Bf-109: Reich Defender GB The End

SC --Ah-ha! Well, I look forward to building her! I'll consider an AM cockpit and anything else that looks attractive, I got her for a buy-now price of US$9.99 so it looks like a real bargain.

Karl -- you're moving along here and it's looking great! I'm closing in one the same stage myself, the RLM 76 went on today and I'm hoping that if the masking isn't too time-consuming I might be able to get the 75 on late tomorrow. Then I need a decent span of weather/humidity to remask and shoot the green -- and that'll bring me to the old 82/83 question. It looks like this bird calls for the darker of the two, whichever that is in these particular MM bottles!

Lufty -- that's an ambitious job, turning the parts of a pre-finished style model into a properly finished one. I look forward to seeing how it turns out.

WIP shots: RLM 76 on:

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Ancillary parts sprayed 02, spinner cone in satin black, and the prop blades are now sanded and resprayed 70.

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Cheers, more asap,

Mike

Guys, thanks for the kind comments.

As you can probably guess I'm really enjoying this build.

Lufty, the big G is looking good.

I was looking at 21st Century's Ju 87  a few weeks back as my next build, as it looks good and is dirt cheap. Always good in my book!

Mike, making great progress there.

With regard the 82/83 issue, 83 should be the darker of the two colours.

Well, it's hot sunny and dry here in Oxfordshire, something I don't get to say too often, so should be a good day to finish off the paint.

Karl

 

KJ200 wrote:

Lufty, the big G is looking good. I was looking at 21st Century's Ju 87  a few weeks back as my next build, as it looks good and is dirt cheap. Always good in my book!

Thanks, Karl.

I just picked the Stuka up on Ebay for $5.50!  The decals alone are worth more than that.  The interior should lend itself well to some serious detaling.  21st CT pulled their website down so I think they're out of business.  Hopefully they re-organize or someone else buys the molds, it would be a shame for these things to disappear.  They're not perfect but where else are you going to get a decent 1/32 model for this cheap?

Well I am about 95% done. Today I put on a topcoat that is a mix of satin/semigloss clear. The panel lines were weathered prior with HB pencil. Since I am building a Bodenplatte raider and most of those aircraft were comparativley new aircraft, I am keeping weathing to a minimum.

All I need to do is canopy framing, attach it, along with touch up of the rear cockpit bulkhead and som final small add ons/touch ups.

More to follow in the next few days...

Stik -- looking great!

Limited proigress today, I patched up some more 76 needed here and there, including rhe outside of the gear bay doors and split flaps, the exhaust shields and underwing antenna. Then I assembled the prop:

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and

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Which brings me to:

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The question I'm asking myself now is whether I've been too clever -- should I have tried winding on the spiral decal before fitting the blades? Will they just get in the way? The problem is the positive location devices are meant to be engaged before the cone is added to the base, so structurally it needed to be done this way, certainly to ensure the blades sat correctly. I'm not looking forward to the spinner decal.

The 76 on the fuselage sides doesn't show up in this shot against the gray plastic, but it's there. I'm thinking I might soft-mask the wing camo, freehand the fuselage with the small tip and needle, then soft-mask a fresh shot of 76 over the edges. Whatever way I go, this'll be a challenge!

Cheers,

Mike

Carlos- Looks like you are just about ready to cross the finish line!  Very nice work, can't wait to add this one to page 1.

Mike- Yours is coming along rather well too.  I dunno about adding the spiral around the prop blades, think they might hinder your work.  I shall keep my fingers crossed for you on this one, though.

Hi Frank -- you might be right. I've been studying the plans more closely and the more I look at the built-up model photos the more I'm convinced the spiral was masked and sprayed, not done with the supplied decal. In the photos the spiral's leading edge begins flush with the rearmost edge of the backplate, while in the decal instructions it begins butting square against a prop blade apperture. Other sources are hard to judge, but I'm thinking the best thing I can do is give the decal a shot as per the instructions, and if it doesn't work, mask and spray the white line as per the photos, probably doing the innermost part freehand.

Research also suggests that while this plane had the open white style of cross, the fuselage crosses were backed with RLM 83 where the black would have been on a closed cross -- not sure if I'll try to reproduce this, it's far from an easy scheme!

Cheers,

Mike

EDIT:

Okay, the decal broke up and went on in four pieces, and the first of probably half a dozen coats of MicroSol is drying right now. I might be posting a pic tonight.

EDIT:

Here it is!

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Okay, not perfect, but not too much of a disaster. It's mostly settled down after four or five applications of MicroSol, and considering how it tried to roll up while still on the backing paper I think it fought me less than it could have. There, my first attempt at a spiralschnauze -- any tips for the future?

Mike- From what I can see, looks like you tamed the beast!  Looks very good in the photo.  I have never seen one that ended like that, all of them I have seen went down to the backplate.

