.  Heck, it may not have even been that much!  Now for some of those juicy details we all love to read about! Firstly, I put WAY too little weight in the nose so she is a tail-sitter.  I nearly scrapped the project in favor of one of the two ME109s in my stash but pressed on(I am easily discouraged at times!) I managed to get around the weight issue by putting a pin in the nose gear which will eventually be glued into the wood base I have for it.  There are many other little things I wish I had done or should have done.  There are a few seams and a tiny gap here and there which I hid from you in the photo!  I also made the mistake of not putting down a gloss coat before the decals(I was in a big hurry trying to get it done by the ending date.  Decalling began Sat. morning and put two coats of Dull on earlier today!).  One of the upper wing crosses peeled up a bit after I laid on some gloss and then chipped off when I tried to lay it flat.  I snuck a little thinned white glue under the bit that was still slightly raised up and then did a little touch up with white.  The crosses and swastika are from this kit and a CM BV-70, the yellow 20 is from a Hasegawa ME-109, and the wolf is from a Hobby Boss Sherman!  They look WAY, WAAAAAY better in the photo than in real life.  I believe that I have what is called 'silvering' with them but it didn't translate over in the photo which is great.  The paint scheme is Testors MM Acryl Dunkelgrun RLM 82 and Braunviolett RLM 81 on top and a mix of Apple Barrel Pewter Grey and Delta CeramcoatBlue Jay.  The MM stuff was a bit of a pain at first but I started adding an acrylic extender to it and didn't have the drying on the needle problems I had at first.  Also kept a Windex soaked swab near at hand.  I used a Badger Anthem 155,which I really enjoy(I also use a Badger 250[cheap as dirt spray gun]for Future but I think I may get a slightly better brush than that in order to have a bit more control, but I digress), first preshading with Delta Ceramcoat Charcoal.  The only post shading/washy kind of stuff is on the landing gear and in the wells.  I have had very poor luck with that sort of stuff so I figured I would hold off.  Regardless, here she is:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2629/3872186683_b2fdfae1bb_b.jpg

And a close up of the nose art:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2462/3872970576_b9afd55103_o.jpg

Enjoy and thanks to  WarHammer25 for hosting this party!

Mike

Mike:

That 309 looks very very nice...I really like the subtleness of the camo and panel shading.

I give the build two..

Carlos

Carlos

Thanks for the kind words!

Mike

Swanny wrote:

Very nice looking build and done so quickly.

Thank you!

The 309 on your site is very nice as well!

Mike

Nice work everyone!

Well my Ju-88 and He-111 are close to glueing the to fuse's together, I'll post pictures later tonight to Thursday.

Let me check with the CEO...

CS

My He-111, and Ju-88.

I know i am to late for the deadline, but thought i would post the finished pics here first anyway. The kit was painted useing xtrolor enamels and i used a pastel wash on the trolly and a lighter one on the underside of the 162. This is my first aircraft kit in about 7 years and i am quite pleased with it.

Sorry i couldn't make the deadline, to much over commitment on GB on my part.  

Everyone, I am very sorry for my longterm absence from this GB and this forum. My summer was very crazy and my first semester of college started at the beginning of August so I have had very little time to check the forums and do any real modeling. I would pop on every now and then just to check progress but I didn't post anything. So, as it seems some aren't finished with their builds (myself included), I have extended the end date to December 31. Now, lets see what has happened since I last posted:

jcheung5150: Nice work on the E-25. I am glad to see that some armor might actually get done other than Russ's M-26 and mine. I see that post was from June so I hope you are still out there and will finish it.

C. Alan: Very nice Pfeil! Those Tamiya kits are so much better than the 1/72 Dragon I built. I really like the brown and dark green splinter camo and the subtle weathering. Nice work.

Feldmarschall: Glad to see you went ahead with the He-111 as well. I had added it earlier I believe. Anything else you want to add to this GB would be fine as well. Both the He-111 and Ju-88 look great. Keep up the good work!

Neu: I am also glad to see you went ahead and joined as well. Nice work on the Tempest! I like the NMF look on it. Looking forward to seeing it weathered.

