70th Anniversary Battle of Britain GB - 2010

I finally got a start on my Me109E.  I've got several sets of markings to choose from, so I'm going to back into  that decision as things progress.  I was anxious to get things going, so I've started the cockpit.  I'm a big fan of the Eduard Zoom photoetch sets, and the 109 set did not disappoint.  I put most of the Eduard set in along with some fine copper wiring to clutter up the space. Eduard also includes a great little seat belt/harness set.  I had a bunch of photos of different cockpits and no two seemed to be alike, so I just took off and painted what seemed to be appropriate German greys.  I really was happy with the way all the little boxes and levers have filled the space.  I have some touching up to do (digital photography is an excellent tool to find mistakes).  And there are still some knobs and levers to add.  So, I've broke the ice and am moving ahead.  Rick.

Daywalker

  A great read to be certain. 

Certainly was!!!! I also recorded the movie made of the same name. Which has genuine article Bristol Bulldog and Avro 504 in it.

Thanks for the links guys, interesting stuff!!!!

This might interest you:

http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/falco_bob.htm

Jeremy- OOPS!  I thought you were building the Tamiya kit- my fav.  Have never tried the Hasegawa version, so not sure how they compare.  On the Polly Scale, I usually thin it to about the consistency of skim milk, not sure if that helps.  Probably about 25% distilled water?  Sorry, I have never really measured it.

Buddy- Great link, thank you very much.  Some great photos there too.  I finished reading "Reach for the Sky" last week, about Sir Douglas Bader.  A great read to be certain.  I recognized a few names in those photo captions.

A friend sent me this link about a new exhibit about "The Few" at Duxford.  It's really worth a look.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1267916/Unseen-images-Battle-Britain-heroes-duty.html

Satch beautiful job mate!!!

Jeremy, she's looking good!!!!! Looking forward to seeing some color on her!!!

Satch - I usually do a flat coat also but I really like the way Frank finishes his birds and even though I've asked him 12 or so times, I forget to write it down.

Frank - This is a nice kit. I thought I had a Tamiya to compare it to but I don't see it and I don't feel like digging for it. This is the first "E" I've built as I'm kinda partial to the later variants. Here's the markings she's getting dressed in... #5 at the top.

The reason I picked this plane is because the sheet claims that the cowl and tail are white.   I'm so sick of yellow on Luftwaffe birds..  I need some change!. 

And here's a little progress pic. The hard work is done.

 Now, Frank... was that Pollyscale satin thinned 3 to 1???

Satch- Very well done, like this build a lot!  Surprised at how well those canopy decals worked, very nice!

Jeremy- Oh, yes!  Lovely work so far.  That is my all-time favorite kit to build.  Sorry if I missed this, but what markings are you planning on doing her up in?

Satch, Nice one buddy she looks good

My own personal preferance is for a Matt finish but i'm not 100% sure if thats accurate, i just like it tthat way....

Thanks all.  The kit came with decals for entire cammo pattern.  I painted instead except for the canopy frames.

The colors are actually 70/02/65.  I have bottles of both 65 and 76 (Hellblau and Lichtblau respectively) and they look exactly the same.  Here is a reference, one of many.  http://users.hol.gr/~nowi/

A general question.  We assume that WWII aircraft paint was matte to reduce reflection from the sun.  Matt paint is hard to maintain, though.  Navy paint is glossy due to corrosion control.  How glossy or matte were other WWII paints?

I'm calling her done as I am gone to NYC.  Keep building those Hurricanes and Spitfires, Heinz needs targets!

Satch and Jeremy looking good, I like the the Canopy frame decals. That part of building is my least favorite masking canopy frames. I have used fast frames and also had success. great WIP pics love too see everyones great work.

Great work on the 109 satch! Keep up the great work!

Satch,

Nice work.  Hope my Bar miniMe looks as good.

Jeremy,

Looking good, keep at it.

Hammering out an Airfix Spit Mk Vc for the Pac War build.  Hope to get started on this one next. 

Nice work Satch!   Is the whole paint job a decal?

