Revell 1/32 Messerschmitt bf110

[BarryW]

There are some decals to add inside the engine covers for three dials each side of the engine. I applied them and painted the back black to help them stand out.


Note, as well that I have glued tabs of plastic card to strengthen a join between front and rear panels.



i masked the dials. I have a lot of sheets of round masks of many sizes. something that’s very useful to have.



I also glued in some ‘stringers’ inside the wing sections.

-
I had a close look at the Mastercasters resin exhausts and I am not pleased with what I found. The kit ones are solid, a bit of an oddity in this kit given their use of slide moulding so a decent resin set will help with the appearance.

in this pick you can see a solid kit part at the top and the resin below. See how poorly they are rendered. I cleaned one up (breaking it is the process, easy to resolve) and only then did I see how poor they are.


As I result I decided to order the Quickboost resin set. I won’t buy Mastercasters again.

 

[BarryW]

Plenty of progress but the going is slow as I am having to pick my way carefully and slowly due to the poor instructions.

Speaking of which, they said nothing about drilling the holes for the centre bomb rack. Fortunately you could see where the plastic was thin where I needed to drill.




The Quickboost resin exhausts arrived and they are much better than the Mastercasters one. Also, the Mastercasters are very inaccurate. The Quickboost are on the moulding block, the Mastercasters are pictured loose, note to long exhausts at one end.... not on the Mastercasters set.


Note that it is best to glue the rads into the wing, not the cover as per the instructions. The fit is tight and needs a little sanding.


Tail on, perfect fit...


Some canopy framing... and rear machine gun.


Engines fix easily into place as did the rad covers and bomb racks.


The centre bomb rack in position.



A few more fittings to do and some masking before there is some painting to get done.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Barry
Excellent, neat progress. Those resin exhausts are indeed pretty poor.
Jim

 

[BarryW]

I have primed the subs and have some seam flaws on the wheels to deal with so I applied some Mr Dissolved Putty.



I have grouped others subs based on the colour I will be spraying them










I will soon prime the wings and fuselage and deal with the flaws. i will then superglue in the exhausts and spray the wheel wells, weather them and mask them before attaching the wings.

 

[BarryW]

I painted the rear machine gun. Black primer over which I dry brushed Uschi Metal Powders, painted the detail, applied gloss varnish in a few places followed by a brown pin wash.


I need to dirty up the handle a little but it looks good.

i primed the wings and airframe, dealt with the flaws and superglued the exhausts into place.

I am now ready to start painting.

 

[stona]

Looking very nice, for all the trials and tribulations!

 

[tr1ckey66]

Looking really good Barry

 

[BarryW]

Looking very nice, for all the trials and tribulations!

The only real problems are a result of the terrible instructions Steve, the plastic is as good as gold. I have had a little bit of warping (not as bad as the warping on the Airfix plastic) that was easy to deal with. The actual build is pretty much trouble free as long as you can get your head around how it all goes together.

This morning I sneaked into the garage and sprayed some colour...


Later I will seperate those parts that dont need any detail painting or more work until I get to the varnish stage. The others will have some detail painting to do and the interior 'bits' will need weathering as well. I am debating leaving the wings off until final fittings, the fit is that good. Not decided yet.

 

[BarryW]

I have been working on the subs.
Detail painting and a few decals










I am waiting for decal solution to dry, then I will be weathering. But, in the meantime some subs need ‘pulling together‘.

 

[BarryW]

Weathering of the internals is under way...

Looking at Facebook modelling sites I see a lot of comments regarding weathering such as;
’i prefer the clean newly painted look’
or
’i dont want to risk spoiling the model’
or
’i can’t get the hang of weathering’
and similar comments that you don’t see so much on specialist forums such as this one.

Well, in many cases I really don’t think that they get the point and what they are really saying is, I cannot be arsed or they are scared of it.

In my view weathering is a catch all word that covers a whole range of different processes and treatments designed to make a model look more realistic. Without such processes all you get is something that looks like painted plastic and that’s not really what modelling is all about.

This is my favourite stage as it is what makes a model come to life and start to look like the real thing.

It does not have to make a subject look all dirty and muddy. Even a ‘newly minted’ aircraft on arrival at a squadron will have been flown, probably more than once and will show some signed of that. Even if perfectly clean, looking at a full size aircraft it can look different in different types of light, what is more large irregular shaped surfaces do not look a ‘constant’ even shade because of the way light reflects off the surface. A small model will not look like the real thing without help from the modeller.

