2015 Messerschmitt Bf 109 Group Build

tempestjohnny

Jeez mustang (Joe) what time to you get up.  Says you're last post was at 5:15 my time.  Aren't you two hours behind east coast time

This picture was taken 6 years ago but here's Sweet Pea at age 11:

I use a beading tool to do the rivets, one at a time. About an hour and a half per wing. It gets pretty tedious. The fuselage is probably three hours worth. If anyone needs rivet patterns, there are some excellent drawings at the 109 Lair as well as much other useful information. Great site.

Jay

One at a time........................Wow! Now that's some dedication to build right there! Outstanding Jay!

Lookin' good Thunder.  Jay, that rivet work is crazy.  Looks great.  No worries Joe.  I'm building this thing on the fly.  The instructions are vague when it comes to painting.  That's why I'm constantly asking questions about paint.  Any and all input is appreciated.  I hope to find some time to work on the 109 this weekend.  However, if the weather is nice, I need to start working in my vineyard.

Craig  

Thanks for the info jay. I will be doing a 32nd Hase F as well, and given the scale I am thinking detail like this is important, I am more use to 72nd so adding rivets is not so much of an issue. Just looking at the drawings on that site, o boy, lots of rivets.

Morning fellow builders! Got some more done this past week on the pit and Fuselage. I had bought a pe set for this but so far have not used it. I have built a few if these kits in the past and while it may dress up the build some, I just like for the most part, the way it was made without too much PE. Any way, heres what I have thus far...

I know I skipped ahead a bit but some times when I get into the :Build Zone" I tend to forget to take pictures... Sorry.

Well that's about all for now. I'm doing something I don't usually do and that's trying to do two builds at once. Gets a tad confusing at times, but so far so good. The seat belts are trimmed and cut down strips of Tamiya masking tape with some left over buckles and scratch made accessories (small shaped and flattened pieces if wire). Most of the levers and cranks are scratch made with white glue knobs. The hydraulic lines of the foot pedals and assorted bits of cable and control wiring are just that, bits of wire and coated wire. I also picked up a sheet of Air Scale  placards and instrument dials and they are the most helpful items I've found yet for dressing up the cabin and cockpit.

Thanks all and more later... Man, there is some awesome work going on here and I'll say again... EPIC build coming over all!

Doug

Rivets? Fine job, Tucho. Now, that's above and beyond the call!

Coming along nicely, Doug. I like the powerplant. I know what you mean about PE. At least with the cyberhobby I am doing, the kit parts looks nicer than some of the PE. I used less than half of it, with most of it going to the panel and the belts.

Doug,

That's a fantastic looking pit and engine, well used.
Great job   

Thank  you MC,,, Yeah I like well used, LOL... I read somewhere once in an interview with the German ace Gunther Rall that when asked about what he felt the good points of the captured P51 Mustang he had just flown were, he told his superior ... They don't leak fuel and oil all over you!.  So I just picture German aircraft, given the amount of flying they did and the very harsh environments and use they received, would well used!

Thanks again!

Doug

Yeah, it looks fantastic.

I'm afraid that when I post some more pics of my Avia later today, it will look like a child's toy compared to the work that's going on in here.

I really like Rall, by the way.

Don't ever worry about that, we all have different ways and interpretations , styles, and skill levels. That's why I like this forum site. I've learned ALOT and hope to have shown some things to others.  

modelcrazy

Yeah, it looks fantastic.

I'm afraid that when I post some more pics of my Avia later today, it will look like a child's toy compared to the work that's going on in here.

I really like Rall, by the way.

Nah. I used to worry about that too.  I've seen your work and you are being way too modest. Most of what I have learned in modelling in recent years has been from the fine folks right in here and in the magazine, with still much to learn.  Looking forward to those pics!

Yeah, Rall seems like one of the guys who would have been really neat to meet. I read a short story about him and at the end he said "I'm always up from telling my stories,... but you buy the beer!"

Thanks for the complement Tom.

