2015 Messerschmitt Bf 109 Group Build

That's one freekin' bad A Trumpy build there bud! Glad to see you in here and understand you've got a 109 K-4 you're lookin' at building. PB is all I've ever used but I think Doug(aka Rigidrider) and a couple of other folks are using flickr.

Let see if this works

Okay, figured it out!

Okay, I can't get photobucket to work consistent. Will let me load some, ignores other attempts. Anyone know a good free photo hosting site or tips to get consistent results with photobucket?

First, I need a camera that can take closeups without blurring, Currently have a Sanyo 14 mega pixels and a "close up" option that stinks. Anyways, on with the build. I actually started this one in December after having it sit on  my shelf since the 2012 GB. It is a 1/24 scale Trumpeter early G6. Beautiful fine scribing that disappeared  with one sweep of 800 grit paper. Brittle plastic and decals that stuck where you first put them and shattered either before that or when you were trying to move them. Further no matter what, they silvered. This kit came as close to making me give up modeling as any I ever built. But I kept at it and made a fair model out of it at the end. Finished mid January

Matt, sorry, I missed that one. That is one great looking build. Really nice job on her, great work on the scheme. Sweet build.

Habdi, TJ, Matt, F.Joe  and M.Joe... what more can be said... spectacular!  Still just a bit more , but cant wait to start #2 myself!

handiabled: Man I've gotta give you some good credit where it's due. All of your builds are nothing short of museum quality. Have you entered any in shows? I've got your build posted in the Completed Builds section and hope like hell you'll consider building another one in here. (Tell Hermann he's invited too! lol)

Johnny: Your Hasegawa interiors are looking swell! Two builds at once........not in a million years would I attempt that! (yet I'm running two group builds at one time  ).

Marc: That's some fancy foot work on that prop of yours. I love mods like this and it's a true testament to the kind of modeler you are. I really like the way that camo came out too. It's funny how we, as many builds as we do, sometimes forget the "order of battle" and get things backwards. You'll recover from this on the paint, I'm certain.

Joe: Good grief!! I have been following your builds for a while and I love all the detail you throw at these things. That engine detail is top notch as well. I threw what I thought was a lot of detail at mine but you've added a definite twist with that anti chafe tape over the fuel lines. The ignition wires that you fabricated look a lot better than the molded rubber ones that came with the kit.  I can say that the coolant hose coming out of the reservoir on the L/H side routes to the rear of the engine and that there is a crossover for the R/H reservoir from the L/H side. This is the engine that I built and took the routing from a couple of different resources in which I'll try to find. I used copper wire with sections of heat shrink for the rubber hose sections and PE scraps for the clamps.

Matt,  Thanks for the great info on the props and the supporting info re. the RLM 76.  And a beautiful Priller bird.

Joe, Johnny.... nice stuff indeed.

Matt. Really really nice. Cockpit looks real

Good grief you turn your head for a day on this GB and there's all kinds of activity missed. I'm going to have a chance to catch up later on today and will have to post a "super catch" up post to cover all the great posts, progress picture posts and completed builds. Will be posting again in a couple of hours. The GB has turned intoThe Great Runaway Bf109GB" Hahaha!!!

Thanks Nathan. I had assumed that wider blades were always wood, nice to have that corrected.

joe, really nice work on the engine there, that really well detailed, lovely work.

Coming on nice there Johnny.

Some more progress.  Finished the PE for one of my builds. Decided I had had enough for the night so was able to get fuselage and wings attached to the F-4 I'm building.

Joe. Absolutely spectacular

Well folks you will pardon me if this is a bit enthusiastic of an update.

PROGRESS..............................

Warning I do believe there are things missing.  However in this scale most will never know and most of it will never fit into the space.


First up.  Detailing the engine.  I added some bits and bobs, some lines and hoses.  All in all it is about 90% complete I think.  First a shot of a trick that I picked up somewhere but had never tried.  A styrene rod overlength.  Add ordinary electrical tape.  Slice the tape into thin lines. Attach the tape to one end of the styrene and then roll the rod so the tape attaches to the rod.



It works.  Good god it works.

The engine detailed out.






Now to the exciting part.  Dryfit into place.  IT FITS.







