Messerschmitt Bf-109G-4/R6 "Kanonenboot" - Finished

[Dpgsbody55]

Well, after a short break from modelling and as earlier threatened/promised (cross out whichever does not apply) elsewhere, I'll join in this GB with something to keep these Mustangs and Thunderbolts busy.

 

 

Now I know the box says G-2, but I'm building this as a G-4 which was operational in 1943.  The decals I want to use are on their way to me as I write this, so no pics just yet.  I've had the kit in my stash for perhaps fifteen years, buying it at a time when we didn't know as much about Trumpy kits as we do today.  I'm using the Royal "we" here, BTW.     To help things along a bit, I'll be adding these bits:

 

 

and

 

 

As I mentioned earlier, I took a short break from modelling for a trip to the south west of this massive state to take in views like this.

 

 

and

 

 

while having to sample things like this:

 

 

It's a hard life, but someone's got to do it, though it's a pity the clouds rolled in on that day.  Still, it was warm and no rain at least.  Then when I got back last week, I took a look at my modelling desk.  It's 2 metres long by 850mm deep and so cluttered that I can maybe use a third of it.  Not good when you're building stuff like Z-M's Dornier 335.

 

 

So I looked around my stocks of scrap timber ( as you can see, I rarely throw anything out ) and have managed to about double my usable space after building a set of sheves to go in the corner.  Even the paint was from my stocks, hence the non matching colour .

 

 

It's also helped me get my paints better organised as I now know what I actually need to stock up on, which is none of the paints that I have five of .  So these are now organised by nation, plus the stock whites, reds, silvers etc in another container.  The desk is not yet perfect, more a work in progress.  I'm probably not alone in that.

 

Now to get on with some gluing of plastic.  More soon.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

Edited March 28, 2022 by Dpgsbody55

[Greif8]

Welcome to the GB Michael!  I am sure you will do the build justice with your skills.  Looks like your vacation was quite nice, maybe some day I will be able to visit Australia.  Nice job on your modelling area as well!

 

Ernest

[Dpgsbody55]

I spent about three hours on this yesterday.  My first job was to throw the basic engine together so that I can begin painting.  I'm not sure how much extra detail, if any, I'll add to this other than the rest of the kit bits, as I hope to start on the Z-M 109 before this year ends and I'm sure that stock kit Z-M will out do anything I can add to this build.  However, one thing I have done is to file out the top of the engine block to ignition wire rail to give this some better definition before I paint it's details.  This still needs a little more work.

 

 

The next thing I did was to start on the Aires resin cockpit.  This doesn't go together all that well.  Both left and right walls sit proud of the cockpit tub and will need filing back as test fitting into the fuselage halves shows that the walls cause the fuselage halves to bulge out which will cause problems elsewhere.  The second thing is that the right side wall did not want to sit properly on the tub as two of the molded in pipes were a little long.  Here it is taped together and you can see how the rear edges of the side walls are about 1mm too thick.

 

 

As I was doing this, I also looked at how it fitted into the fuselage halves.  First up was to grind out all the molded on details, then grind out the cockpit ledges.  In this shot, I've glued in the first aid shelf, which I had to shorten about 3mm so that the resin tub fits.

 

 

Here's the fuselage halves clamped together at the fin with the tub jammed in place.  It appears to use the kit tabs to place the floor, and as a first go, it's not looking too bad.  However, as you can see, the fuselage halves are splaying out thanks to the too thick resin side walls.

 

 

My present plan is to continue on with building the cockpit tub and assemble it, then I can file it back to an acceptable degree to get it to fit.  I'll also be working on the engine to finish that.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Greif8]

Looking good Michael!  I have found the fit of Aires stuff to run the gamut of perfect to terrible.  I got lucky with the set I used on the P-51B build, as it fir really well.  It looks like you have a good bit of grinding and sanding ahead of you on your's.  I used an Aires pit in a Hasegawa Bf109 F-4 I built a few years ago; and I had to sand about .75-1mm off the sides to get it to fit well.  If a remember correctly the little tabs on the fuselage sides worked to set the cockpit on.  They certainly did on my current project in this GB.

 

Ernest

[Dpgsbody55]

On 3/30/2022 at 5:07 PM, Greif8 said:

Looking good Michael!  I have found the fit of Aires stuff to run the gamut of perfect to terrible.  I got lucky with the set I used on the P-51B build, as it fir really well.  It looks like you have a good bit of grinding and sanding ahead of you on your's.  I used an Aires pit in a Hasegawa Bf109 F-4 I built a few years ago; and I had to sand about .75-1mm off the sides to get it to fit well.  If a remember correctly the little tabs on the fuselage sides worked to set the cockpit on.  They certainly did on my current project in this GB.