Hi Frank --thanks! Well, the kit decal was clearly not designed to snug down to the back plate. I could have tried hanging it over the edge and trimming the excess but the designed curvature would then not have matched the cone. I'm thinking I can either paint on a swatch, or cut a small piece of decal material, to follow the line on the other side of the blade opening so the eye sees the spiral continue until it disappears at the black plate. That would perhaps not be completely historically accurate in terms of the number of turns in the spiral, but more accurate than the spiral ending at the notch.

Hoping to get some 75 on today,

Mike

Well my friends...

Today is officially the last day for this group build, though I would encourage all who are still working on their kits to continue the builds and post your progress as you can.  I know that Karl, Carlos, Mike, and Mike are working on theirs, anyone else still building?  As soon as we have all of the intended builds completed, I plan to post them all in the Aircraft section so that everyone can see the overwhelming talent displayed here.  Gentlemen- It has been my absolute pleasure to build here with you, and to share all that we have shared on these pages.  Thank you all for making this one of the best Group Builds I have had the pleasure of participating in, and I salute each and every one of you.

Thank you.

Frank this was a great GB. I went back to the first page and I was amazed at how many people that were signed up that never even posted work or posted anything period. I guess I take these GB more seriously than some. I know some people are a bit late in finishing and that never bothers me as we all know sometimes things get in the way or other GB run a bit long but there are some that did not participate in anyway shape or form. In this case it was quite a few. The one I have been wondering about is phoenix? I have not seen a post from him in a long time and I know he is a Luftwaffe nut. He would not have missed this one unless something was wrong. Anyway thanks agian for another great GB Frank. Cheers!

                                                                                    Soulcrusher

Thanks again for being such a prolific member here SC!  I have really enjoyed this one, and hope to do another in the future.  Perhaps a "FW-190 Reich Defender" or perhaps the ME-262?  Only time will tell I guess...

I know what you mean about Phoenix... I have tried PMs, emails, phone calls, and have asked a number of people that knew him if they had any idea what happened to him.  Nothing yet, unfortunately.  Hope that wherever he is, things are OK with him.

I guess I am not the only one who misses phoenix. He was great for Luftwaffe info an a great fellow modeler. The last I heard from him was when we both participated on the Fw 190 GB last year. I hope everything is ok with him. If you do find out anything please let me know too.

Frank whatever GB you decide Fw 190 or Me 262 you know I'll be the first there to sign up! 

                                                                                    Soulcrusher 

If I do find anything out, I will be sure to pass it along.  Also, glad to hear you are ready for the next Luftwaffe build!  I shall be certain to sign you up IMMEDIATELY upon it's inception.

Hi Frank,

Just want to say I'll be aboard your next Luftwaffe build as well, I seem to have rather caught the bug as I've been stashing 109s and 190s in the last few months, including the 1:32 Hase G-4 in North Africa colors -- I never expected to nab that one for a bargain price!

More progress, masking is underway, with the wavy demarkation at the leading edge hard-masked and plenty of protection for the undersides:

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I might try to get the top of the surfaces into 75 today, then do some more protective masking where necessary, and both free-hand and soft-mask the fuselage. The bad news is I have Jury Orientation all day tomorrow, so there's something else to cut into my bench time. Sigh, I really wanted to have this bird in the display case by now! Good news is she's not been fighting me so far, so when I get time on her I can usually make progress.

Cheers,

Mike

EDIT

It turned out I had a pack of blu-tack in my tool drawer, so I am now cutting light card masks. Yep, soft-masking, another technique I've read about but never done before. I'll keep you posted, and no doubt blog about it!

Mike- Thank you, glad to know you would like to do another one in the future!  I have to admit, I really have a soft spot for the 109, but perhaps a 190 Reich Defense GB would be a good thing to break it up a little.  I will be certain to find you when the time comes!

Your progress is looking very good!  That wavy line on the leading edge is a feature that really sets these aircraft apart, looking forward to seeing how yours turns out!  Please do not feel rushed to finish, I would hate for something to go wrong because you felt hurried.  

Hi Frank,
If you do a 190 GB I'd be very interested.

Cheers...

Roger that Mike, I shall keep you in the loop as well!

Daywalker wrote:

Roger that Mike, I shall keep you in the loop as well!

Loop? What Loop!?!

Mac- Not to worry mate, I got a 1/32 FW-190 with your name on it when the time comes!

Thanks, Frank -- much appreciated. I don't think I'm going to be able to get back to painting for a couple of days, but I can be cutting the masks, I have six done so far. The fuselage sides will be the trickiest. The good thing is, I think they'll probably be reusable, I'll be able to use at least the generic wing and tail pattern masks for other K-4s in future.

