Thunnus

While I am in a holding pattern on the riveting, I can report on a few other things. I dug through my Mega Pile of Aftermarket Stuff and found this little item... Photoetch instrument panels are not my fave and self-adhesive photoetch is the absolute worst so I found it very easy to cut the ammo counter from this set and attach it to my resin panel. The Revi 16B gunsight has also been assembled and painted. It came with the MDC cockpit set. I had to check to see if the windscreen would fit with the gunsight in place. So I put the IP into the fuselage for test. The windscreen JUST clears the Revi. I think the reflective glass of the sight are touching the windscreen. So no protective armored glass. The plastic exhaust deflectors were re-done in brass sheeting. And finally... the circular wheel wells were adjusted to late Gustave standards with some slicing and dicing.

Although I'm not posting regularly, regular work is being performed on the Tank fighter. But it is of the repetitive apply-dry-adjust-apply-dry-adjust cycle that I'm plodding through and not taking a great joy in documenting. But the work continues. And the work is starting to finally get somewhere. Here is the work so far on the top side wing roots. Slowly and surely we are addressing seams, finding new ones, addressing those until the ever-growing list eventually starts to get whittled down. The giant seams were filled with stretched sprue and those a magnitude smaller were addressed with White Milliput. Mr Surfacer 1000 was used for the fine fill work and many cycles were repeated as I'm striving to get some consistency on the panel lines. I can't achieve perfection so my goal is for the panel lines not to call attention to themselves. The photos are a bit deceiving since re-scribing often digs into the Milliput, which gives an opposite impression when the scriber hits the black plastic. Here is the view of the bottom. This is a significantly more involved piece of work since the severity of the fit issues forced me to do a much more extensive fill operation to get everything on the same level. The base putty work is just about complete. A coat of Mr Surfacer 1200 over the repair area shows how much of the detail has been eradicated. I'll now start the slow, repetitive process of re-scribing, re-riveting and surface touch-ups that will be required since I'll be re-scribing through a minefield of different materials.

Photo is of a K-4, no?

Thanks for the comments guys! Always appreciate the input! A question as I'm preparing to apply rivets on the wings. Is the highlighted panel line appropriate for the G-14? Based on some drawings that I have (Japanese Model Art publication), I'm thinking that this panel line is specific to the K-4. Bf 109 G-6 (the publication didn't have a G-14 but I'm assuming that the G-14 wing was very close to the G-6?) Bf 109 K-4 (There is even a call-out on that panel line, but I cannot read Japanese)

Thanks guys! I like the resin panel myself. I need to tidy up that ammo counter though. Based on Vincent's excellent comments on the drop tank, I've cut the pressure port tube from front and added a hex drain plug, in addition to filling in the forward-most panel line. Also added some dents to the tank. The hex plug is probably a little overscale but it was all I could find (hub from a Revell G-10 wheel). I'll try to find a smaller version somewhere. The majority of today was spent fashioning seat harnesses. I've decided to use the buckle hardware from the MDC brass fret and cut the fabric harness material from foil material. Not sure where I got it... some random bottle of wine. Hard to see but I've added some stitching using a neat toothed tool on the corner of a RB Productions brass fret. Do I paint now and mount later or mount the belts on the seat and paint later?

