Axis Aces Sep 2006 - Jun 2007

And here are the finished results. 

I got this little tip from Floyd S. Werner, Jr.'s DVD "Building the Bf109G-6".  I've noticed that on every 109 kit I've worked on, the rear portion of the center fuselage underside section always leaves a step that requires some akward seam work. 

I cut strips of .005" Evergreen Sheet Styrene, glued them to the rear edges, then trimmed them to be flush with the edges of the part.    Makes for much better fit and should theoretically eliminate the need for any seam filling there... hopefully, as I'm a bit burned out on seam work from my Hasegawa 1/48 P-40E and Classic Airframes 1/48 Bf109D. 

Thanks Jay.

I've been lucky that I've been able to devote an hour or two a night the past week.  My wife and I are kidless this weekend, so that frees up a lot of time during the day.  I'm also taking Monday off (for having to work last Saturday) so there is a lot of modeling going on in the Espin household this weekend. 

The cockpit has been installed.  I still need to install the shoulder belts, but I had just lost a small part from my Bf109D to the carpet monster and I don't want to do that delicate work when I'm feeling frustrated.  I think it's time for a beer and TV. 

Thanks Darson, ya that's the way to go with any kit that has the modular tail assembly.  Makes for much easier seamwork. 

I finished up the seam work on the fuselage and the rear deck behind the pilot seat.  I'll need to give it a quick spray of dark gray, but I'm beat, so I'll do that tomorrow.

I'm almost done building up the lenses, I just keep putting a drop of future on the lenses, slowly building it up.  The lenses are much more level than they appear in the photo.  I can't seem to be able to find the right angle to capture how they really look.  sigh... oh well, this shot is close enough for government work.

I'm on a roll today!  Woo Hoo!  That's the beauty of it being cool and gloomy outside, the kids are playing computer games, my lovely wife is watching chick flicks upstairs.... life is good! 

The lapbelts have been attached to the seat.  The shoulder belts can't be installed until after the seamwork is finished on the fuselage and the cockpit tub has been installed as the mounting points for the shoulder belts are at the base of the back decking of the cockpit.

In the last photo you'll note the big gap towards the end of the tail section.  This is a necessary evil due to the modular design of the Hasegawa G series.  Based on some great tips I got from Floyd S. Werners DVD on building Hasegawa's 1/32 Bf109G-6, I chose to install each half of the tail assembly to the fuselage first, making sure it was a flush as possible with the curved sides.  The straight gap which exists now that the fuselage halves have been glued together will be a snap to fill and rescribe (don't forget 109 builders, there is a seam that goes all along the top and bottom of the fuselage due to the way the design and assembly of the real thing  :idea: ).

bobbaily wrote:

Nice work Scott.  I must try a 1/32nd someday....if I can find the space to store it....

I've been doing all 1/48 so far so I'll have to deal with that hurdle when this kit is finished.

I was toying with the idea of hanging the 1/32 aircraft from the accustic ceiling above my cube at work. 

My wife suggested I put something in the photo to show how small these seatbelts really are as the macro setting on the camera gives the impression that they're huge.  Great idea eh? 

The seatbelts are finished! I need to figure how to improve the lighting for my photos. Without the flash everything is too yellow, with the flash it's too white.

Now to get them attached to the seat.

Hey guys, just finished the left lap belt for my Hasegawa 1/32 Bf109G-14.  Here are two pics.  It's hard to believe there are 8 pieces that make up the belt. 

And here is a shot of the IP after I created lenses for the instruments by dabbing Future over them in a series of 4 or 5 layers.

Everything I've built so far after getting back into modelling is 1/48.  I have a bunch of 1/32 kits I'll be building in the near future so I'm going to have to figure out where to display them.  I may hang them from the ceiling at my office, might be kinda cool! 

Oh, 1:32, well, then thats another story...

Just kidding, still amazing looking belts, I have only ever built one 1:32 model (Ju87 Stuka) from way back and It took up so much space!  I'm sticking to the cute little ones for now.

silentmodeler wrote:

hey guys let ya know i have to drop this gb out since the kit i got isnt what i expect.  the 21st century toys is totally different than the normal kits such as revell, HAS, dragon and so on.  not just that,  i got new schudules at my job so it cut down my free time  darn! so i dont have much time to do it.  but if someone of you do axis aces again in the future  for sure i will join again and hope i pick the right kits.

Sorry to hear that, but understood.  Don't worry, I'll make sure there is always some sort of Luftwaffe GB going on. 

hey guys

let ya know i have to drop this gb out since the kit i got isnt what i expect.  the 21st century toys is totally different than the normal kits such as revell, HAS, dragon and so on. 

not just that,  i got new schudules at my job so it cut down my free time  darn! so i dont have much time to do it.  but if someone of you do axis aces again in the future  for sure i will join again and hope i pick the right kits.  

Brits, Australians.... they all look alike.   

Thanks Jay.  The belts are in 1/32 scale, which is a nice change of pace from the tiny 1/48 belts I did for my last two builds. 

Just about done with the belts, hope to install them on the seat tomorrow when I get home from work. 

OOPS!, sorry Darren, Millikin, Minikin, so very sorry on the foot-in-mouth syndrom.  I was like, hey I've heard that name before and when they said he was from Australia, I was like, Hey Darren has the same name and before I could double check, my fingers had hit the post button.  I guess close only counts in the game of horseshoes and hand grenades...

Scott, fantastic looking belts!, thats in 1:48 right?  amazing detail!

 For Darren and anyone else, My 109's are still stalled, The modeling desk is still being used for storage.  Since we repainted our basement we also decided to finish off the stairs to the basement with all the trim and baseboards to make it look finished. Almost done and soon life will be back to as close to normal or what passes for "normal" in our house

Ok, the right lap belt is done. 

I've made major progress on my P-40E and Bf109D this past week.   

I have my Bf109G-14 for this build on the bench and am working on it as we speak 

Sorry JB, close but no cigar our surnames are similar but not the same, good memory though!  Btw how are your two 109s coming along?  Progress on my 190 has stalled for a few days now due to real life commitments but I am hoping to get some good bench time in over the Easter long weekend.

Cheers 

And now for something completely off topic,  

Darren, I suppose you aren't related to a Hugh Millikin are you?  The World Curling Championships are being held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada this year (just a few hours north of Calgary) and the Skip (Captain) for Australia is Hugh Millikin.  At first I was like, that's an unusual name, I've heard it somewhere before.  I doubt you are, as he was born in Canada (Vancouver) and moved to Australia in the late 80's.  He has been curling for Australia since 1991 and has done quite well over the years. 

bobbaily wrote:

Scott-you can go to their website, www.eduard.cz , find the item and then usually view the instructions. That's how I decide if I want to purchase a set or not.

Thanks Bob, I had already tried that and that's one of the few the don't have.  I know I have it at home, somewhere stuck in one of my Bf109G reference books.  I was hoping to put them together at lunch today... no biggie, I'll do them tonight. 

hmmm... if you were the instruction sheet for my Eduard 1/32 Luftwaffe seatbelt set, where would you be? 

I've got to stop hauling all my reference books and directions all over the place with me.  God only knows which book they're stuck in at the moment. 

I'm afraid I haven't progressed at all on my Fw 190 over the last few days.  I do plan on clear coating it over the weekend so that I can begin my favorite stages of building; weathering and decaling .  To me the kit really comes alive once the decals go on.

Cheers 

Hey guys, I was looking over my list of GBs and noticed that this GB will be my next deadline. 

 I'm putting the finishing touches on my P-40E for the CBI build and will then shift my focus to the Bf109D for the Spanish Civil War build, and my two Bf109G's for this build.

So stay tuned for two projects from me starting in a matter of days.  Totally cool because I'm really into the Bf109 right now.