Messerschmitt Bf-109-G, Erich Hartmann - Finished

[Dpgsbody55]

If you followed my last project and some of the issues I had with that, you may recall a comment I made about trying something easier, like a Z-M kit.  You thought I was joking???

 

 

So here's what I hope will be my belated contribution to this GB, and I'm now hoping I can finish it in time.  Since I got my Z-M Dornier 335 completed in four months, I'm hoping that this will be finished in that time frame or less too.

 

 

I haven't done a thing on it yet, and this photo is one I took back when the model was released over a year ago.  Wish me luck .

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

PS.  I don't plan on using the kit decals.  This will be a different plane from the one depicted in the kit.

Edited November 3, 2023 by Dpgsbody55

[Loic]

Looking forward to your progress

[rafju]

Great kit, love it, if course will follow your build, 

Best wishes ;-)

[R Palimaka]

Welcome to the fun!

 

Richard

[MikeMaben]

Good luck and have fun Mike. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 4, 2023 by MikeMaben

[Dpgsbody55]

22 hours ago, Loic said:

Looking forward to your progress

 

Me too.  I bought the kit on pre-order last year, so it's one I've been itching to do.

 

20 hours ago, rafju said:

Great kit, love it, if course will follow your build, 

Best wishes ;-)

 

Appreciated, and thanks.

 

20 hours ago, R Palimaka said:

Welcome to the fun!

 

Richard

 

It's been fun so far after three hours, and I've enjoyed both the Z-M kits I've built to date.  This one appears to be the simplest, so I'm hoping for a cruisey build.

 

13 hours ago, MikeMaben said:

Good luck and have fun Mike. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Mike.  Looking forward to this one too.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Dpgsbody55]

OK.  A little bit more about what I hope to do with this, as well as a very small amount of progress.  Firstly, the EagleCal markings I have.

 

 

Thankfully the kit has the bits to do any one of these, but I'm edging towards either the second or bottom plane.  It's not something I have to make a decision about immediately.

 

Next is the parts I'm adding.  As soon as they were released, I bought the Z-M/Eduard etch set for the cockpit and a set of brass gun barrels.  Perhaps this time, I'll use them all.  I forgot about the Master set I bought for the just completed Zero when I was installing the fuselage guns.    I've kept them, so perhaps I'll find a use for them later.  I've got a stock re-order email registered at Z-M for the FW-190 sets too, and that's another kit I'm wanting to build.  I haven't built a Focke-Wulf since the early nineties.

 

 

Progress so far, and it isn't much.  I've got the basic engine assembled and painted, and a few bits from the detail steps.  Basically, what I have here is a black blob with a silver bit.  There is a silver bit at the front which is the prop shaft, but it's been masked off while I sprayed it with rattle can SG black.

 

 

A couple more silver painted bits added.

 

 

Every time I do a DB-601 or '605, I keep wanting to embellish the fuel distributor, as there should be twelve fuel lines running to each cylinder.  Somehow I suspect they'll never be seen as there's a large black inlet manifold that glues on to those three indentations you can see just below the cam covers.  I guess it depends on whether I display it with the bottom cowl open.  A decision that needs to be made soon, me thinks.

 

More soon, I hope.  The engine is complex in this kit (well it IS Zoukei-Mura ) so will probably take me a couple or three weeks to do.  So the next update will probably be a part finished engine.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Dpgsbody55]

That engine didn't take as long as I thought it might.  This may be a complex kit, but so far it's going together very well.

 

First question?  Did I do all those injector pump pipes?  Nah.  Chickened out .  As you follow my photo sequence, you may see why, but part of the reason is that the inlet manifold is quite bulky and making twelve pipes may have caused fitment issues with that part and the many more parts to go on underneath the engine..

 

 

There's not much to see here at the moment, but there's lots more plumbing to go in.  The idea isn't forgotten, though, and if I do another less complex 109, I may yet attempt it.  The engine here is in it's basic form, with just a few pipes, ignition harness, inlet manifold and supercharger in place.  The ignition harness has been painted in rattle can silver and the flexible part of the harness was then overpainted in titanium, which has a slightly different tone.  Pity the flash washed that out.

