one0nine

Many of these were taken by Alan Scheckenbach and are hosted on my site, The 109 Lair... they're out there for folks to use, so it's cool to post'em, but I'd appreciate it if the original photographer and the site from which they were taken were noted the next time these get posted. With that said, it's good to see the closeups you've shared of the aircraft as it sits today... by all accounts, it is incredibly difficult to photograph now, being stuck on a pole up in a dark corner of the museum. You must have one hell of a camera and flash cannon to get such good closeups! Would you mind dropping me a line off-board regarding your photos, Kais? Thanks much! Lynn (webmaster, The 109 Lair) PS: Can't close this out without noting how incredibly awesome Manu's Gustav is coming out... I can't wait to see that thing.

Greetings all- I was immensely fortunate to get hold of the first copy of Jerry Rutman's new Henschel Hs 129 kit at the IPMS Nationals here in Va. Beach last week, and figured there would be a lot of folks here who'd be interested in seeing this beast up close and personal. Please bear in mind there are three important things which I don't currently have, because they're still enroute from Jerry's suppliers... the decals, the canopies, and the instructions. After shooting the layout and detail photos below, I'm working on basic detail bits like engine details and so forth which are self-explanatory; full assembly will commence once I have the instructions to tell me how that complex cockpit goes together! The kit is molded in a very smooth resin, and is very cleanly cast- I've found only one pinhole, on the leading edge of a prop blade. There is a small sheet of photoetched cockpit bits (rudder pedals and harness buckles), two fairly massive metal castings for the gear legs, and the piece de resistance, an absolutely exquisite brass barrel for the MK 101 30mm cannon carried by the Hs 129B-2. The canopy sections are being cast in clear resin, and there will be six marking options on the kit decal sheet. As you can see in the closeup shots below, the surface detail is absolutely beautiful, with very even scribing around the entire airframe. As with any resin kit, proper surface prep will be important- there will be some light cleanup work to do in places such as the cowling vents and mounting faces of the single-piece horizontal and vertical stabilizers- but this is to be expected in handmade kits, and Jerry's careful work goes a long way towards minimizing the amount of work to do. Basic landing gear wells are provided, and Jerry explained he couldn't find any reference material showing what was supposed to go in there... I don't have any either, so I don't plan to go nuts in there. Taping the fuselage and wings together shows no warpage and a very nice fit; no belt-sanders necessary here, just basic seam prep and cleanup. I am currently trying to decide if I want to use a spar for the wings, and if so, where to put it... stay tuned for the next installment of "Where The Spar Goes". I'll continue posting updates on this gorgeous new kit, and welcome any questions you guys might have. Cheers, Lynn

For Dave: I'm sorry we never got to meet, but I'm glad I could help him on his G-12 project. A saddened Lynn

Ok, I'm gonna say it... that is **** hot. An absolutely first rate job, D, you really knocked it out of the park! Wish I had some of those cheap ProMod kits... Fantastic work once again- Lynn

Ok guys, here it is with everything but the antenna... Dullcoated it tonight, cleaned up the canopy sections, added a slight bit of weathering with drybrushing and pastels and the ubiquitous Prismacolor silver pencil... and I have to admit, it's rather grown on me now that it's wearing a flat coat. It just looked WEIRD all glossy. Shawn, these markings came from an Eagle Strike set released back in 02 or so. So, what do you guys think? Is it a toy, or is it a model?

Ok, it was too late to start airbrushing Dullcote in the house last night, but it'll happen when I get home this afternoon. Here's the F with all the markings... I just can't quite get used to it. I think it'll look better with a good flat coat on it. Lynn

Ass. I **TOLD** you I didn't need rescuing. But noooooo, you had to go on about how I was in "peril" and all that... there was NOTHING wrong with the Castle Anthrax Asylum for Sexually Aggressive Bikini Models, I was doing just fine there by myself. Yeah, I love ya like a brother, but I STILL haven't forgotten that. And for anyone looking in, Jeff and I aren't *really* brothers, but we treat each other like it sometimes... and you're right, sometimes I am too nice... thankfully, I've got you and the rest of the Joisey Boyz to help me change from "Thank you sir, may I have another" to "Get the f*#@ out of here before I unscrew your leg and beat you with it". Don't forget my wife's family still has a connection or two up that way too. --------------------- Back to the original point of the post- I finished four (yes, FOUR) more smaller 109s last night, and the decals and washes are done on the big F... I plan to Dullcoat it tonight. Lynn (still laughing my ass off at Jeff's note above)

Without getting too wordy (SURPRISE!), here's a quick shot of my 21st Century Bf 109F after hitting it with Future... I dropped the flaps because the lower wing was more warped than a John Waters film, and I couldn't straighten that f*$#er out for love or money... so I cut out the internal spar, cut off all the trailing edge bits, straightened them individually, and clamped the snot out of the wing to get it pointed roughly in the right direction. That's one thing I like about these kits right off the bat... there truly is no problem that can't be sorted out with a heavier application of brute force. Should have Dullcote on the beast before the Super Bowl, let's hope! Lynn