Thanks Vincent! As always... very useful information! I'll try and scratch up that drain plug on the bottom per the MDC tank. I hope everyone is doing ok out there! Work continues on the G-14. I'm looking forward a few steps and know that before I close up the fuselage, I want to apply the rivets. And since the Hasegawa kit has a separate tail unit, I want to make sure this seam is addressed prior to the rivet work. This is a slight departure from the kit instructions where they would have you attach the tail as a unit after the fuselage halves are glued together. In addition to making riveting a whole lot more manageable, doing it out of order will actually strengthen the tail/fuselage bond as I can access all contact surfaces of the join this way. While the glue is still soft, I've attached the fuselage halves together with tape to ensure proper alignment of all of the parts. I'll separate the halves once the glue is dry. We've already seen how good the Eduard pre-painted instrument panels looks. I wanted to do a comparison with the MDC resin IP just for kicks so I've taken the time to paint up the resin IP. After the painting stage, the MDC panel looks a little messy but a lot of that is due to the different sheens of the paint used. It should smooth out after a shot of flat clear. I've elected to use Airscale decals for the instrument dials because of they had much finer detail than the MDC decals. Each individual instrument was punched out and inserted into the appropriate bezel. After all of the instrument dials were completed, I shot the panel with a flat clear and then I took the extra step of punching out discs of clear overhead transparency film (remember that technology?) for the glass bezels. Here's how they look under the work table lights. For a further comparison, I've taken some pics in the light box. I took a few different angles since the clear discs in the MDC panel tends to give off glare (which is a cool effect in itself). The Eduard panel is definitely neater since I can't match the printed details with my shaky paint brush. But the Airscale instrument faces in the MDC panel have more detail than the Eduard instruments. I'm not very happy with my paint job of the ammo counter on top of the MDC panel but I could possibly tidy that up. The MDC panel definitely gives off more 3D relief than the relatively flat Eduard panel but I can't say that one is a clear winner over the other. They both have their positives and negatives.

I was told to be wary of the windshield/fuselage connection so I went ahead and checked the fit of the clear parts. Fit looks ok but there is a sizeable gap between the rear edge of the engine cowling and fuselage on the starboard side.

Thanks for the input guys! Doing some more fiddling with the MDC cockpit set, trying to get the three major pieces (two sidewalls and cockpit tub) to fit in the fuselage. The more I play with it, the more I am leaning towards having the three major pieces glued together and then attaching the whole cockpit assembly into the fuselage from the bottom. This will reduce the amount of fit/placement variables and make things simpler for me. To that end, I've removed portions of the yellow fuel line and re-positioned it (using lead wire) so that the rear edge of the sidewall can be pushed closer towards the seat. The top edge of this sidewall was repaired with black CA glue. This is how the three major components are fitting together. All of the joints are not perfectly square but this should be fine in terms of the view from outside looking in. And this is how the MDC cockpit is fitting into the fuselage. You can see how moving that fuel line created a better fit between the sidewall and the seat. Now I can start thinking about painting the cockpit and which parts I want glued together and which parts I'll keep separate. Moving on to some other details... the MDC tail wheel comes in three parts with no positive connection between the parts. I beefed up the connections by drilling holes and using a piece of brass tubing to create a pin connection. I've also created an axle for the wheel. I've dressed up the drop tank and ETC rack. Lightening holes in the rack were drilled out and the rack was thinned from the inside. Connection points were drilled out to accept brass tubing, which will provide a more positive connection between the tank and rack. The strap and fuel connection lines were re-done in brass. Finally, the ejection chutes openings were hollowed out to accept the MDC ammo chutes.

Thanks guys! Appreciate the feedback! Build not dead but plugging away slowly. Preliminary putty work on the starboard wing root... that diagonal joint just forward of the gun cover was a doozy.

As pointed out by others, the upper fuel port on the starboard fuselage spine shouldn't have been filled in so I had to restore by re-scribing. The Hasegawa kit doesn't continue the steel strengthening strip along the wing joint to the upper side so added it now. Much easier to do now without the wings in the way. Per Vincent's comment, I've replaced the starboard sidewall to the correct one without the map holder. It had some damage to the top edge of the piece which might be visible through the canopy so I filled it in with Black CA to repair.

Thanks guys! Close but no. G.55 yes but it is a bottom wing from a 1/48 Flying Machines kit. The kit came with an alternate bottom wing and two alternate fuselage sides, all of which I use as paint mules. The rest of the kit was built to completion safely, I assure you...

