Scalemates Messerschmitt Bf 109 Group Build 2020
I was intrigued by the propellor swirl decal, so wanted to try that one right away.
For the other decal option Tamiya provides a one third white spinner decal. Look at how the decal even has a faded outline.
Internal parts ready!
And the fuselage buttoned up.
I tried some Gunze Super Chrome Silver 2 for the oleos.
Even though the wing radiators are closed, it's possible to see their interiors, so I painted those as well.
By mistake I misaligned the area just in front of the windscreen.
I primed the yellow areas (subassemblies) with a mixture of Mr. Surfacer 1500 White and lacquer yellow.
That way the RLM Gelb covered really well.
Research time! ..... Shouldn't that be at the start of a project? Either way, the more I fell down the rabbit hole, the more convinced I was that this bird was an Erla produced machine.
Glancing over at some Eduard instructions and comparing those to the previous picture; it seems Tamiya's instructions are not completely on par.
Erla machines have an additional bulge on the starboard side directly under the already present 'Beule'. I tried sprue goo and Micro Kristal Klear to determine the material to build up the bulge from.
In the meantime I cut out the shape of the flange out of my thinnest plastic card.
After coating my bulges with some paint, the Kristal Klear ones were the most promising candidates.
And here it is: an extra bulge flange waiting for the actual bulge.
The original top cowling tacked in place...
....some references...
... and with the help of some tape: rescribed Erla gun throughs! 🙂
Even bigger news! My ordered MRP RLM paints arrived!
Oh yeah, note to myself: buy a decent camera, because an iPhone can’t pick up these small things...
Anyway, small update on small parts: the tube for the high altitude pressurization is added.
Anyway, small update on small parts: the tube for the high altitude pressurization is added.
And I sprayed the Quickboost exhausts NATO brown.
And dusted them with various shades of brown ranging to pure orange.
I also misused my paint mule to get an idea how the Erla zigzag camouflage would work. I feel the contrast between the MRP RLM74 and 75 is too stark straight from the bottle.
The anticipation!.....
A lot of tiny tape slivers...
Tadaaah!!!
And finally after a bath in Dawn yesterday, today it was time for primer! 🙂
I went for a couple of light coats with diluted Mr. Surfacer (grey & black) and the surface is nice and smooth with only some minor blemishes to buff out.
Tail got a treatment as well...
... as did the fuel tank/lower wing insert unit.
Fancy! 😄
Maybe hard to distinguish, but I used Gunze C115 lightened with white for the fuselage part, but added some MRP RLM76 on the tank to differentiate the two items.
Slowly, but steady RLM76 is finding it’s way onto the fuselage.
And onto the lower wing.
The hardest part is done! Getting the dots to look like on the one known picture of this aircraft. The dots are RLM74 and 75 supplemented with a couple in RLM70.
On the starboard side however, it was fire at will as both Eduard and Tamiya came up with their own fantasy version of the dark side of the moon for this aircraft.
Tried to get to some middle ground and keep the spots in the same style as the port side.
Today my Erla wing masks arrived in the mail: paint time again!
As the camouflage lines lined up with edges of flaps and slats, positioning the masks was quite easy.
Panels inside the different sections were lightened with RLM74 with added beige.
Weirdly enough the masks lifted some paint. Never happened to me while using MRP.
After some touch ups this is how it turned out. Initially I wanted to soften the hard edges, but frankly I like it this way.
I found the Tamiya fuselage band decal to be too dark and I didn’t want to stack multiple thick Tamiya decals on top of each other.
That’s why I mixed some Mr. Color C34 and C65 and sprayed the fuselage band.
Unmasked! I used MXpression Intelligent Panzer Putty to fill in the landing gear wells, but the stuff flowed into all nooks and crannies in the wheel wells and is hard to get out again. It kinda strings out whenever I get my tweezers in there to grab it. 🙁 Not that intelligent...
And the first decals are on! Little by little this build is getting it’s momentum back.
First decal session is finished!
I found out that the blue fuselage band needs to be widened towards the front. So, I’ll wait for those first decals to settle in before protecting them with a clear coat before respraying the blue.
At last all decals are on!
Sadly, these are true Tamiya decals. Vibrant, opaque and well researched! But...... thick and uncooperative as wooden planks....
I tried to nudge them into place (and into nooks and crannies) with copious amounts of Mr. Mark Softer, only to find out that when left puddled on, the stuff eats into paint. 🙁 Even into lacquer.
So, I leave it as it is for now and apply a gloss coat later, hopefully this will even out any blemishes. Fingers crossed!
I skipped a couple of updates... This is after I applied two coats of Aqua gloss, sanded down the protruding decals, applied another coat of Aqua gloss and washed everything with Flory Models Dark Dirt.
Contrast in the panel lines and rivets is present, but not distracting.
After a satin lacquer coat, it’s always nice to find some wash in the wheel wells...
The cockpit survived the spraying and sanding massacre.
Final assembly is in progress!
Apart from the antenna wires and maybe some oil or fuel stains, I call it done! When I take some better pictures, I’ll put them in another album.
Коментарі
48 18 October 2020, 19:42
Erik LeijdensGreat start Patrick! And welcome to the group build! Which all started in a Whatsapp groupchat 😄
18 October 2020, 21:13
Patrick HagelsteinThanks Erik! I keep postponing my Tomcat Group Build entry, but hey, I joined this one. 😄
18 October 2020, 21:22
Patrick HagelsteinEspecially this Tamiya kit! It literally falls together! Subassemblies can be painted separate and induced into the final build with no witness marks whatsoever. 👍
18 October 2020, 21:26
Erik LeijdensYes that is a nice extra, Patrick! Good luck with the build mate 👍
18 October 2020, 21:30
Sergej ICould easily fool me for a 48th scale... what a nice clean build 👍. Following!
18 October 2020, 21:42
Michael HickeyThat spinner spiral sure looks clean, did you have any trouble getting it on?
19 October 2020, 03:40
Patrick HagelsteinThanks Sergej, Jos and Michael! Yes Sergej, the cleanliness of this build is all on Tamiya; parts can be painted separately and be joined later on, the parts fit dead on; only a hint of Extra Thin in an inconspicuous spot and it's all constructed. Michael, the spinner/propellor is divided in a spinner back plate, a three bladed pro and the spinner itself. After painting each part independently, I glued everything together with a tiny amount of CA. After that I applied all three sections of the decal at once to align them together. The main spiral left me with two tiny folds, but copious amounts of Solvaset got them snuggled in eventually.
19 October 2020, 17:02
Patrick HagelsteinWelcome on board Michael! Always honored to have you come in for a closer look.
23 October 2020, 15:53
Patrick HagelsteinIt truly is a shake n' bake! 😄 If I hadn't f-ed up the research beforehand. 😉
23 October 2020, 15:57
Sergej IPicture #5, Gunze Super Chrome is also my no1 discovery for everything silver-like. 👍
25 October 2020, 22:01
Patrick HagelsteinThanks Jos and Roland! typically I'm not into WWII German aircraft, because their development lines are so overly complicated and shrouded in wartime chaos and that makes it hard to find the right (color)schemes for a chosen build. Researching a German aircraft would bring me into a completely different realm. I chose this build as a quick OOB "Follow the Tamiya instructions" build, but found out they are actually interpreting an older source. New findings led me to alter some of the kit's details to correspond with those new findings. And then.....this group build happened: It's on!!! 😄 Just ticked off the RLM 76 marble coat and I'm now progressing to the top colors. More to follow for sure! 😉
1 November 2020, 20:54
Björn SvedbergA very nice and comprehensive build log! 👍 I like it! Looking great!
12 November 2020, 10:59
Patrick HagelsteinWelcome Martin and thank you all for your comments guys! 👍 Hopefully this afternoon I'm able to apply an overall gloss coat and hopefully that evens out any blemishes from the decal solution. More to follow! 🙂
12 November 2020, 17:20
Guillaume BlanchetI now apply a coat of clear before & after the decals. I apply it before to prevent the blemishes from the decal solution. Some time I even apply it after installing the smallest decals to make sure I don't remove them while manipulating the aircraft.
12 November 2020, 17:36
Patrick HagelsteinThanks Guillaume and Daniel! 👍 @ Guillaume, I figure you would use an acrylic as a clear coat? As the decal solution ate through what I consider a really durable lacquer coat.
12 November 2020, 18:46
Guillaume BlanchetI always use the Tamiya XF-80. I don't what type of clearcoagt it is tough.
BTW I really like the sharpness of the wings camo.
12 November 2020, 21:03
Patrick HagelsteinThanks guys! @ Guillaume, Tamiya is a hybrid acrylic, meaning that the binder is an acrylic that can be thinned with either an acrylic thinner or a lacquer thinner. Tamiya then acts as either of those types of paints without being truly that type of paint if that makes sense. I spray Tamiya only when I need a specific color and then thin them with Mr. Leveling Thinner, thus using them as lacquers. I might however, follow your example and will use XF-80 as an acrylic to introduce a barrier between the paints and the decal setting solution.
14 November 2020, 00:59
Patrick HagelsteinRemembered that I had some Alclad Aquagloss and used that instead. Not really comfy with the higher psi needed for the stuff and it sprayed quite thick. Either way, started sanding down those decals and for the most part they seem to blend in better. Only another gloss coat will tell for sure, but that's another weekend job. 😉 Whiskey first! 😄
14 November 2020, 04:38
Laurens van Holland"Just a quick in between project"? it's looking awesome, way to nice to call it an in between. Keep up the good work and would love to see the end result.
17 November 2020, 09:12
Spanjaard"Just a quick in between project".... he says..... what a beautiful 109!
18 November 2020, 08:47
Patrick HagelsteinWell, as I mentioned earlier, I'm not particularly into WWII Luftwaffe, so I thought to just build it as Tamiya intended. I guess my AMS kicked in after all. 😉
18 November 2020, 17:06
Patrick HagelsteinApart from the exhausts and the gun barrels this is an OOB build. I only added those parts (and the masks) to be quicker than super detailing those parts by myself. 🙂
18 November 2020, 17:08
Patrick HagelsteinBf 109G-6 Erla 9./JG54 February 1944 Obslt Wilhelm Schilling | Album by Hagel (1:72)
Tried to take some better pictures of the finished bird. It shows I really need to invest in photography and the needed skills for that. 😉
20 November 2020, 23:21
Patrick Hagelstein@Finn, I wasn't a fan of 109's either, but they are growing on me. Nontheless, thanks for your nice comment!
@Daniel, the Erla factory had a different mottling pattern which is harder to replicate as the patches are more pronounced. Thanks for noticing!
@Sebastian, thanks again! 😉
20 April 2022, 12:34
Album info
Just a quick in between project I want to add to the existing Group Build.
Group Build
Scalemates Messerschmitt Bf 109 Group Build 2020
1. Жовтень до 31. Грудень 2020
1. Жовтень до 31. Грудень 2020