Thunnus Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 A new project! With my Corsair build on the downhill side and me struggling with the scribing work on the Ta152H, I wanted a change of pace and decided to start introduce a new build. I am going to convert the Revell Bf109G-6 kit into a Bf109G-6/AS. This conversion utilized the Daimler Benz DB605AS engine with improved high altitude performance. Physically the G-6/AS is characterized by a new smooth engine cowling that deleted the characteristic "beule" bulges over the MG131 cannons mounted on top of the engine. The genesis of this project is rooted in me having the G-6 as a donor kit for an older G-10 build. I needed to the smaller wing bulge parts but otherwise the kit was complete and I wanted to make use of it. When Alexey at AMUR Reaver produced his G-6/AS resin cowling, I thought this was a great opportunity to utilize a kit I already had. So.... I had swapped out the smaller wing bulge from the G-6 kit with the larger wing bulge from the G-10 so these would need to be replaced. I picked up a set of the smaller bulge wing parts from Barracuda Studios, which I hope is a drop-in replacement. The core of the conversion is the AMUR Reaver resin cowling. It is cast in a cream color, similar to the resin that Barracuda Studios uses. There is some discoloration in the casting but it does not seem to manifest itself in the smoothness of the surface. The cockpit will be replaced with Aires resin. I had very good experiences with the Aires resin cockpit for the Revell G-10 build and am crossing my fingers that this set will be similar in design and execution. Three different breeches for the gun firing through the prop spinner... does anyone know which one(s) would be appropriate for the G-6/AS? The kit prop and spinner features an awkward seam resulting from trapping the prop blades between the forward half and back half of the spinner. This design also makes painting of the spinner difficult. To alleviate these issues, I'm going to use Barracuda Studios resin prop and spinner. The kit wheels will be exchanged for a set of Barracuda Studios resin wheels. The kit exhausts are not hollow so I'm replacing them with a Barracuda Studios resin exhaust and supercharger intake set. And finally... another resin/metal prototype for the landing gear! To summarize the aftermarket add-ons for this build: 1. AMUR Reaver Bf109G-6/AS Engine Cowling (Resin) 2. Barracuda Bf109G Upper Wings with Small Wheel Bulges (Resin) 3. Aires Bf109G-6 Cockpit Set (Resin and Photoetch) 4. Barracuda Bf109F-4 thru G-14 Prop and Spinner (Resin) 5. Barracuda Bf109G Wheels (Resin) 6. Barracuda Bf109G-6 Intake and Exhaust Set F-4Phanwell, Uncarina, chukw and 19 others 22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monthebiff Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 Ooo yes, excellent project John, I have the amur reaver G6 AS set as well so will be following your build with interest Regards. Andy Thunnus and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunnus Posted January 22, 2020 Author Share Posted January 22, 2020 Wanting to take a brief break from the Corsair and Ta152H builds, I took a look at the AMUR Reaver resin cowling for the Bf109G-6/AS conversion. I removed the casting blocks from the parts with a razor saw. Interestingly, the casting block for the cowling piece had a nested set of small fairings which needed to protected. Fortunately the saw cut line did not put the small parts in harm's way. The panel lines were of irregular depth and consistency so I reinforced them with the scriber. Of course, my blade skipped a few times, which required some minor putty work. The required surgery on the kit fuselage parts is quite easy compared to the AMUR Reaver cowling replacement for the G-10 Erla. A few strategic cuts through relatively thin areas made it an easy exercise. A preliminary fitting of the resin engine cowling onto the fuselage. I had left some excess plastic on the top edge of the forward fuselage cut so I was able to square off that joint. Preliminary fit of the AMUR Reaver cowling is very encouraging. Greg W, Landrotten Highlander, MikeMaben and 22 others 25 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmayhew Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 nice project! you need to get your friend's landing gear to market!! Thunnus, Martinnfb, MikeMaben and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monthebiff Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 Great fit on the the resin! Regards. Andy Thunnus and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale32 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 Looking forward to this one John, any idea of a scheme yet? Cheers Bevan Martinnfb and Thunnus 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 Interesting Martinnfb and Thunnus 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wackyracer Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 Yet another masterclass on the way. Luv all your builds and this one even more so with 2 of the same conversions in the stash along with Revell G-6's and am coming out my ears! This will be a perfect reference to the way to go. Following. Uncarina, Thunnus and Martinnfb 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John1 Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 Very nice work so far. The AS is one of my favorite -109G versions. I used the Aries cockpit on my G-6. While the detail is fantastic, I had major fit issues. I wish you luck on that part of your build! Martinnfb, Thunnus and Kagemusha 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunnus Posted January 23, 2020 Author Share Posted January 23, 2020 19 hours ago, nmayhew said: nice project! you need to get your friend's landing gear to market!! It should be VERY soon! Rest assured that he's following the builds here at LSP and is aware of the interest in his products. Hopefully, you hear something very soon! 19 hours ago, monthebiff said: Great fit on the the resin! Regards. Andy Yes! So far anyway! There are some more resin bits like the Aires resin cockpit and Barracuda upper wings but I'm feeling pretty positive about it at this stage. 