Here’s the one that sat in my closet for the past 4 or 5 years.
Should be done with it within the month!
Very nice MrDrummy, I really like what I see. So… give us the usuall details, what Manufacture?, what scale? etc. I like the camo on this bird a lot so I would be interested in what unit it is from. Looks great.
Steve
P.S. welcome to the forum.[#welcome]
Thanks for the kind words, and the welcome! I’m glad to be back in the modeling world.
This is the Tamiya "Bf 109 E 4/7 Trop. kit in 1/48 scale, which is the only scale that I enjoy modeling in. The kit went together easily, and required hardly any putty. My only gripe is that the little hatch right under the nose is scribed into the two halves of the fuselage. When you put it together, you have to sand the seam out, and you inevitably lose the hatch outlines. Does that make sense? I think that they should make that panel seperate like they have the scoop (for all I know, someone does that now.) It would save a lot of time, for me anyway. I did use a cockpit detail set of some sort, but since it’s been so long since I did it, I can’t remember which brand it was.[:I]
I’m doing this after a plane on Aeromaster Decal sheet #48-243. According to the sheet, i.(J)/LG2, out of Calais, France in 3/1941. RLM 71 & 02 over 65 with blotches of RLM 70 on the wings and fuselage. I didn’t have a guide on how to do the wing blotches, so I just looked at a desert scheme and did it that way. I figured thats the effect they were probably going for anyway. Pretty plain and simple. I’m fairly pleased with the way that it has turned out so far.
I’ll put up more pictures as I near completion. I hope that I can be patient! It’s been so long since I’ve finished one!
Welcome to the forums! That’s the same kit I am working on right now. I was just thinking the same thing on the nose hatch last night while I was trying to rescribe it.
You think that they’d have thought of that. Since I’ve been out of the biz for awhile, do you know if any of the new 109 E kits (if there are any!) are fixing this? I’m fairly awful at rescribing lines, and usually end up making it look worse!!
The only other Emil I’m familiar with is the Hasegawa offering, but their kit suffers the same problem with that darned nose hatch. As for rescribing lines, I have to admit I cannot do them very well either. I am amazed at these guys who sand off all of the raised panel lines on a kit, and then rescribe the whole thing. If I tried that, it would look like someone cut it apart with a jig saw, and then tried to glue it back together! I also wonder if those guys are using a different type of scriber.
Yeah-- when guys go that far, they really know what they’re doing. One day maybe I’ll get there, but for now I’m enjoying kits as they come, and doing rescribing only when I end up sanding something off!
I’d love to see more shots of your model as it progresses, so post up when you can. What markings are you going do use for yours?
I’m right there with you! I try to avoid rescribing like the plague, but sometimes I get careless and sand something off and have to do it. As for the markings on mine, I am going to use the “Black 8” set that came with the kit, as I have always admired that aircraft. I’ll post pics of it in progress in a new thread, so as not to fill up yours. Keep the pics of yours coming too! [8D]
BTW, how did you do the dark spots? They look awesome! Did you do it freehand? What -brush did you use?
Black 8 is the one that I’ll probably do next. As a matter of fact, I got this kit thinking that’s the one that I’d end up doing, but saw the Aeromaster decal sheet, and got attached to a couple of the a/c on it. I’ll get to that plane sooner or later 
The dark spots were all done free-handed. I’m still trying to get the hand of freehanding stuff, so random spots are definitely an easy way to learn. How can you mess up?! Ha. I think that I could tighten them up a little bit, as to me, they look just a little too fuzzy. Oh well. I’ll get there eventually.
I’ve had a Badger 150 airbrush with a fine tip for many years, and it’s been a good brush for sure. For some reason I’ve never had a regulator or an on/off switch on my little compressor. I’m thinking it’s about time. I actually have a little time to devote to building a little modeling area these days, so I’m excited about getting to that. It’ll be nice to set my airbrush in a holder other than my teeth when I need to use both hands for something.
Next time, try this - scribe the lines that cross the seam BEFORE you glue the two halves. Just use the existing panel lines, and dig them a bit deper. That way when you sand the seam, you end up with the right depth.
Good progress![tup] Hope we get to see some more.
