2015 Messerschmitt Bf 109 Group Build

I'll be looking into  those books Jay!! Your build just gets better every time I look at it. Sorry to hear about the DF loop antenna sizing issue.

Bish, Yes there is , Just a little stub of a barrel end. And thank you... I saw you write that one time and I've been saying it every since! Thanks for an across the pond diction lesson! lol...

Doug

Thanks Jay, This "Med" bird is an Italian based craft and they wore more of the greys, browns and green schemes as opposed to the sand schemes of the North African based birds.

Joe... I think we need to meet up with Jay and see if he would teach a few AB lessons!

Doug

Joe,Jay- If you guys are in Oklahoma,let me know. I always look for ways to improve my skills.

Wow Jay, your Bf is looking great.

Rigidrider

Joe... I think we need to meet up with Jay and see if he would teach a few AB lessons!

I doubt I could teach you guys anything you don't know, but you are certainly welcome to come by the house anytime.

Jay

moose421

Wow Jay, your Bf is looking great.

Thanks, Moose! I appreciate that.

Jay

Rigidrider

Thanks Jay, This "Med" bird is an Italian based craft and they wore more of the greys, browns and green schemes as opposed to the sand schemes of the North African based birds.

Doug, I have always passed on doing an F Trop scheme due to it's single top color on most of them, but I am always looking for interesting schemes and I really like what you are doing with your F. Not that I don't like the desert war schemes, but I find doing a single color and making it look it interesting is one of the more difficult things to do in painting. I have a Hasegawa F Trop in the stash so I do plan to do one at some point when I figure out a scheme I like. Have lots of decals to pick from.

Jay

Allen109

Joe,Jay- If you guys are in Oklahoma,let me know. I always look for ways to improve my skills.

Sorry brother, but I am in MD. Bit of a hike. Obviously this is a great place to learn, and it makes us all neighbors. Patience and practice. I haven't really found a sustitute for either.

Jay

Awesome F, Jay! Really looking great!

Still struggling to get time, I'm so snowed under with work these days that if I do have a spare hour my head is so done-in I can't commit to touching plastic...

M/TB379

Doug - I really like how that's turning out. Can't wait to see it progress. I wasn't familiar with that scheme until now, so thanks for sharing with us!

Jay - This thing just keeps getting more and more beautiful. What did you use for the staining behind the radiator? I'd like to do a hint of that around my fuel tank spouts in the future as well as the radiators.

Great, great work, all. I love seeing these pop up in my email when I'm at work :)

-BD-

Jay, agree with you on your comments, I've learned alot here and passed on some too. Also agree with the paint schemes. With single colors a carefullly executed detailing is what brings the subject alive. I have a good book that you might find interesting, its an Ospree book titled  109 aces of the Meditrranian. It shows many of the schemes used in the Med, and there are some pretty interesting ones. This was where I found my subject, then googled more info on the computer which made it more interesting.

And yes, this ti a large global family that I'm happy to be a part of.

Take care all...

Doug

BrandonD

Jay - This thing just keeps getting more and more beautiful. What did you use for the staining behind the radiator? I'd like to do a hint of that around my fuel tank spouts in the future as well as the radiators.

Thanks Brandon! I use Gunze Aqueos "Oil" thinned with MM Acryl thinner and streaked with a thin brush. 

Jay

Doug,

That kit is coming along nicely, I like the green/brown camo.  Different and interesting.  One of the many reasons that I love to build Luftwaffe subjects, so many different paint schemes!

Jay,

Your K is looking great!  Really dig the subtle weathering aft of the radiator, not too much and not to little.  Keep up the great work.

I will get to posting (and taking) the better pictures of the F that I finished a while back, been busy with work and all that.

Thanks for sharing,

<Matt

Rigidrider

Bish, Yes there is , Just a little stub of a barrel end. And thank you... I saw you write that one time and I've been saying it every since! Thanks for an across the pond diction lesson! lol...

Doug

Well, I least I am gett9ng through to one of you

I was wondering because as it is, they look a bit like the Mk 108 barrels used on the R-5 conversion kit on the G models.