 

Ernest

 

Yes, I think you're right, and it's not just Aires products.  This one will need quite a bit more sanding to get it to fit, and my last experience of resin cockpits wasn't brilliant either.  This was the CMK resin cockpit I installed into a Trumpy P-40 Tomahawk.  The shape of the left and right cockpit sides were transposed so to get it to fit I had to change the shape of these two components so that they followed the wing profile properly, then lengthen the rear wall and make a new seat mount.  Tedious, to say the least.

 

This build was also a bit tedious, as I'm working off three different instruction sheets which is a bit confusing to my aged brain.  But I'm getting there.  Slowly!!  My first thought was to look at the resin cockpit bits and at that point, I discovered that the cannon cover that sits between each rudder pedal was solid.  Not good when trying to fit the engine and cannon.  And the hole in the front wall of the cockpit was also solid.  So my first task was to hollow out that cover and front wall so that I can at least get the cannon part way in.  This I did with the aid of a 2mm drill bit.  I may have to chop the cannon a bit short, but at least it will look OK once done as you can't see the back end of the cannon anyway.

 

 

Once hacked hollow, I glued these two together and let them set.  Next, I turned my attention to the firewall, which is covered in the Eduard etch kit and quite different to the stock parts.  I used the kit part so that the engine will have something to mount to, and removed any detail.  Then I started adding the etch bits which took quite a while as there's a few parts that go on on top of the next, so each stage has to dry before proceeding with the next.  Here it is finished.

 

 

While on an etch and CA sniffing trip, I also added some to the undercarriage wheel wells.  I've also added the shell feeds inside the wings for the underwing cannons.

 

 

The top surface of the wheel wells goes onto the sides, which means that the detail molded to the top wing lower surface has to come off.  While that was going on, I've as gone as far as I can right now with the engine.  At this point, the engine is almost OOB, with things like the spark plug leads picked out with some silver paint.  I did add some etch bits in the form of a plate which you can just make out below the front engine mount, and lifting eyes which you can hardly make out at all at each end of the engine block.  The plug wire conduit is painted in steel to give slightly better definition.  I do have some more details to add, in the form of some pipes, but this will have to wait until the engine bearers are finished and mounted.

 

 

So last night, I went mad with the airbrush and painted as much as I could right now in RLM02.  Wings, including the inside of the radiator and wheel wells;

 

 

Fuselage halves;

 

 

Firewall;

 

 

Engine bearers;

 

 

As many bits in the kit as I could think of that also needed to be RLM02, like this and other sprues;

 

 

Then I cleaned the airbrush and painted a bunch of cockpit bits in RLM66.

 

 

 

So now I feel like I'm actually ready to make some real progress on this model.  I plan on finishing off the engine/bearer/firewall assembly and also making a start on the cockpit floor.  That will be for next time.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Greif8]

Excellent progress Michael.  You are doing a very good job integrating A/M and kit parts.

 

Ernest

[Dpgsbody55]

On 4/8/2022 at 1:32 PM, Greif8 said:

Excellent progress Michael.  You are doing a very good job integrating A/M and kit parts.

 

Ernest

 

Thank you, Ernest.  I think I have a long way to go yet before all the a/m and kit parts are together.  Perhaps this issue is what's slowed me down so far.  I seem to like making things more complicated than they should be.

 

Short update.

 

Over the last few days, I've completed the engine.  From my previous report, I've added the engine bearers as well as some plumbing for the oil system, then added the firewall and some more plumbing.  Here's the right side of the completed assembly, which was a little more complex than the left because my plumbing had to pass through the engine bearer.  This meant that I had to glue bottom end of the oil line to the engine, pass the bearer through that and glue that into place, then glue the top end of the oil line to the separator that is mounted at the top of the engine.

 

 

And here's the straight forward left side.

 

 

I think this will go into the fuselage as is, but I'll probably dry brush the exhausts to make them look a little better.

 

That's all for now.  On with the cockpit.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Greif8]

Nice bit of scratch building there Michael!

 

Ernest

[Dpgsbody55]

20 hours ago, Greif8 said:

Nice bit of scratch building there Michael!

