Messerschmitt Bf 109 Werke

Started by Erik Gjørup · 305 ≡ · ↻ 10 months ago · 1/48, 109, 109 werke, airbum, Bf109, Haldværk, halfworks, Messerschmitt, quarterscale
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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    Nice presentation, my friend @airbum! Good to know all those "nasalization" details!

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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    109 Dora in progress

    1 month ago I brought a post on a Dora

    It has become time to re-visit that one, as I have discovered – to my horror – that I might just run out of in-progress 109’s in the forseeable future!

    Following Klavs’ (@klavs1972) 109D, I LqS filled some vents and hatches.



    Now I have to let that cure, then it is on to re-scribe the hatches, and make a new vent

    One thing that struck me was the fact that the early 109 had the gun-through in the cowling.




    And so the wall was removed in preparation for the re-worked channel

    And a channel has to be made



    First the material for some channels. They will be filed out when the glue has set.

    But this is after all the Messerschmitt Bf109 Werke, and so I popped the lid on another two now that I am on a roll. . .


    Now, that’s more like it.

    more work will be done on these in the kindergarten before I decide on actual color/individual planes. They will all be Dora (perhaps one Cesar) and so the general structure is the same. Comments welcome – stay tuned for more progress as it happens

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    Louis Gardner said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    Erik, @airbum
    Now that's more like it ! I was beginning to worry about you when you were running low on your supply of fresh 109's on your work bench... 😉

    I am watching these builds with great interest, especially when you mentioned a Dora and possibly a Caesar too ! That LQS stuff is magical, and I too have found it much easier to build up (and paint) a bunch of similar parts at the same time. This is why currently I have a pair of Ki-45's and a pair of Ki-61's on the bench.

    I will keep in mind your tips for making the edges of panel openings look more realistic and scale like in my future builds. Thanks for posting this update my friend.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    Like our good friend Louis @lgardner, I was worried too, my friend @airbum, when I saw your supplies of fresh 109s running low...

    Good to see things are back to normal now! 🙂

    A D and a C? Sounds great!

    LqS at full steam! I have lately started using it as gap filling glue, ie use it as glue at places where gaps were definitely expected: the lqs would ooze out of the gap(s), only to be sanded smooth later on. No need for 1st round "normal" glue and second round gap filling with lqs: pure lqs from the start!

    Of course, I am waiting for your camo choices...

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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    Louis (@lgardner) and Spiros (@fiveten), thank you for your concern, but the disaster seems to have been avoided for now.

    Now, as mentioned over in Klavs' (@klavs1972) build the difference on the C and D is internal, and that leaves a lot of possible markings open - what a joy! Almost like Christmas!

    As for assembling with LqS that will be tested too, but beware that the fuselages on 109's have to have a panelline along the spine and below the rear fuselage.

    A short update comin' right up, and then it will be relatively quiet from me for a few days as I will be off to work for the next 4 days.

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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    Holes!

    on top of making the gunthroughs, I drilled a lot of holes

    Some were for holes here and there, others were chaindrilling for opening stuff up.


    It may be quite difficult to spot them all – a closer look will follow at a later date – I think

    I glued three pieces of thick styrene to the back of the cowlings



    There will be a fourth piece at the end to be able to glue the guntubes in place.
    Just for fun, I taped one up

    – it may be a bit difficult to see the effect, so I taped a basic version too.


    It will be a lot easier to see when I have finetuned and painted the area.

    and with this it is time to wish you all happy holidays from HalfWorks – stay safe everyone

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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    So much better than without the hole, Erik.
    Really impressive how you treat your 109's

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    Louis Gardner said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    Erik, @airbum
    I didn't know the differences were internal between the C and the D versions of the 109. I thought there was some visible external difference... So here again I have learned something 109 related from you... Thanks ! I knew about the panel line along the spine and underside of the fuselage.

    This is good information to know, as I have both the C & D Modelsvit 1/48 kit versions. I definitely want to build one up as a Legion Condor plane, using the kit supplied decals. But now I will do a little digging for the other one to see if anything fancy catches my eye. The overall Blue (or red as some have claimed) plane that was flown by Ernst Udet is one that has caught my eye in the past. Would it be possible to build this plane, using either one of these Modelsvit kits ? Or was it based on the early E version ?