9 hours ago, Scale32 said: Looking forward to this one John, any idea of a scheme yet? Cheers Bevan I'm thinking about one of the all-RLM76 high altitude interceptor schemes. 2 hours ago, Wackyracer said: Yet another masterclass on the way. Luv all your builds and this one even more so with 2 of the same conversions in the stash along with Revell G-6's and am coming out my ears! This will be a perfect reference to the way to go. Following. Thanks Wacky! Hopefully it'll be an enjoyable build for me and entertaining/informative for the LSP community. 40 minutes ago, John1 said: Very nice work so far. The AS is one of my favorite -109G versions. I used the Aries cockpit on my G-6. While the detail is fantastic, I had major fit issues. I wish you luck on that part of your build! Thanks John! Luck is always good to have. As I mentioned, I had very good fit experiences with the Aires G-10 cockpit on my Revell G-10 build. And the Aires G-6 cockpit looks almost identical to the G-10 cockpit. But the fuselage assembly differs a bit between the Revell G-6 and G-10 kits and the AMUR Reaver resin cowling may throw in some complications. I reckon I'll be doing a LOT of dry-fitting before committing any parts to glue. Thank you for the heads up! Martinnfb, F-4Phanwell, AlbertD and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunnus Posted January 23, 2020 Author Share Posted January 23, 2020 Thanks for all of the comments! Establishing the preliminary fit of the AMUR Reaver cowling to the kit fuselage, I prepared the Barracuda resin spinner, added a prop shaft using a piece of plastic rod and mounted it to the cowling to check the fit. It looks ok at this point but things can change as parts are glued into place permanently. Since I was at this stage, I wanted to check the fit of the windscreen and canopy as well. The windscreen actually slides UNDER the cowling piece so the little bulges on the fuselage fairing in front of the windshield need to be trimmed away. The exterior fuselage components seem to be lining up fairly well. Next I'll have to see how the Aires resin cockpit factors into the fit equation. BiggTim, LSP_Kevin, Dany Boy and 17 others 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrish Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 Well done! lots of moving parts in that operation! You’re making them work though Martinnfb, Uncarina and Thunnus 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncarina Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 Another winner in progress John! Cheers, Tom Martinnfb and Thunnus 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunnus Posted January 24, 2020 Author Share Posted January 24, 2020 After fitting the Barracuda spinner onto the AMUR Reaver cowling, I thought I'd pack the build back up and concentrate on the Corsair. But John1's comment about the Aires resin cockpit made me very curious. Without diving into the details of the resin set, I thought I'd at least check the fit of the main components: cockpit tub + the two sidewalls. I removed the sidewalls from their casting blocks, making sure to retain the mounting tabs on the bottom edge. Based on my experience with the Aires G-10 cockpit, I left the humongous casting black on the tub untouched for now. There are some gaps at the joints but overall the fit of the three components was relatively positive. There are no rock solid attachment points between the cockpit tub and insides of the fuselage so I'll have to make final placement relative to other components, such as the rear cockpit sill. Still, this should give me an idea of the kind of adjustments I'll need to make in order to make the resin fit. To my pleasant surprise and just like my experience with the G-10 cockpit, the Aires pit seems to fit ok even with the casting block of the tub in place. The gap in the fuselage framing above the forward cockpit section is easily closed with light finger pressure. There would be no reason why the AMUR Reaver cowling would NOT fit over this but I wanted to verify it with my own eyes. I recognize that glued parts have much less give than taped components so this is not a final result but I'm not encountering any significant fit issues between the resin cockpit parts, kit fuselage and AMUR Reaver cowling. I even slipped on the canopy for good measure. If my G-10 experiences hold true with this build, I'll have some conflict between the casting block and the wing spar but that should be an easy hack job with the results hidden from view. Landrotten Highlander, nmayhew, TorbenD and 20 others 23 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wackyracer Posted January 24, 2020 Share Posted January 24, 2020 Excellent news John, My own confidence in starting one of these is on an upward spiral thanks to your work. Scale32, Thunnus and Martinnfb 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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