Bish

Well, I least I am gett9ng through to one of you

LOLOL... That's right Bish! I like hearing and picking up on slangs and terms used from other countries. My wife being Filipina never fails to teach me new ones.

From what I had read about Brandel, he wouldn't give up his "E" when the "Fs" arrived due to lack of fire power and it wasn't until they hung the 20s in wing pods that he finally broke down and took one, (a dried up source of spare parts for the "E" may have played a small part in that too) ;) But even though it suffered from a reduction in maneuverability and performance, He went on to rack up an impressive score until KIA Nov 43.

OK... Time for decals!

 Being Jg53, of course he flies "PikAs" on the cowling.

The pictures on the board were the ones I found for Hauptman Brandels Black 1. As you can see there are 2 different versions. the basic camo is the same but the lower has a yellow under cowling and a mottled tail, the upper has white wing tips on the underside. Oh well... I combine the 2, mottled tail and white wing tips.Like Brandon says, I love the Luftwaffe due to the variety, but they do get confusing at times. Well that's about all for now... Tomorrow I start the wear tear and weathering. Take care all!

Doug

Doug, that is looking so, so, so good!!! It makes me want to get painting! (Meanwhile my hour for masking this morning was taken up with business, again -- GRRRRR!!

M/TB379

Jay - thanks! I don't seem to have access to Gunze paints, so I'll see if I can get it working with Tamiya smoke on some scrap. If not, I'll try Sprue Brothers or something.

Doug - those decals look great!

-BD-

Brandon: I'm using that Tamiya smoke in the automotive world with some good results. Looking forward to seeing the outcome of it here.

Doug: Um......well..................I uh..........

Doug, the decals look like they went on perfectly. Nicely done!

Brandon, I agree with Joe. I think Tamiya smoke would be a good alternative. I will probably have to use that myself at some point as the Gunze oil is from their Aqueous line which is hard to come by these days.

Jay

Getting pretty close. I still need to position the shoulder belts and make and install the pitot tube, but I think that's about it.

Jay

What did you use for the canopy dampener spring Jay?

Joe, I use strands of copper wire. I save extra wire from the shop and just strip off the insulation. Made from two pieces. One straight piece and the spring is made from winding another piece around a thin brass rod and then slid over the straight piece and held in place with a little white glue, then painted. Kind of hard to keep from bending while installing, but it does need to be pretty thin to stay in scale.

Jay

I've seen that done in the automotive world for return springs but yours looked so good I thought you'd obtained a small spring from somewhere.

I will say on my 1/24 scale builds that I use a wrist watch band retainer pin spring. Just cut the pin open and the spring falls out. Works great in the auto world too.

Looking really nice there Doug. The one your doing is in the Osprey book on JG 53, but they show it in Grey/Green, but they do admit there is uncertainly as to whether it should be grey or brown. At a guess, I would say that lower pic, with the yellow cowling, is a replacement aircraft, that's judging by the mottling on blue tail.

Believe your right Bish... What I try to do is gather several references, pictures and like I found in the pictures, artist concepts and try to decide from there. The Luftwaffe does confuse at times.

Thanks Jay, I make my own springs also. I just take a wire garge drill bit and wrap about 6 or so coils with a fine wire, leave enough at either end for the hooks and VOILA! A spring is born. And again Jay... RIGHTEOUS MILK PRODUCING BOVINE! That is one fine looking 109!!!

Mike... Feel the same way when I have to walk by and see it sitting begging to be worker on, BUT... Hang in there Bro.

Thanks, RR! Well, I managed to get an hour or two today, and managed to get my head back into hobby space instead of work space. I was able to complete masking the Airfix E-4, and then fired up the AB and applied the 02 to the topside schemes of both it and the Has E-7. They look like a pair of shaggy dogs right now, but here they are:

As I'll be away all tomorrow, the 02 will have plenty of time to cure before I mask for the final colour the day after. I think I have enough air to apply the 71 plus the clear coats -- we'll see. The 71 should be a quick enough job. After that's down and hard, there's plenty of unmasking and touching up to do before the finishing round.

Mike/TB379

Rigidrider

And again Jay... RIGHTEOUS MILK PRODUCING BOVINE! That is one fine