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Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 Wnr 163248, Swiss, Eduard 1/48

Started by Erik Gjørup · 15 ≡ · ↻ 4 years ago · 1/48, Bf109, Eduard, swiss

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Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 9 months ago:
Nearing 1st anniversary!

What do you know – this build was started one year ago!

Keeping build-logs can be good to remember what you are doing – but in this case, I just realized that it is soon 1 year ago that this build was started.

So as not to keep you in the dark – this is the status as of today!

Now – rewind to September, and the cockpit is finished, and navigation lights fashioned from clear sprue are installed.
1. Bulb is a hole in the sprue, painted red before superglueing in place.
More on how to make these in numerous other builds.

Fuselage/wing assembled, filler and finish here and there.
1. Not on Swiss G-6's

2. Not on Swiss G-6's
There are a few service-hatches that are not in use on Swiss examples.

Ejector tubes installed

Fashioned from aluminum-sheet from a candle.

On its own legs

The black paint will be explained next.

next up will be wingskin and masking
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 9 months ago:
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.
1. Scrabing some skin
Then some sanding, black paint to check

Wingtips received doped strips of fabric, fashioned from filler between tape,
1. Doped cloth-strip
They were then sanded not to be too visible

The coolers got the copperwirepushrod/strengthening rod
1. Strengthening rod in the oilcooler (pushrods in the watercoolers)
At least they are visible for the interested onlooker

And then some homemade maskng
1. Ready for RLM 66 (for the interior to look right)

2. Hole for signal pistol! They were on all the swiss G-6's (some swiss Emils had a flare-battery in the aft fuselage!
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
George R Blair Jr said 4 years, 9 months ago:

Wow! A lot of work on those wings. I'm interested to see how it looks with paint and decals.
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 9 months ago:

me too 🙂
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 9 months ago:
Into the paintshop

And once again were off to do some painting and masking and etc etc – you get the picture

First off some Tamiya German Grey for the RLM66 insides of the canopy
1. Canopy held in place by white tack / teachers gum
Followed by a testrun on some 30+ years old Humbrol 22 Gloss White – could have spent more time thinning and stirring, but overall it behaved nicely!
1. tried to keep it thin.. worked OK for such old paint and relatively cheap airbrush.
A bit on the thick side, and large blobs appeared.

Fast forward, after masking first some RLM75 (xtracolor)
1. Maskol

2. memo in order to paint right color (had four 109's in line for paint. . . .)
that was followed by masking with tape and maskol, and then RLM 74
1. peeling off maskol. sort of hard edge, will try to soften when I get to the mottling fun part. . .
Once again Xtracolor used, thinned with their own brand thinner.
1. Masks comin' off in preparation for Brown and Green for the rudder/stabiliser
Getting there - now some mottling and brown and green!

next up a bit of painting and masking and..
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 8 months ago:
unmasking, masking, painting, unmasking, masking

Detailing the paint

Masks coming off in order to mask other areas.
1. uuuhhh - shiny
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!
1. easternapkinmask - festive and with chicks, what a joy
After the brown, some green patches are added by brush

And more masking taking place – this time in preparation for red!
1. White is not totally covering to let the camo shine through
Top of wing first;
1. masking for red
1. and soon I'll see red. . .
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
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 8 months ago:
Seeing red. . .

After a lot of masking, the red paint comes on

First round of red applied to the plane;
1. Looking orange - but no trace of orange peel! Happy days indeed.
1. OK - the yellow tape plays a trick of the light, making the red appear orange - I think (hope)
Looks rather orange after the first thin layer!

A layer more took care of that, and the masks comes off after just a short dryingtime.
1. unmasking . . .
1. Voila!
Taking care not to peel off some of the fresh paint, the promises of a bright future comes to light!

What’s next? – suppose it may be some pictures after detailing, or perhaps no more until the finished plane. Time will tell.
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 8 months ago:
Prepared for decals

Gloss clear all over

In preparation for decals, the entire plane got 2 layers of Testors Gloss Clear Acrylic.
1. Having painted the markings, they need to be smoothened a bit as there are rather large edges.
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
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 6 months ago:
Decals

Nothing at all has been happening for a month on this build

As life has intervened, the build came to a grinding halt. With the autumn now over us here, It seems like things may be proceeding again. Today I got to add the swiss-specific decals, and hopefully I will be able to finish that part this week-end.
1. Having removed the mask to check for creep, a new mask was made for the gloss clear.
1. Nice decal!
The white text is not that good – something to do with manufacturing processes I guess?

I spent an evening mid-week in the spraybooth, spraying a lot of exhausts (had to finish the Yugoslav E posted in headlines earlier today), and a pair was fitted to J-705.
1. Not the best ever job, I think I will re-visit the darker shades before long
Still need some wear-and-tear, but at least they are installed now.

I do think there may be one more post here before hitting the headlines – stay tuned
George R Blair Jr said 4 years, 6 months ago:

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.
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 6 months ago:

Thanx for the info on the paints - appreciated!

And I shall be looking forward to be following your 109's 🙂
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 3 months ago:
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
1. wrinkle wrinkle little skin
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
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 3 months ago:

Out in the sun

Not that any visible progress is here, but the sun was out – and so was J-705

The merciless light showed a need for more matt clear to hide all the ridges created by a heavy layer of paint.

Now, the sun also gave an opportunity to brag a bit about the homemade nav-light

Suppose there may be one more post here with some last-minute details before hitting the headlines – stay tuned
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 2 months ago:
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
1. All the propellers have been sanded thin to be more realistic, not least the trailing edges.
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.
1. shiny legs. . .
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.
1. yes, there is a tube into the cockpit for the flare-pistol!
1. elastic thread for antenna

2. turned brass - nice!
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)
George R Blair Jr said 4 years, 2 months ago:

This has been an amazing build, Erik.

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