Bf-109: Reich Defender GB The End

SOme excellent progress here fellas! Glad to see some more 109's in the workshop.

Neu- When I spray my Future, I do as Karl said and mist on the first coat.   Someone recently told me a secret to getting that glass smooth surface in the Future, add a tiny drop of liquid dishwashing detergent to break the surface tension.  Works a treat!

Nue the plane in question is actually a late build G-6 with the tall wooden tail. They are hard to tell from the G-14. The tell tale sign is the undewing antenne that the G-14 carried. The markings on the nose were actually a simplification of his standard markings. The tulip nose markings were alot different on his other planes with the black being outlined in white and the spinner was also pained black with a spirial. They were a personal marking of Hartman and I have only see then used on one other plane but done in red not black. Like I stated before he only flew this G-6 for a breif period when he flew with JG53. It was a winter repaint so all of the stencils on the upper surfaces would have been painted over even the wing walks. Hope this helps you out.

                                                                                          Soulcrusher

Neu, you don't need to thin Future.

I never have and as long as you mist coat and keep the pressure low it should go on fine.

Karl

Nue I agree with Karl you should be able to spray the Future without thinning it. I prefer to brush it on because I can control how thick it goes on and apply it more evenly.

Hartman is a great subject to study. He had flew many different Me 109's There are alot of pictures of him and some in the cockpit of his plane but believe it or not there are not alot pictures of his planes. The one you build is a very popular subject and is a great looking scheme.  There are three other planes that he flew that there are decal sheets for. Sooner or later I plan on building all of them. He was also known to have more than one aircraft assigned to him at a time. Also of interest is that there are decal options for some of his wingmen too.

                                                                                          Soulcrusher

soulcrusher wrote:

Nue I agree with Karl you should be able to spray the Future without thinning it. I prefer to brush it on because I can control how thick it goes on and apply it more evenly. Hartman is a great subject to study. He had flew many different Me 109's There are alot of pictures of him and some in the cockpit of his plane but believe it or not there are not alot pictures of his planes. The one you build is a very popular subject and is a great looking scheme.  There are three other planes that he flew that there are decal sheets for. Sooner or later I plan on building all of them. He was also known to have more than one aircraft assigned to him at a time. Also of interest is that there are decal options for some of his wingmen too.                                                                                           Soulcrusher

Karl -- many thanks! Yes, she should be a very nice replica when she's done, although I'm not sorry I was critical of the cockpit assembly on my blog. The wing slats are a poor fit too. No matter, a lil CA and they snugged into place. I'm looking forward to seeing her done.

SC -- I agree, it's marvelous to know something of the history the subject matter! On Hartmann's G-14, I have a shot at nabbing the Hasegawa 1:32 at this time, fingers crossed!

Okay, my next job is the scratchbuilding behind the seat... The molded-in battery cover of the G-10 was carved away, and I turned up some .010" sheet to do the hatch. I went through my reference photos last night and none of them are close enough to really make out what's needed. What I think I'm seeing is this: the canopy locking bar, with two end-mounts and a securing strip at the mid-point, plus a segmented-tube hinge the full width of the base of the access hatch. How does this sound?

EDIT -- nope, on looking at close-ups of a late G I'm seeing two lateral tubular bars, one immediately behind the 'headrest' unit and the other at the base of the hatch. This is very confusing!

Cheers,

Mike/TB379

Mike, I went for a very generic looking assembly on my Revell K-4, as I'm going for a closed hood, so best of luck with yours.

Looking at photos of the aircraft I'm building, I kept coming back to the fact that the flaps were dropped, while those on the Revell K-4 are solid and neutral.

So, a few minutes with razor saw and files....

Really should have done this before I attached the wings, but this was supposed to be an OOB!

Flaps are courtesy of Hase from the spares box, with the flaps themselves being about 2mm too short, so I built them up with sheet styrene, and filed to shape.

Karl

I picked up this kit on sale at Wal-Mart for the princely sum of $4.  Since a lot of people complain about the high price of modeling these days this will be a budget build to prove a point, you don't have to spend a butt load of money to have fun and produce a reasonable looking model.  I will not use any aftermarket except for markings (Sky Decals) and any mods will be restricted to materials I have on hand.

This one will also be entered in the ANR GB.

So without further ado:

The cockpit, pretty nicely detailed, the belts were fabricated from lead foil and some old 1/24 PE racing harness hardware that I found stashed away.  The shoulder belts will go on after the fuselage is put together.

