1998 Shelf of Doom Rescue (1/48 Hasegawa Bf109F/G-2) FINISHED and RFI

[Greg W]

On 5/1/2021 at 7:47 AM, MARU5137 said:

Greg,

Just catching up from 2020.

Your Bf109F is tremendously SUPERB. 

one of the finest model builds I have seen.

Great job.. 

 

Well now, leave it to you Maru, that is a glowing endorsement! And, very much appreciated by me, truly. 

 

Thank you very much, Cheers

Edited February 3, 2023 by Greg W

[ScoobyDoo]

Nice rescue, I have a 1/48 Hasegawa Hornet I started the year I started working on real Hornets (1999). I recently pulled it out to finish it and it was roughly at the same stage as yours (painting).

 

Kind of funny, when I look back at pictures of my model room it is always in the background somewhere.

 

Your build has provided me inspiration to get it done.

 

 

Edited May 2, 2021 by ScoobyDoo

[Greg W]

17 hours ago, ScoobyDoo said:

Nice rescue, I have a 1/48 Hasegawa Hornet I started the year I started working on real Hornets (1999). I recently pulled it out to finish it and it was roughly at the same stage as yours (painting).

 

Kind of funny, when I look back at pictures of my model room it is always in the background somewhere.

 

Your build has provided me inspiration to get it done.

 

 

 

Fantastic! Yeah, just like my 109, your F-18 deserves to be finished. A worthy cause that will deliver something extra upon completion.

 

I have a 1:32 SOD kit that needs help too. I have personified that thing as if it has feelings. Gees, I guess CoVid has affected me more than I thought!  

[Greg W]

Hello my fellow LSP members, its back to this little guy after being pushed to the back burner for a while.

 

The new Eagle Cal yellow 1 and group marking decals have been successfully reapplied along with the two large score board decals on the rudder (from the same Eagle Cal sheet), all bedded down nicely and look great.

 

 

 

 

The crosses for the upper wings however performed just like the ones from my original E.C. decal sheet. After three failed attemps to get a good result, I decided to order a Montex mask set for those. For some strange reason, all of the other markings behaved but the wing crosses on two different sheets would not settle down properly and the clear film over the top dissolved producing deep craters. Never had this happen before. One would think that all of the decals on a sheet would behave in a similar fashion... odd. It was high time I used a vinyl mask set in anger anyway. Here are the results of my first attempt:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paint used: Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black and XF-2 Flat White thinned 1:1 with 70% Isopropyl Alcohol. Some over taping means a minor touch up on the left wing but I definitely benefited from beginners luck! Very happy with the outcome. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Greg W]

Had a bit of a battle removing the Bare Metal Foil from the canopy. It just did not want to let go from the windscreen in particular. I have never had it adhere so aggressively in the past. So much so that I ended up carving it off with a scalpel, which of course scratched and gouged the clear areas. A quick, light sand and polish will fix the rear glazing but the front section required serious work to restore it.    

 

 

Below, the front and top sections have been worked on. The port side windows are in the process of being fixed in the same way by sanding with a Tropical Shine brand nail buffer. It has three stages on it: fine/superfine/buff (think Squadron canopy polisher), followed by 3M brand 3000 and 5000 TriZact pads, then final buff with nail buffer rubber (or vinyl?) side of the nail buffer. A Montex mask set is winging its way to me and will arrive within a couple of days. By then I will be ready to re shoot the canopy and surrounding area.  

 

 

During all of the repair work on the canopy, I broke off the control column but I did manage to recover it from the depths of the interior. It is now in safe keeping with the pitot tube and tail wheel.

 

 

On a brighter note, I cut out a clear piece for the armored add on to the windscreen, glued it in and here is the painted part, test fitted on the model. What a nice addition, come on Eduard, make this for the 1/48 builders out there! And for the 1/32 folks too... please

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 29, 2022 by Greg W

[Greg W]

When I first saw the Hasegawa paint scheme on the instructions below, I knew that it was one I wanted to do. I never had this kit, just this page that was in a box of leftover 1:48 109 stuff that was given to me. I assumed that it was from a Bf 109 F-4, which is partly true. Hasegawa issued a kit with the option to make one of two aircraft flown by Herrman Graf. The builder had a choice of a Bf 109 F-4 or a Bf 109 G-2.

 

 

Obviously I did not research this and just went with information on the Hasegawa color call out sheet. I think that Hasegawas version is a combination of elements from both the F-4 and G-2 colors and markings shown below.

 

Image from a Eagle Cal decal set:

 

Two images from the Eagle Editions book, Graf & Grislawski A Pair Of Aces:

 

 

 

I am getting ready to do a 1:32 version of one of these two aircraft and just received the Eagle Editions book a few days ago. Rather than paint the whole nose RLM 04, I am just going to pretty much do the Hasegawa scheme with a couple modifications and move on. 