Just a little progress for me as I'm kinda slow. Main parts are together and this is a nice little kit. The wing halves are a little tricky because there are no real locating tabs. I don't remember this problem on the Hasegawa F's or G's but I haven't built one of them critters in years.

Hey Satch, I like the canopy decals. Thought about trying that myself. I've been meaning to ask about the splinter camo schemes and the colors. I've seen reference to 70/71 and also 02/71, and with your Hienz Bar from JG51 I'm seeing an 02/70 that looks great. Nice work on the 109!

Thanks everyone, glad your enjoying the Spitfire so far.

Satch, hope you can get those little extra bits finished asap, looks good so far.

Cheers...

I'm moving Heinz Bar from the workbench to the shelf.  I have to go to work today for about two weeks so I'm clearing the bench.  I't pretty much done except for a flat coat and the antennae wire.  But I'm calling it done for now.

The canopy frames were decals!  They acutally worked well, just needed a little Sol to lay down.

Heinz Bar's White 13 of 1/51 Summer of 1940.  Painted with Model Master 70/02 and Aeromaster 76.  The yellow is Tamiya.  I used a oily/grimy black pin wash on the panel lines and wiped off the excess.  The guns are MM metal gun barrrels.  Everything else is OOB.

Thanks

JMart

Love some of the print art posted a few pages ago.. nice! Also the previous work…excellent and very inspirational! Love the figures too…  some GREAT work so far, I will just sit back and enjoy the builds for awhile.. cheers

it's great work isn't it..........

Love some of the print art posted a few pages ago.. nice! Also the previous work…excellent and very inspirational! Love the figures too…  some GREAT work so far, I will just sit back and enjoy the builds for awhile.. cheers

Mike I'm loving your paint work!!!

Spike, Great looking Spit Love the interior detail....

Nomad, I like all the scratch detail going on over there mate, good job

Jeremy, Your pit looks cool, very well done you put more detail into 109 interiors than i do, i got a little peeved after i put an Eduard zoom set in one only to have it vanish when the canopy went on....

Nuthin to report over here, still plugging away at the 110 interior, man there's some detail in the Eduard kit....

 Great work guys, some fantastic looking builds coming along nicely

Sounds like a good plan Mike!  I think the red fabric covers will do nicely after fixing up those gun ports.

Jeremy nice looking cockpit I built that kit a few years ago and had fun building it. Mike perfect preshading under the Spit most people put too much paint over the preshade lines. My airbrush needs an adapter have it hopefully end of the week so I can start pianting. Love the WIP pics guys keep up the good work.

Ohhh blast . Thanks Frank, I will see if I can coax them out and maybe if necessary create some of the red fabric that was pasted over.

Cheers...

Some mighty fine work fellas, loving it!  Really want to get started on mine but trying to clean up a couple of other projects first.

Jeremy- Great looking office, OOB is perfect IMHO.

Mike- Great work on your Spit!  One thing I was made aware of in the last BoB GB, was that the flash suppressors on the outboard guns were removed on these aircraft.  I was able to remove mine before painting, not sure if you would be able to at this point without damaging your paint.  Also, the gear bays are the same color as the underside of the aircraft, so Sky would be correct.  HTH!

A little more progress on my Spit.

I'm amazed at how easily this kit goes together, barely need the instructions, hope that doesn't come back to haunt me!!

I decided to try and improve the gun barrels, never done this before so I hope you all approve of my efforts.

As you can see I've done some preshading, a bit messy but that never seems a problem on the preshade.

I bought some Xtracrylics for this kit but I've had a few problems spraying the interior green so I wimped out on the underside and used Tamiya sky

Still need to work on a few spots before I flip her over.

A quick question, are the wheel wells "sky" or "interior green" on the Spitfire Mk.1?

Cheers....

No matter who did what your office looks great Jeremy!!!!

satch_ip

That Hasegawa cockpit engineering looks remarkably like the Academy cockpit.  Yours did turn out better, though.

Yes, they look like they fit together exactly the same Satch. It looks like the Academy pit has more detail though.

That Hasegawa cockpit engineering looks remarkably like the Academy cockpit.  Yours did turn out better, though.