**** DONE: 1/48 Bf 109F-2 - Winter War / Eastern Front WWII

[fubar57]

User Name: fubar57
Name: George
Category: Advanced
Kit: ICM
Accessories: Eagle Strike decals, wire stuff.

This model represents the aircraft "Yellow 6" Jg.54, winter, 1941

Geo

 

[fubar57]

I've never built an ICM kit before, so if anyone can tell me what to expect and be aware of, it would be greatly appreciated.The inside of the box...

...as can be seen in the final photo, not much to show in the cockpit so this will be my first attempt at greatly improving it. The profile from the Eagle Strike decals...

This will be my reference source for the innards

The machine...

Geo

EDIT: I didn't like the looks of the instrument panel so I just ordered this from Airscale...

 

[Crimea_River]

Very cool choice Geo. That winter camo is well worn on this aircraft. Yellow nose may have faint traces of the white left. Main gear legs have the covers left off. My reference (Jagdwaffe Vol 3) says the underlying camo was a modified 70/71 over 76 but I'm not sure what that means specifically.

The ICM kit is nice but it has its faults. I used one to build the Steinhoff 109 for GB 13 and you can have a look there to see what to watch out for.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks Andy. Will have to sort out the paint scheme in the future, Eagle Strike says 74/75/76. Monogram Painting Guide....gives the dates of said color scheme as June 24,'41 for the change over and Aug. 15,'41 as the date Messerschmitt put out it's paint chart. The same book also says the change over for the cockpit colors, from RLM02 to RLM66 was Nov. '41. I don't have the W.Nr. for it so not sure when it was made. Off to have a look at your build.

Geo

 

[Crimea_River]

The standard factory 74/75/76 scheme would likely have been overpainted with 70 and 71 at the unit level, a common practice with JG 54. The question is, what did it look like? Could be similar to this, though this is a later scheme:

 

[fubar57]

Son of a......Thanks again Andy. I gotta start portraying aircraft that follow factory standards. I have a few Jg.54 specific books and others I can look through.

Geo

EDIT: Reading Andy's(Crimea_River) thread on the aircraft and I succumbed to peer pressure and ordered this...

 

[Crimea_River]

Well, that didn't take much....

 

[Wurger]

 

[fubar57]

Thank you Wojtek. I was going through the Monogram Painting Guide and it mentions that as well as the cockpit color change over in Nov. '41, the instrument panel was painted RLM 41, a gray color very similar to the color seen on the P.E. fret(pt.#6) in Post#6 though the majority of the I.P. photos I've seen show a darker color. Any thoughts on this? I won't get started on the innards until the P.E. arrives but I am going to get things going by joining the cowlings to the fuselage halves.

Geo

 

[Crimea_River]

I use RLM66 for the IP. I find the Eduard colours a bit on the blue side.

 

[Wurger]

I agree with Andy. The RLM 66 should be the colour.

 

[Wayne Little]

If your talking June 41 then I suspect the greens would not have been applied at the unit level just yet until they advanced further into Russia and then saw the need for the colour change. Various greens were certainly applied at later stages, whether this aircraft had the change is a coin toss but with a white overspray pretty much covering most of the aircraft it probably won't matter which underlying colour combo you choose...

 

[fubar57]

Thanks for the I.P. confirmation Andy and Wojtek. Truth be told, I've never seen one in the grey color except for Eduards site and the Monogram book has the RLM 41 chip right above a photo of an I.P. in RLM 66. As for the camo colors, I picked up colors for both the green and gray schemes today. I've found photos of aircraft in Nov.'41 in greens and summer '42 in greys. I'm not sure how I'm going to tackle the winter scheme yet, either apply the camo and white wash or apply white and dry brush the wear areas.

Geo

 

[Crimea_River]

Personally, I'd go with white over a camo scheme. I think you'd do well going with a basic dark green underneath and then spraying the white over that in varying thicknesses to allow some to show through. As Wayne says, the colour won't matter much if you go this route.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks Andy. Just read this by Michael Ullmann...Green Fighters of the Eastern Front - JG 54 Colors in Russia by Michael Ullman
Now that would be an interesting scheme.
Geo

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Almost missed this one Geo. Looks like your set with a whole bunch of info chucked in for free, looking forward to watching this one develop.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks for popping in Vic. With Andy's thread pinned, I should be able to by-pass any problems. Even though the aircraft is going to be white(Good Gawd...didn't I say my last build was going to be my last white aircraft?) I want the underlaying camo to show through. Having spent the last few days going through the web and books, I came up with multiple schemes including a few that mention non RLM colors. Nothing is conclusive and I could spend the rest of the build looking for the answer. Ergo, I'm going with this pattern(Not sure if it's an F-2 or -4). It might not be right but at the end of the day I can have the color demarcations blurred by the white(groan!!!) paint...

I'm off to camp a day early tomorrow, so this will begin in earnest next week

Geo

EDIT: anyone else just see the link and not the photo, having to click on the link to see the photo?
EDIT THE EDIT: I came back minutes ago, clicked the link and it said "invalid attachment", so I deleted the photo and reposted it. I can still only use the basic uploader

 

[Crimea_River]

Pic is there for me Geo.

 

[Wurger]

Initially I have seen the link only. But it worked when clicking. Now I can see the pic only.

 

[JKim]

Another Grunherz! It should be a nice complement to my Butcher Bird. Although I am happy with the results, I think my white could've been applied a little bit lighter or at least more sporadically so make sure you use thin coats of white.