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Messerschmitt Bf109F-1, Werner Mölders, eduard 1/48 FINISHED

Started by Erik Gjørup · 68 ≡ · ↻ 3 years ago · 1/48, Bf109, Eduard, Messerschmitt, mölders

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Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 4 months ago:

@gblair thank you. I did add a windscreen by tamiyatape, AND managed to knock off the gun sight! Now both are in place, so hopefully it will remain there for the rest of the build.

@gkittinger - thanks and welcome aboard.
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 4 months ago:
Testfitting and installing guards

While the sides have already taken a lot of time, more is needed

I got on with testfitting the wing-fuselage assembly, and as expected a lot of work still needs to be done.

Some filing and cutting made the lower wing fit a lot better
1. testfitting. The plastic cooler may have to be installed before assembly of the wing/fuselage
1. the wing trailing edges do need support I think. That may make fitting a lot easier, will get back to you on that issue later on.

2. spare windscreen used to guard the REVI and cockpit
The upper parts however needs a lot attention. It appears I have managed to install the roots at an angle, and a wedged shim will have to be made for them both. On the left side I used the entire E part, on the right it was cut and fitted into the F airframe, and there the front edge fits. The left needs a lot more attention.

When I assembled the fuselage I installed a resin tailwheel, and I expect it needs a guard
1. resin tailwheel with leather oleo-cover of the chromed part.

2. guards are made of the runners
Made out of sprue that was taped on. As I am pushing on with 109’s I may make a more permanent guard that covers the wheel, tailplane and antenna.

A more rigid guard. Will it be worth the effort? Let me have your comments on that
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 4 months ago:
More resin

Having already used resin in the cockpit, a resin set is used for the wheels too

Now, in order not to create dust (they say resindust is harmful), I carefully used a new blade to cut a lot of the resin away to minimize the use of the saw.

And this is where the carpetmonster comes in!
1. all chewed up
One of the hubs decided to fly away, and a thorough search gave no result. A cup of coffe later it was found far away from the bench, having been molested by the monster (or me). And so a new center was made using a pair of plastic wheels. The difference is big, but barely noticeable on the finished product as they are on each side of the plane.

Next I feddled with the assembly and glued the windscreen and gun-throughs in place after some sanding and filing and sanding etc etc
1. gunthroughs fitted more snug
1. note lack of opening window

2. well - in my humble opinion it is an F1 in the picture - I may be wrong, but then early F-2 had Emil wingroots as well!
The windscreen had some major work, as the F1 did not have the opening in the left pane, and the rod in the glass had to be removed. The right lower panel needed removal of the flarepistolhole, as the F1 did not have this feature – I suppose it was in preparation for some pressurization? (usually uneven numbers are pressurized, even ones not so)

Well – slowly getting to understand this rather seldom version – fortunately one was flown by a famed pilot and a few pictures are to be found.

Next I think the special watercooler flaps may be presented – stay tuned (and comments on the guesswork above more than welcome)
Louis Gardner said 4 years, 4 months ago:

Erik, @airbum
It has been a while since I have stopped in to see what progress has been made. I can honestly say this build is shaping up rather nicely. I have also suffered attacks from the carpet monster, who ate a complete 1/48 scale Tamiya F4F Wildcat propeller once... in hindsight it was probably my German Shepard instead of the carpet monster, since she sometimes helps me in the hobby room. Now that she's much older she occasionally lays down beside me while I'm working... None the less, the prop is still missing...all these years later.

I like what you did with the replacement wheel hub. You're spot on correct about it not being too noticeable. I thought of one small and relatively easy way to improve it. The center hub in the original part has a small round part that is open in the middle. You might be able to replicate this by using some hollow round stock tubing that is of the same (or very close to) it for size. Simply cut off a short section of the round tube, and glue it on the center. This will give the impression it also has a small hollow center like the original did. Once it's painted, it will become even less noticeable.

One other way you might be able to do this is to simply slice the center hub off the original part you found and using CA glue, attach it to the new wheel hub. Just be careful not to launch it into space as you cut the center part off.

Like you I thought the "odd" numbers were subject to pressurization, like the G-5 is the pressurized version of the G-6. I never noticed these early wing roots on these F-1 or F-2 versions until you mentioned it. It's entirely possible they simply adapted / upgraded older Emil fuselages that were still on the assembly line into the newer "Freiderich" standards.

I also like how you have mad protective guards for the tail wheel. That looks to be a great idea.

Thanks for the updates.
George R Blair Jr said 4 years, 4 months ago:

Erik, you have done a ton of extra work on this which I am sure will pay dividends. I usually try to wet-sand any resin I have which helps keep the harmful dust in check. The tail wheel guard is a good idea. I try to figure some way to leave the tail wheel off, if I can, to prevent damage. One common theme in my model building is that I ham-fist some delicate part while I am building and end up recreating the part later.
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 4 months ago:

@lgardner Louis, I will take the suggestions into consideration - right now I thing it may be the center and maybe some new spokes - time will tell. The "Emil"s had struts on the tail, and the "Friedrich"s had an entirely different cockpit, so I do think it may have been new built fuselages. There was one V that did recive the DB601 and had a E fuselage with an F nose. That is the subject of yet another thorough study when I get to do some armchairaviation.

@gblair - thank you for the kind words and supportive comments.
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 4 months ago:
Laminarflow coolerflaps

The “Friedrichs” got a laminar flow flap for the watercoolers

One way of making this is to buy some AM resin or photoetch. Eduard supplies both as separate AM kits. Having bought both, I decide to make them myself, using the kit styrene and some thin aluplate I harvested from a candle.

First you have the resin set;
1. forgot to take a picture - the intakes were modified too (in closed position to de in sync with the picture seen earlier)
It is extremely nice, and well cast with super sharp edges. There are also flaps, wich is a good thing as the styrene in this instance had some nasty sinkmarks.

Oh well, fast forward; I cut a piece of the alu to fit, not my best so far. I may want to invest In an extra set of cutters as the scissors used are a bit heavy to control when cutting delicate details.
1. no glue yet - just testfit
1. back to the shop! (quality inspector fired!)
With the parts assembled and installed I see that I have to correct them a bit – did not notice that when taking the pictures!

Oh well – a minor adjustment before the glue sets, and then it is off to one of the other 109’s I suppose (that is, she who must be obeyed has requested a P-51 with the markings she flew when she flew flight simulators - that may be considered, though it is not a 109. . . after all she did give me that infinity)

While this one rests for a while it is not quite known what will be up next – stay tuned
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 3 months ago:
Vinyl masks and surprising solution!

I have added some vinyl masks to the windscreen, and re-visit the challenge to guard the tailwheel

Now, the vinyl masks do not work all that well for me; they are a bit difficult to place and seems to leave some glue behind – more on that when the masks are removed.

I decided to use a first layer of acrylic, as it is easy to remove on the clear parts if the paint gets under the masks.
1. The flaps had major sinkmarks on this one - has been noted on some of my other 109's too
1. Tamiya German Grey acrylic
With the cockpit secured(?), I move on to the undercarriage as the wheelwells already have had their coat of RLM02

They were filled with white gum.

And with that In place it is time to hit it with primer!

Oh yes – I promised a solution to the tailwheel-knock-off issue;

Surprisingly the solution was really simple. A cocktailstick!
1. The tip has been cut off, so I am not really able to tell if it is the dreaded redtipped pin of yesteryear. . .
1. Simple and effective- so far
WHAT - a stick up Mölders tailwheelwell? – yes, that is it really. It works so far, and time will tell if it needs some sort of holdfast (micro gloss or white glue springs to mind), but lets give it a try.

what will be up next? (no pun intended) – stay tuned
Pedro L. Rocha said 4 years, 3 months ago:

Sometimes the solution is a lot more simple than our brains conceive, the toothpick is a good example. Wonder why you added the UC legs at this stage Erik?
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 3 months ago:

Indeed Pedro - simple is better a lot of times!

The maingear legs used to come in later, but in recent builds I have placed them rather early. They are quite sturdy, and give you a place to grab while handling the plane, plus you do not damage the paint so easily. As for the tailwheel it needs to go in before closing the fuselage, unless it is one of the low non-retractable type, they can be left off till the very end - but that also gives you a place to put a cocktailstick to keep the tail off the ground - will try that next!

@holzhamer
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 2 months ago:
And so, the painting commences

The exciting part of painting is started up

Having primed and done a bit of after-filling and sanding, it is finally time to start the painting. First, the nose gets a few rounds of white, with some extra filler/sanding and finally some RLM 04 Yellow (xtracolor)
1. How did I forget the MG's? - and how will I ever get them installed now? Might leave them out as they are hard to see anyway?
1. Will have to make some small lights - I have bought some tamiya transparent for the job!

2. And of course the antenna broke off. . . . well, not difficult to replace
Now, this is set aside for hardening before masking for some RLM 65.

Next time probably de-masked after RLM65, but that may take a while – stay tuned
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 1 month ago:
Painting, masking, painting

The two top-colors has been added

In the last post I speculated that the masking might come off after RLM65. However I masked for RLM65 and painted it with enamel color

When that had cured (after two rounds as the first layer was a bit thin, I masked for RLM 02, and again some enamel from xtracolor

And finally today it had cured and was masked for the final color – RLM 71
1. tape here, tape there, tape everywhere - now where are those plyers?
I think if the paint covers it all, I will take of masks tonight. If it is not sufficiently dry (or close inspection tells me it need one more layer) it will be another day – no matter what, I do not think I get it posted tonight, but perhaps in a few days.

Stay tuned for the reveal – at least I am rather excited to see it with masks off!
Erik Gjørup said 4 years, 1 month ago:

Looking at paint drying

With the masks off it is time to take a look at the drying paint

Well, a lot of orangepeel surfaces, but that may be dampened by a layer of gloss clear?

Or perhaps it will get a very long time to harden, and some wetsanding?

And one more look at the Friedrich-specific laminarflow radiator outlet

Not very conspicuos, but it is there for the 109aholic to notice.

What are your experiences – should I wetsand or give it a round of gloss?
Spiros Pendedekas said 4 years, 1 month ago:

Wetsanding, no matter how lightly and meticulously applied, might reveal some underside layer, so you will need some touchups, @airbum. A round of thick gloss might decrease or maybe eliminate the orange peel, but nobody can reassure you. I have always found it difficult to minimize surface imperfections by just spraying a heavy coat above. After drying, usually, but not always, the imperfection is re-revealed.

Have you considered applying future? That's what I would do - I find it adequately self levelling. If you do, take care because it might drip, forming ugly droplets. If this happens, I "disperse" them on the model surface with a #2 or #3 brush.

Your bird looks terrific and I love all the research and effort so far.

All the best!
George R Blair Jr said 4 years, 1 month ago:

I don't think it looks all that visible, but the builder's eye will always go straight to the imperfection because you know where it is. I am about 50/50 with being able to fix orange peel. Clear paint or future will sometimes work. The last time it happened to me I sanded it off and repainted. When I get to the painting stage of a model I always hold my breath and pray to the airbrush gods, because if something goes wrong it is usually here. Good luck, buddy.

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