Oh Lord, look at the Dutch roundels... c'mon, people, it's a very simple formula. 120 degrees between each color, it's not friggin' rocket science. :angry: That said, I hadn't seen the FEAF roundels on Mustangs before... any photos around of this? Lynn

The Hasegawa Emil is absolute shite, but you can rob plenty of parts from it. The fuselage and wing outlines are all off in varying degrees, while the Matchbox kit is damn near spot on dimensionally. It's just rough, and will take work to get to a good result, much more work than the new Hasegawa Gustavs, that's for sure! Lynn

The Matchbox kit is lightyears ahead of the Hasegawa kit in terms of overall accuracy. The molds did suffer the tender mercies of Miguel The Mexican Ditchdigger, in common with most other Matchbox kits , but much like the Trumpeter Wellington, a decent coat of Mr. Surfacer (or putty), followed by sanding, will help tone them down somewhat if you so desire. Cutting Edge makes a resin interior for the Hase kit which should work well for the Matchbox offering, based on my dryfitting efforts, but the resin wheelwells from Cutting Edge will require quite a bit of work to make them fit into the Matchbox wings. As far as making a B/C/D from it, be prepared to scratchbuild the foward cowling assembly; you'll need to rob the earlier canopy from the Hasegawa kit and fiddle with the fit, as no one offers a vac replacement (which is pretty odd in itself). You would also be well advised to rob gear legs from the later Hasegawa G/K kit, as they were essentially the same and the Matchbox offerings are terribly spindly. Maybe I should do up a "tweaks list" for the Matchbox kit... Lynn

The Hasegawa 1/32 kits are MILES ahead of the Trumpeter offerings. MILES, I tell ya. Lynn

Ok guys, I've updated DetailSITE with the J2M page: J2M on DetailSITE And since I was at it, I updated a whole crap-ton of other stuff as well... I've now got three separate B-26 walkarounds, a full walkaround of the B-29 "Fifi", a B-24J walkaround, as well as others for the B-17G, F-94A, O-47 (!), and EB-57B. There's a bunch more good stuff comin', too. DetailSITE, celebrating it's eighth year! Enjoy! Lynn

Ray, I've got a full walkaround of everything but the cockpit on the Planes of Fame J2M, 51 shots in all... I've been meaning to add them to DetailSITE anyways, so I'll bang that out this weekend so you'll have some decent references. Anyone willing to build this kit instead of sell it to some "collector" deserves all the assistance they can get! Lynn (proud owner of two "Tonys", one partially built)

Heh, that looks familiar. Good thing I've got vise grips, clothespins, and duct tape here. I have my lower wing halves together, and the outer wings done... working on the inner wings now. By the way, I'm glad you're not doing "Showtime 100", purely because I feel Randy Cunningham is such a jackass. I've got markings to do a 1/48 F-4J as "Silverkite 212" from VF-92 which I'm looking forward to. Lynn

Hey Adrian... a little somethin' somethin' to help a brother out, maybe? http://109lair.hobbyvista.com/DETAILSITE/U...1/p51b/p51b.htm You're welcome. Lynn

No less a personality than Maj. Werner Mölders scored the first victories for the new F on 22 October 1940, downing aeither one or three Hurricanes (depending on which source you read) on a "freie Jagd" north of Maidstone while flying Bf 109F-0 WNr 5628 (Stkz SG+GW, overpainted and marked with Geschwaderkommodore chevrons <-+-). So, if you're looking to do a genuine BoB 109F, it did exist. By the way, there was one unique thing about Mölders bird which I've not seen on any other F model to date... it had the same riveted reinforcement strip along the wing root fairing on the fuselage as the earlier Emil model. I cannot explain why, but I have multiple photos showing this. Quick notes on the F-0, for those interested: it was fitted with a drum-fed MG-FF centerline cannon in the cockpit, covered by a canvas bag with a leather-reinforced zipper. It also had simple bulbs in the wingtip nav light recesses, no clear aerodynamic covers; no reinforcement strips at fuselage station 9; squared-off outer wheel well edges; and no 90 degree bend in the port exhaust shield as with later 109Fs and Gs. Oh, and the F model had a seat that was a mix of the E and G... it was a separate item with a back like the Emil, but the seat pan was sort of squared off like the Gustav. Get at it, Matty, let's see you whoop that sucker into shape! Lynn PS: Color scheme 71/02 over 65, yellow nose... just like an Emil.