Instrument panel, not real happy with it, an Eduard color IP would be a nice upgrade.

And sidewall details, mostly OOB dressed up with some 28 gague color wire.

Mike-

I updated the roster on page 1, looking forward to seeing this beast in your more than capable hands.

Hi all,

A little progress to report. I've done the rear cockpit scratchbuilding required for the Hasegawa K-4: removing the battery cover (done a while back), building the hatch from .010" sheet, then installing the locking bar and ends from .020" stock. In the same round I installed the armor glass in the headrest unit and the next job up will be to paint the rear cockpit area and paint and install the gunsight, before attaching the canopy sections and applying the Express Masks.

A bit rough, but 1:48th is not all that big. One of the end pieces went on at the first go, the other needed making twice and took five goes to attach, including falling into the carpet twice.

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It's raining here for the next few days so the likelyhood of getting any enamel spraying done is remote. I may concentrate on the StuG for 1000 Roadwheels after I get the latest round of jobs on the 109 done, then hopefully get this bird into the paintshop before too much longer.

That poses the eternal question: if the camo was no longer straight-edged, was that because the masking process had been deleted to save time and materials in the later stages of the war? So should the camo be hard-edged, or soft???

Cheers,

Mike

Karl- Those dropped flaps certainly add some animation to the model, and are a quick way to dress it up.  Looking good my friend!

Mike- The extra detailing you have added really busy up the cockpit, well done!  Those bits really look the part.  About the camo, I have seen both hard and soft demarcations between colors on those aircraft.  Which scheme are you planning to do?

The battery cover and canopy lock look great Mike. They should really stand out with the canopy open.

                                                                                     Soulcrusher 

Mike, nice job on the 21 Cent 109.

I've put their 1/32 Stuka on my Father's Day list!

Mike T, great job on the rear bulkhead, looks very nice indeed.

Frank, every other 1/48 109 on my shelves has dropped flaps, and I couldn't have this looking different.

Aside fron cutting out the flaps, I've now also cut out part of the forward cowl ahead of the windscreen to allow me to fit the Hase canopy.

The Revell canopy doesn't fit worth a damn, and having measured the Hase canopy in my spares box from their K-4 figured this one would fit.

I did a bit more fettling after this shot was taken, and added a thin shim forward of the canopy to fill the gap. 

Only the gun sight to go in now along with the seat and a coat of flat to the bulkhead,and I can seal this one up ready for the paintshop.

Karl

Frank, SC and Karl -- thanks for the thumbs-up on the scratched detail, I put it off for a long time but in the end it was easy.

Frank, I'm doing Yellow 4, which is supplied on the kit sheet, and is one of the few K-4s which doesn't need surgery to the extended tailwheel. I've been thinking about trying soft masking to get regular but feathered-edge camo, but I'm not sure, some of it looks awful tight, especially trying for an effect like that around the supercharger intake. I'll make a decision when I get closer to painting, in fact about the time the first topside color goes on!

Cheers,

Mike

EDIT: I sprayed the rear cockpit area today, and have painted the gunsight. Tomorrow I expect to weather the rear area, fit the gunsight and mount the canopy. I may leave it overnight to harden up before I apply the masks. The only detail I'm not attempting is a harness, though for the amount visible some masking tape might be possible. No buckle hardware to be had, unfortunately.

PS: It'll be closed canopy, I'm not ready to mask an open one yet!

Hi all,

Today's progress: got the rear cockpit detail painted and weathered and should be closing up the canopy later, as soon as I mount the gunsight.

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Some oil wash and silver enamel drybrushing and she looks about right. Next, get the gunsight jiggled into place with tweezers, paint the leather crash pad on it, then I can snug the canopy sections down and let them dry thoroughly before I open up the masks.

Cheers,

Mike

PS: I blogged about this part of the job today, address below.

Hi all,

I tried posting about 12 hours ago but the forum seemed to be down.

Quick update, the masks are on. here they're getting underway:

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And here complete:

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The weather is clearing for the next few days, if I can get the final small parts and masking done I'll be aiming to get the 76 on. Then I'll decide how I'm going to do the camo. I'm leaning toward masked at this time.

Cheers,

Mike

Looking good Mike. Can't wait to see her with some paint on it.

                                                                                                  Soulcrusher

Mike- You're posting WIP pics faster than I can look at them, I LOVE IT!!!  Keep it up, she's really looking the part now.

Know what you mean about the forums this morning, couldn't even get to it myself.

Mike, looking like great progress.

Currently primering my K-4.