    I agree with John, the plane looks much better after your modifications.

    Happy Holidays to you too. Stay safe my friend.

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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    Thank you John (@JohnB), I do hope I do them justice. Actually it is a lot of fun to throw energy at just one type and dig deep. . .

    Louis (@lgardner), The greatest difference is the fuelinjection in the C where the D is carburetted. You may want to re-visit the discussion I laid out earlier on the engine gun, and do check out Klavs' Dora build too - lots to be found there (and just ignore the comment stating there was no early 109's with the 3rd gun)

    Should you need decals for a 109D please do ask, I may have some spares for just your choise of color.

    As for the red/burgundy 109 of Udet, it was an early Emil (V-14 or E-02) with a DB engine, and a AMG D will need a lot of surgery. I have long been thinking of it, and may have to make a scratchbuild to get it in 1/48. There are 1/72 kits around of that plane that can still be found at reasonable prices, but I fear that a 1/72 build will be the victim of your feared concrete monster my friend 😉

    The Valiant Wings book on early 109's is full of good facts (and a few - very few - faults) and if you read german the 109 book from Geramond is a gem. In the states you may be able to find the book on Swiss 109's, and that one contains some nice pictures of D-ISLU. The Werner Wings conversion kit as used by Mr Cleaver on Modelling Madness is sadly no longer in production. A secondhand may be found with a bit of luck? (Should you find two I shall be happy to send you my adress 🙂 )

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    Looking really great, my friend @airbum!
    You cannot beat drilled out holes with their "details" inside!
    Absolutely stunning and well researched!
    Udet's plane? You can never have too many 109s!

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    Louis Gardner said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    Erik, @airbum
    Thanks for the details about the difference between the C and the D versions. If I was to attempt to build an Udet 109, chances are that I would use a Tamiya E3 or a Hasegawa E-1 model to start with and it would be in 1/48 scale. Do you think that would be the best option ?

    Later on in the future, this might just be a good candidate for the Luftwaffe group build. However it would really be a while for that to happen as I would not start the Luftwaffe group build until we have had ample time for some of the other wonderful groups to wind down and be completed.

    Thanks again my friend for the information and I hope that you and your family have a Merry Christmas. Stay safe buddy. 🙂

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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    Spiros (@fiveten), I tend to think that too. Check the picture of the Swiss taken head-on, the openings for the air to cool the sparkplugs look a lot better that just painting the opening black in such a light. The same result will be likely here. More on Udet below.

    Louis (@lgardner), You are most welcome. As mentioned in headlines under the Swiss 109E, I asked Draw Decals if they would consider re-issuing the Red Pegasus decals for it, and they did in a flash! I will be thinking of getting them to make a few sheets (they make to order)

    With any luck I may be able to pursuade someone to re-make a conversion kit for the plane - and perhaps the V-13 that actually has a canopy in the Falcon set of 109 vac-form canopies. (Or get into the AM business myself just as Jim has done with his wonderful P-51 kits)

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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    More holes

    With 3 of the same basic kit on the bench, it gets easier each time you make a change

    And these holes – or vents – are no different, and the learning curve is rather steep – great stuff!



    Airframes in different states of progress lined up for comparison

    The intake is normally just glued onto a fixed surface


    I prefer to open them up.

    And the vents can be tackled in different ways, like a full hole



    Or just a slot made with a pin in a handle

    next up I will make a few comparisons with the Modelsvit kit

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 11 months ago:

    Open holes add up a lot to a model!
    Nice production line, my friend @airbum!

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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 10 months ago:

    Now, Louis (@lgardner) asked about the Modelsvit 109D awhile back, and I will have a look at the fuselage of that one in a minute now. Thank you Spiros (@fiveten).

    And before the post, let me wish you all a happy new year - thank you for all the kind words and all the interest throughout the strange 2020, both friends and other happy modelers passing by my topics.

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