Mike: The Me-309 looks sweet! I love the way it turned out. The finish looks great.

Bish: Great job on the Mistel! Looks awesome. I am glad you stuck around and finished it even in my absence and you still made it on time now that the date was extended. Very nice job for your first aircraft in seven years. And I know what you mean about over commitment. Since I haven't been able to build at all during the summer months, I am WAAAY behind in my GBs. Great work again!

As for me, due to my hectic summer, I have had very little build time. I have managed to paint, clear coat, decal, and another clear coat my 109K-4 though. Hopefully I will have it done shortly and have pics up. I also just barely started my King Tiger II: running gear and turret. It should be done by the end of the year though. I am going to have to pick and choose what builds I do now though as I am over committed on my GBs and will probably have to drop out of some. But, I will try my hardest to finish my other two builds for this one. 

Thanks to all of you who kept this GB going. I should be back now to checking things pretty regularly. And keep up the good work everyone!

WarHammer25 wrote:

Bish: Great job on the Mistel! Looks awesome. I am glad you stuck around and finished it even in my absence and you still made it on time now that the date was extended. Very nice job for your first aircraft in seven years. And I know what you mean about over commitment. Since I haven't been able to build at all during the summer months, I am WAAAY behind in my GBs. Great work again!

Nice to see you. I wasn't sure if the build was extended or not, i thoguth i would post the pics here anyway. I was just about to finish when i got a short notice trip to california for 5 weeks. So can i assume i am good to collect my badge

Edit: just seen the extension. Hopefully i can get the dio done in a couple of weeks, will post pics then to as it will be really finished.

Alright, the Bf-109K-4 is now finished. All in all a very nice build (even if it was drawn out) and I am very happy with the results. Mostly OOB excpet for some Eduard belts and EagleCal decals for "Black 15" of IV./JG-53 stationed in Schleissheim, Germany. Questions and comments are welcome.

I just wanted to post an update on my Hasegawa 1/32 me163B build.

I basically took the summer off from building and have gotten back for the season. Continued on and have now completed the build of the engine, wired it up and added some detail. Primed the rest and preshaded. All I need to do now is paint and decal and we are done. No pics at the momment, but I should add some later.

I am so far pretty pleased with my work. The engine has turned out pretty good considering it is my first attempt at detailing with wiring and whatnot.

Oh, one other thing I had to do is scratch build a revi-b gunsite due to me losing the kit's. I think my scratchbuilt one is better :)

I almost forgot to add. Thanks to whoever extended the finish date :) I was a little worried about getting it done on time, then realised it had already passed! Next time I look, its been extended! W00t!

Here are some pics of my ME163.

I wired up some detail on the HWK-509-a motor. I freehanded the mottling and the camo on the wings using a Iwata HP-BC. So far this has been a decent build. Just taken a long time. :)

 A shot of the camouflage

 The underside, I did some preshading.

 The plumbing on the motor. I used some wire solder and tin wire.

The dolly, tail and motor. I am going to weather the dolly and wheel some more.

Anyways, Should be done this sucker in a few days. Just some touch ups, clearcoats, decals and done.

Finally finished my ME163b.

Finished it up last night at around 2am.

I scratchbuilt a jackstand to hold the tail up off the ground when the tail is off the plane.

 I will post some pics as soon as I am able. I didnt have time last night as it was pretty late and I was quite tired :)

It is done, here are the pics.

I scratchbuilt the jackstand, the revi gunsite, the antenna and the pitot tube.

Anyways, here are some shots of it.

Thanks again, I am glad I had a chance to finally complete this kit. This was one of the first kits I bought when i got back into the hobby in 2005.

Thanks, I spent a fair amount of time detailing the engine.

hows that JU88 coming along? Just curious as I have the kit. Is there any issues?

Heres the fit problem I have, on the Ju-88

And front of the canopy doesn't match up with the main body in the front. There's a small gap.

And here's my He-111

Zoinks.

Now I am scared. I submitted both those kits for the In My Stash IV group build :)

I am kind surprized by the fit on the JU88. A little dissapointed considering the cost of the kit!