 

Ernest

 

Thank you.  I have a few pics of DB-605's so this was done using 0.4mm wire for the oil lines and a little bending.  The brown lines are 0.5mm wire painted brown.  All are quite prominent so as I plan on displaying this with the left side cowling open, it needed a little more than stock.

 

9 hours ago, MARU5137 said:

Splendid  bit of scratchbuilding!

 

Looking ahead to see the Cockpit. 

 

Yeah.  Me too.    I've started work on the resin bits and have mostly done the instrument panel, some basic wear and tear on the floor plus a little detail painting on this and the sides.  But it's still a long way to go until I'm happy with it.  Hopefully I'll have something to show after Easter.  I suspect the Aires seat belts will be the biggest challenge as they're something I'm not that good with.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Dpgsbody55]

Not a lot of progress has been made in the last week, but that may well change after this update.  I have been working slowly and steadily on the model every day and now have the cockpit ready to assemble, so I'll show that bit of work now.  Here's all the finished bits, now ready to go together.

 

 

First up is the instrument panel, which is two Airies etch parts over a resin back part, glued onto the kit backing then glued onto the kit glare shield.  Firstly, the resin and etch parts were painted RLM66, then the gauges printed on clear plastic were painted white on the back to bring out the markings.  This was then glued onto the resin IP, and the two etch parts glued together.  Once that was dry, the etch was glued to the instruments.  I began detail work by picking out the magneto switch on the left in black, then picked out the switch detents in white.  After that, I added a magneto switch from my spares box as the Airies kit didn't have one.  The four undercarriage warning lights were picked out firstly in silver, then had clear green and red applied over the top.  The starter button is picked out in red and a yellow handle was added at the bottom left.  Then the gunsight was painted black except for the brown leather crash pad, and the two reflectors added and the whole fitted to the panel.  The gauge at the top to the right of the gunsight had to be painted on and I picked out the detail with silver then finished it off with a dot of Krystal Klear

 

 

The left wall was the simplest to do, and detail was picked out such as the wiring and throttle quadrant in black, a leather belt and buckle in brown and the throttle lever in silver, along with a chain at the bottom.  There's a black wire cast into that lever which was duly picked out and I added a mixture lever from the stock Trumpy kit, placed with reference to pics I have.  Then a lever was added from the Airies kit which I decided to paint RLM02 with a gloss black knob to make it stand out a little.

 

 

The right wall was a little more complicated.  The wiring at the top rear of the wall was picked out in white, then  over painted with a black wash.  A number of knobs were picked out in gloss black and more wiring in flat black.  The oxygen system was painted blue and I managed to pick out the gauges in flat black and white, the lower gauge then having another dot of Krystal Klear added over the top.  Then there was that yellow fuel pipe...  It looks better IRL as this pic is about 1/16th scale instead of 1/32 scale.    Lastly, I added that rod and handle from the Trumpy kit as I thought the Airies etch offering was not as good, as well as the pilot's oxygen pipe again cut from a stock kit part.

 

 

The cockpit floor was also painted RLM66 as you've seen in a previous update to which I dry brushed some silver to replicate wear and tear, then painted on the leather strap on top of the cannon breach cover.  Next more details were picked out in various colors before the Airies etch rudder pedals were made up, painted up to look a bit worn like the floor, then CA  glued into place.  Before I could go any further, the etch lap belts had to be painted and made up.  I used Tamiya clear metal primer over the whole etch fret, then painted up the individual components and built them up.  The primer certainly did it's job as the paint sticks well despite all the bending needed to build them then more bending to sit them onto the seat pan.  There's about thirteen pieces here and they went together with very little fuss.

 

 

After these were glued into place, I could now add in the trim and flap wheels which are two etch wheels painted up with a 1mm length of plastic rod separating them, an etch chain piece and the pilots control stick.

 

 

 

There's a tiny bit more detailing to do, but as you can see, the parts have also been prepped for gluing together.  This will take a little while as both cockpit sides are slightly warped, but I can put them in place and tape them into shape.  So each side panel will be added one at a time and allowed to dry.  Once that has happened, I'll be filing them back as both sides are about 1mm too wide from about the middle to the back of each part as the pic in my second update showed.  It's the too wide rear part of the cockpit resin that is keeping the front of the fuselage apart.  I've already started by grinding out as much as I can from the fuselage halves.

 

 

Then I can add in the instrument panel and start thinking about building up the fuselage.  That's for next time, I hope.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Dpgsbody55]

A bit more progress on the 109 this week.  First of all, the cockpit tub is now together.  The left wall went on first.

