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For my 109 addiction...Completed


Gazzas

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A couple weeks ago, someone reminded me of my 109 addiction.  Being in the finishing stages of the Delta Dagger I've sent to my father, I decided it was time to feed the need.

 

A while back someone recommended a model seller in the Ukraine.  Prices were good, but the sales method was a bit weird for me.  Anyway...one of the kits I bought was this UM Bf109G-14:

164332.jpg

 

The box art is misleading as the wings have the smaller (correct) wing bulges.  The upper wing cross decals are also filled in with black, making them useless.

 

The plastic had more flash than a Michael Jackson video, a few sinkholes, and the clear parts would have made many glass shower screens envious of it's opacity.

 

On the positive side, it had a complete engine and MG 131's with an appropriate level of plumbing for the scale.

 

164353.jpg

 

164438.jpg

 

164452.jpg

 

I'm depicting a Regensburg built G-14 of JG 27.  It's my first attempt to do a canopy using the foil method used in the Paul Budzik Canopy Video.

 

And although I preshaded the underside, I decided to do all of the topside wheathering after the main painting.  Having seen some recent pictures of well-used P-40's, I'm going to see what I can accomplish with my airbrush.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Gaz

Edited by Gazzas
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Gary,

   I use to be a big time 1/48 scale as you know all to well. Yet I've never heard of UM. Your build to date looks excellent. Looking forward to seeing the decals on and the start of your weathering.  I have  no doubts that you'll produce an excellent build.

 

Joel

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Joel buddy,

     Thank you very much!  There are many times when I wish everything I had was 1/32 scale.  But space dictates otherwise. 

 

The kit is rather unique in that it's the only G14 offered(that I know of).  That's why I ordered it.  However, it's not a kit I'd recommend to a friend.  I've only found a couple of in-box reviews of it and no build reviews.  I found one site where a guy built it according to the directions and ended up with a banana bend in the fuselage.  I tried to avoid that by building 1/2 of the fuselage laid on a perfectly flat surface.  I still ended up with a little twist right behind the propeller spinner.   And I only built as much engine as was needed to hold the exhausts ands propeller spinner.  Even then, I had to pare the sumps and gearbox down to close the engine covers. 

 

Now the decals are giving me fits.  I've already started to cannibalise decals from other kits.  They lay ok, but when you apply the decal softener, odd shaped bubbles form...  and don't go away.

 

Once I get this hodgepodge of decals done, I can turn to some experimental weathering.

 

Gaz

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Gary,

  Looking forward to your weathering stage for sure. 

 

  Like you, display space is at a premium for me too. And the wife's not all that thrilled with my ever once in a while suggestion about shelves in the living room or entrance hallway, so I have to live within my model rooms dimensions. With the desire to build 1/32 scale, I need to stick to smaller size aircraft, and larger ones back to 1/48 scale. Floor to 5ft high shelves  and homemade display cases will be my salvation for now. Older builds that serve no real purpose will be boxed up and stored, or in some cases head towards the towns recycling center. 

 

Joel

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I keep coming back to this one and meant to comment on it yesterday but got busy. I'm a 109 FREAK and haven't seen a G-14 yet either. I "converted" one in 1/24th scale but like has been said I have yet to see one in 1/48th scale. Lookin' good so far bud.

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Guys,

   Thank you!

 

Joel, I am already considering which completed kits will go with my initial purge.  I have a couple I was never satisfied with, one being my first biplane with rigging.  BTW...when are you gonna take the WNW plunge?

 

Mustang, always glad to meet another 109 Freak.  I reckon there are quite a few kits in 1/48 scale that could easily be converted to G-14's with tiny effort.  Is your conversion online?  I'd love to see it.

 

Gaz

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Guys,

   Thank you!

 

Joel, I am already considering which completed kits will go with my initial purge.  I have a couple I was never satisfied with, one being my first biplane with rigging.  BTW...when are you gonna take the WNW plunge?

 

Mustang, always glad to meet another 109 Freak.  I reckon there are quite a few kits in 1/48 scale that could easily be converted to G-14's with tiny effort.  Is your conversion online?  I'd love to see it.

 

Gaz

 

Gary,

   Like I said, I think I'm the last man standing when it comes to not being bitten by the WNW bug. The truth be known, I have almost zero confidence in my abilities to finish a bi plane that needs a decent amount of rigging.  the other truth is that I've always been a huge road racing fan. I raced myself, and still have my one championship plaque hanging on the wall from 1970-71. I've slowly been collecting kits from my era of 1960-1980s. Ebbro has been very slowly releasing F1 &  F2 cars from those era, and are very reasonably priced. I'm going to start building one per year as a break from aircraft. If I do get bitten by the bug, then that idea once again is out the window. 

