2x Bf 109 F-4 (1/48)

Steven000

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Thanks all :thumb2:

Al: Yeah I read some good things about Micro Kristal Klear, also used for filling small windows etc, will put that on my shopping-list.
Jakko: I tried something like that but the clear parts didn't have 'deep' lines on them so it was a pain to follow them with the knife :thinking:.
Si: Thanks, I hope they look nice in the end :thumb2:
Colin: I feel your pain... :dizzy:

This evening I was able to mask the engine and interior of the open cockpit,
then I sprayed a dark grey on the canopies (for the interior color) and ended with a grey primer (vallejo)...
Steven_Bf109_x2_019.jpg

Maybe I can add some color tomorrow! I hope all that masking will turn out ok in the end :thinking:...
Thanks and kind regards,
Steven
 

Jakko

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Jakko: I tried something like that but the clear parts didn't have 'deep' lines on them so it was a pain to follow them with the knife :thinking:.
Holding the canopy up to the light will probably let you see where to cut. Of course, it’s a bit more difficult holding the part above your head while cutting the masking tape :smiling3:
 

stillp

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Holding the canopy up to the light will probably let you see where to cut. Of course, it’s a bit more difficult holding the part above your head while cutting the masking tape :smiling3:
Another tip I've heard is to use the torch on a smartphone laid on the bench with the canopy over it.
Pete
 

Steven000

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Thanks Jakko, Joe & Peter,

A small update :
The spinner had this sad looking nose canon, which has an oval shape and no barrel-hole
Steven_Bf109_x2_020.jpg

So I searched my plastic-scrap box and found these tubes with a matching diameter (left) ...
Next I drilled a hole in the spinner (right) ...
Steven_Bf109_x2_021.jpg

Then the tube was cut and fitted with superglue, both spinners were modified.
Steven_Bf109_x2_022.jpg

I melted a sprue again and made a brake-line for each undercarriage strut.
Steven_Bf109_x2_023.jpg

In the first one I tried to simulate the curly shape at the bottom,
but this was hard to get right and as the wheel will cover it anyway I made the other ones simply straight...
Steven_Bf109_x2_024.jpg


The day before I cleaned the nozzle of my airbrush (H&S, Hansa 381), all was nice and shinny again but then all hell broke loose and I got bubbles in my cup when spraying...
As far as I understand this is caused by an air-leak inside the paint feed, so the only thing it could be was this very tiny rubber seal.
Steven_Bf109_x2_025.jpg

I never replaced this seal so it seems it has wear out...
I'm quite stubborn so I actually tried to fix it by making a new seal from thick paper, after many attempts I made a sausage from a piece of Teflon tape which in the end seemed to work for about 90%, some very fine bubbles kept coming but it was possible to airbrush again until a new seal arrives...
Steven_Bf109_x2_026.jpg


I also took these figures from another ICM kit, Revell has reproduced them too.
Steven_Bf109_x2_027.jpg

I was able to spray on some primer on these parts, the figure on the right seems to be smaller than 1/48 :thinking:
Steven_Bf109_x2_028.jpg

And a first coat of sand yellow was sprayed on top of the Trop-version...
Next week I hope to add the blue and white areas.
Steven_Bf109_x2_029.jpg


I just ordered a new seal for my airbrush so hopefully this will be an easy fix (fingers crossed) ...
Kind regards,
Steven
 

Jakko

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the figure on the right seems to be smaller than 1/48
How tall is he? Hold a ruler next to him should show quickly enough whether he’s undersize or not.
 

Steven000

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How tall is he? Hold a ruler next to him should show quickly enough whether he’s undersize or not.
Yes it's how I noticed it, I always take 1m80 divided by the scale (48) and he was about 3-4mm smaller, don't remeber the exact height, already on the train for work ; D
 

Mini Me

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Do a forced perspective and use him in the background should work well in a Dio.
cheers, Rick H.
 

Jim R

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Hi Steven
Just had a catch up from the beginning. Really sorted, neat work. The engine is much improved with your stretched sprue piping. Love what you have done with the sand filter.. Masking is a chore but has to be done. Glad you got the AB working.
Jim
 

Steven000

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Hi all,
Jakko : He measures 34mm without the hat, that's 1m63 in 1/48, although possible he does look sculpted as a tall person imo.
Rick : Yes that might work, if I'll use him he will get send to the back :smiling2:...
Jim : Thanks!