The upper portion of the split flaps are now installed, ready for the 75 coat to come. With luck, I'll be decaling next week, then a little weathering, panel wash, MiG dust and carbon stains, and Ez-Line for the antenna. Oh, and that extra bit of decal on the spinner backplate, not white but a very pale gull grey to match the luminoscity of the white decal over black.

That's unless I'm on call for jury duty! Must keep my mind on the case, not on the complexities of airbrushing...

Cheers,

Mike

Looking good Mike. Sorry to hear about the jury duty. There was a long lived post in odd&ends about jury duty.

                                                                               Soulcrusher 

Frank, great GB and enjoyed every minute of it. Even though I finished my kits a while ago I still enjoy keeping up with builds and all the posts. Whenever the next build comes to ya be it a 190 or 262 I am deffinetly on bord for it. Thanks for running the build, it was fun

Steve

Hey guys

Sorry for the late reply... I had a little misadventure with my model, the results of which made me lose my enthusiasm for awhile. While I was preparing for my final coats I had some problems with my airbrush. It started spackling badly, so I decided to disassemble it for cleaning. While I replacing the fluid nozzle (an Iwata Revolution CR) I put a little too much torque and tore it apart. Afterwards I decided to brush on the final coat of Future, maybe because I was a slight bit ticked off by what happened. Instead it reacted with the slight weathering I used and made a mess of things, with brown discoloration (as if it was flood damaged) along the bottom. I overcompensated on the exhaust smoke to cover up a series of imperfections and sanded down everything else... all in all it was a bit of a disaster by the end. Ah well. I might do some post shading along cannon exhaust lines, but I consider it complete for now.

Nevertheless it was one of the most enjoyable builds I've had in awhile, mostly because of the assistance you've all provided. It was particularly interesting to hear the history of my fighter, as well as some of the techniques you've used. If there is a build in the future with 190s or 262s, count me in. For now I'll probably go to the navy group build. I've got a 1/72 Hawker Sea Hawk and a Westland Wyvern to do in Suez Crisis colours.

For now, feast your eyes on the fruits of my mediocre labours. I won't bother with getting a better camera as I'd rather disguise how bad it turned out.

Steve- Glad you had fun here, that's what it's all about!  I shall look for you in the future for the next installment.

-Neu- Looking at the photos, I cannot see the problems you mention.  Looks great from where I'm sitting!  Glad to hear you enjoyed this one as well.

Hi guys,

Still chugging away, here's the almost-complete set of card masks for the soft-mask procedure (those crossing the fuselage centerline I'll cut on the fly, after the 75 is on.) Each piece is marked for its location, and so long as the blu-tack holds, it should work okay.

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It's all experimental at this point but the theory is simple enough. Note I cut positive and negative masks for the fuselage sides, so I can touch up either side of the feathered edge as need be.

Cheers,

Mike

Carlos, White 2 is looking great. I'm doing White 1 from JG 77!

Mike, that spinner spiral came out great IMHO.

I'm very impressed with your masks they look top drawer professional.

Neu, looks good to me mate.

Haven't got as much done as I would have liked this week as I've had to work late at least three nights this week due to it being quarter end in the software industry.

Any way decals are on. Took me three nights to do, and that's even omitting a number of the stencils.

I had to keep going back to the mottling as my first efforts were fairly subtle, but when compared to the photos of the real thing, the mottling was actually quite heavy.

The cannon ejector ports just aft of the oil cooler are decals, as the Revell ones are square!

I left the wing walk markings off as I couldn't see them in the photos.

Panel wash went on this evening, and now I'm just sorting out some of the smaller details.

Karl

 

 

Karl- Absolutely gorgeous!!!

A quick update before I pop open a beer and man the BBQ.  Beer can chicken, pork baby back ribs and a cold Newcastle...life is good! 

OK, I have been plugging away on this thing, for a kit that's supposed to be kind of a "slammer" I'm spending a lot of time on little things.

Wheels wells all painted up, came out OK, but not entirely happy with the end product.

I made the storage box cover and hinge out of plastic stock.  A little blurry, sorry!

No master compass cover or oil fill cover so these had to be scribed.

Dropped landing and radiator flaps, had a real tough time getting these cleaned up and looking (somewhat) satisfactory.  Learned some lessons that will make the next one go smoother (I've got 7 of the 109F's in the stash, early war 109 GB anyone?? )

Ready for some paint tomorrow, Happy Independence Day folks, be safe!!!

Mike- Great idea keeping the male and female parts of the masks, sure will make things easier if you have to touch anything up.  But, just think... since you thought ahead, you won't need them now!

Karl- Stunning!  Just stunning.  I love your work on this one, simply perfect.

Mike- Looks like that big 109 is shaping up quickly!  You'll be spraying paint on it in no time at all.