2015 Messerschmitt Bf 109 Group Build

Bish... no doubt Aires makes a good set, but the best price I could find here was about 20 dollars and the TD was like 8 bucks, also the Aires as you said adds a few other goodies. I also like the CMK kits, and pe on a 48th kit is almost a no can do for me any more, lolol...

Thanks Jay... yeah, a 10/0 brush and a magnifying visor (for my old @ss) is a must! Lolol...

Doug, nice work on the cockpit. Really like your painting on the molded on belts. Not easy.

Jay

Thanks, Doug, I think I might lay in that set and use it on the Hobbycraft G-10 in Croatian markings on next year's build roster.

M/TB379

I don't find the price difference to great over here, about  £1 for a 72nd pit and about £2 for 48th, and I do like that Aires gives a nice little PE fret as well. But I do have a few TD sets to use.

I am not really into the rivets myself, they do look nice when done, and I have been looking into it the last few months after seeing jay's work, but I don't think its for me.

Morning...  

Mike , yes it is the 48-491 kit, I will have to shave off the molded in details of the fuse sides of the kit, and trim back the pit area at the back near the storage area to get it to fit in. I guess I could just move the assembled pit forward a bit, but I think it will look better set back. The kit does look to be a rebox, and it was originally a G14.

Brandon, the original configuration is a G14, but instead of cutting the tail section off and replacing with the supplied taller unit, the unit I'm buildings is a G2, and I will keep the original tail, leave off the "bumps: for the mg 131s and retain the mg17s. Yes so far it looks like a nice kit, a bit much on the flash side, but a very nice fit. That umbrella is a trip, at first I wasn't sure what it was! But no, this will be a 1943 unit of Jg5 Petsamo Finland.

Hey Bish...

Yes it does (other then the color) look like an Aires kit and is slightly less detailed then an aires, but the tru-detail also has a better price tag then the aires. No knock on the Aires, they are great detail kits, but I just couldnt see spending 3 times the cost of the kit for a detail set. As with many of the lesser priced kits, and even some higher priced kits, they SCREAM for additional detail. This kit had NO riveting at all and I spent about an hour with a pounce wheel tool adding rivets, but thats OK, thats part of the hobby.

Well time for a refill on the morning coffee! Thanks guys, more in a bit.

Doug

That's TD pit looks rather nice, don't think I have used one of theirs before. Does look very similar to the detail in aires sets.

Doug - amazing job on that kit. Looks like maybe the G-6? I picked that one up a few weeks ago on consignment, and it came with a resin/PE pit of unknown origin. It looks like fun to build, though.

I know the old Hobbycraft kits aren't up to the standards of something like an Eduard, Hasegawa or Tamiya, but one of theirs was the first kit I airbrushed when I came back to the hobby, and I really just find them a total blast to build. I hope you have as much fun with yours as I did with the two I've built.

Are you doing the trop version with the umbrella, or are you going another route? The umbrella cracks me up.

-BD-

Doug, it looks great! The Academy G is a reboxed Hobbycraft, yes? Is that cockpit set #48-491? I have a sudden yet to drop one of those in myself! Which G subtype will this be???

Cheers, M/TB379

Steve... it indeed looks good! Like Joe says... Just take it easy. Shoot... If I don't knock off the pitot tube atleast 3 times I feel something is wrong! lol...

Any way, I finally got all my parts rounded up and got a start. This is an Academy 1/48 Bf109 G and there really isn't a lot to the kit although is a good sound base to start with. This one likely wont take long, and the magic will be in the paint and detail, But... Here we go.....

The Tru Detail cockpit parts...

All cut and cleaned...

painted and worn...

And lastly getting some of the major components ready to assy. That's all for now, Gotta say, I do like the tru detail sets in resin. Very nice to work with except for the large extra pieces of resin that need to be cut and sanded away. But still nice.

Thanks all! More later...

Doug 

Odds are you'll be ok if you just take it easy.  Wasn't trying to chastise or anything. It all looks really good. You may be able to work around them which is what I would probably do at this point Steve. It all depends on how well glued down they are.

Thanks, guys. Joe, you gave me one of those "duh" moments. All too often I stick so closely to the instructions that I don't look at the bigger picture and think ahead to what's going to happen to those fragile parts further along.

Very nice work so far, Steve. Looking forward to more.

Jay

That looks great so far Steve!!! Of notable mention is the fact that you might have installed the machine guns a bit early. At this point you have a lot of handling and building to go on this little jewel. Its been my experience that these details often get broken if installed too soon.

P.S. I know what you mean about the cockpit. There aint nuthin' like sitting back looking at a great accomplishment in model building and then out of the blue the thought flashes into my mind...."Uh oh! Forgot to put this or that part in or did something out of order. Been there done that.. lol

Is there a word for that feeling you get at the moment when you realize you've got the fuselage halves glued together just right but forgot to put in the cockpit?   Luckily this kit is pretty forgiving of that minor oversight, as the pit attaches at the bottom. Here we are so far. The tail was actually separate from the fuselage; never seen that before. The fit is quite good, other than a bit of stubbornness from the engine firewall, and should clean up nicely with a bit of light sanding.