Another update :

First of all I received the new airbrush-seal,
I ordered a PTFE (white) instead of rubber, but as you can see it was slightly larger in diameter :thinking:
From that point I had lost a bunch of pictures due to a problem with the SD card (I think it's solved now), but what I did was cutting off very tiny bits with a knife until it was the right size. And after changing the seal the airbrush was working properly again.
Steven_Bf109_x2_030.jpg

Yesterday I gave a second coat of sand yellow, the first coat was a bit speckled because of the airbrush problem.
Steven_Bf109_x2_031.jpg

Today I added the blue and white, I used this 'camo masking putty' for the first time,
I rolled some sausages
Steven_Bf109_x2_032.jpg

I used this putty because I didn't want a very hard edge between the sand-yellow and blue color... (like you get with masking tape)
I'm not yet sure if I like this putty material very much,
It feels sort of greasy and to me that's never a good idea when you're painting things.
An other downside is that it very slowly moves towards gravity, after a few minutes I had to move it again upwards.
Steven_Bf109_x2_033.jpg

Here I'm masking the rest of the model, it looks a bit strange I know :smiling5:...
Steven_Bf109_x2_034.jpg

When the blue was dry I started masking the white areas
Steven_Bf109_x2_035.jpg

And more strange masking :smiling5:...
Steven_Bf109_x2_036a.jpg

I masking the spinners and sprayed the propeller blades black.
Steven_Bf109_x2_036b.jpg

The trop version on the left, the other I gave some extra masking.
I wanted to do a spiral-spinner but I couldn't find a single picture of a bf109F4 with a spiral spinner, it seems they started painting spirals only in 1944 (and thus G versions).
Steven_Bf109_x2_036c.jpg

And this is what I have at the moment,
Steven_Bf109_x2_037.jpg


Thanks for reading and kind regards ; )
Steven
 
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Strange masking perhaps but that paintwork turned out nicely ^^.

Regarding the seal...cutting down that PTFE part :dizzy:. Why didn't you make life a bit easier and order the right sized part? :smiling2:

Cheers
 

Jakko

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Looking good. It’s not strange masking if it works :smiling3:
 

AlanG

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Steven i regularly use blu-tac for soft edge masking so your masking is normal for me lol
 

Steven000

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Thanks guys!

Regarding the seal...cutting down that PTFE part :dizzy:. Why didn't you make life a bit easier and order the right sized part? :smiling2:
Well in the shop I ordered them from they didn't had the rubber ones, and the PTFE product reads "for all H&S models" :thinking: so I was convinced it would work. Strange but I got it working :smiling5:...

Tonight I started with decals, I sprayed a bit of gloss paint this morning
Steven_Bf109_x2_038.jpg

This is the one I'm trying to do, still have to spray the rudder red etc
The "14" decal looks not realistic so I will spray it on with a mask I'll make with Tamiya tape :thinking:
No swastika is included like most kits these days, I will try that one too with masking tape
Steven_Bf109_x2_039.jpg

I used microset and microsol for the decals, that seems to work very well at first glance (panel lines).
Before I used the Vallejo version but it was less effective...
Steven_Bf109_x2_040.jpgSteven_Bf109_x2_041.jpg

Thanks and kind regards,
Steven
 

adt70hk

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Hi Steven

Apologies for being a bit behind. Got so say these are looking very good indeed. Well done for preserving with the intricate masking it's paid off.

ATB

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Seems you got good quality decals indeed...in combo with Sol and Set they sure sit nice in and around the details. Looking forward to see you mask the number and the swastika :dizzy:

cheers
 

Steven000

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Thanks guys :thumb2:

Another small update :
I made the numbers and swastika's by cutting Tamiya-masking-tape, I used the picture from the book (last post) as a reference for the size and shape.
It was a bit tricky to draw the lines onto the tape with a pencil (difficult to mark the tape).
Then I cut them out with a small blade.
Steven_Bf109_x2_042.jpg

Today I used those masks to spray the number and swastika (both sides).
Steven_Bf109_x2_043.jpg

Masking the rest of the plane...
Steven_Bf109_x2_044.jpg

I sprayed a thin layer of white as a base for the yellow number.
Steven_Bf109_x2_045.jpg

Then sprayed the yellow '14' and black swastika's on the tail.
Steven_Bf109_x2_046.jpg

Then removed all the masking tape, moment of truth... :poop:
Steven_Bf109_x2_047.jpg

I did an attempt to save the used masks, hopefully I can reuse the swastika's for the 2nd plane...
(I've put them onto a piece of plastic sticker paper)
Steven_Bf109_x2_048.jpg

Then I masked the rudder and sprayed it red (as in the reference picture)
Steven_Bf109_x2_049.jpg

This is the result so far,
the swastika should get a white outline but I'm not sure if I will be able to pull that one off :thinking:
Steven_Bf109_x2_050.jpg

Next I'll have to add a few more decals-details and then a 2nd coat of gloss...

Thanks for reading and kind regards,
Steven
 
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