Black 22

[batura]

Hello,

 

After 18 years of being far from plastic modeling, I have started my first kit last week. I do not even think that my last built can not be called "model building". I was just glueing the parts and then making low level passes over our house cat with a WHOOOOSH!

 

Ok. As a normal human being, I am in love with the Bf109s. It is a primitive instinct. We men love the Bf109.

 

My interest on the Luftwaffe started with Don Caldwell's JG 26 books. So, for my first built, I wanted to have a Bf109 of this unit. As I always loved the look of Klaus Mietusch's Bf109G-6 "Black 22", I decided to go with it.

 

I started with some research. Though I could not get a confirmation, I have found the Wk. Nr. of Black 22 as 165239. The Wk. Nr. was important in order to find out if the Black 22 was a U4 or not. The U4 had a different gun cover in its cockpit, which is an important detail for me.

 

By the way, other than a single photo showing a large portion of Black 22, I did not have too many references for the colors of the Mietusch's 109. I come across a profile in one of the books of Caldwell. Thierry Dekker also made another profile of the same aircraft. The main difference in these two profiles was the painting pattern on the spinner. While Dekker put a white spiral on the spinner, Caldwell made it full black. I believed that Caldwell's profile must be true.

 

 

 

 

The kit is Hasegawa 1/32 Bf109G-6. As I did not want to make it out of box (and to check my limits), I shaved some of the raised details in the cockpit walls, and I made my own details from styrene strips. The cockpit tub did not merge with the sidewalls in the Hasegawa kit. By adding some styrene both to the bottom of the cockpit walls and sides of the cockpit tub, I closed the gap. I had seen that method at Radu Brinzan's website.

 

Later, I have added two strips on the walls. They lay parallel to the cockpit bottom. On the pilot's right side of

the cockpit wall, the oxygen system is attached to a metal plate which is right under the parallel strips. I made this plate from 0.2 mm styrene.

 

The cables and the fuel hose on the fusebox seemed so roughly made. I cut them out and after opening some space behind the fusebox, I glued it to the sidewall.

 

 

 

On the left wall, I added the part where the trim chain enters the cockpit, and I cleaned the levers on the gas panel. I will make them from brass later. I also added two brass rods which connect the gas panel and the engine. One of them in seen on the photo.

 

 

 

I also added two bolt nuts which are seen on both sides of the cockpit. I do not know why they are there in the real Bf109, but they are big enough to put of the 1/32 scale. To make them, I made holes by 0.135mm drill and placed melted strip into them. After wet sanding, I cleaned the dirt with Tamiya Extra Thin Cement.

 

 

 

Before adding all the detail, I painted the cockpit walls. I do not have an airbrush. So, for the first time in my life I used it with the help of a friend. The right side was ok after the paint, but left side suffered with my amateur touches. I will paint that side later. After that, I made the cable bundle going into the fusebox. I used 0.2mm silver colored thread for the cables. They not only have same color of the real cables, but also has the same looking texture. I painted some of them in yellow as in the real Bf109s.

 

 

 

 

Accoring to Prien & Rodeike, the Bf109G-6 Wk. Nr. 165239 was not a U4. However, the Bf109G-6 Wk. Nr. 163824 in Australia was one of the 109s modified to U4 later on. Black 22 might have the same U4 modification. Moreover, it is not logical to think that a group commander was flying a normal configured G-6 while they have U4s in the unit.

 

Anyway, Caldwell did mention in his book if a 109 is a U4. For the Black 22, he did not mention anything. So, I decided to stick with the books (Prien & Rodeike's and Caldwell's) and built the Black 22 as a normal Bf109G-6. The cockpit gun cover in the Hasegawa kit did not seem right. In the cockpit photos taken in the wartime, the gun cover seem moved to right, assymetric and have soft corners. I added some styrene strips on the gun cover part and by sanding, I had the proper shape. I added seam lines with Mr. Surfacer on the cover.

 

 

 

I also made the triangular extention by styrene on the back of the pilot's seat. I had soft lines with putty and covered the seatback with thick aluminum foil. I will cover it once again before the pant to have softer lines there.

 

 

 

So, now I am gonna complete the oxygen system with all hoses and etc. Some points need little paint touchs. I will paint the left side and after adding the details I will close the fuselage. As I am very new to all these detailing, it takes too much time to make them. God bless I have not cut any part of my finger yet, but I feel it is close.

[Jens]

Nice work!

 

 

Cheers

[alaninaustria]

Very nice work.. and also a very nice choice of subject..!!! I too am a 109 nut!

Happy modelling

Cheers

Alan

[KOTR]

An excellent start of your 109

[bsarnoffca]

Wow, excellent interior. Going to be a great build.

[boness]

Havnt ran into you here yet, so welcome to the best forum on the internet. Good bunch here that will help and encourage when needed.

 

My first LSP was a 109 also, great plane to start with. Yours looks great for such a long break from the hobby.

 

jim

[batura]

Thank you all for your nice comments. I am hoping to finish the cockpit today. I will post the photos soon.

[bcauchi]

Fatastic work there. I have just done two cockpits. It is good to see someone else fixing up the kit cockpit which is already really good instead of just buying aftermarket and discarding all the great detail in the kits. Well done. This is going to be very interesting indeed.

[Erwin]

Looking great so far.

[one0nine]

You're off to a great start, Batur... plus you chose a great subject. I've been a fan of Mietusch for many years- Caldwell's books give the impression he was a well-liked and respected pilot and leader who wasn't a hardened killer... if I recall correctly, he had some kind of breakdown at some point during the war.

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Lynn

[mattlow]

Batur

 

Very nice so far, will keep an eye on this thread.

 

Matt

[Chris Hannover - Germany]

Hi Batura,

 

first welcome to the world of LSP from me too.

 

Now, from one 109 nut to another, this is very nice scratchwork in the cockpit! How did you made the gun cover? Sanding and putty?

 

 

I´m looking forward to it!

 

 

Cheers,

Chris

[batura]

Hello,

 

I am out of town for new year. My cats at home are taking care of the 109.

 

Chris,

 

Thanks for the welcome. In the guncover, I first sanded about 1 mm of the port side in order to get the asymmetry. Then I added a couple mm wide plasticard over the cover in order to fill the step in between two parts of the guncover. And in that way I had a smooth surface all over the cover. I later filled the gaps with putty and sanded it in a proper shape.

 

So, I will hang around for some time and hope to get back home in two weeks time. Happy new year to everyone. Lets see which new large scale kits we are gonna have in 2007.

 

batur

[bsarnoffca]

batur,

 

A word of caution....don't let the cats take care of your models!! I left mine with strict instructions and they bit the heads off of two figures from a diorama then denied any responsibility. They cannot be trusted!

[batura]

You are right. One of my 5 months old female kitten is perfect in "dealing" with plastic kits. Here she is making rivets on a friend's 1/48 Bf109.