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Bf 110G-4 in-progress
- Thread starter matrixone
- Start date
What they said...
135engineer
Active member
phantom II
Master at Arms
Looking very nice Les.
Cheers, Christian B)
Cheers, Christian B)
Thanks for the feedback!
No pictures today, I have already sprayed on a coat of Future and have to wait a few more hours before I can start decaling the model.
Just before the Future was sprayed on I did some dry fitting of the masts for the radar antenna and what I found was not good...whoever designed this part of the kit should be shot.Period. :vmad
Some carving and a lot of dry fitting will be needed to get the masts for the radar antenna to even come close to fitting to the surface of the model and I suspect some delicate work with the airbrush will be needed to repair damaged paint.
I know many others have successfully built this kit before and I will also but I can't say I enjoy tinkering with things like the radar antenna masts which should be an easy thing to design in a kit.
Matrixone
No pictures today, I have already sprayed on a coat of Future and have to wait a few more hours before I can start decaling the model.
Just before the Future was sprayed on I did some dry fitting of the masts for the radar antenna and what I found was not good...whoever designed this part of the kit should be shot.Period. :vmad
Some carving and a lot of dry fitting will be needed to get the masts for the radar antenna to even come close to fitting to the surface of the model and I suspect some delicate work with the airbrush will be needed to repair damaged paint.
I know many others have successfully built this kit before and I will also but I can't say I enjoy tinkering with things like the radar antenna masts which should be an easy thing to design in a kit.
Matrixone
Skinny_Mike
Well-known member
Fantastic paint work. bummer on the antenna masts. I'm sure you'll pull it out in the end Les!
phantom II
Master at Arms
Hate to hear that 
Would an after market one make things better ?
Cheers, Christian B)
Would an after market one make things better ?Cheers, Christian B)
Thanks guys.
I don't know if aftermarket antenna parts would work but the would HAVE to be better than the O.O.B. parts.
Actually the kit parts were looking good so I would not have even considered replacing them, everything thing else on this kit seemed to fit together reasonably well so I put off handling the radar antenna until now. BIG mistake on my part!
I SHOULD have checked the fit of the radar masts to the fuselage before any paint was even put on the model, doing so would have avoided pretty much all of the problems I will face.
To make things worse I had actually started putting on some of the smaller stencil decals before finding out the problem with the radar masts so I will have to wait another day to start working on getting the radar masts to fit to make sure the decals are 100% dry so I don't damage them while handling the model.
Oh, speaking of decals the small stencil markings that were put on the model so far about half of them broke apart when placed on the model...the kits decals were printed in 1996 so maybe that's some of the problem, aside from the fractures the small stencil markings are well printed and if I spoke German I could read them.
Right from the start I was going to use one of my Aeromaster sheets for the markings but sadly Areomaster did not include ANY stencil markings so I am forced to try and use what came with the kit or have the model look almost naked.
Matrixone
I don't know if aftermarket antenna parts would work but the would HAVE to be better than the O.O.B. parts.
Actually the kit parts were looking good so I would not have even considered replacing them, everything thing else on this kit seemed to fit together reasonably well so I put off handling the radar antenna until now. BIG mistake on my part!
I SHOULD have checked the fit of the radar masts to the fuselage before any paint was even put on the model, doing so would have avoided pretty much all of the problems I will face.
To make things worse I had actually started putting on some of the smaller stencil decals before finding out the problem with the radar masts so I will have to wait another day to start working on getting the radar masts to fit to make sure the decals are 100% dry so I don't damage them while handling the model.
Oh, speaking of decals the small stencil markings that were put on the model so far about half of them broke apart when placed on the model...the kits decals were printed in 1996 so maybe that's some of the problem, aside from the fractures the small stencil markings are well printed and if I spoke German I could read them.
Right from the start I was going to use one of my Aeromaster sheets for the markings but sadly Areomaster did not include ANY stencil markings so I am forced to try and use what came with the kit or have the model look almost naked.
Matrixone
phantom II
Master at Arms
Thanks guys.
I don't know if aftermarket antenna parts would work but the would HAVE to be better than the O.O.B. parts.
Actually the kit parts were looking good so I would not have even considered replacing them, everything thing else on this kit seemed to fit together reasonably well so I put off handling the radar antenna until now. BIG mistake on my part!
I SHOULD have checked the fit of the radar masts to the fuselage before any paint was even put on the model, doing so would have avoided pretty much all of the problems I will face.
To make things worse I had actually started putting on some of the smaller stencil decals before finding out the problem with the radar masts so I will have to wait another day to start working on getting the radar masts to fit to make sure the decals are 100% dry so I don't damage them while handling the model.
