Airfix 1:24 Bf109 E-4

Bonkin · February 7, 2023

I'll follow along with much interest if you don't mind. Gotta love a big Emil. I finished mine just last year.

Greg W · February 8, 2023

On 2/6/2023 at 12:52 AM, LSP_Kevin said:

Fascinating project, Greg. Will be following with interest!

Kev

Ok great! Your impressions and feedback are deeply appreciated!

On 2/5/2023 at 8:24 PM, Dpgsbody55 said:

I remember building this kit in a weekend, paint and all, in 1971. By the standards of the day, it turned out reasonably well too, but I wish some of the aftermarket goodies available today had been available then. I find it almost surreal that it's still available but also strangely comforting.

Looking forward to more progress on this.

Cheers,

Michael

Hi Michael. This range of models seemed so exotic and compelling to me as a youngster. I did not see any of them up close until I purchased this kit and started to build it in the early 90's. Lots of good memories associated with them for me as well, like looking at adds in magazines and wondering, what the heck are they like to build? Fun to think about.

On 2/6/2023 at 10:31 AM, CraigH said:

I built it back in 2017 with just Peters IP available.

Wish I'd had this amount of AM then. Will watch with interest Greg I'm fancying another go at it. Good luck!

Thank you! Nice job on yours and I hope you do another. This kit really does build up well, especially with the care and attention you've pit into it. I sometimes think that building the entire classic series OOB is appealing too. How are you planning to build the next one? Tricked out or box stock?

Edited February 10, 2023 by Greg W

Greg W · February 8, 2023

On 2/7/2023 at 2:05 PM, Bonkin said:

I'll follow along with much interest if you don't mind. Gotta love a big Emil. I finished mine just last year.

I do not mind at all and you did a superb job with yours! Really, very nice indeed. I hope to see more of your talented work here. I know it takes experience and skill to get a result like that from this kit.

Edited February 9, 2023 by Greg W

CraigH · February 8, 2023

7 hours ago, Greg W said:

Ok great! Your impressions and feedback are deeply appreciated!

Hi Michael. This range of models seemed so exotic and compelling to me as a youngster. I did not see any of them up close until I purchased this kit and started to build it in the early 90's. Lots of good memories associated with them for me as well, like looking at adds in magazines and wondering, what the heck they are like to build? Fun to think about.

Thank you! Nice job on yours and I hope you do another. This kit really does build up well, especially with the care and attention you've pit into it. I sometimes think that building the entire classic series OOB is appealing too. How are you planning to build the next one? Tricked out or box stock?

I'm after doing the stuka OOB I think. It's always been my fav and was the 1st one I built back in 2012 after a 40 year break

Greg W · February 9, 2023

On 2/8/2023 at 10:09 AM, CraigH said:

I'm after doing the stuka OOB I think. It's always been my fav and was the 1st one I built back in 2012 after a 40 year break

Nice, that Stuka model is BIG! I saw one in a museum, a 1:1 bird is impressive standing next to it.

Greg W · February 9, 2023

Things are going together pretty good. Test fitting to see where the trouble spots are. So far, I am pleased that no major problems are jumping out at me.

Troy Molitor · February 9, 2023

An iconic kit for sure. I must have built this kit as a kid 3-4 times. The nose cowl fit was always a challenge.

Looking forward to seeing your efforts.

Greg W · February 10, 2023

6 hours ago, Troy Molitor said:

An iconic kit for sure. I must have built this kit as a kid 3-4 times. The nose cowl fit was always a challenge.

Looking forward to seeing your efforts.

Hi Troy, just spent some time today checking out the cowl fit and yup, gonna take a little do'in to get it right.

Do you have a built up one in your collection now?

Greg W · February 10, 2023

Now that the fuselage is taped together, I decided to break out the incredible Airscale canopy set and try my hand at it. I do not have any instructions so I'm winging it. Fortunately, Peter has shown the set built up in his thread above (link at top of page 1) and I have more than one example, just in case I stuff anything up!

To separate the parts, I lay the fret on a piece of acrylic and rock a curved blade over the attachment.

Then I clean it up by holding the part with wide tipped tweezers and de-burr with a Tamiya diamond file.

The first fold. The inside face of the windscreen is facing up.

Second fold. The part was moved to the corner and the bending bar was placed on the front (outside) of the windscreen.

This is the result:

Checked and tweeked to match rear frame:

Folds three and four to the lower triangular windows, bending outwards:

Adjust until parallel:

Edited February 10, 2023 by Greg W

Greg W · February 10, 2023

In order to have the top of the rear frame even with the top of the folded section, I used a straight edge on a piece of glass and taped everything down. Then I applied thin super glue to the seams with a #11 X-Zacto blade. Once the glue dried the top was pressed down and glued in place. Finally, I used a sanding stick (and diamond file) all over the entire thing, which softened sharp corners, scuffed up the surface for primer and took down excess glue.