 

Joel

Edited by Joel_W
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Joel,

   You're not the only one not bitten by the WNW bug.  For me it's a combination of cost/space/lack of faith in my ability to complete one looking good.  You've mentioned model cars before.  I'll be looking forward to seeing one here.

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Joel,

   You're not the only one not bitten by the WNW bug.  For me it's a combination of cost/space/lack of faith in my ability to complete one looking good.  You've mentioned model cars before.  I'll be looking forward to seeing one here.

 

Gary,

  I'm planning out one of two Ebbro Lotuses in 1/20 scale. Mostly OOB as just doing a gloss paint job after all these years is as daunting task for sure. 

 

 Well, it looks like you and me and just about the only ones not bitten by the bug. I never thought I'd see my brother building a WW1 aircraft, but his Roland is coming out great. 

 

Joel

Edited by Joel_W
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I've decided that I have DFS:  Decals foldover syndrome

 

It's driving me nuts.  On small decals, I use a brush to slide them from the backing onto the model.  But too often they fold over on themselves, or even worse, wrap around the bristles.

 

210447.jpg

 

Consequently, the tiniest of decals aren't going on.

I'm experimenting with photos too.  I only have my phone, so I'm working with as many light sources as I can to try to improve photo quality.

210427.jpg

The spiral spinner is masked and painted.  Had I done it right, I would have masked and painted the spinner before the blades were in the way.  I had a Hasegawa spiral, but the Hasegawa spinner is a bit more bulbous than the UM spinner.

 

210344.jpg

It was a disaster!

 

The plane's markings are fictitious and from a hodgepodge of sources since the larger UM decals don't respond well to Mr. Mark Softer. 

 

Tomorrow I can hit it with the pastels.  I'm excited yet apprehensive at the same time.

 

Thanks fer lookin!

 

 

 

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Gary,

  Now that's great progress especially on that UM kit. 

 

  To me decaling is half technical, and half magical. I follow the same procedures all the time, which I adopted from Paul Budzik to the letter, but decals vary from one end of the scale to the other. 

 

  For starters I soak them upside down in a warm water bath with a few drops of dishwashing detergent, Dawn to be exact. Upside down prevents the decal from curling up, which makes it all that much harder to get it to relax. And that curling seems to be "remembered" by the decal which can led to your curling issues.  After 1 min I take out and place it face up on a backside of a coffee cup saucer (any non-porous surface will do) , and using a toothpick see if the decal easily slides off the paper. If it doesn't I let it rest for another min and try again. If you use paper towel under the decal backing paper, it just wicks away the water and makes it that much harder for the decal glue to loosen up. Once it moves freely, I wet the area on the model with the warm water & detergent, then holding the decal on the edge with tweezers I slide the decal into position with the toothpick pulling it from the front.

 

Joel

Edited by Joel_W
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Guest Peterpools

Gary

Nice work on the 109 and from my end looks really good.

Especially for small decals, after the decal moves freely on the backing paper, I just slide it to the edge of the paper and lift it off with a good pair a decal tweezers. Then I just place the decal on the model where I have pre-coated the area with wet water and the the Micro System of Set and Sol.

Keep 'em coming

Peter

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Gary,

  Now that's great progress especially on that UM kit. 

 

  To me decaling is half technical, and half magical. I follow the same procedures all the time, which I adopted from Paul Budzik to the letter, but decals vary from one end of the scale to the other. 

 

  For starters I soak them upside down in a warm water bath with a few drops of dishwashing detergent, Dawn to be exact. Upside down prevents the decal from curling up, which makes it all that much harder to get it to relax. And that curling seems to be "remembered" by the decal which can led to your curling issues.  After 1 min I take out and place it face up on a backside of a coffee cup saucer (any non-porous surface will do) , and using a toothpick see if the decal easily slides off the paper. If it doesn't I let it rest for another min and try again. If you use paper towel under the decal backing paper, it just wicks away the water and makes it that much harder for the decal glue to loosen up. Once it moves freely, I wet the area on the model with the warm water & detergent, then holding the decal on the edge with tweezers I slide the decal into position with the toothpick pulling it from the front.

 

Joel

Joel,

Thank you for your encouraging reply! I agree about the 'half magical'. It's been a long time since I watched Paul Budzik's decal video. I have to admit to forgetting a few things. Thank you for sharing your method with me. I've really been struggling with the long skinny decals most. Fortunately we have Dawn here.

 

Gaz

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