Scrounging in my pile of aftermarket parts (including the "used" stuff, which is separate from my "new" pile), I found a few things that will be useful in this build. One is a set of MDC ejection chutes. As I recall, Damian of SOW was kind enough to send me these for my K-4 build and I had forgotten that he had sent me an extra pair. So that's a nice time-saver as is an Eduard canopy mask set for the Hasegawa G-14 kit that also turned up. Another thing I found was a set of Master brass gun barrels and pitot tube. It looks like the gun barrels can be slid in from the outside and seated in a very positive and secure way so that I can leave them off until the very end. Another time-saver that will eliminate the need for any masking or re-painting. The small intake scoops on the nose should be in line with one another, not offset. That means the forward scoop needs to be moved up a bit and the circular port moved up too. I have a bunch of these Barracuda scoops from past builds at my disposal. Not the exact same size but close enough for me. I'll probably leave the little scoops off until after I rivet the fuselage. The new placement of the circular port is based on a drawing from the 109 Lair website. I just noticed that there is some variation in where this port may be located. There are two G-14 drawings at the 109 Lair. I prefer the higher position of the "Late" version to avoid the re-scribing over the old port but I'm not sure it if it is appropriate for Hartmann's machine. The G-14 "No. 43" has the circular port on the nose closer to the scoop. It also has both fuel ports on the starboard fuselage spine that I've just removed in addition to the small bulge in front of the starboard beule. Unless there is documentation that says otherwise, I'll be going with the G-14 "Late" and will have to re-scribe one of those starboard fuel ports. Bf109G-14 "No. 43" Bf109G-14 "Late" Finally, I did an initial foray into the white wash winter colors sprayed over a standard 74/75. The right side was treated with hairspray and the left was scrubbed with Micromesh after painting was completed. Disregarding the shape of the mottles (I admittedly have a hard time establishing "good looking" random mottles and will need to map those out prior to actual painting), I'm looking at the wear patterns caused by both the hairspray method and by physically removing paint using Micromesh. I have to be very careful with the Micromesh as any surface deviation on the model will show up right away. On the left side of the wing you can see the indentation of Luftwaffe wave symbols that was sprayed underneath the camo on my test piece. I'm going to do more testing in the ample time I have prior to the painting stage of this project but you can get an idea of where this might be going.

Thanks alot Troy! I appreciate it! Ha ha! Thanks guys! I should've checked my references before trusting the kit instruction sheet. I'll have a new port scribed shortly. Thanks! I'm looking forward to it to. The camo is something that I need to get my head around. Still working out some ideas in my head and on the mule as you'll see. Thank you so much Vincent! Even without written instructions, most well-designed resin sets can be figured out eventually. So I'm glad I discovered the removal of the sidewall spars and rear shelf notch. So... there are differences in some of the parts and they are not identical to one another. That's helpful and I'll make sure I use the starboard sidewall without the map case. As always Vincent, I always appreciate your input and expertise on all things 109! Thanks Antonio! Looking forward to seeing more updates on your build!

I love the Dora and really like this build! Well done!

Thanks Matt! Not sure how I'd do in a contest situation as my builds are not as precise as some. I've heard that you get docked for all of the things you've done badly as opposed to give you points for things you've done well. The Ta 152 build is plodding along. Gap repair is not my favorite thing to do and sometimes I'll procrastinate but rest assured that it will get done. I totally hear you Alfonso! It felt a bit strange to work with a single color scheme but in retrospect, I think it is cool because of it. But I gravitate toward more color variation in my builds. Thank you very much! Thanks Markus! Appreciate you looking in on this build!

Thanks for the comments everyone! Excellent suggestion Mark! I'll try that next time as I do have some of that blue Micromask stuff on hand. For this stage, I used Blu-Tack but I noticed that it did not stick very well to the shiny side of the cast resin. Great game plan! I'll be doing something similar but probably without the use of masks. I'll probably play around with a paint mule to see what kind of wear effects I can utilize. Another great tip for temporary attachment of resin parts! Thank you! Makes sense that the Germans would use temp white paint that would allow them to revert to normal camo colors once winter was over. Further futzing with the MDC resin cockpit. I just noticed something during dry-fitting. A notch in the kit fuselage that seems to correspond exactly with a tab on the resin cockpit. It's not mentioned in the instructions but could it be a designed locating aid? One way to find out. A couple of snips and cuts and it appears that this is something that MDC planned although not specifically documented. It's hard to keep the resin tub in place without glue but it seems to butt up nicely once that notch was cut away. With the luxury of some extra sidewalls, I've cut away a rib on the bottom edge of the sidewalls to see if it would improve fit. This would press the sidewalls closer to the fuselage walls and make the opening from the bottom wider, hopefully making it easier to fit the cockpit tub into position from the bottom. I temporarily secured the sidewalls using bits of Blu-Tack and then pushed the cockpit tub into place from the bottom opening. Success... at least partially. Not the cleanest fit but I was able to squeeze both sidewalls with the cockpit tub AND was able to tape the two fuselage sides together. Some more trimming is required but I think I'm getting there. The delicate resin experienced the first breakage... the small pin to hold the trim wheels on the port side of the seat broke away. I recovered the tiny piece and may attempt to reattach it at a later stage. Some clean up work on the fuselage was performed. Don't need those little bumps on port side (they hold the umbrella on 109's based in the desert) and too many fuel fillers on the starboard side. The bumps are cut away and the fuel ports filled with Black CA glue.

