I must be honest when I heard this kit was coming out I asked why? Do we not have enough Gustavs, including the definitive one by Eduard? Why not a new state of the art P-38, which we desperately need? I guess those were the same sentiments by most folks back in 2004 when they released their 1/48 P-47 series. Well…truthfully, I’m not sure I would have stayed with scale modeling if it wasn’t for that slice of heaven in styrene. I built the razorback and I was hooked. I figured lightning might strike twice so I grabbed one of these off ebay. It’s been beckoning me ever since and had to dive in.
Next was the endless choice of subjects. I wanted one “without” the cannon pods under the wings, a true dogfighter. I ultimately decided on a machine flown by Johannes “Macky” Steinhoff when he was the CO of JG 77 in the MTO. Steinhoff had 176 kills with 152 of them being on the Eastern Front. In April of 1945, while with JV 44 home defense, he was badly burned in an Me 262 accident.
Decals for Steinhoff’s machines are hard to come by for some reason. I’m hoping I can piece together these markings from my ever growing 109 decal stash. It shouldn’t be too hard. I figure I’ll paint on the main markings.
I started with the cockpit. It should be no surprise that it’s fantastic right out of the box. It comes with decal seatbelts, but I opted for PE. I’m out of RLM 66, so I opted for XF-24 Dark Grey. Truthfully I can’t tell the difference…[^o)]
I’d say the instrument panel is the weakest part of the pit. It’s sort of basic and the dial decal didn’t fit all that great. Looks like they missed a few dials too. I may drop a few Airscale dials in there…or maybe I won’t. I suppose it’s not a huge deal in this scale.
Pitmaster stikes again! When I heard about this kit, I was like that commercial about the thieves and the couch. “When I saw it I just had to have it.” Ordered mine as soon as the became available. I’ll be following this build with peaked interest.
I did get some work in on the Gustav. The cockpit went into the fuselage without issue. Tamiya made the rear deck luggage door one piece which is creative. No awkward seam down the middle.
Eventhough I intend to build this one closed up (I think?), Tamiya requires you build the engine which seems to hold the exhausts and perhaps the nose panels in place later. I built it up and sprayed everything flat black for now. I assembled the wings and tail too. They made the tail a separate piece, perhaps for a later G or K variant. Everything fit great.
Here’s my one issue with this kit so far. What a dumb seam! This will be a pain to remove. I’m not sure what they were thinking here. You’d think Tamiya would have been more creative here.
I’ll start assembling the cowl soon then hopefully start painting.
Apply dry, then smooth with wetted finger, Tip: the new stock ships with a metal applitator tube, U don’t allow tube to dry out, fill cap with water & screw on upside down & store tube on standing on cap.
Jon
*Maybe I should ask Deluxe for a retainer, I recommend this stuff so often. [Y]
Excellent work thus far on the 109 Joe. It does make one wonder why the engineers of some of these kits place seams in the strangest places…as if they don’t build them to learn. Oh, and one can NEVER have too many 109 kit choices
Jon, thank you or the input. I’m familiar with PPP and use it fairly often. I still primarily use the superglue-accelerator-sand trick for filling and gaps.
According to the review of this kit in May’s Finescale Modeler, that seam is an actual panel line, and is supposed to be there. The review also mentioned that this information is in the instructions somewhere. Might want to check it out before you apply putty to it.
Thanks Gary, I’m actually referring to that curved seam that runs side to side below that oval at the wing root joint. I’ve never seen that on any other kits and it’s not there on any diagrams I’ve seen. I believe the seam your thinking of is the one that runs along the spine on the top and bottom. I always fill this in on my 109’s because I can never scribe a line that long convincingly. I don’t mind sacrificing accuracy for aesthetics here…lol.
I have a quick update. I sat down last night and threw this turkey together. I had no issues assembling the nose area but I still think it needs some tidying up as some of the gaps are too wide. I really dislike these open panel kits, regardless the manufacturer.
As I said, everything fit pretty nice, but I do have a slight issue with the top cowl gun insert. I don’t believe it falls on a panel line (Circled in red). I may remove it or I may leave it alone. Not a huge deal but worth noting.
Real thing?
Not on here either…
Or here…
Again, not a huge deal, but you would think Tamiya would get this right, especially for this price. Almost time for paint.
Wow, that is a glaring error and not easy to remedy either. Filling and sanding those until they don’t show is very hard. I see why you’re torn on whether to fix it or not. As usual the work is top notch. I love watching your work.
I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Gen. Steinhoff following a speaking engagement in the late '70s where he presented an overview of how the Bundes Luftwaffe had sorted their problems with bringing the F-104 into service. He was an amazing guy…as proud of his watercolor painting, it seemed, as of any of his aviation or military accomplishments.
Your build looks to be an excellent tribute. Following along with keen interest!
Indeed. I remember watching a documentary with him (and several others) years ago and his insight always stuck out to me. I just don’t understand why decals for his machines are so hard to find.
Well, I’m back to my original plan because the only Hartmann decals I have are for Erla canopied Gustavs. I prefer Steinhoff’s ride anyways.
I’m finally back on the Gustav. I believe I left off complaining about the cowl seam line, to sand or not to sand?..or is it supposed to be there? I decided that in the grand scheme of things that it’s best to leave well enough alone. Tamiya clearly believes it’s supposed to be there so I’ll play along. I added some more Tamiya extra thin cement to the seam which greatly improved the “look” and called it a day. I preshaded the panelines then sprayed the lower surface and fuselage sides Mission Models RLM 76. I do like this paint, nice rock hard eggshell finish, but I’m running dangerously low on their thinner…and you MUST use their thinner.
Next I added the RLM 75…
I was unable to find good reference material on Steinhoff’s JG 77 Gustav, so I opted for a standard splinter camo pattern for the time, one that was shown in profile in the kit. I then taped off the pattern. I have no idea how correct it is.
I fired down some RLM 74. Mottling was left light.
I did a touch of postshading, nothing too crazy yet. I’ll dirty it up much more later with an oil wash.