Now folks I had to step away for a bit.  This has made me very happy.  It all lines up and all the additions I have made seem to fit.  

Now for the clean up part.  There are a few small pieces to get into place yet and a couple of things to trim to get into place.  I need to add the remaining bulkheads and the fuel cell as well as the booster tank.  I do need to mock up the pipe that sticks out the rear of the pit.  What I have there just will not work.  I can with great happiness say that the interior of the aircraft is about 80% finished.  



All comments, critiques, and criticism are encouraged.


Joe

Marc,

I have been looking through one of my reference books - Monograph's special edition: Messerschmitt Bf 109 F: The Ace Maker, and it does list the two (or three ) different props used in the F series.  For the F-1 and -2 the prop was the VDM 9-11207A, on the F-3 it was the 9-12010A, and then on the -4/Z it was the 9-12087A.  I found on page 6 of this book that the F-1 prop as listed above was" a 9 ft 10 in diameter (3m) metal propeller of constant speed design" to quote the book.

It is a great book, soft cover with details of all variants, scale drawings in all three popular scales, several wonderful color profiles (the F-4 that I am building will be one of them) as well as an excerpt from some German texts showing detail drawings, and a great page that highlights the external changes between different models.

Looking through the book, there are several pictures of winter camouflage birds, as well as one color three view profile.  In the pictures it is hard to tell for certain, but it appears that the undersides were not white, but still RLM 76 which the color profile supports as well.

Hope that this helps.

<Matt

Thanks Nathan.  It makes sense.

No 109s had wooden props. That was Jumo powered machines mainly. The white wash probably extended all the way down the fuselage sides but most likely the wing undersides were left 76. Just speculating, so feel free to paint it how you'd like.

I've been trying to find a clear(ish) period photo but not having any luck.  i think it would be very hard to tell anyway if it was the RLM 76 or dirty white in a BW photo anyway.  Lots of builds online looks like they have white on the bottom  Not sure what route I'll take yet.  As far as =the wood pros go, I am thinking it would an F-4 would be too early for a wood prop. And I am not sure if any 109's had them.  I wouldn;t swear to it in court but I also think oi read somewhere that is was only the later 190D series/Ta 152's that had the wood prop.  I know the some late 190d had wood tail But maybe the props too.  Hopefully someone that's not guessing will jump in here.

Marc, I can't be sure, but I have never come across a white wash on the underside. But when thinking about it, its probably not as strange as it sounds. Be interested to see if anyone has any info on this.

Thanks fells.  And Yes it does have the yellow under the tips. After my post i realized I can shoot the white 1st then mask off for the yellow nose, band and wing tips.  Not the best but saves a step anyway.

Question... I am working off the profiles from the decal sheet and it looks like its showing the underside as white too.  Would they have gone over the 76 as well?

Nathan, is that when they made the switch from metal to wood blades. I was trying to find that out a while back but found nothing.

Nice camo Marc. The F-4 should have wider blades than the F-2. Also, does this scheme have the underside wing tips in yellow?

really taking shape now marc. Nice start on the paint job.

Handi, that;s one heck of a finish. Nice

Some minor surgery was needed to the kit prop blades to fit since the spinner was designed for the Hasegawa kit (I think). The hole sin the spinner was drilled to 1/8" and the end of the blade modified to fit. And now that I've got the blades all glued in there... Would a winter F-4 have these wider prop blade or the more slender ones?

A final pre-paint mock up

I put down some made up camo to have that under the white wash in case is pokes through during weathering. And yet one more "I'm not paying attention" thingy. I should sprayed the yellow of the fuselage band and masked that 1st. Now i have to mask off the fuselage to paint the band, them mask the band to paint the white.

Brandon, that's one nice looking aircraft there. Its hard to tell that's even a 109.

marc, that's looking great, that pit looks really nice.

Allen, nice work on that pit. But I have one concern. You say you are finding it fun working with PE. If your having fun with PE, I think you might be doing something wrong.

Great work for your first time. Those belts do take some getting used to. You should try them in 72nd

Bob, lovely work there, I really like the IP, can't believe that's a decal.

Mustang, I do like the look of that engine. I have a few of those Eduard sets in 72nd and they are really well detailed. I am ordering an engine for an Me 110 kit next month, looks like it will be a nice addition if its anything like that.