Trumpeter Bf 109 K-4

[tucohoward]

Trying to get this thing finished up. Added a strip to the canopy to be able to mount it in the open position. Added a few rivets to try to make it look like it belonged. Antenna wire from EZ line. Pitot tube made with Minimeca tubing. DF loop made from my trusty Mountain Dew can. I think I have been using the same can for at least 5 years and there is still half left. I think all that's left is the shoulder belts and the canopy tether.

 

Jay

[tomv87]

Beautiful work! Thanks for sharing!

[Hardcore]

Very nice!

[stevegallacci]

A little FYI on the open canopy. The real thing pivots on a pin into the forward windscreen frame and into the bar (the canopy ejection linkage) that goes across the rear of the cockpit.

[tucohoward]

Thanks Steve, I always appreciate the info. I am not trying to represent this as accurate, just my solution to Trumpeter's lack of any provision to mount the canopy in an open position. I would have gone with a closed canopy except the fit was very poor. My goal for this build was just to see how the Trumpy K-4 was. I fixed a few things but I never intended for this to be an all out effort. I will save that for the Hasegawa 109's that I prefer, and I am sure I will still miss things. I really admire the guys that can and do reproduce every detail accurately like Wolf and Alain and Eric to name a few, but for me, I am too impatient to get to the painting and weathering phase which is what I like the best. 

 

Jay

[LSP_Kevin]

This looks really awesome, Jay! The pitot and DF loop especially so.

 

Kev

[Chek]

That's the look and just the right amount of sheen I'll be aiming for.

 

Good work, Jay.

 

Do you have a frontal shot showing the asymmetrical cowling?

Edited January 1, 2016 by Chek

[tucohoward]

Thanks guys. Here is the front cowling.

[Hardcore]

On 12/1/2015 at 4:11 AM, tucohoward said:

Thanks guys! In the end I decided on "White 10". I liked the green band of JG27, but it was pretty much a coin flip. I still want to do "Black 8" and have started on a Hasegawa K at work so it will probably happen. I work on doing the rivets when business is slow. Anyway, back to the Trumpeter K-4. Early K pattern of 75/83, so a fairly high demarcation. Paper masks were used for the wings and fuselage to get the tight lines of the late-war stuff. Not much in the way of pictures to see any mottling, plus the aircraft was quite dirty as well. Added a little mottling of 83 mixed with a little 70 so it would look like it was done later. I have seen in a lot of pictures of 109's that the paint looks fairly  worn, almost sanded, so I wanted to try to get that effect. Rubbed it down quite a bit with micro-mesh sanding pads. The fuselage crosses were filled with 83 so I have guestimated where they will go and painted accordingly. Just the fin and rudder left to paint, but I ran out of gas for today.

 

Jay

What brand of paint did you use for this one? 

[LSP_K2]

This is looking real good.

[tucohoward]

That’s a while ago but I can’t imagine it would have been anything but Mr. Color.

 

Jay