Thunderbolt379 - Have you seen what Tamiya has done to their 1/72 Zero's?

Full interior( with an actual IP,not a decal!),full engine,and a lot of other improvements. They have a level of detail you expect from a 1/32.

Brandon: Looking forward to having you in here again buddy!

Thunderbolt -

Excellent work on that one. I would have sworn it was 1/48 if I didn't know better. Your attention to detail is great.

I haven't hopped in here as much lately, as my remaining 109s are not on the bench at the moment, but I follow along every time I get an email alert for a new post, and I am continually impressed with the work. It has me wanting to bust out my Eduard E-7 and really get going on it. Soon..

Keep up the fantastic work!

Now if only my new FSM would arrive...

-BD-

Mike: Gotcha posted!!

Mike: What a masterpiece!! It looks all 48th scale from here!!! I can't believe it is the 72nd scale that it is man!!! I'm glad to have you as a part of the GB bud and will get your finished pic up tonight on the intro post. Which one of your builds is next up?

Steve: I just got my copy of FSM showing Aarons paint techniques. I'll be looking into that as well. Nice job so far. These Zvezda kits lend themselves freely to the patient builder. Looking forward to see you work your magic here in the aviation world as well.

Beautifully done, T-Bolt. I've actually never built an Airfix kit myself, but I'm looking forward to doing one someday.

Time for me to throw my humble hat into the ring. I've basically finished painting the pit, so I figured I'd snap a pic before I close it up. (This is the Zvezda 1/48 F4 kit, btw. I just got my magazine in the mail and am excited to read Aaron Skinner's build. )

Thanks Jack, Greg, Bish and Jay! 72 is a challenge, for sure, but I find myself enjoying these new-tool Airfix kits. I did their Mustang last year and have their new Fw 190 and Hawker Typhoon, along with some of the newer-tool Revel Germany subjects, such as the Hurricane, P-47D and P-51B. Some Academy and Fujimi 72s are in the stash too. I don't build at this scale often now, though it was my chosen scale as a kid (they seemed ... larger in those days!) I was impressed enough with the Mustang to look at doing two, back to back, on each year's build roster in the hopes of working through my backlog of Mustang decals eventually.

Cheers, M/TB379

Excellent work, Mike! I really like how it turned out. Well done.

Jay

Lovely job Mike, your doing the scale some real justice there.

That's a fine looking bird, Mike.

1/72, Really? Wow.

Mike - your Emil looks brilliant!

Would never of guessed it is a 72nd scale, nice work!

regards,

Jack

Thanks Bish and Mustang. the problem with the lifting paint around the masks makes me think seriously about using the old decal procedure in future. They seem to have stayed good on that Stuka over the last year... Re the radio wire, stretched sprue sounds like a good way to go. I've collected a huge number of sprue pieces against having a go at learning how to do it, so one day that might be a great option to rig some of these 72s that are so delicate.

Okay, without further ado, here are the gallery shots. I had trouble holding focus at small scale, but also did some correction for the standard fluoro lighting, so hopefully they look okay.

Any one you like for the gallery, Mustang.

Oh, I heard today I can get a replacement canopy for that G-2, so I'll be coming back to finish that one later in the year. For the moment, the next one up is the Hasegawa E-7 in Balkans campaign markings, which is nearly ready for decals.

Cheers, M/TB379

Dang Mike that's a great lookin' plane!!! Instead of EZ line you could stretch some sprue, cut to length and lay each end onto the masts and glue into place. After that is a hot (blown out)  match underneath the sprue. It'll sag momentarily. Once you see it start to snap quickly remove the heat source (match). When you pull the heat source away it'll snap taut. Little or no stress on the glue joint of your fabricated mast. I don't know where your skill level is regarding this so I tried to cover the basics anyway.

Great looking build there Mike. The issue I have with canopy masks is taking some of the paint off with them. Antenna aside, she look really nice.

Doug -- thanks for the background information, it's always great to get to know something about the personalities behind the aircraft, adding to the history we are preserving and commemorating here!

The Airfix E-4 is about done, at long last! The masks did not come of cleanly, which seems to be a recurring problem for canopies (anybody remember that Stuka I did last year?), and the pigments did not seem to want to adhere to the lustre, but otherwise I'm more or less pleased with this one, and am prepared to put any shortcomings down to the "limitations of scale." Proper gallery pics coming tomorrow (when I've removed two more tiny masks I missed earlier), for now here's a teaser shot:

There's no antenna wire because there no actual antenna. As with the last Airfix 72 I built, I can't get through the kit without breaking one of the minute parts, and just as with last year's Mustang, it was the antenna mast that bit the dust. This one is a sliver of .020" plasticard attached with a micro-blob of superglue, and I'm not game to stress it's fragility with tensioned EZ-line.

I'll get those two last masks off and line up some gallery shots tomorrow.

Cheers, M/TB379