There are a few little seams and mis-scribes to sort out, but nothing much.

I'm going to have to go with an open cockpit, as the Hase canopy is too wide at the rear bulkhead to left closed, and the Revell rear canopy part is too narrowat the front to properly match up with the Hase windscreen.

C'est la vie.

Karl

Most of the tidy up is now complete, and a second application of primer has been applied.

I've spotted a couple of areas which I missed first time around, but I'll tidy these up tomorrow, then start with the pre-shading and the wheel wells.

Karl

Hi Karl,

This is the Hase K-4 (or late G), right? We seem to be at about the same stage -- she's looking good under some primer!

What's your impression of this point... Am I seeing things or did Hasegawa flip the left wing camo pattern light-to-dark in the instructions??? I.e., the grey areas should be green, and vice versa???

Cheers,

Mike

Frank, thanks for the compliment.

I tried this scheme once before on a Hase K-4, and completely cocked it up, hence the number of Hase K-4 spares in my spares box!

I'm going for a JG 77 machine based at Neuruppin in late '44. I've got the Aeromaster decal sheet sheet for two machines from this unit, however the camo colours stated in the Aeromaster sheet, don't agree with the Profile of the same machine in the Jagdwaffe volume.

So I'm going with my own interpretation instead based upon the photos. So lots of 76/84/75/83 & 81. 

Mike, this is the venerable RM G-10/K-4.

After seeing your Hase K with dropped flaps I knew I just had to do the same with this one. Doesn't help that every other 1/48 109 in my collection has dropped flaps, so I couldn't have this one different!

The Hase painting instructions match the Aeromaster in terms of camo demarcation, however in my case Aeromaster state 81 whereas the photos suggest 75.

Karl

Hey all....a lot of great work being posted here.  Sorry I haven't taken the time to comment-life has been getting in the way of late.

My Monogram/Revell G-10 is DOA.  Decals are on, but I'm not really happy with the color scheme and the quality of the kit decals....along with some seams that are giving me fits.  Not sure what I'm going to do with it at this point....so needless to say I won't be finishing this one before the end date.  Maybe next time....

Karl- Which airframe are you doing?

Bob- No worries my friend, I can almost gaurantee another 109 GB in the future.   We'll look for you then!

Hi Karl,

That's the RM? Well, I'm impressed! Detail for detail (I held the Hase to the screen!), it compares very well to Hase, and looks proportionally excellent. Recessed or raised panel lines?

Your mention of decals set me thinking and I hunted out a sheet of Eagle Cals for K-4s from my stash and compared their camo instructions. The pattern essentially matches Hasegawa's, but the light and dark colors on the left wing are definitely switched in the kit plans! I'll un-switch them when I paint this beast. Speaking of which, it looks like being a masked job, which will be a new experience, as it's all wavy-edged. Hmm, I might keep all the bits, stuck lightly to something, for the next time I do a K-4.

I just found a small locator hole under the nose of the plane, just back from the base of the prop, but nothing is indicated as fitting into it (the hole is juuust visible in the plans). Was there a structure under the nose of any mark of the G series that would require a hole there? A lick of filler will take care of it. Next I need some masking in a few more places, mount the aileron balance horns and the loop antenna, use some rubber solution to mask the locator points for the underwing probe (pitot?) and the planned dorsal antenna wire, and she's ready for some paint.

Cheers, looking forward to seeing your G-10 finished,

Mike

Frank, I've got a choice of 3 as I've got photos of White 1,2 & 17, though they are all pretty much of a muchness in terms of camo scheme.

Mike, the old RM kit was always fairly accurate externally, with mainly recessed panel lines. 

It's not as detailed as the Hase offering, but the wheel wells are better IMHO. The fact that the Hase flaps fit with only a little modification says a lot I think about the accuracy of the old revell offering.

As for the hole aft of the prop, I think it's some sort of drain hole. You can see it on G-6s mainly, but not from my references on the G-10s, and thus by inference Ks.

Karl

Managed to get the pre-shade on this evening...

I don't bother pre-shading the upper surfaces unless they are particularly light, hence ending the pre-shade on the fuselage sides.

The underside on the other hand.....

After the pre-shade was applied I polished everything with a piece of kitchen towel to give a smooth surface for the top coats.

Since the photos were taken I've painted the wheel wells 02 and drybrushed them.

On to the 76 tomorrow.

Karl

Hi Karl,

Just double-checking, is that Revell kit #5253? I might have a shot at one coming up shortly...

Cheers,

Mike