I wish he was still around, I'd like to buy him a beer just to listen. This past Dec 7, I was at the local museum and talked to some WW 2 vets there. One was a 17 tail gunner and another was on the Enterprise after Midway. I wish I had a lot more time to spend with them, but too many people were asking for their time as well.

I received my EagleCal decals today, the first set I've bought and I can see why they're popular. Everything about them is really nice (even the packing).

Not sure about this guy, maybe a British lion getting shot in the butt? At any rate it's even money he ends up on my model

The lady that used to babysit me when I was a kid. Her brother was a tail gunner in a -17. Survived the war to drop down dead at 49 of a heart attack.

I have a dentist on my mail route who is Iwo veteran. Early 90's now

modelcrazy

I'm afraid that when I post some more pics of my Avia later today, it will look like a child's toy compared to the work that's going on in here.

Tom... That is one guy I would have LOVED to buy a beer or 5 or 6 for.

MC... When my wife was working the front desk of the area Wyndham hotel an old guy used to come in there on occasion to visit his kids, and multiple grand and great grand kids. Found out he was a WWII Navy pilot who had flown the F4 and F6 "Cats" , He used to talk my ears off... but I just loved to hear the stories about dog fighting the "Japs" (his words) and all his adventures... Sure do miss Ole LtCmd Saunders...Were loosing them too fast, ...

Doug

I strongly second Mustang Joe's comment two posts up.

The only reason I don't feel intimidated in GB's is because of the kind and helpful folks here. If the norm here was serious or critical, it'd be different. But it's not.

I can't keep up with all the skills here and it doesn't bother me in the least.

You really can't turn your back on this GB for more than a day. I'm not online for a short amount of time and there's already something like 8 pages of new posts!

Everyone of you guys is doing some incredible work in here. This one's going to be a blast for sure! And yeah, I got a feeling it will surpass the 190 GB with ease...

Mustang, Greg, Doug, thanks for the encouragement. I really like all you guys, everyone is positive and helpful.

I had older history teacher in Jr High, I thought she was a crotchety old lady. When she started teaching on WW 2, she started recounting her experiences. Turns out she was a WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilot) and flew F4U's, P47's and P51's. My attitude changed immediately, and listened to everything she had to say from them on. Just goes to show, not to judge.

Here's my Avia as promised. The entire, and I mean ENTIRE AC was painted in RLM 02, so it looks like it came OTB. When I showed my wife after I painted it (like I always do) she said "what did you do to it?" I guess the Israelis' thought they were going to get damaged anyway so why bother changing the color. Anywho, I just need to add decals, the canopy and other fiddly bits, and replace the underwing cannon barrels as they were broken off on the sprue tree. Thus far, this has been an easy build. Really nice kit .

Steve

Everyones work looks awesome.  Some incredible talent here.

modelcrazy

I'm afraid that when I post some more pics of my Avia later today, it will look like a child's toy compared to the work that's going on in here.

I think this is the biggest issue on any of the forums I belong to.  I post my work on multiple forums with folks who are masters of this craft.  When they post their build ups they are so much more polished than even the best finished work I have ever posted.  When I joined here and got around to first posting my work I was greatly intimidated.  I learned that everyone was very kind with their words and very gracious with their kindness.  As I moved on and gained more confidence posting my work.  

Your build looks very good to me.  More polished than my work.  Very clean, very crisp.  A childs toy? Not hardly.  

Joe

Nothing wrong with that at all Steve. Looks pretty good. I'll tell you how I do and I think a lot of others too,

Study your future projects, google search every thing you can on it, buy some inexpensive books on amazon, and try to duplicate what you see. Lots of talent here and many builders have short cuts and tricks they use, I'll bet most are happy to share.

Looking forward to seeing the Isralie markings. Take care, and good work!

