turbo

That is supercool!

Hey Bill, the answer to this question depends on a few things. Presuming the base coat you are shooting is acrylic and the washes you are using are oil or enamel-based (or even water-based), then strictly speaking you don't need a varnish coat. However, if your basecoat finish is matt or satin, the wash will "grab" a bit all over rather than just staying in the recesses. This is not necessarily a bad thing if you want the wash to also function as a bit of a filter and dirty things up a bit - you can manipulate it with a q-tip or such moistened with thinners for a pleasing result. However, if you want the wash only in the recesses then it is advisable to seal with an acrylic gloss coat. Looking forward to the build!

Nice work on the pit John, love the hairspray chipping effect on the floor. Thanks for the info on the RPs. The Airfix kit does come with them but they're not the greatest so I purchased these from Master Models.

This is looking fantastic Steve! I've got the 1/24 Mossie staring at me from the stash so will be following along with interest!

So buttoned the old girl up and was pleasantly surprised by the fit so far. I was expecting all sorts of problems but...there weren't any...so far... I started off by gluing the fuselage halves at the tail fin using Revell Contacta glue to seal the seams there then transitioned to Tamiya Extra Thin for the fuselage body to retain the characteristic seams of the 109, which was manufactured by butt jointing the 2 fuselage halves together. Whilst I was filling and sanding the seams on the ventral surface of the nose I noticed a doozie of a sink mark, so that was filled with Tamiya putty and sanded smooth. The underwing radiator fairings had some weird representation of the brace rod so this was sanded to something more acceptable. Radiators were painted flat back and dry brushed aluminium enamel and fitted with the fairings to the lower wings. This old kit's reasonably simple so construction moving along quickly now...

Bummer about those pesky masks John. I have most success by transferring the masks in their entirety from the backing paper to the model using Cricut Transfer Tape and then weeding and replacing the mask components as required for the different colours. This avoids any stretching or distortion issues and everything stays in proper registration - comes out perfect every time!

Fantastic Anthony! Definitely bookmarked on my reference list when I get around to starting mine, some day...

Sweet, looking forward to it!

Nice one John, interesting pre-shade. What type of masking did you use and have you sprayed hairspray already under the pre-shade?

Awesome John! I've got the 1/24 Airfix Mossie staring at me from my stash and I have resolved to do a Banff wing subject - haven't finally decided what yet though. Here are a few pictures from my preliminary research on a Banff subject I'm interested in which might be useful. Interesting paint scheme with invasion stripes overpainted same as yours and shots of undersides showing weathering. Will be following along with interst. Cheers, Kirby

Thanks Thor! I have committed to building this model largely OOB to preserve its original form, so while I was faffing around with the pit I was having a philosophical debate with myself what to do about surface detail. In the end, I decided to add riveting as it does not alter the form of the model and is something I could have chosen to do back in '77 anyway while listening to Fleetwood Mac on the wireless and sipping on my Blue Hawaiian. I used plans I found on the web and also close up shots of surface detail on the Eduard kit as a guide. I like to draw out the riveting pattern on the plastic with a pencil and flexible ruler and then rivet freehand rather than using tape or some such as a guide. My weapon of choice for 1/32 is the RB Productions Rivet-R Mini with the 1 mm wheel. Here are the wings pre and post-riveting. It really does add something. I traced the circular pattern above the wheel well with an appropriately sized coin and riveted manually with the point of a scribing tool. Some people do circular patterns with the riveting wheel but I haven't quite worked up the confidence for that yet. Any tips welcome! Here's all the riveting done. It takes quite a lot of time and patience but worth the effort I think I drilled out the horizontal stab actuation gap which looked pretty rubbish otherwise. After drilling I tidied up the gap with a hobby knife and a run of Tamiya Extra Thin. While I had the drill set out I drilled out the barrels of the kit MG FF cannons. I use a pin to establish a guide hole then use progressively larger drill bits until an acceptable result is achieved. It's best to do it this way and take your time as it's easy to drill through the side of the barrel. Pretty much ready to button her up and get on with the build now...

Thanks guys and thanks Maru for the welcome - must admit I'm very partial to the 109s myself! Hi Herbert and welcome! Glad this kit brings back some memories. It is an old school time capsule sort of build for me and must say I'm enjoying it! Getting back to the front office, the Matchbox kit IP has this weird arrangement of a panel face and bezels with solid plastic backing parts with thin protruding pins which stick into the bezels but leave large gaps. I figured I'd have my best chance of a passable result by painting the pins black with some random white marks on the ends to represent guage markings and then fill the bezel with drops of Krystal Klear to optically "flatten" them out. The IP face was painted, drybrushed, and knobs, switches, and placards painted. Looks a bit messy as it was hard to paint markings on the pointed plastic pins.The assembly was put together and drops of Krystal Klear applied. I think it's come out OK everything considered. I think it's an interesting exercise tackling these issues we're not really confronted with with modern models. I found the Revi gunsight in the box. I'm amazed some of these small loose parts haven't been lost. I'll allow myself a small modification here and replaced the plastic reflector with a small section of acetate sheet. Moving on, the pit sidewall detail as it is was given the same treatment of Gunze RLM02, oil wash, drybrush, and some chipping, Details were hand painted including the oxygen bottle holder and circuit breaker panel with knobs and placards. Never mind the ejector pin marks, they'll be hidden behind the IP. Promise. Dry fitted the pit components and I must admit it looks better than I thought. This old kit was probably pretty good for its time. Just don't look at the rudder pedals. Getting close to closing her up but just thinking of one more thing before I do...

So, the first place to start with resurrecting this old model is the front office. Detail is a bit sparse as you might expect for something this vintage, but not too bad for its time. Here's what was inside the box. The previous owner has sprayed the sub-assembly a light grey which doesn't really bear any resemblance to RLM02, so it will need to be repainted. There's dirty great ejector pin marks in the middle of the bulkhead and the seat too and the slot in the seat where the harnesses emerge from their anchor point is just moulded. The ejector pin marks were sanded down and the slot drilled out. The assembly was sprayed Gunze RLM02 and given an oil wash along with a little shading using oils. A few scratches were introduced with a needle, taking advantage of the previous owner's grey basecoat for contrast. I added some HGW fabric belts from a previous project and the joystick, which I fortunately found rattling around in the box. Some more wear and chipping was added using a pencil. The rudder pedals are horrendous but my commitment to building this kit in its original form means I have to embrace the warts (mantra, I think I'm going to be saying that a lot!). Better than what we started with at least...

That's fantastic work Kent, looking forward to the dio coming together...

Ooh, ooh, paint, the fun part...