Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Nice work and good save John, and good lnfo from Wojtek too.
**** DONE: 1/48 Bf 109E-4 Von Werra - Defense of Britain/Atlantic.
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Crimea_River
Marshal
Looks good John and nice save. I've done that before on a finish-painted surface.
- Thread starter
- #43
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Whoa... did you use debonder to remove it? At any rate, the paint job must've been affected.
Looking around my spares box, I came across a possible wing gun replacement but the barrel style isn't exactly right. I'll have to do some more looking but this is an option. I could possibly attempt micro-surgery and swap out just the conical muzzle part? Not sure I could do it straight and centered enough to be convincing.
The engine components are glued together, leaving out the specified pieces for the closed cowling option.
The exhaust stacks are individual pieces. The ends aren't exactly hollow. More like depressed so I took the time to gouge out the openings a little bit deeper on each one.
With the exhaust stacks glued onto the engine, I started pre-fitting it to the fuselage sides to check fit and how easy/hard it will be to mask the exhausts. I can either paint them now and mask the exhausts or I can mask around the exhausts and paint them after the camo.
Turning my attention to the prop and spinner, I did a little research into the presence of a nose cannon in the E-4. Although the nose cannon was introduced with the E-1, due to mechanical issues, it did not become fully operational until the F series. The Eduard kit does not depict this cannon.
But the picture of the crashed 1408 seems to indicate something in that hole in the spinner. It looks too big to be a cannon barrel... some sort of tube or sleeve?
I can depict whatever it is with a piece of plastic tubing.
I also noticed that the spinner backplate is colored differently than the spinner (which is black and white). Any guesses on what that color(s) might be?
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Excellent start John and good detail.
With my Eduard kit I glued the painted exhausts on the engine block before enclosing within the fuselage, I found that these exhausts fit so snugly it was not possible to attach later. So I built the engine, doing all the detail, including engine mounts and exhausts. This was then attached to the gun platform. At this stage I had already closed up the cockpit part but not glued the engine housing (the nose bits). I was then able on a number of occasions able to delicately manoeuvre the whole engine, exhaust and gun platform into place to get a good fit.
For spaying, I did some delicate masking.
Edit: We just crossed posts.
With my Eduard kit I glued the painted exhausts on the engine block before enclosing within the fuselage, I found that these exhausts fit so snugly it was not possible to attach later. So I built the engine, doing all the detail, including engine mounts and exhausts. This was then attached to the gun platform. At this stage I had already closed up the cockpit part but not glued the engine housing (the nose bits). I was then able on a number of occasions able to delicately manoeuvre the whole engine, exhaust and gun platform into place to get a good fit.
For spaying, I did some delicate masking.
Edit: We just crossed posts.
The protruding part is a piece of the prop hub. In fact it seems to be a relic of the idea for the nose cannon atttaching.
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- Thread starter
- #46
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Yes, I noticed the tight fit myself. One of the exhaust stacks pulled loose and remained in the fuselage slot when I removed the engine. As far as the other components go, it looks like I can attach the cockpit and gun platform AFTER the fuselage halves are joined. I will explore this option as a way of ensuring a good fit of the multiple cowling pieces.
Excellent reference pictures, Wojtek! Exactly what I was looking for! Let me stew on those a bit and see if I can replicate that area a little better than I have.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Good stuff. And I agree about the engine cannon - contrary to the myth at the time, nose cannons were not operational during WW2 until the 'F' series.
That spinner back plate is very possibly black, with the lighting and contrast making it appear lighter. However, if it is a different colour, then I'd go for the original factory finish of RLM 70.
That spinner back plate is very possibly black, with the lighting and contrast making it appear lighter. However, if it is a different colour, then I'd go for the original factory finish of RLM 70.
Nicely done so far!
Crimea_River
Marshal
John, the repair on the spill on my P-40 was done by sanding and repainting the area.
For the conical piece on the end of your gun barrel, consider chopping off the short-shot piece and replacing it with a conical piece of stretched sprue. You can get the right shape from near the end of the stretched section where it tapers into the unmelted sprue. Pnce glued onto the barrel with CA, you can drill out the end.
For the conical piece on the end of your gun barrel, consider chopping off the short-shot piece and replacing it with a conical piece of stretched sprue. You can get the right shape from near the end of the stretched section where it tapers into the unmelted sprue. Pnce glued onto the barrel with CA, you can drill out the end.
