JefH Posted March 4, 2021 Author Share Posted March 4, 2021 Back again. Not much work done this week due to my schedule but made some progress. Thanks to the much appreciated heads up about the cockpit tolerances I was able to get the fuselage and wings individually assembled. I've talked to my Father in Law in the past and heard him say how "Tamiya needs to make a new big scale 109E." and I'd always reply "Isn't the Eduard one pretty good?". Turns out Tamiya needs to make a big scale 109E. To start the radiator covers were extremely pronounced on the wing surface. I sanded them within an inch of their life, took this picture and further sanded them to the point where they're at least a little more presentable. The nose as advertised is the biggest mess. I believe I should be able to fix the area below the oil cooler, but fixing the nose is going to lose a lot of detail. There's a bit of a shortage on locating pins. On the cowl they ask that you glue this small piece along a .75 to 1mm mating surface. I added a scrap piece of plastic as a locating tab after scouring the later instruction steps to watch out for obstructions. The locating pins the kit does have aren't the best. I could not get the upper and lower wings to come together anywhere resembling flush until I snipped of the pins in the wing tips. After that it fell into place. I painted the interior of the radiators and attached the covers. Granted at this point its just a dry fit but the gap where the fuselage and wings meet will be an issue as well. With all the lower fuselage issues it's feeling like a coin toss if this will be built as Beeck's 109 post crash. One positive is that in the past I've been hesitant to try building a short run kit because of the assembly difficulties. If I can get this looking half way decent I should finally feel confident enough to pull the trigger on some Azur and Special Hobby subjects. Thanks for looking. Jeff Greg W, Landrotten Highlander, D.B. Andrus and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 Nice progress on a challenging build, Jeff! Kev JefH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JefH Posted March 20, 2021 Author Share Posted March 20, 2021 Hi again. Been about 3 weeks since my last update. Most of that time was spent on home repairs but I was able to find some bench time. I spent a fair amount of time on filling, scribing and re-riveting lost detail. Of course being primed black they're invisible right now. I'm still not 100% satisfied with the oil cooler, but considering how bad it was when I started I may just live with it. Or maybe it'll bother me enough that I try to fix it and ruin the bloody thing. I followed up with some Mr. Surfacer 1500 and a wet sanding. I hit the applicable areas with AK Real Colour lacquers RLM 04. I was also able to get some work done on a few various loose parts to be added later. Hopefully I will be able to start getting the base colours down this week. Sorry about my glacial build speed and lack of in process photos. Jeff Greg W, Jeff T, D.B. Andrus and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monthebiff Posted March 20, 2021 Share Posted March 20, 2021 Excellent work Jeff and nice to see some major progress on this one. Out of interest did you have any problems with getting the wing fitted and dihedral issue's? Regards.Andy JefH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JefH Posted March 21, 2021 Author Share Posted March 21, 2021 23 hours ago, monthebiff said: Excellent work Jeff and nice to see some major progress on this one. Out of interest did you have any problems with getting the wing fitted and dihedral issue's? Regards.Andy I'm happy with the wing fit and dihedral, but it was an experience getting there. Drying fitting it before bed one night everything seemed off by a mm or so in every direction. I futzed with it a bit but it didn't help. I put it aside since I didn't want to fight it anymore and came back at it the next day. For some reason everything clicked into place and the fit was about perfect. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JefH Posted March 25, 2021 Author Share Posted March 25, 2021 Hello. Work slowdown gave me some time to get my base colours down on the build. I like the new AK Real Colour lacquers, but their interpretation of RLM 02 is much lighter than expected. I'm not a luftwaffe expert so I'll defer to the pros. Since it'll darken down with weathering I'm probably worrying over nothing. I was somewhat nervous about attempting the mottling since I'm not an expert, but it's an improvement over my last effort. On the topic of mottling Eduard's instructions vs the crash photos show different amount and intensity of the mottle. The Eduard scheme is dated for a period before the crash, so I imagine additional paint work and wear and tear happened before it was brought down. I went with the scheme recommended by Eduard since if I'm honest I don't think I have the skill to pull off the crash site scheme. Hopefully I'll be able to get a gloss coat down soon. Thanks for looking. Jeff Scotsman, scvrobeson, MikeMaben and 11 others 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 Looks pretty good to me, Jeff! Kev JefH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JefH Posted March 29, 2021 Author Share Posted March 29, 2021 (edited) Well it looks like my updates are coming every 4 days or so now instead of bi-monthly. That's a huge improvement for me. After getting a coat of Alclad Aqua Gloss down, I was able to get the stencils and markings down. After the initial markings were placed I had to admit that the amount of mottling I had was far too little for the aircraft in question. Even after adding more it's probably still a little light, but I feel a little better. In the past any of my Luftwaffe builds had a very light camo work, so I figured I might was well get out of my comfort zone a bit. I still consider myself in the learning stages with aircraft weathering, so from here on out I imagine the build will get more challenging. Thanks for looking. Jeff Edited March 29, 2021 by JefH Isar 30/07, D.B. Andrus, Greg W and 8 others 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scale32 Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Looks great. The mottling looks really effective! Cheers Bevan JefH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 That looks great, Jeff! Kev JefH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Molitor Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Looking goof Jeff! JefH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JefH Posted April 3, 2021 Author Share Posted April 3, 2021 Pretty minor update. Managed to get a panel line wash down. First time using different shades for different paint colours, instead of covering everything in an old school raw umber wash. AK Blue-grey panel liner for the RLM 65 and AK Brown Green panel liner for the RLM 02/70. It's more subtle then I'm used to, but it's growing on me. The close up photos showed me I have a small gap to fill near the wingroot which I've somehow managed to miss up to this point. Hopefully It'll be on to some weathering and detail painting in the near future. Thanks for looking and happy holidays. -Jeff monthebiff, MDuv, MikeMaben and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Lund Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 Gawd that looks fantastic !!! I have built a couple of the Eduard kits and while I dont think they are as bad as some make them out to be, they are also not in the same league as the Dragon/cyberhobby kit. All in all buildable but not fantastic JefH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monthebiff Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 Superb job Jeff, very clean job on an awkward kit to put together. Regards.Andy JefH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted April 3, 2021 Share Posted April 3, 2021 That looks terrific, Jeff! Kev JefH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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