Dang I missed a Les update!! 
Looks swell Les, love the slight mudding, executed well
Looks swell Les, love the slight mudding, executed well
-
Modelers Alliance has updated the forum software on our website. We have migrated all post, content and user accounts but we could not migrate the passwords.
This requires that you manually reset your password.
Please click here, http://modelersalliance.org/forums/login to go to logon page and use the "Forgot your Password" option.
1/48 scale Bf 109's x 2
- Thread starter matrixone
- Start date
Thanks for the comments guys!
The flat clear coat and exhaust stains are on and just a few more little details remain to be done and then I can declare this one finished. I also used the airbrush to add some cordite stains near the front of the cowl mounted weapons.
Some new in-progress pics...
Matrixone
The flat clear coat and exhaust stains are on and just a few more little details remain to be done and then I can declare this one finished. I also used the airbrush to add some cordite stains near the front of the cowl mounted weapons.
Some new in-progress pics...
Matrixone
Thanks so much for the kind words!
This model should be finished by the end of the day, I had a setback though...after removing the masking from the canopy I found a plastic shaving wedged near the top of the canopy next to the head armor and no amount of tapping on the model could get it to move so I had to pry off the canopy and remove it and then re-glue the canopy on the fuselage.
The final assembly and last bits of weathering are taking longer than I figured it would, its so true what I heard back when I was an active RC plane builder...the last 10% of a build takes 90% of the time! :facepalm
Matrixone
This model should be finished by the end of the day, I had a setback though...after removing the masking from the canopy I found a plastic shaving wedged near the top of the canopy next to the head armor and no amount of tapping on the model could get it to move so I had to pry off the canopy and remove it and then re-glue the canopy on the fuselage.
The final assembly and last bits of weathering are taking longer than I figured it would, its so true what I heard back when I was an active RC plane builder...the last 10% of a build takes 90% of the time! :facepalm
Matrixone
Thanks James!
I spend a fair amount of time looking at a lot of photographs of the planes I am making models of to see how they looked in service and then try and replicate the weathering I see on them and try to err on the subtle side instead of going overboard.
Matrixone
I spend a fair amount of time looking at a lot of photographs of the planes I am making models of to see how they looked in service and then try and replicate the weathering I see on them and try to err on the subtle side instead of going overboard.
Matrixone
....and more Messerschmitts
First the old Matchbox Me 109E.
While I really enjoy building older kits there are times when I just hate them, in this case the kit is being built for somebody else and was started years ago by a non-modeler who carefully removed nearly all of the parts from the sprues and bagged them up which made it difficult to identify some of the cockpit and engine parts but at least there were none missing, the instruction drawings are not the best either which further made this build a real Debbie downer.
The model is being built in flight mode with the wheels up and pilot in the cockpit...ugh!
After working on the sucky Matchbox kit I decided I needed to reward myself with a Hasegawa kit of the Bf 109K-4 to help get my mojo back.
This is not an ordinary Bf 109K-4, this one is being built as one of the few K-4's that were fitted with the Daimler-Benz DB 605L, the DB 605L was intended for Bf 109K-14 production but the K-14 was canceled and the handful of DB 605L's built were used in standard K-4 airframes. It is unknown how many, if any, DB 605L powered K-4's made it to the Eastern front in the last weeks of the war but its high top speed must have been very welcome by the pilots who were often greatly outnumbered.
The DB 605L was intended to be mated with a four blade metal propeller, so I had to scratch build a propeller to use on my model and I used Tamiya Fw 190F-8 propeller blades glued to a hub I made from scrap plastic. The spinner and back plate were modified from an old Revell/Monogram Bf 109G-10 that was scrapped years ago.
The large supercharger intake was modified from a Ta 152 and made to fit the fuselage.
Matrixone
First the old Matchbox Me 109E.
While I really enjoy building older kits there are times when I just hate them, in this case the kit is being built for somebody else and was started years ago by a non-modeler who carefully removed nearly all of the parts from the sprues and bagged them up which made it difficult to identify some of the cockpit and engine parts but at least there were none missing, the instruction drawings are not the best either which further made this build a real Debbie downer.
The model is being built in flight mode with the wheels up and pilot in the cockpit...ugh!
After working on the sucky Matchbox kit I decided I needed to reward myself with a Hasegawa kit of the Bf 109K-4 to help get my mojo back.
This is not an ordinary Bf 109K-4, this one is being built as one of the few K-4's that were fitted with the Daimler-Benz DB 605L, the DB 605L was intended for Bf 109K-14 production but the K-14 was canceled and the handful of DB 605L's built were used in standard K-4 airframes. It is unknown how many, if any, DB 605L powered K-4's made it to the Eastern front in the last weeks of the war but its high top speed must have been very welcome by the pilots who were often greatly outnumbered.
The DB 605L was intended to be mated with a four blade metal propeller, so I had to scratch build a propeller to use on my model and I used Tamiya Fw 190F-8 propeller blades glued to a hub I made from scrap plastic. The spinner and back plate were modified from an old Revell/Monogram Bf 109G-10 that was scrapped years ago.
The large supercharger intake was modified from a Ta 152 and made to fit the fuselage.
Matrixone
good start Les 
Thanks guys!
Barney,
Matchbox kits are not that bad, I have built two of these Me 109E kits before and they turned out okay. This one has not been any fun to work on mostly because of the time spent searching for the parts needed in the plastic bags but the other problem I have with it is the massive panel lines molded into the parts. Its quite a change from the more modern large scale kits I have worked on in the past couple years which have very subtle panel lines and other surface details.
Matrixone
Barney,
Matchbox kits are not that bad, I have built two of these Me 109E kits before and they turned out okay. This one has not been any fun to work on mostly because of the time spent searching for the parts needed in the plastic bags but the other problem I have with it is the massive panel lines molded into the parts. Its quite a change from the more modern large scale kits I have worked on in the past couple years which have very subtle panel lines and other surface details.
Matrixone
ij001
Well-known member
Barney, you should take-a-run at the Lizzie, I've seen a few of them done at UK shows and events, and they are really imposing models, the couple of restorations that we had on the airshow circuit a few years back were very impressive too.
Les, I really like the look of that 109K 'racer'. That would look fantastic in a full 'what if' colour scheme - you could really let-your-hair-down on that.
Ian
Thank you Ian!
The 109K will be getting painted in the same style of the last known documented 109K camouflage pattern...RLM 81 and RLM 82 topsides with bare metal fuselage undersides with a thick wavy line of RLM 76 separating the 81 and 82 from the bare metal undersurface.
Some pictures of the painting of the bare metal on the fuselage, this was done by first painting on gloss black followed by Testors Chrome silver. Even though I tried to not get such a reflective surface I ended up with it anyway, not a very big problem though since the weathering and clear flat coat should tone this down quite a bit.
Matrixone
The 109K will be getting painted in the same style of the last known documented 109K camouflage pattern...RLM 81 and RLM 82 topsides with bare metal fuselage undersides with a thick wavy line of RLM 76 separating the 81 and 82 from the bare metal undersurface.
Some pictures of the painting of the bare metal on the fuselage, this was done by first painting on gloss black followed by Testors Chrome silver. Even though I tried to not get such a reflective surface I ended up with it anyway, not a very big problem though since the weathering and clear flat coat should tone this down quite a bit.
Matrixone
Neat, shiny belly...