- Thread starter
- #51
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
I'll try that Andy! I love this place... so good to learn all of this stuff!
Continuing on with the spinner hub... using the same idea, I cut a new piece of circular plastic rod but I drill some holes perpendicular to the tube to match the archive photos.
Using progressively larger drill bits, I thin the walls of the tubing carefully. And then I cut the length of the piece to fit.
I can start painting the prop components. The prop blades are black green with hub in Alclad Aluminum.
The spinner backplate was painted half RLM 71 Green and half RLM 02 Grey to match the different tones in the crash picture. Not sure if that's right but it's a good enough guess. The spinner is painted in white prior to masking off the black. The scratchbuilt tube is painted in aluminum.
While the spinner dries, I worked a little on the exhausts. Here is the engine with all of the exhaust stacks glued into place. Note the ends have been hollowed out a little more with an x-acto.
The exhaust stacks were painted first in Alclad Stainless Steel, which is a dark metallic grey. A light coat of Alclad Exhaust Manifold is misted over that. I then lightly spray each tip with a mixture of Tamiya Red Brown and Red. Finally the open ends are spot sprayed with a highly thinned black.
I'm going to try and mask of the exhausts after installing the engine in the fuselage but if that doesn't work, I'll do the above all over again.
Crimea_River
Marshal
Another museum piece in the works. Awesome work man.
Looks brilliant John
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Nice work John.
I'd go with the original RLM 70 on purely practical grounds. It is very easy to remove the spinner and paint it however you like (including Staffel colours, spirals or, as here, black and white quarters!) but not so easy to remove the back plate, leaving only the option of a tricky painting or masking job.
Cheers
Steve
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
I agree.
Crimea_River
Marshal
Steve is once again making perfect sense.
- Thread starter
- #59
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
That makes sense to me. I'll overspray the backplate with RLM 70 Schwarzgrun but leave the RLM 02 on there too. I could be wrong but the backplate does not seem to be one uniform color.
A little more work on the Emil today. I tried Andy's brilliant suggestion for the barrel fix. It took a few tries to get the right piece of stretched sprue. At 1/48 scale, the barrel shroud is a tiny piece and I didn't think I'd be able to hollow it out after its glued on so I did it prior to cutting off the piece.
The little conical piece is glued on to the end of the gun barrel. It's difficult to get the barrel both centered AND sitting straight. It looks ok in the pic yes? It's the one on the left if you couldn't tell. But further inspection shows that it is slightly off-centered AND sitting slightly crooked. Depending on how the gun is mounted, it may not be noticeable to the casual observer but it bothers me and I'll have to give her another go.
A little work on the wheel wells. The wheel wells are nicely boxed using one piece that goes around each wheel perimeter.
The wheel well is preshaded using black. Testing to see if selective pre-shading instead of giving the entire well a coat of black makes any difference. Could be a time/paint-saver.
The wells are painted RLM 02. These will be weathered when dry.
Just a heads up guys... I'll be leaving on a 2-day fishing trip tomorrow evening so I won't be around for a few days. I'll probably do a little modeling tomorrow morning so I may have a short update but just in case... I'll see you all next week!
A little more work on the Emil today. I tried Andy's brilliant suggestion for the barrel fix. It took a few tries to get the right piece of stretched sprue. At 1/48 scale, the barrel shroud is a tiny piece and I didn't think I'd be able to hollow it out after its glued on so I did it prior to cutting off the piece.
The little conical piece is glued on to the end of the gun barrel. It's difficult to get the barrel both centered AND sitting straight. It looks ok in the pic yes? It's the one on the left if you couldn't tell. But further inspection shows that it is slightly off-centered AND sitting slightly crooked. Depending on how the gun is mounted, it may not be noticeable to the casual observer but it bothers me and I'll have to give her another go.
A little work on the wheel wells. The wheel wells are nicely boxed using one piece that goes around each wheel perimeter.
The wheel well is preshaded using black. Testing to see if selective pre-shading instead of giving the entire well a coat of black makes any difference. Could be a time/paint-saver.
The wells are painted RLM 02. These will be weathered when dry.
Just a heads up guys... I'll be leaving on a 2-day fishing trip tomorrow evening so I won't be around for a few days. I'll probably do a little modeling tomorrow morning so I may have a short update but just in case... I'll see you all next week!