Woof, that's a long list... I'll look it over to see if there's anything Thierry missed, but I seriously doubt it. I will add this to the cowl scoop issue: yes, there were some A/C with staggered scoops, but most had them in a line. Don't forget you had who knows how many subcontractors making parts for later model Gustavs, and all it took was the replacement of a damaged cowling panel to get things slightly out of line. Luftwaffe service personnel did have more important things to do than make sure the scoops were properly aligned, y'know! Thierry, thanks for investing so much time and effort into these lists. Cheers, Lynn

Look for a full review of this in the forthcoming Datafile... although that'll be a bit biased. Roy Sutherland did all the hard work on the masters, which are basically scaled up from the Hasegawa kit, and I helped sort a few things out as well. And yes, it's more accurate than the Trumpeter kit... now, if we could just get someone to do some brass legs for this sucker! Lynn

Depends on your definition of "crap", dunnit? If you're looking for a kit that goes together quite well, then no, it's not crap by any means... it builds up quite well. If, however, you're looking for the "ultimate Messerschmitt", the Trumpy kit ain't it, not by a long shot. That said, I'm happy with it... but I've also got a "regular" G-6 that's getting The Treatment®, and it's taking for-bloody-ever to make things right. Cheers, Lynn

Hi Alan! Yes, they're still available from SAMI direct and some booksellers; unfortunately, though, I have no more to sell personally. Thanks much, Lynn

Hey, bite me... I'm at work. Hooray for dual monitors... work on one, post on the other! By the way, I'd like to point out that Dull Dark Green is NOT a nice color to get all over your hands... people tend to ask awkward questions. I told'em I got a virus from some Jeff guy up in Cheeseville. You feelin' better, I hope?

Hi Gordon- It's not that there's no wheel well, it's that the wheel well is wrong... another indication that our boys at Dragon were asleep at the wheel, unfortunately. :angry: But, what the he11, it's just a model. Lynn

Additional pics: Lynn

I posted some photos of the completed item over on Hyperscale at the end of October, but I thought I'd post some "in progress" pics here as well as the completed item. I built the model straight from the box, with no aftermarket whatsoever, for the forthcoming second Modellers Datafile on the 109 (this is one of 25 individual builds for the book). Here's the kicker... I had it almost completely finished within 48 hours. The kit was sent to me by a good friend in Alaska, Tony "Wookie" Flynn, and it arrived on Saturday, August 26, around 11:15AM. By Sunday night, August 27, the entire thing was built, preshaded, and halfway camouflaged. That's one way of saying that the kit goes together extremely well, even if there are a whole host of niggiling accuracy issues. But I'm not here to talk about those... I'm here to show you the kit can be built. I started with the wings- drilling out the holes in the inner gear bay, etc. No pics there. Then I built the cockpit assembly and sprayed all the bits, detailing the sidewalls as necessary: The panel actually came out quite decent... I didn't add the fuel valve at the bottom, or the various handles on the panel. OOB, remember? While the cockpit was drying, I built the engine, everything but those stupid rubber ignition leads. Steve Gallaci has mentioned the engine is undersized, and he's right... it looks a little lost when mounted in the fuselage. Of course, the engine bearers are all screwed up too, but no fixing'em... OOB, remember? Once the engine was built (which took less time than I thought), I sprayed the whole thing black, then drybrushed with Titanium White... I rather like how it came out. While all this was drying, I had mounted the engine covers to the fuselage- too much work to correct the errors in the engine and to fix all the ejector pin marks in the door interiors, I was on a tight schedule. The good news is that the fit was absolutely superb... I was able to clean up the inaccurate seams at the aft bottom of the doors with no trouble at all, and the whole thing fit VERY tight. So, with all that done and the paint dry (I shoot enamels thinned with lacquer thinner to speed drying time), the whole affair was attached to the fuselage and it was closed up. I had already cleaned up the wing mating surfaces and dry-fitted everything to make sure it would go together well (it did), so while the Zap-A-Gap was still drying on the fuselage, I attached the upper wings to the fuselage, followed by the lower wing about five minutes later. Cleaned up all seams in short order, added the tailplanes and rudder, followed by the pre-masked windscreen and canopy. Out came the ModelMaster 66, followed rapidly by the yellow and black stripes and markings on the aft fuselage. It took me three tries to get the camo scheme where I wanted it, then I cut masks for all national and unit markings from Tamiya tape (except the swastika, that's an Aeromaster item) and let fly with white and black paint. The spinner spiral and kill markings are masked and sprayed as well... yes, I know there aren't enough kill markings compared to the photo of the real thing, spare me the email. I still need to relocate the antenna lead on the fin from a mast to the leading edge of the fin itself, but that's about all I'm going to change... I did go back and respray the wingtip lower surfaces in yellow, which was dead easy in this huge scale. (Additional images in next post) There will be a more thorough writeup on the build in a forthcoming SAMI, and a more thorough evaluation of the kit itself in the forthcoming Datafile. Hope you guys enjoy it! Lynn