Oh, speaking of decals the small stencil markings that were put on the model so far about half of them broke apart when placed on the model...the kits decals were printed in 1996 so maybe that's some of the problem, aside from the fractures the small stencil markings are well printed and if I spoke German I could read them.
Right from the start I was going to use one of my Aeromaster sheets for the markings but sadly Areomaster did not include ANY stencil markings so I am forced to try and use what came with the kit or have the model look almost naked.
Matrixone
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Master-32039-1-32-Metal-German-radar-FuG-220-Lichtenstein-SN-2-/331768233974?hash=item4d3eed7ff6:g:uSsAAOxy0bRTB3T~
Take a look at that
ij001
Well-known member
Sounds like the manufacturers trying to get extra mileage out of the basic kit without the equivalent design and QC input. Not the first time that we've seen that in this hobby.
Sorry, Les that doesn't help you whatsoever, I'm certain you'll 'improvise, adapt and overcome' to your usual very high standard.
Ian.
Sorry, Les that doesn't help you whatsoever, I'm certain you'll 'improvise, adapt and overcome' to your usual very high standard.
Ian.
Sherman 18
Master at Arms
Sending you :zen :zen :zen :zen :zen
After looking more closely at the problem with the radar masts not fitting I decided to use the smallest ball bit that I have for my Dremel moto tool to try and carve some grooves where the radar masts can fit into. This was not a great success because my Dremel is a very basic version of this tool and only has two speeds...on or off, and as you can imagine the plastic melted which made the slots I wanted to make quite oversized but still better than none at all.
All of the above could have been simply avoided if I would have done dry fitting of the radar masts long before now...at least I know of this pitfall and will not be making the same mistake on my other Bf 110G-4 kits.
I am nearly finished with the tiny stencil marking decals and this has not been easy since a lot of them fractured into many pieces and were a handful scooting them back together, only one was lost...it was one of the fuselage frame numbers, it was impossible to herd the microscopic specks into a recognizable number.
After the tail had all of its stencil markings applied I wanted to get the swastika's put on and after soaking these decals in water I started to place one of them on the tail and it broke into three pieces, this was easy to deal with compared to the small stencil markings but at the same time is troubling because the swastika's were from the Aeromaster decal sheet. I hope they are not all like this. :S Luckily the swastika for the other side stayed together.
I have to stop with the decaling on all the models for a day or two because my back is sore from the hours of being hunched over trying to save those small stencil decals.
One of those Teeter inversion tables I see on TV would sure be nice to have to help straighten out my back.
Matrixone
All of the above could have been simply avoided if I would have done dry fitting of the radar masts long before now...at least I know of this pitfall and will not be making the same mistake on my other Bf 110G-4 kits.
I am nearly finished with the tiny stencil marking decals and this has not been easy since a lot of them fractured into many pieces and were a handful scooting them back together, only one was lost...it was one of the fuselage frame numbers, it was impossible to herd the microscopic specks into a recognizable number.
After the tail had all of its stencil markings applied I wanted to get the swastika's put on and after soaking these decals in water I started to place one of them on the tail and it broke into three pieces, this was easy to deal with compared to the small stencil markings but at the same time is troubling because the swastika's were from the Aeromaster decal sheet. I hope they are not all like this. :S Luckily the swastika for the other side stayed together.
I have to stop with the decaling on all the models for a day or two because my back is sore from the hours of being hunched over trying to save those small stencil decals.
One of those Teeter inversion tables I see on TV would sure be nice to have to help straighten out my back.
Matrixone
Some pictures of the 110 with all the decals on it.
After the pinched nerve in my back stopped hurting I finished the decal job on this model and is starting to shape up. When the decals are 100% dry I will be going over the fuselage frame numbers with a light airbrushed coat of RLM 76 to tone them down a bit, its been my experience when lightly spraying over small decals not only are they toned down but they look smaller than they really are which helps them look to scale.
The W.Nr. on the left side of the tail will be airbrushed out, the photograph I have of this aircraft shows the W.Nr. missing and was possibly covered up by paint after repairs were done.
Matrixone
After the pinched nerve in my back stopped hurting I finished the decal job on this model and is starting to shape up. When the decals are 100% dry I will be going over the fuselage frame numbers with a light airbrushed coat of RLM 76 to tone them down a bit, its been my experience when lightly spraying over small decals not only are they toned down but they look smaller than they really are which helps them look to scale.
The W.Nr. on the left side of the tail will be airbrushed out, the photograph I have of this aircraft shows the W.Nr. missing and was possibly covered up by paint after repairs were done.
Matrixone
phantom II
Master at Arms
Great looking bird
Cheers, Christian B)
Cheers, Christian B)