Doug

Thanks Joe and Doug. I won't even attempt posting on another forum. The guys on here a da bomb  

I will admit, I belong to way too many forums and such.  I believe right now there are twelve forums that I am active on, add another seven or so that I am a member on, add facebook and the multiple groups I belong to (active in maybe a half dozen), add google plus and the seven groups I belong to there, and finally I even have a YouTube page.  I am spread thin.  It is of my own making.  It is tough to keep up, most of the time I do not, but without them I would not try the things I try.  I would not have tried anything out of my comfort zone.  

I would not change any of it.

Joe

Oh and throw in that I work two jobs and have a family.

I am not spread thin, I am transparent.  

Joe

Great work guys.

As for meeting someone from WWII my wife and I meet a submariner.  We went to tour the Cobia and I was snapping a ton of photos.  I wanted to take a shot of the forward torpedo tubes and the veteran that was giving the tour asked me if he wanted him to pose.  As it turns out the torpedo that he bunked on was used to kill a ship.  It was a memorable tour.

That's a great story Moose, I couldn't be a submariner. To freaky being underwater.

Joe, you are spread thin. I have trouble finding time for the family, my hobbies, 1 job and 1 forum. When do you sleep?

Not sure what your worried about Steve. that looks pretty god to me. Just remember, we all build to our own abilities and our own tastes. We all aim to improve, even the best and most experienced model builders here. And even the most experienced can make mistakes.

Speaking of which, I have made a monumental one on my build. I started to assembly the engine itself yesterday. Keep in mind that these are large blocks of resin secured with CA. The instructions are a little unclear in some places, but careful checking would clearly show where things go. But of course, I didn't and ended up fitting a couple of parts slightly out of place which has messed the whole thing up. Despite my best efforts, I can't separate them. So, I have e-mailed HPH and asked if I can buy the relevant bits. I hope they can help me out otherwise I may have to buy another kit.

Not off to a good star this year. I got my 109 mug yesterday and turns out I ordered a 15oz mug instead of the normal 11oz. I think I need to go back to bed and start 2015 all over again, but this time start to pay attention to what I am doing.

I once spent a week on a Trafalgar class sub. I didn't mind being underwater, even got to drive the damn thing, but I certainly could not spent 6 months in one.

Hi guys, I made some progress today, in between cleaning and tidying the place, putting washing through and such... Airfix first. I closed the fuselage yesterday and did some seam work, and today I basically ran through the rest of construction. I painted inside the three radiator units and mounted them, fitted the wing to the fuselage and added the engine cowling and tail surfaces. One of the tail braces is in place, the other snapped in the process, so I'll need to work out a scratch built replacement.

The cockpit turned out quite well for the scale:

And the project overall:

I can work on seams and that snapped part, but it'll be a week and a half before the order for masks is even actioned by my LHS, so it could be a month before I come back to this one for the paintwork.

The Hobbycraft kit has certainly lived up to the company's almost comical reputation, with cockpit parts that fit where they touch and could reduce a seasoned modeller to tears of frustration with the illogic of the assembly sequence. Heck, even the plans were drawn by hand and a measure of how couldn't-care-less the process was can be judged by the fact the "artist" drew SEVEN exhaust stubs where there are six on the parts, though that is the only accurate thing about them. Here's the cockpit:

It doesn't look too bad, but the fit into the fuselage is less engineering and design than a matter of hope and luck. Since this afternoon I have been using file and knife to thin both the walls of the cockpit and the fuselage itself, and am close to getting them to nest together. I don't know why I'm surprised, this is Hobbycraft we're dealing with, and no sooner do you open one of these than suddenly you're drilling out, grinding back and chocking up. It's the only D in town. Well, Hobby Boss is rumoured to be entering the 109 game this year, albeit with a pair of already well-served G airframes, and you never know, maybe they'll tool the early marks, and create definitive models in the process.

I have the D wing finished and sanded, so it's a matter of bringing this thing together, however it wants to go, then making sure there's a decent paintjob to catch the eye.

I'm looking forward to my Hasegawa G-2, it'll be a relief to build one I know will more or less fall together!

Cheers, M/TB379

Lookin' good Thunder!!!