I think you did a wonderful job on the freehand spots. I’m hoping mine turn out that nice!
I finished mine this morning, so I can start painting this weekend!
Good tip on the panel engraving, gonna try that one next time.
Yeah, I’d love to see yours when you get moving. For those spots, I just tapped away at each one of them, never leaving the brush on for more than say, half a second. Takes time, but I’m mostly pleased with them.
I’m on the road for the next week, but I’ve got Future drying on the model, so when I get home, it’s decal time. They should go pretty quick.
Do you usually put on all the “stencil” markings, ie: all the little rib numbers up the side, and every bit of info, such as the wingwalks etc? I never know if I should. It would seem to me that some of those would get covered up in some of the on-site camo jobs that they did. For example, I would think that the wing walks would be partially covered up by the darker splotches covering the wings, you know? Maybe they were required to repaint them? I’m still not sure what I want to do with mine.
Anyway, I’ll be back on it soon, and get pics up as I get closer to being done.
GREAT tip about that little hatch/panel line rescribing. I’ll try that next time.
Cool, can’t wait to see it with markings on! I plan to start painting mine tomorrow, if everything goes as planned.
As for putting on all of the decals, I rarely do. I know I may be chastised for it, but I think they actually clutter up my models, and I can never see them in photos of restored aircraft anyway. Plus, they can be a bugger to get em on and not hurt them while putting on other decals! I usually only put on the largers markings, and maybe a few of the smaller ones if they are prominant on the full scale aircraft, or if they help to fill in an empty looking part of the model.
I figure that it’s my airplane, and if I don’t want to put them on, I won’t.
Hope this helps!
I’m no 109 expert, but it’s looking good to me. Be sure to post pictures once it’s done!
Mark
Since we are snowed in here in WI with a blizzard, I have had pleanty of time in the last couple of days to work on my models. I painted the sand color today, here is a pic:
Hey-- that looks nice.
Too bad about the blizzard…oh wait, not it’s not! Any extra time to do some models is fine by me. I’ve got most of the decals on mine, and am about to throw the gloss coat over the top of the a/c. Getting excited and trying to keep from screwing up in the homestretch, like I always seem to!!
Couple of questions for ya:
I usually do my canopy separate from the model–how do you attach the thing to get it all painted up?
And-- never seen someone use a little stick to hold up the model. Tell me more about that?
Thanks, I was a little nervous using the double action airbrush on a model for the first time, but it went well. A little more practice before the spots, though!
As for the canopy, I glue it on with Elmers white glue. It holds it on well, and allows me to get all of the camo to line up as well as making sure that the canopy gets the exact same paint and clear coat treatment as the rest of the plane.
As for the stick, It’s a popsicle stick trimmed down and glued with Elmers into the plane. It is mounted in a jeweler’s third hand, which makes a great paint stand. It weighs a couple of pounds, and has a swivel so the model can be turned in any direction for painting. I am a goldsmith by trade, so I just swiped it off of my jeweler’s bench! Here’s a couple more pics of the stand in action:
The last pic is how the tool comes, ready to hold a ring. The ring is one I custom made for myself a couple of years ago. You can get the third hand from companies like Stuller, Gesswein, Otto Frei, etc.
That stand is great. Are they real expensive? I could definitely go for one of those.
Here is another shot of the 109, with some of the decals on. The wing crosses go on tomorrow, and then I’m in the homestretch!!
I did have the wing crosses on, but something either on my paint brush (most likely…) that I was using for my Microset attacked my paint, and left big spots completely stripped down to the plastic. I still can’t figure out what happened, unless my microsol or -set went rancid for a few minutes. Oh what a surprise that was. [banghead] I simply pulled the wing crosses off, and made another couple of spots on the wing. You’d never notice unless you were looking for them, so I’m not too worried.
I have seen third hands on Ebay for between $5 and $15 dollars.
That '109 is looking sharp! I looked closely at the pic, but couldn’t tell where the problem on the wing was- you did an excellent job fixing the paint! Having a problem like that and fixing it makes it all the more worthwhile, doesn’t it? I know, I had a TON of problems with the Aeromaster decals on my Spitfire.
Looking good, keep the pics coming!