Thanks guys! I played around a little bit more with the MDC cockpit. Just getting a preliminary idea of how it might fit into the fuselage. The molded details on the insides of the kit fuselage needed to be removed before I could start dry-fitting. The two-page instruction don't say how the cockpit tub fits into the fuselage. It simply shows where the resin sidewalls fit into the fuselage sides. I think the assumption is to glue the sidewalls into the fuselage sides and either trap the cockpit tub between the sidewalls when the fuselage comes together OR push the cockpit tub into position from the bottom after the fuselage is glued together. I'm trying to determine if there is a better way... like gluing the resin sidewalls onto the tub first and then putting the assembled cockpit into position from the bottom opening. As far as dry-fitting goes, I'm able to fit one sidewall and the tub into the fuselage but having difficult keeping everything together and dry-fitting both sidewalls at the same time. Give it some time... I'll figure it out eventually.

Thanks for that great picture, Stefan! It also shows some good details around the cockpit... battery box behind the pilot's head, no antenna mast with the aerial attached directly to the fuselage and no DF loop antenna, although the mount is still there. Like you stated previously, the chevron looks to be painted on top of the white camo.

Maybe! But let's see what we can do with the resin IP first!

Antonio... I don't think this is the same aircraft in the background. No black tulip and there is an antenna mast, which is missing in the other two photos. So I believe profile is also wrong in this respect as it shows an antenna mast and DF loop. I agree with Antonio. I think the white was applied in blotches with the original 74/75 camo showing through. That's how I was going to approach it.

One of the intriguing things (at least for me) how the Eduard instrument panel would compare with the MDC resin. As I was looking at it, I was amazed by the resolution of the color printing. There are painted details on this thing like tiny labels above certain instruments that would be impossible to replicate. And it didn't have that odd fabric texture that you often see on Eduard pre-painted panels. Yes, the color is still off but even that looked better than the obviously purple shade I'm used to getting from Eduard. Since the G-14 is an older kit, the question has to be asked... has Eduard's quality actually declined over the years? My preferred IP representation is PE face layered with separate instrument bezels backed by a clear acetate with the printed instruments gauges. I also like resin IP faces that you populate with instrument gauge decals. My least favorite has been the all-PE approach due to the reasons stated in the first paragraph. But since this one looked different, I was interested to see what the Eduard IP would look put together. Due to the number of small parts, the Eduard panel took a few hours to assemble. I used Future as an adhesive, which can be a reluctant glue when you're attaching parts that aren't 100% flat. It's not complete as there are a few switches that I've not glued on yet but it gives us a good look at what the MDC panel is going up against. Obviously, the resin still has the physical advantage of 3D relief but I'm very impressed with the Eduard IP! Just starting to fiddle around with the MDC cockpit. The resin here looks excellent. There is just no way that a photoetch set can match the physical oomph of quality resin.

