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Posted

Hello Again. After a lengthy break, I'm going to try get the mojo flowing again and start a new build. I don't know why but I had no motivation to continue work on the builds I have in progress. Instead of letting that stop me, I thought I'd start something completely new. I think I just need to start building again and I think the desire to complete the other projects will come in time.  So... the choices were either a Fw190D-11 conversion from the 1/32 Hasegawa kit or the Bf109K-4. I chose the K-4 for a couple of reasons. One, it requires a lot less work than the D-11 conversion. Secondly, there is a new 1/32 K-4 kit being released by Kotare and I figured that I'd have less motivation to break out the Hasegawa kit once the Kotare is released.
IMG-7896.jpg

 


I am going to depict WNr 334176 "Yellow 1" flown by Martin Deskau.  I have the Eagle Editions decal sheet for this aircraft but I'm going to make my own masks for the major markings.[img 
Messerschmitt-Bf-109-K4-11-JG3-Yellow-1-

 


I've got a lot of aftermarket goodies that I've collected over the years including some out-of-production stuff like the RB Productions photoetch wheel well set.
IMG-7897.jpg

 


I've got three aftermarket props that I could use including the Barracuda (Left), Henri Daehne (center) and AMUR Reaver (right).  I think I'll put the Henri Daehne one away for a while and maybe save it for the Kotare kit.
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Between the Barracuda and the AMUR Reaver, I am leaning towards using the AMUR Reaver because it already has a centered hole in the backplate.
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But the two are very similar in shape and detail.
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The other major addition to this build will be the Eagle Editions cockpit for the K-4.
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Until recently, the cockpit sets from Eagle Editions were no longer available but looking at the website, it looks like Judy Crandall has resumed production of the K-4 cockpit as well as the Fw190D-9 cockpit. This set was included in a purchase so there's no telling how old it is.  The casting is very inconsistent and there are lots of little areas that are short-shot like the bomb release panel and the rear of the Revi 16 gunsight.
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More missed resin on the instrument panel where the mount for the gunsight should be. No big deal... I'm going to plod on with this regardless of the little errors.  I'll try to fix em as I go.
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The Hasegawa 109 kits utilized a modular approach to save some money kitting different versions of the 109.  The fuselage halves are bisected just rear of the cockpit. Typically, I will join the front and rear parts before putting the halves together.  I find seams easier to address this way.
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One odd flaw with the Hasegawa K-4 kit is the squarish outline of the fuselage spine.  It should be more of an oval.  
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Not much you can do here since any changes would affect the clear canopy parts.  I decided to at least round off the corners to make it less squarish.
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The sanded canopy has to be made clear again.  For this process, I wet sand using progressively finer grades of Micromesh.
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After the Micromesh, I use the Novus plastic polishing compounds.  The clear parts will be dipped in Future as final step.
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The Eagle Editions cockpit needs some surgery to allow the resin parts to fit.  So I have shave off all of the raised features on the inside of the fuselage halves.
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The resin seat is wafer thin and it did not surve removal from the casting block.  I thought using the seat from the Revell 109 kit would be a good solution but it is significantly longer and interfered with the control stick.  So I ended up crafting a new seat bottom using a piece of curved brass sheet.  Not perfect but most of it will be covered by the seat harnesses.
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Here are the Eagle Edition cockpit components after casting block removal and cleanup. The throttle lever was made from a molding pip.  The fuel primer pump was a victim of short-shot and it was made from disc punched from sheet styrene.
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Here is the instrument panel after repair.  Not sure what do with the Revi gunsight but it needs a bit of work.
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Not sure how long this will last but hey... I'm modeling again!

 

Posted

There must be a name for this syndrome, losing interest in a current build and starting a new one. I have it too!

The Eagle Editions set looks nice despite the missing and miscast bits, I have the MDC set for mine when/if I get around to building it.

Looking forward to more.

 

John

 

Posted

Nice!!


will definitely be following this one

 

My thoughts are better get all these built before Kotare’s kit comes out, so this build will provide me with some motivation 

 

Looking forward to seeing more!

Posted

Hey Thunnus;

Looks as if this is one of the earlier castings of our cockpit. Do you want me to send you replacement parts? Let me know via email - eagle@eagle-editions.com - and I'll get some out to you. Tim Biggers is now doing our castings and they are really nice!

Judy

Eagle Editions Ltd.

Posted

Thanks guys!  Appreciate the welcome back.  I figure that once I get back into the flow of things, the desire to complete my unfinished projects will kick in.  I don't like to leave things unfinished and it is rare for me to put a build on the shelf/bin permanently.  I think the longest pause was three years on the Tomcat build but I got that one done!

 

2 hours ago, Judyc said:

Hey Thunnus;

Looks as if this is one of the earlier castings of our cockpit. Do you want me to send you replacement parts? Let me know via email - eagle@eagle-editions.com - and I'll get some out to you. Tim Biggers is now doing our castings and they are really nice!

Judy

Eagle Editions Ltd.

Wow Judy!  That would be wonderful!  I really like Eagle Editions stuff and its good to see the cockpit sets back in production.  Can't wait to see the castings by Tim! Thank you so much, Judy!

 

While I wait for the cockpit set to arrive, there are other things that I can work on.  As some of you might know, Vincent Kermogant wrote up a nice article on some modifications to belly area of the Hasegawa Bf109K-4 kit 


http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/k4bellyvk_1.htm

 

 

I followed Vincent's guide to: (a) fill in the ammo bin vents with black CA glue, (b) hollow out the MK108 cannon and MG 131 ejection ports, (b) add two oil breather outlets by drillng holes and inserting sections of 1mm brass tubing, and (c) create a overpressure valve port by cutting out a notch on the front edge and using a punched disc of styrene for the valve.


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Posted

Thanks guys!

 

A question for you Luftwaffe Experten... this is the best picture I can find of Yellow 1 (WNr 334176)...

Messerschmitt-Bf-109-K4-11-JG3-Yellow-1-

 

Notice the wheel hubs?  They are not the typical black color.  Any guesses on what color the wheel hubs might be?

 

 

Browsing through my references, I stumbled onto a few more pictures of Yellow 1 in the old Monogram Close-Up No. 16. The first shows a close-up of the personal emblem and an 87 fuel triangle.

Monogram-Close-Up-109-K-Page-09.jpg

 

The other shows what appears to be a fragment from Yellow 1's rudder with the Werk Nummer on it.  Note the style of the "6".  I'm adjusting my mask to reflect this.

Monogram-Close-Up-109-K-Page-21.jpg

 

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