Whats with that black wing?

Well – just thinking that the skin on almost any aircraft is seldom smooth and straight, and as this one is going to be red and white I thought I might try and add some interest to the surface on top of that

All the panels were scrabed lightly with a roundtipped knifeblade.

Then some sanding, black paint to check

Wingtips received doped strips of fabric, fashioned from filler between tape,

They were then sanded not to be too visible

The coolers got the copperwirepushrod/strengthening rod

At least they are visible for the interested onlooker

And then some homemade maskng

Needs some tape and a fresh blade, then it is actually not that difficult – but take care not to scratch the glass! (don’t ask)

next up I will be up to speed and painting commences

me too 🙂

unmasking, masking, painting, unmasking, masking

Detailing the paint

Masks coming off in order to mask other areas.

The mottling could be better I think, and hopefully I can soften those hard edges a bit.
After more masking, the rudder is painted brown!

After the brown, some green patches are added by brush

And more masking taking place – this time in preparation for red!

Top of wing first;


The crosses will be painted on as I do not really expect decals to look that good on a red background.

And now off to do add some more masking

in the next post red has been added – and perhaps a first reveal without masks? comments are welcome

Prepared for decals

Gloss clear all over

In preparation for decals, the entire plane got 2 layers of Testors Gloss Clear Acrylic.

This was the first time I airbrushed Testors Acrylic, and I have to say it worked just fine! Thinned 50:50 to enable it to dry faster it was very easy to use, and with their cleaner it was easy to clean the airbrush!

Does anybody know if this is the one that will be discontinued? If so, I may have to stock up 🙂

Hopefully this will be finished soon, next time I hope to have the last post before making the headlines

The Swiss markings are certainly striking. Model Master paints seem to be a big mystery right now. I once used them exclusively, both enamels and acrylics, but they seem to be getting harder and harder to get here in Central Texas. One hobby shop I talked to said Model Master was purchased by one of the big paint manufacturers and was doing away with the line. I talked to another hobby shop who said the line would continue but the supply was slow. Take your choice on which story is true. I got tired of not being able to get the colors I needed, so I shifted to Tamiya and AK Real Colors, both of which I like a lot. Looking forward to seeing your finished Swiss 109. We just had the annual model show in Austin, Texas this weekend, and I managed to get several Hasegawa and Tamiya 1/48 109s for $10 each. Mine will never rival yours, but they look fun to build. Cheers, Erik.

Not so shiny now!

approaching the 2nd anniversary of starting this build!

I finally got to give this long build a coat of Tamiya matt clear acrylic. The propeller and spinner have had their paint, and now it only lacks the wheels, antennas, pitot and other small items.

Even though there is a long way remaining it felt good to put it back in the box to dry for at least a week before revisiting it.

As promised earlier there is a closeup of the wingskin after paint

Not as pronounced as I feared – after all the skin of a 109 did not wrinkle that munch! But it was a great lesson into how to do it on later builds.

Well – still scope for another post or two before it is ready to fly the headlines – stay tuned

The end is near

The past month – not least last few days - has been rather productive, and this is the last post

First off, the HalfWorks has been in action – propellors being mass-produced

They are rather uniform, all being RLM70. Later they got some flat clear and as they get installed the centers are metalized – not that they can be seen, but a sharp eye may notice?

A few days ago, and ready for final parts.

The oleos has been painted with a molotow pen – that is a really cool tool for this

And with the antenna-wire installed, only the guns remain.

Now I only need to get those guns installed – a pair of AM brass ones has been reserved for this plane, and then it is a simple matter of waiting for the sun to come out again to get some pictures with a better camera.

Thank you all for encouragement and comments and advice and input and for following this and my other 109 builds – I have enjoyed it all! (and will continue to spam you with build posts)