 

 

 

The kit provides a display frame to mount the engine to if you want to display it separately or while your working on it, using the stock engine mount points.  It's only useful at this point as best I can see, as the aircraft engine mounts will next be going on next, along with some exhaust shields and more pipes.  Here they are fitted, along with the next set of pipes to be fitted which have pumps attached.  The right side engine mount is the most difficult as you have to juggle it into place with the pipes weaving in and out, and an engine mount steady rod as well.  Tricky, but do-able.  The one thing I got wrong, but later fixed, is the position of the pipe over some of the ignition wires.  It should be glued onto the outside of the exhaust shield as it passes through that part and another pipe is attached later to finish off.  Tricky, again, but it pays to study the instruction sheet very carefully.

 

 

Once these pup pipes are on, and this takes some care to position properly, expansion tanks are fitted, along with another pipe and the header tank.  The header tank glues onto the reduction gear cover, but exactly where it is glued takes a little detective work.  The joint needs to be strong, as part of the engine cowling attaches to this.

 

 

 

Next, the last of the engine ancilliaries go on, and it's almost done.

 

 

Looking at my picture, I thought it might show that stage well.  Sorry it doesn't.

 

The last parts to go on  are the exhausts and their surrounds.  The exhausts are twelve individual pieces.  Cleaning the paint out of the holes was the hardest part about attaching them.  One of the easiest exhaust installs I've ever done where they're all individual pieces, and nicely molded too.

 

 

 

Here's why it's sitting on a paint jar.  The two pipes in the next picture go down to the oil radiator should you display the lower cowl open.  I haven't decided that yet, but I've attached them to give myself that option.

 

 

 

The underneath view.  Crowded!!

 

 

A better view of the exhausts.

 

 

 

So that's the engine done, and much quicker than I expected.

 

While waiting for engine bits to dry in place, I've also started work on the cockpit.  Not a lot done, but I've started the floor and the cannon cover too.

 

 

 

That's it for now.  More cockpit works next time.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

Edited November 9, 2023 by Dpgsbody55

[Loic]

[Dpgsbody55]

I forgot to mention one small criticism of this kit as far the engine is concerned.  The Daimler Benz engines all had a serial number on them, and some had a model number, eg; A for a DB-605A.  It would have been so easy to provide something on the decal sheet to cover this, especially given they've provided small decals for the cockpit.  Not much to whine about, I know, but it's something I've noticed after building my 109E-3.

 

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Dpgsbody55]

Some work on the cockpit for today's update.  It's far from finished, but progressing well.

 

First job was the floor panel to the right of the pilot, and the rudder pedals.  The floor panel was straight forward and I've picked out the knobs and switches.  For the rudder pedals, I built up the etch pieces from the Z-M/Eduard set.  Each pedal is in two pieces with the main pedal and the heel support is bent into shape and glued on.  Very fiddly, but they all glued together and were left to set.  Unfortunately, one heel support shifted then set, so I carefully prised it off with my sharpest knife and that was the last I saw of it.   After searching about, I went with the kit parts embellished with the foot straps cut off the etch pedals.  I'm sure I'll find it when I clean my workbench at the end of this build.   This pic shows the kit pedals in place with the straps CA glued in place, unpainted.  At the bottom of the pic is one complete pedal and the one with the missing heel support.

 

 

After that, I built up the lower seat belts from the etch set and added them to the seat pan, painted the pedals and control stick adding the latter to the cockpit floor.  I also added the wire that comes out of the stick and disappears under the cannon breach cover.  Also added for this shot is the wing spar centre section and cannon shell collector box.  A small amount of scratching has been applied to various surfaces too.

 

 

 

 

Lastly, I've painted up the row of cannon shells and added them to the ammo feed that sits above the breach cover, glued that assembly into place (see previous update), then added the front cockpit wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm fairly certain the cannon feed is covered by another parts, so this is unlikely to be seen. 

 

From here, I need to start on the cockpit sides, followed by the top which will not have a battery for this model but will have the top seat belts, then the machine gun feeds etc at the front of the assembly.  More soon.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Gazzas]

Nice work on the internals.  Were you going with the cowls open?

[Dpgsbody55]

2 hours ago, Gazzas said:

Nice work on the internals.  Were you going with the cowls open?

 

Almost certainly, Gary.  Engines interest me which is why I didn't just rush that stage.  That is probably something I'll do during final assembly.

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Phil Smith]

Excellent so far. And extremely helpful - thank you for the details on the construction and what things to watch out for. The kit is a fun mess of detail, which is exactly what I like

 

It is also encouraging, since I did get ZM's Ho-229 a year ago...

[chaos07]

Looking forward to the final product - quite a good start so far!