Gazzas Posted December 10, 2019 Share Posted December 10, 2019 (edited) Hi Campaigners! I'll be building Hasegawa's 1/32 scale Bf109F4 Trop: Although the box says "F-4 Trop", there are most of the essential parts in the box to make an F-2 or F-4 Trop... or no trop. So, this broadens my chances of finding a likeable and hopefully semi unique scheme. Speaking of the box... This will be an out of box build. Looking forward to building with you! Gaz Edited February 20, 2020 by Gazzas Lothar, rafju, CATCplSlade and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale32 Posted December 11, 2019 Share Posted December 11, 2019 Well..... get crack'n then lol. Cheers Bevan Gazzas 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted December 11, 2019 Share Posted December 11, 2019 Yea Gazzas 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AceofClubs Posted December 11, 2019 Share Posted December 11, 2019 I'm working on the same model. Very nice kit with many options. I'll follow you with great interest. Ciao Gazzas 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzas Posted December 11, 2019 Author Share Posted December 11, 2019 (edited) Ok, everyone. I've decided on my pilot and scheme: Erwin Leykauf survived the war with 33 kills. During much of the war he seems to have served as a gruppen adjutant which most likely would have limited his flying time as every kind of detail related to the Gruppe would have required his attention. It is also written that he took part in ground attack operations. I first saw this picture back in 1985 in the book German Fighters over Russia and knew back then I would model it someday. What I didn't know it that there would be another 31 years before I built another model. His F4 bears the crest of the city of Ansbach on the cowling. The III/JG 54 shield ahead and below the canopy, and the Green Heart directly below. I'm not certain about the starboard side. The colors are up for speculation. Some speculate RLM 70/71, some speculate the involvement of captured Russian paints. For the moment, I'm shooting for RLM 70 with Russian Green. I have absolutely no knowledge of the green (or any other paints) used on Russian aircraft, so further research will occur as I get closer to adding the top colors. The canopy framing seems to be a different color completely. And there seems to be a lack of exhaust staining which could mean that the photo was taken shortly after the aircraft got it's paint job, or that ground crew will have wiped it off. And happily, it seems that most of the stencils were covered with paint limiting the need for decals. Speaking of decals, I plan to make masks when needed and I'll use decals if I like them well enough. Cheers! Gaz Edited December 12, 2019 by Gazzas Lothar, Dany Boy, BradG and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzas Posted December 12, 2019 Author Share Posted December 12, 2019 For further help, I have this book for details. I In addition to color profiles and technical data, it has color plates for the cockpit which hopefully will enable me to produce a more interesting model. Until a few minutes ago, I'd forgotten that this lingered in my library. Gaz Rick Griewski, daHeld and USMC Herc 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Ray Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 Nice selection! Gazzas 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 Cool ! I think it's an F-4 tho as the intake is larger than the one typically found on the F-2 , blades are larger. Artists impression ... hth Shiba, Gazzas, D.B. Andrus and 4 others 5 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzas Posted December 12, 2019 Author Share Posted December 12, 2019 Helpful indeed! Thank you! I'll update the first post. MikeMaben 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzas Posted December 12, 2019 Author Share Posted December 12, 2019 A check of the IPMS Stockholm site shows these two potential colors in Soviet use in the early days of WWII: Without going into everything I read, the green on the left was the original color, and the green on the right was what it darkened to. Shiba and MikeMaben 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AceofClubs Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 Take a look to these two books. Absolutely helpfull! Ciao Filippo Rick Griewski, daHeld and Gazzas 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzas Posted December 15, 2019 Author Share Posted December 15, 2019 On 12/11/2019 at 5:07 PM, Scale32 said: Well..... get crack'n then lol. Cheers Bevan On 12/11/2019 at 5:47 PM, MikeMaben said: Yea Hey everyone, my first update... on demand, no less. I've used oils to add a little color variation and they are still wet. Port side with the oxygen system and fuel lines. Oil washes over acrylics. Two more decals for the dials woulda been handy. According to the book i used, the footpads and seat were left in natural metal. I also used various shades to convey RLM 66. Hase supplies decals for the instrument panel. I may put something clear over the dials... though I'm not sure yet. interestingly there is a three color system on the throttle quadrant. Again, from the Kagero book. I have a pilot that came with the kit, and I need practice with figures. So, I may put him in the plane with the canopy open and slats deployed as if he's just shut the engine off. Time will tell... thanks for looking! MikeMaben, Antonio Argudo, BradG and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antonio Argudo Posted December 15, 2019 Share Posted December 15, 2019 (edited) Hi Gazzas, nice scheme, you might find interesting these color pictures in russian campaign, cheers Edited December 15, 2019 by Antonio Argudo sturmovik, Alain Gadbois, Gazzas and 6 others 7 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzas Posted December 16, 2019 Author Share Posted December 16, 2019 Antonio, Those are great pictures, thank you! My color plan matches his machine, though the canopy framing will be left in an RLM gray. dodgem37, Shiba, Rick Griewski and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzas Posted December 26, 2019 Author Share Posted December 26, 2019 Thank you for the kind replies, everyone! With the fuselage closed up I had some details to attend. Both upper wings had long sinkmarks over some interior structure. The lower wings are meant to be universal, I think, and have lots of detail to fill. I'm going to leave the canopy open this time. The kit has some nice detail parts on the inside of the canopy. The seam on the supercharger intake needed to be made to disappear. I used Tamiya clears over Alcald polished aluminum to begin the burning of the exhaust stubs. A couple of earthy washes should complete the task. I also thinned the edges of the heat shrouds. Seemed simpler than trying to make some from metal. Thank you for looking! Gaz dodgem37, Wackyracer, BradG and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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