1/32 Hasegawa Bf 109K-4, Black 8, 14./JG 53, May, 1945 (Complete)

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
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I bought this kit at the Jaxconn model show a couple of weeks ago and jumped right in. I’ve been wanting to build a Kurfürst for a while and haven’t been able to find this kit online at a reasonable price.

At the show I also grabbed EagleCals #75 for Bf 109K’s. My chosen subject is Black 8 of JG 53. This plane was found abandoned (pilot unknown) at the end of the war at Echterdingen Germany.

I’ll also add a number of aftermarket goodies:

  • Aires cockpit
  • Barracuda wheels
  • Quickboost prop
  • Quickboost exhaust stacks
  • HGW seat belts
  • EagleCals #75 decals

I’ll use Mr. Color lacquers as usual and just finished the office.

The Aires resin cockpit has some great detail but it’s not a 1:1 swap out with the kit parts. There’s work to do on the back deck to get it to fit around and under the seat rim.

The Aires clear resin IP was “OK” IMO. It’s better than the painted kit part or the kit part with decals. The Aires version, which I ended up using, has an acetate backing that contains the dial detail. It looks pretty good but the molding of the panel itself was less crisp than I’d prefer.

The HGW textile seatbelts are great. They look a little on the long side for some reason.

The cockpit tub fits nicely and the sidewall details pop.

You may not be able to notice, but the Aires resin cockpit does not have the bicycle chain for the flap controls on the sidewall or as PE. It’s difficult to see in any event and I’m thinking on having the canopy closed on this one.

Thanks for looking.

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Pit looks fantastic! I don’t think I’ve seen that camo scheme before. Looks interesting.

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Looks great. I just went to the show in Richmond, VA. HGW belts are always a nice addition.

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Thanks keavdog. Making slow progress.

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Thanks wpwar. Agreed on the HGW belts.

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Made some progress - focusing on the gear bays. The kit detail is weak to say the least and I was not satisfied with leaving it as is for this build.

I drilled out the oval holes in the strut well area.

I remembered that the Revell G-6 kit has some good detail in the gear bays so I raided the one in my stash that’s already a source of parts for other projects. I completely removed the wheel area side walls and adapted the Revell parts.

After painting them silver and being proud of myself for my resourcefulness, I realized that the bays are too shallow for the K-4 wheels and dont have the correct geometry where the retracted wheel recesses into the bulge on the wing. So I cut more appropriate sized holes in the wing.

And thinned the edges of the thick plastic.

After repainting it now looks more reasonable with some decent detail and appropriate geometry.

I know it’s not too exciting but there it is.

Thanks for looking. The build continues.

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Main camo painting is now complete with a gloss coat and ready for decals. It turns out none of my masks that I thought work work are the right size. I like this scheme and am looking forward to getting the markings on.

This kit thankfully lends itself to painting the main components separately. The fit of the wings and stabilizers to the fuselage is solid and the smaller pieces are easier to work with in the paint station.

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Black 8 is now complete.

The Hasagawa kit was supplmented with:

  • Quickboost exhaust stacks
  • Barracuda wheels
  • Aries cockpit
  • HGW seatbelts
  • Eagle cals decals

For the first time, I gave riveting with a riveting wheel a try. My efforts don’t show up in most of the photos as I made the rivets too small and shallow to be seen at a distance.

Many of the parts in this kit are relatively thick plastic, including the tail wheel door. The kit molded it fixed in the open position. I removed the kit parts and modeled the doors closed.

I posted earlier on incorporating the landing gear bay walls from my Revell G-6 kit.

I used a brass rod for spring on the antenna cable.

I also added brakes lines on the lower section of the landing gear.

The loop antenna was fabricated out of a piece of an aluminum Dr. Pepper Zero can – much more convincing than the kit part.

As usual I used Mr. Color lacquers but tried a different fading and shading technique.

Rather than post fading and shading without preshading, I tried preshading with an additional spatter pattern. It actually looks OK on the underside but is tough to see with the darker colors on the topside.

I also tried the salt fading technique for the first time on a luftwaffe subject. First with a light tan/gray mix, second with a dark gray/brown mix. I went light on the application and it looks good when looking closely, but it’s not really noticable from normal viewing range.

I didn’t do any of my usual post shading and fading on this one except for a black/brown mix along panel lines.

The spinner spiral was painted on.

I used sponges and colored pencils for the chips and scratches. Note that the K-4 wing fairings are made of wood.

Overall it was a fun project and I’m happy with the result. Like many others have learned with this kit that was released almost 20 years ago, it takes a lot of work to add AM parts and scratch build parts to get it to approach the level of detail that Eduard and Tamiya and others offer on more recent kits. It was worthwhile experimenting with new weathering techniques. I’d also like to give props to the superdetailers on the Large Scale Planes site for some tips and inspiration for this build.

Thanks for following along. Comments and critique are always welcome.

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Mighty nice work, Hoss, first rate build and finish. This version you built is a really good looking design, my favorite of the 109 family.

Thanks for the detailed post and photos.

Patrick

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You did a great job. Looks great.

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Thanks Patrick. Much appreciated.

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Thanks disastermaster. This kit lended itself to this approach. The spars in the fuselage set the dihedral and the fit at the wing root is solid. Thanks again.

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Thanks lurch.