 

 

Followed by the right side wall after the left side had dried in place.

 

 

And then the instrument panel.

 

 

Then followed a lot of sanding of each side to get it to fit into the fuselage halves without spreading these too much.  Once I was satisfied with this, the engine was attached to this tub which brought more problems, as either the gun platform wouldn't connect to the engine firewall, or the cannon wouldn't fit into it's corresponding hole in the cockpit tub.  Or else the engine sat too high in the fuselage.  In the end, I finished up with a slight upward fit to get both engine and cockpit together, and engine properly aligned in the fuselage halves. 

 

 

At this point, the fuselage could go together.

 

 

The observant will notice here that the gunsight has gone missing...      Here's a shot of what it looks like from the underside.  In the end, the cockpit had to go in slightly forward of where I initially thought it would fit, so a piece of 1.5mm square stock filled that gap.  One other thing I've found is that this resin cockpit isn't square, which caused more issues.  At this point, I found myself wishing I'd not bothered with the resin cockpit and just used the stock kit parts instead.  Oh well, you live and occasionally learn, but I have another of these Airies kits in stock for another project.  It remains to be seen if this gets used, or junked.

 

 

So my next job was to put in the pilot's shoulder harness's and close up the hatch behind the pilot's head.  This hatch comprises a plastic piece for the bulkhead, an etch piece for the hatch, and two more etch pieces for the securing strap and buckle.  Then the shoulder harness's were built up from the Aires kit and I attached them into place by fitting the top buckle over a short length of wire previously glued in to the pilot's back armour, and bending this down.  Once that was done, I could repair the gunsight (one of the refectors had also been knocked off).  This was re-attached by drilling out the gunsight and instrument panel and inserting a short length of wire to strengthen the joint.  Then another piece of acetate was cut to make the missing reflector and CA'd into place.

 

 

 

To finish off, here's a few closer shots of the now completed cockpit.

 

 

 

 

So the next piece to go on is the cockpit windshield.  No prizes for guessing why...    Then I'll be finishing off the wings and fitting them, but that's for another day.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Dpgsbody55]

One last thing I forgot, not that I'm getting old and forgetful.  OK, I am.  The decals I ordered for this project arrived last last week.

 

 

The plane I'm building is the top one, Black 7.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Dpgsbody55]

My Messerschmitt is now looking more like a recognisable plane now and a few more bits have been done.  The first thing that went on after my last update was the windscreen, for reasons that became apparent in my last update.  Then I did a little work on the radiators using the kit radiator face painted matt black and glued the Eduard etch radiator pieces over the top.  These were left in bare metal as I'm using this build to experiment.  What do we think of how this looks?

 

Before the top wing goes on.

 

After the top wing is on.

 

This was all that was needed to finish off the wings, so after clean up, they were attached to the fuselage and dihedral set.

 

 

Then the tail plane went on, using tape to set the angles correctly.  One side was too low, and the other too high.  In this shot, you can also see the rear face of the radiator which was built up using the same technique as the front view.

 

 

Once the tail plane was dry, I set the elevators in place, followed by the ailerons and flaps.  While they were drying, I CA glued more Eduard etch pieces to the lower radiator vent and set these in place once dry.  As you can see in this shot, the wing/fuselage joint was very good, and doesn't need any filler at all.

 

 

Using the same technique as the wing radiators, I also made up the lower engine cowl and oil radiator.

 

Front view.

 

Rear view.

 

The upper wing radiator vents have also been added, being set in place using stock white strip plastic (very bottom of pic) to set the opening angles symetrically.  This pic also has a view into the cockpit.

 

 

In the next picture, I've added the rear fixed part of the canopy and the right side engine cowl.  I intend building this model with only the left side of the engine displayable and the left cowl will also be cemented into place, but in the open position.  The same goes for the canopy; also set permanently open.  No hinges this time.

 

 

 

There's only a few more details to attend to now before this gets it's colour scheme.  One question on that issue, if I may.  What colour should the wheels be?  Black or RLM02?  The instructions say RLM02 Gray, but I've seen black as well.  I'd appreciate some guidance here.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

Edited April 27, 2022 by Dpgsbody55

[MikeMaben]

Black wheels Mike.

[Dpgsbody55]

19 hours ago, MikeMaben said:

Black wheels Mike.

 

Thanks Mike.  Black it is.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael