BoB Bf 109E-4 sponged camo

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

Just like to share my Tamiya Bf 109E-4 that I built for the Battle of Britain GB.

This is ‘Yellow 14’ flown by Lt. Franz Fiby in 1940.

The decals are from Aero master and went down pretty well with some decal set, all in all the kit went together well.

The only a/m bits were an Eduard P/E set which included the radio hatch.

This is also my first attempt at mottle camo, and am kinda happy with my first effort[:)]

When I was building I figured the hatch was to dark to see the PE inside so I added an LED which can be turned on and of.

Before

After

As always all critics welcome, especially on the mottle!

2

Great looking build, the camo looks great. Thanks for sharing.

3

Hi Tweety, The mottle looks abfab, please give details of application as I have tried to replicate this dense type of mottleling with an airbrush and failed miserably. Obviously you have scaled down the original method of applying paint and IT WORKS. Small note the radio hatch has a small box on the inside with red crosses on a white circular background.

4

Yes please… details on the motttle application. What is striking about it is how even it is. Beautiful model. And very cool with the inside lighting.

5

Hey, that looks real nice tweets.

did you use preshading?

6

Excellent build. The mottling is very much to scale and looks superb. The LED is ingenious! Thanks for sharing!

7

OUTSTANDING Build

Very Well Done

2 [tup][tup]

Bud

8

Mark me down and wanting to hear abobut the mottle technique, as well. Very nicely done. A tremendous addition to the GB, no doubt.

9

[#ditto]That kind of mottle scares me, but would love to learn how to do it. That looks amazing man outstanding job.

10

also where do the wires for the led go???

11

The Mottle looks great. Let us in on your secret[:)]

Thad

12

nice looking 109 tweety cao turned out relly sweet for your first time[tup]

fockwulf

13

Very nice! I think the camo came out great! Fantastic job.

Thanks

Zip

14

Like the others said, the paint work on that 109 is super. I take it you did it with a synthetic sponge.

15

Beautiful build Sean. Excellent work [tup].

Regards, Rick

16

Thanks for your replies guys[:I]

The mottle was applied with a synthetic sponge which I cut from a Meguiars polishing pad.

The fella at the local auto store thought I was weird when I walked in and bought 7 different sponges to test out, none of which gave me the scale I wanted (there went $32 bucks I coulda spent elsewhere [:(])

So I went into the shed and tried the polishing pad.

It’s a round pad about 90 millimetres across, and has Meguiars moulded into it on one side.

Turned out to be a winner!!

Application was simple, just used straight acrylic paint, dabbed the sponge in it and blotted it onto some post-its till it was nearly dry, kinda tacky actually, and went to town on the fuselage.

I found it better to let the paint dry on the sponge and just keep adding more paint, then blotting till tacky, then applying as this gave a more ‘refined’ look as the paint built up on itself.

It took 2 or 3 dabs onto the model in one area to get a decent amount of coverage and to make the camo look ‘right’.

As for the LED wiring, in the 3rd picture there are 2 wires poking out from the bottom of the wooden base.

These run up to the landing gear, through the base and into the wheels which I drilled out.

Then they form the brake lines up the struts and into the fuselage.

2xAA batteries power the LED and our housed in a routed out section in the base.

Thanks again for your replies.

Might do another sponged 109 now I know how to do the mottle.

17

Missed this one, sorry Tanky[:I]

I never pre shade my models.

For some reason it is the one thing that even though I have tried to do it a dosen or more times, it NEVER turns out right.

Brain surgery no probs…preshading…FORGET IT!!!

So I cheated and applied Tamiya smoke where the shading should be, and the exhaust stains etc.

I do this as the last step before the flat coat, and then the pastels to tie it all together.

18

Thanks Tweety for the info. Not sure that the manufacrurers you quote are available here in the UK but it seems, from your phot`s, that a very fine celled foam is required. In fact it looks vaguely like upholstrey foam although that may be to firm still now we know and yes please do do another and let us see the results.

19

Sean - that is a handsome model. Nicely done.

I noticed that you painted the model’s wheels with RLM 02. Did you do that because of photographic evidence or just out of speculation?

I have often wondered whether or not some 109’s had 02 on their wheels.

Patrick C.

20

Sean:

Thanks again, not only for the beautiful model, but for sharing the technique. It’s this kind of know how that makes us all better modelers.