Here are the two photos of Hartmann's G-14 (or G-6) that I am aware of... The Ebay seller didn't have an actual LIST of aftermarket sets just photos and when I saw the MDC cockpit... I was interested! The other things that I'm able to use are just bonus! Let me know if you need that canopy! Provided I don't mess mine up in the process of the build! That's probably why the price on this Ebay offering was so reasonable. Good timing on my part! Thanks Mark! Not really interested in the S-199. At least for the moment. And don't be afraid to build your own version of this aircraft, Mark. I'm sure they would turn out different due to our different styles. It's actually difficult to choose subjects that aren't being built already. One of the reasons I chose this build is because the others (Fw190D-13 Yellow 10 and Me262B Nightfighter) are current builds by other LSP members. Ah so maybe that's where the original builder was going with this kit? Not deformed... that's just the reflection of the ring lights on the ceiling of my light box. It actually came with a cloth diffuser to prevent such hard reflections but I had neglected to put it on for these pics. Thanks guys! My first steps in this build are coming up!

Hey guys! With my G-6/AS wrapped up and me not exactly enjoying wrestling with the Ta152H build, I thought it would be a good opportunity to start on a new project. I've had my eye on a G-14 and was originally planning on waiting for AMUR Reaver to produce a G-14 cowling for the Revell G-6 kit. But a Hasegawa G-14 kit popped up on EBay with some interesting extras so I pounced on it and here we are! This is the kit and also a nice painting of the scheme that I will doing: Hartmann's white G-14 (or G-6). The kit was opened but not started yet and included a nice assortment of aftermarket stuff, which is shown below and will be delved into detail towards the end of this post. Here are the obligatory sprue shots. The parts bags on this kit were still sealed. I'm going to use as few of the kit decals as possible. I'll scan the sheet and create custom masks for the larger markings. Digging into the "extras" that came with this kit we find what looks to be an extra clear canopy part. Always good to have spares when it comes to clear parts! These cream resin parts came in a Eagle Parts package labelled Fw 190A spinner and wide prop blades. There was no spinner and I can't ID the prop blades except to say that they are not appropriate for my build. The wheels look like the smooth hub late 109 type but I may not be able use them if the flattened part is not in the right spot. The resin exhausts seem to be a drop in fit for the Hasegawa fuselage so these will be used. Another surprise is a set of Hasegawa 109G/K wings with thewide wing bulges. I'm pretty sure Hartman's G-14 featured the smaller bulges but it's a good option to have. This one is a mystery. It looks like a resin cowling and spinner for an Avia S-199? A very small plastic baggy housed this MDC replacement tailwheel for the 109G. Very nicely molded! This cockpit is going to be fully loaded because I have TWO great sets for the interior. One is the Eduard Photoetch Interior for the G-14 with a complete, multi-part assembly for the instrument panel. The other is the MDC G-14 resin cockpit set with lots of extra parts. Only one cockpit floor but I count six sidewalls, three rear sills, and three central cannon breech covers in two styles. The instrument panel is resin and a decal for the instrument faces is provided. The resin molding on this MDC product is excellent! There is a photoetch fret that gives the builder the option of complete seat belts or just the buckles if the modeler wants to use a more flexible material like foil. I may play with that option just to break away from the HGW belts I've been using all the time. MDC provides a two-page instruction sheet for the cockpit set. Simple but thankfully legible. First step will be taking a closer look at the Eduard and MDC cockpit add-ons and try to determine which items from which set will be used in this build.

Thanks guys! I've been using a mixture of Tamiya Black, Brown and Dark Grey. After the tires are painted, I start adding Tamiya Buff (or other light color) to the mixture that is already in the airbrush cup to gradually lighten the wear surfaces. I apply the lighter shades unevenly, using perpendicular wipes of the airbrush across the wear surface of the tires. Keeping the tires' flat finish, I stain the wear surfaces further using pastel washes. The Ta152H hasn't beaten me but I'm taking a slight breather from the battle. I did get the tailwheel painted up though...

Thanks guys! I appreciate the feedback. Thanks Vincent! I may have overstated the faults on this build. No, I'm not a fan of black plastic or the Z-M practice of providing internal details that are covered up but this really isn't a BAD kit. Not by far. I'm thankful that Z-M took the opportunity to produce a 1/32 model of this iconic fighter. My complaints are simply the experiences I've had during the build process and not meant to be a condemnation of the kit. Hopefully, we can get a decent looking representation of White 7 by the time we're done.