Greg W

In order to have the top of the rear frame even with the top of the folded section, I used a straight edge on a piece of glass and taped everything down. Then I applied thin super glue to the seams with a #11 X-Zacto blade. Once the glue dried the top was pressed down and glued in place. Finally, I used a sanding stick (and diamond file) all over the entire thing, which softened sharp corners, scuffed up the surface for primer and took down excess glue.

Now that the fuselage is taped together, I decided to break out the incredible Airscale canopy set and try my hand at it. I do not have any instructions so I'm winging it. Fortunately, Peter has shown the set built up in his thread above (link at top of page 1) and I have more than one example, just in case I stuff anything up! To separate the parts, I lay the fret on a piece of acrylic and rock a curved blade over the attachment. Then I clean it up by holding the part with wide tipped tweezers and de-burr with a Tamiya diamond file. The first fold. The inside face of the windscreen is facing up. Second fold. The part was moved to the corner and the bending bar was placed on the front (outside) of the windscreen. This is the result: Checked and tweeked to match rear frame: Folds three and four to the lower triangular windows, bending outwards: Adjust until parallel:

Hi Troy, just spent some time today checking out the cowl fit and yup, gonna take a little do'in to get it right. Do you have a built up one in your collection now?

Things are going together pretty good. Test fitting to see where the trouble spots are. So far, I am pleased that no major problems are jumping out at me.

Nice, that Stuka model is BIG! I saw one in a museum, a 1:1 bird is impressive standing next to it.

You are doing better! Wow, really nice John!

Thanks Gazz, feels great to have it over the finish line!

I do not mind at all and you did a superb job with yours! Really, very nice indeed. I hope to see more of your talented work here. I know it takes experience and skill to get a result like that from this kit.

Ok great! Your impressions and feedback are deeply appreciated! Hi Michael. This range of models seemed so exotic and compelling to me as a youngster. I did not see any of them up close until I purchased this kit and started to build it in the early 90's. Lots of good memories associated with them for me as well, like looking at adds in magazines and wondering, what the heck are they like to build? Fun to think about. Thank you! Nice job on yours and I hope you do another. This kit really does build up well, especially with the care and attention you've pit into it. I sometimes think that building the entire classic series OOB is appealing too. How are you planning to build the next one? Tricked out or box stock?

Yup, I took one for the team... Er ok, not really. I blindly walked right into that. Thank you sir for breaking that down for us. As per usual, awesome work here at the Brit Phan workshop!

I really enjoy studying that last photo. The difference between port and starboard is dramatic. What are your favorite scribing tools ATM?

Hi Gazz! It's a real good foundation and such a classic kit, weird that it has been left behind regarding aftermarket until recent years. Hey Cap! Thanks for the heads up! It was me that asked to have it done. Check out the link above, "A start to a better front end..." for the back story. Roger that Peter. What type of clear plastic did you use for the rear section and how thick was it?

Gosh I hope so, thanks Anthony. How great is it that Peter made this canopy set? Simply amazing! Along with the other bits, the PE canopy and Jiri's 3D printed exhausts take the kit way into another realm. I hope just completing my 1:48 109 will be enough of a tune up for my painting and weathering chops to do it justice? We are going to find out!

That set is gorgeous. Fortunately, the bends needed to form the windscreen are all straight lines. Same for the side opening center portion. The rear looks like the tricky bit for me on two accounts: 1) achieving a even curve at the back that matches the fuselage, in a thin sheet metal part that has two sharp corners at the front. I am wondering if I should roll and tweek the rounded rear portion first, then make the bends in the front? 2) Peter suggested vacu forming in order to avoid stress marks in the clear plastic. If done by simply pressing it into shape, then obviously only thin clear sheet would work and hopefully not look to thin. I think that is what he did on the mock up in his post linked above.

I am having fun with this project. I have really enjoyed interacting with Jiri and Peter and now its like Christmas with all the new do dads. At the moment, I am thinking of your excellent Me109 D which has provided much inspiration for me to do a early 109. Glad you checked in! Great! Very nice to have you following along. Have you watched the Greg's Models YouTube channel build of this kit? It provides a good look at how it goes together and he does a great job with it.

Bravo! The landing gear are just exquisite. I am looking forward to your report on using AS-12. I've decanted it for use with my airbrush (best result came from thinning a touch with Mr. Color Rapid Thinner), but have not applied it straight out of the can yet.

Wow, beautifully done! All of it, build and paint. Real nice to just take it in and dwell on another great WIP on the site.

I appreciate that, thank you very much!

Thanks friend! I am looking forward to our meeting as well, we have such a nice venue it really is amazing. Definitely better than having meetings in Chucks garage during the Cherry Festival!

Inspired by the 1987 Verlinden Showcase N° 1 featuring Bob Lettermans channel front diorama, I had a go at this kit back in the 90's. Did quite a bit of work to improve the cockpit with Waldron products and put in a big effort scratchbuilding twelve individual exhaust pipes. After the fuselage halves were glued together, I turned my attention to the canopy and having looked at it repeatedly, I really thought I could build one from plastic strip. It proved way beyond my ability and sent the whole project off to the shelf of doom. I just couldn't stand how the thick distorted windscreen (the later version w/ armored glass) looked. Fast forward to 2022, I had an itch to tackle the kit again and asked Radu if he would consider doing a PE canopy set for it like the 1:32 ones in his line up. He was very kind and discussed it with me but was way too busy and suggested I ask Peter at Airscale if he would consider such a project. And to my delight, he did! I now have a prototype set to try out, along with a few more aftermarket items I've picked up over the years. I know some of you have seen threads I've posted related to this build. For those that haven't they are linked below: The list of aftermarket up grades has expanded substantially for this venerable old kit. Below are the products I have to use and reference: JP Warbirds 3D printed exhausts and Revi gunsight. The Airscale PE is just beautifully done! The set includes rudder pedals too. I really love the option of the add on armor to the windscreen. Thank you so much for doing this Peter! Now that I have the aftermarket accessories I've longed for, I'm taking the plunge! Hope everyone is good and thanks for dropping by!

There we go, started in 1998 finished in 2023. Thank you all for the tremendous support and encouragement!

Ok, back to the bench with this long suffering project and the good news is.... It's done! Following, are the final finishing steps to completion. The antenna was made with fine EZ Line, detailed with stretched wire insulation and tiny cones made by heat forming Evergreen sheet and drawing it down over a sharpened toothpick. The antenna attachment point on the fuselage was made with super fine Albion Alloys alluminum tube and a punched styrene disc, sanded to match the shape shown in my reference books. Then, I just needed to do a little more weathering and attach the pitot and mass balance weights to the ailerons. The final weathering touches included black pastel stains around the gun troughs and chipping around the cockpit. Some Flory wash speckling, just before blending:

I now have the P-61 set, which showed up recently and it looks fantastic. I really enjoy having these on hand because (as is the case with all high quality aftermarket), when it's time to tackle a given model, I know the improvement will be significant. Cheers Damian

You really jumped in to the deep end, building a large scale model! I will enjoy seeing how you paint this since you are so good at that. This kit wasn't on my radar but because of you, I got to see it up close and it has left quite an impression on me. Top notch in every regard. Although modular, it is one of the best fitting models I have ever seen with super crisp, surface detail. No flash and very fine mold lines. It just goes together so nicely, perfect for super detailing or a easy mojo restoration project.

Wow, beautifully done! Are those the main gear from the kit? You have a way with NMF paint.