BF109F Eduard 1/48 – enamel washes.
Ok, so this my first step into a proper full wash subject and what better subject than Eduards Royal Class 109F dual kit, i mean if i'm going to muck it up, i might as well ruin the best. I've wanted to do a 109 for a while now and couldn't pass up Eduards lovely dual kit, what's better than one 109? Two of them! This one got the Werner Molders treatment and the other still on the bench but nearly finished is getting the North African trop scheme. The Werner version i did with an enamel over acrylic whilst the Trop is oil oil over acrylic.
I feel i went slightly heavy handed with the enamel wash as it was just starting to affect the clear (Future substitute) when i was wiping and brushing it off towards the end whereas with the oils i found i had much more time to play around with it and could reapply sections i wasn't happy with without affecting the clear. My problem, i think, was either the Future substitute, a product here in Australia called Long Life floor polish wasn't quite up to the task or as i mentioned, me being too liberal with the wash. Despite that i'm happy with the end result for a first go and particularly chuffed with my leading edge weathering. The cockpit has the option to be opened but i preferred the cleaner look of it closed and i am still up in the air about what to do with the desert version as of yet. The umbrella is always an option with it i suppose 🙂
This was also a model where i delved more into pre shading and attempted to do it a lot more subtly than i did with my 190 V18, which i felt was a bit stark. I still made a bunch of mistakes ..like bumping the whole model off the table and seperating wings and such! and also have some things i would like to attempt like chipping and getting better with the brush but it was a great learning experience.
The 190 ( Hasegawas A8) pictured was my very first airbrush venture earlier this year so i thought it would be a good comparison between a clean and washed model and also gives a sense of scale between the two makes of aircraft.
Cheers all and thanks for looking in!
Great work Jimmy, I very much like this nose-to-nose shots as well as the tutorial-like character of this presentation. Keep it up mate!
Thanks Michel. I find presenting the finished model can be as challenging as the build sometimes. Trying to capture the plane itself which to me with 109 is that front 3/4 angle 🙂
A sharp looking Friedrich there Jimmy. Personally your model doesn’t look like “heavy” weathering at all, in fact it’s pretty much look alike to the real machine which was well kept by the ground crew (it was the CO machine after all). If you want to use other products that are similarly used as a wash swoop, try Flory or AK/MIG stuff. The first one is water based and the others are not. Well done!
Flory doesn't have an Aussie distributor any more unfortunately so I am going to give UMP clay based washes a go next, i like the idea of a water based wash. Cheers Pedro for the kind words!
Excellent presentation AND builds, sir...nice work all around.
Thanks Craig, always appreciate your words.
Nicely done! I use enamel washes over Tamiya clear, and find that I need to let it set until it gets quite hard to avoid anything rubbing off, then I STILL have trouble going through the clear coat at times. Looks like you got it just right!
I'm hoping the clay washes perform better otherwise i will stuck with oils, cheers Rob.
That's a lovely 109 and a Friedrich to boot! Probably the most graceful of the 109 marques. Even more impressive is to see one of Vati Moelders a/c the subject of someone's attention. I'm sure there are some of his on RFIs on various websites, but my impression is that one of Galland's various 109s is more likely to be the subject rather than Vati's. Really great work. Paul.
Thanks Paul, i've always liked the Molders scheme and the man himself seemed fair and just 🙂
Looks great - just the right amount of weathering if you ask me! Well done.
If i don't push my builds i won't get any better, still scary though laying that enamel all over a fresh paintjob!
Very nice Jimmy! The finish looks great!
Thanks Gary!
Great looking plane. I don't see anything heavy-handed here, weathering is awesome. I struggle sometimes with the clear coat reacting with the weathering or washes. It is always a surprise when everything works correctly. Cheers
Cheers George, i think i'm lucky i pulled up when i did as it felt like it was i was only a step away from ruining the base work:)
Great stuff Jimmy, love the look you have achieved with your wash work! Just enough - not too much. Right in the sweet spot! Love the detail on the surface of the Eduard plastic too.
As for the desert kit - go the brolly!
Thanks Paul, i'm looking for a brolly at the model shop tomorrow 😀
Looks good from here Jimmy, appears just right to me. Great pics too.
Impeccable build. Very nice, especially with the commentary and "how-to."