 

The Eagle Cal painting guide and the Hasegawa one both show the small triangular canopy sections in the forward windscreen as clear. The E.E. book illustrations show both the F-4 and G-2 with those areas covered in sheet metal. Since I damaged the windscreen when removing the Bare Metal Foil, sheet metal it is. The spinner was stripped and repainted with RLM 04 and weathering on the fuselage has begun. Exhaust stains were made with highly diluted Tamiya Flat Earth and Flat black. Paynes Grey oil paint lightened with white has been used on panel lines.

 

Below you can see the freshly painted spinner stuck on right after being airbrushed (AK Real Colors RLM 04).

 

 

 

 

 

[LSP_Kevin]

Looks great!

 

Kev

[Greg W]

The right aileron developed a crack in it during construction. Sanding the repair removed most of the subtle rib detail, so I tried to replicate it with paint. 

 

Pictured below was my first attempt. The result was pretty good for a first try but like so many of my early attempts at a new technique, I overdid the effect. I have repainted the control surfaces and will do it again with narrower tape strips and a much lighter application of highly diluted Tamiya flat black. 

 

Tamiya tape over the tops of the control surface ribs.

 

After airbrushing. Should have been more subtle...

 

 

 

 

Heaviest amount of damage was on the elevators. 

 

Another first for me, paint chipping with a brush. I used Testors silver because I like how thin it is right out of the bottle. 

 

After it dried, I applied extremely thin Vallejo Model Color Leather Brown 70.871 over each paint chip. This knocked back the brightness and allowed for some variation in the look of the chips, via more or less diluted paint over the top. Again, I got carried away and applied to many but I think I can erase some by tapping thin basecoat colors over the offending areas. All great experience for the upcoming 1:32 version. I am definitely learning a lot from this project.    

 

I have managed to get some more things glued onto the model, like the antenna mast, which I broke off. Didn't take much effort and ended up being a good thing. I drilled a hole in the bottom and added a piece of stretched sprue in order to give the attachment piont enough strength to withstand the tension of the EZ Line antenna. It wouldn't have as it was. The add on armor for the windscreen was attached with Elmer's white glue and some old photoetch shoulder harnesses from the spares box have been added too.

 

Prop, landing gear and belly tank are in place now.

 

The control column, a casualty of earlier heavy handedness, has been reinstated as well.

 

 

More to come! Thanks for dropping by and happy modeling to one and all,

 

Greg

Edited October 26, 2022 by Greg W

[LSP_Kevin]

Looks great, Greg!

 

Kev

[albymoore]

Man this is looking terrific, @Greg W. I look forward to seeing it in person.

 

Cheers,

Albert

[Gazzas]

That's a great looking 109, Greg!  I had a good read and enjoyed reading about your saves.

[Greg W]

On 10/26/2022 at 1:57 AM, LSP_Kevin said:

Looks great, Greg!

 

Kev

 

Much appreciated Kevin, thank you.

 

On 10/28/2022 at 1:57 AM, albymoore said:

Man this is looking terrific, @Greg W. I look forward to seeing it in person.

 

Cheers,

Albert

 

I look forward to seeing you and the rest of the gang in person! Won't be long, thanks man!

 

On 10/30/2022 at 12:15 AM, Gazzas said:

That's a great looking 109, Greg!  I had a good read and enjoyed reading about your saves.

 

Gazz, I am so happy that you have had some entertainment from the thread. I have hoped that it is not...

 

B-O-R-I-N-G

 

Glad you shared that, thank you! 

[Greg W]

Ok, back to the bench with this long suffering project and the good news is....

 

It's done!

 

Following, are the final finishing steps to completion. The antenna was made with fine EZ Line, detailed with stretched wire insulation and tiny cones made by heat forming Evergreen sheet and drawing it down over a sharpened toothpick.

 

 

 

The antenna attachment point on the fuselage was made with super fine Albion Alloys alluminum tube and a punched styrene disc, sanded to match the shape shown in my reference books. 

 

 

 

 

Then, I just needed to do a little more weathering and attach the pitot and mass balance weights to the ailerons.

 

The final weathering touches included black pastel stains around the gun troughs and chipping around the cockpit.    

 

Some Flory wash speckling, just before blending:

 

 

[Greg W]

There we go, started in 1998 finished in 2023.

 

Thank you all for the tremendous support and encouragement!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[albymoore]

That sure looks wonderful, Greg. It made all of the trials and setbacks that you had to overcome to get to this point worth all that effort.

 

Looking forward to seeing it in person at the next LTSMG meeting.

 

Cheers,

Albert