Weathering need not be complex or even particularly time consuming. Some modellers seem to spend ages applying lots of different washes, dry brushing and other treatments obtaining outstanding results exhibiting the patience of a saint. The truth is that you can get a decent result with much less effort and, indeed, even some small and basic treatments can make a world of difference.

I don’t have the patience of a saint and I fall somewhere in between those who might just dry brush to make detail pop and those who go the whole hog...

The truth is I started the weathering as soon as I first laid down a primer and, of course, I did some weathering to the cockpit. Now though the weathering starts in ernest. A black primer helps create shadows in detail and helps modulate the colour. This is reinforced by washes and then by dry brushing you can really make detail pop. Just washes and dry brushing alone can make the world of difference and it is so easy.

These are the wheel well doors. They were sprayed RLM02 over black primer and then I did a dark brown pin wash sealing it all with a matt varnish. These are not finished yet. I will be dry brushing with Uschi Metal Powder, chrome type, to make it look like painted metal. I will focus on edges and ridges where the metal powder catches the light.

The photo provides much more contrast than is really the case thanks to the really harsh lighting.

below is a wheel well, with u/c leg, at the same stage.


That looks a little better than the wheel well doors, perhaps because it is not in quite as much direct light. As well as Uschi Metal Powder I will also dry brush a dark earth pigment inside the wheel well to depict dirt and mud. It won’t be too heavy, just enough to aid realism. I will show more photos when these are finished and I will try to get better lighting.

I have also temporarily attached the nose cone ready for painting.


You can see the perfect fit. The Micro Liquitape is ideal for this. When painted I will remove this and insert the guns, the whole assembly will then be glued into place.

hopefully I can get on a bit more later today and post more progress pics.

 

[stona]

Weathering is subject to fashion. I think that the reaction to over weathering was really a reaction to the Spanish school of modelling.

I'm only commenting on aircraft models, I would not consider myself qualified to pass any comment on any other category.

For me it is an attempt to make a model look less like plastic and more like metal (or whatever). It is also dependent on the subject. I recently made a Spitfire I of the Battle of Britain era, an aircraft which would have been subject to a daily inspection before the Form 700 releasing it for service was signed. That inspection included, for example, a cleaning of the wheel wells, so wheel wells full of mud and oil would not be appropriate.

Weathering is not technically difficult, it is getting it right that is, whether you strive for realism or a certain currently fashionable 'look'. Knowing your subject, construction techniques, having good references and knowing something of the maintenance procedures of the time can all help with the former. If you want a currently fashionable look, then there are plenty of videos and magazines explaining how that can be achieved.

 

[BarryW]

Got in for a lunchtime session.

Here is a wheel well after pigments.



The wheels really come up well with some metal powder dry brushed on the hubs and dark earth pigment on the tyres.



All that is left to paint and weather is below after masking the wheel wells. I have decided to paint before joining the wings to fuselage. Test fits suggests it should be fine but if the join needs treating then repainting the join area should be easier than painting this as all one unit.

 

[Komedy]

Some great pictures of your progress and a really nice thread to follow seeing it come together.

 

[flyjoe180]

Coming along nicely Barry, clean build progress as always from you.

 

[BarryW]

I had a session spraying the undersides with RLM76.

This is where the black basing pays off most, on the lighter colour.
Hopefully the pictures show the effect of the modulation that you can get.



I will be spraying yellow at the ends of the wings, hence being left with just primer.


The colour modulation shows best of the sides of the fuselage. One trick is to ensure that it is not too neat, even and tidy. I find the construction of a 110 and 109 with the evenly spaced vertical panels is always a good subject for this. The way I did this tricks the eye to look like a stressed metal effect.

After spraying the base coat I did my MLT trick, a mist coat of Mr Levelling Thinner which reactivated the paint and, in doing so, it levels any slight roughness caused by vortexes and any variation in the distance that I sprayed. It always improves the overall appearance of a model.

One final note. The observant might have seen that the a.m. schemes don’t have red propeller boss tips... Yes I have decided to go with a kit scheme instead, due to how well the decals went down on the i.p. The am set is held in reserve in case its needed.

 

[minitnkr]

I see why you prefer the larger scales. The details & finishes possible are just amazing. Some beautiful work here. PaulE

 

[BarryW]

more painting progress.








masking up for RLM74



Easy masking these straight lines.

 

[BarryW]

I have finished painting the camo scheme including the yellow fuselage band.





A dry fit of the wings. I will paint the details before cementing the wings into place.

 

[stona]

Fantastic job Barry, but that's MRP's RLM 74?

 

[KarlW]

Fantastic job Barry, but that's MRP's RLM 74?

I think Mr Color also goes for a more green shade of Graugrun......and wasn't there two versions?