**** DONE: 1/48 BF109F-2 "Hermännchen" - Winter War / Eastern Front WWII

[Crimea_River]

Username: Crimea River
First name: Andy
Category: Judge – Non competing
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Zvezda
Model Type: Bf109F-4
Aftermarket addons: Eagle Strike Decals, Eduard PE Seat Belts and some scratch building in cockpit and engine area.

This model will challenge my airbrushing skills further to depict Ufz Peter Bremer's Black 12 of 2/JG54 in Russia in Autumn 1941. The standard 74/75/76 camo scheme has been heavily modified in the field with a heavy mottling of RLM02, 70, and 79.

 

[Crimea_River]

Well it's just 3 hours until August 1 so I thought I'd kick off the proceedings with my first entry. The aircraft described in the above intro carries a distinctive and impressive camouflage pattern designed to blend in with the autumn landscape. I have just a few reference pics for this rig which should do me fine, though I'd welcome anything else someone might want to provide:

The kit that I will use will be the venerable Zvezda 109F-4 which is arguably the best 1/48 109F kit available today. Here are some pics of the box contents:

The sturdy box (something all manufacturers would do well to copy) reveals many sprues of beautifully detailed parts.

A full engine, complete with separate exhaust stacks, is provided along with some nice, delicate machine guns.

The wing underside displays some fine surface details as well as extensive removable panels with interior rib details though none of this will really be featured in my build.

The wheel wells are impressive. Whereas most manufactures will give you a rudimentary molded detail to close the walls, this kit provides a separate, detailed assembly with lightening holes and simulated fabric covers with webbing.

The clear parts are not the best I`ve seen but are passable. A dip in Future should make these shine. Plenty of spares here!

Black 12 is an F-2 which likely featured the reinforcing strips at the rear fuselage. Fortunately, two tail options are provided including the one I need.

The wheels are nicely molded and should look the part.

More details. All of the control surfaces, leading edge slats, and radiator louvers are separate parts which will allow them to be posed in any position desired, something I wish all manufacturers would do.

Zvezda even went to the trouble to accurately depict the lightening holes in the spinner back plate. Very cool.

One knock against this kit are the decals (at right) which, although they look nice, are reputed to be quite good at refusing to co-operate when applying them to the model. They are supposedly very stiff and do not conform to surface details. I ran into the same thing with my ICM kits so these will likely be binned. On the left is the Eagle Strike decal sheet that features the scheme that I want.

So far, I`ve been able to resist starting this build and am now looking forward to starting on it this weekend.

 

[Rogi]

Great choice and can't wait to see her

 

[fubar57]

All right Andy, jumping in. I'm pretty sure, I think, I have a Zveda kit downstairs so I'll definitely be bookmarking this for future reference. I also bought the Eagle Strike decals for the purpose of building the same aircraft. However, the photo was about the same size as yours and I thought the pattern was dabbled rather than sprayed so I'll probably do "Yellow 6" instead. Build on, oh Master.

Geo

 

[parsifal]

Ill be very interested to see your methods of tackling the paint scheme, which is technically very similar to the heja i want to enter .

Let the building begin....

 

[imalko]

Nice choice Andy. Looking forward to your build.

 

[Lucky13]

Super!

 

[destrozas]

great choose,

 

[JKim]

Very cool choice Andy! I've never even heard of Zvezda but that kit looks incredibly well-molded! Looking forward to your build!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks all. Hope I can do it justice. My plan is to do a fully detailed engine compartment with open cowls. It would be a shame to waste all those nice details that come with this kit. Even the ribbing inside the cowls is nicely done.

 

[mikewint]

Nice Andy, I've got 5 109's but nothing like this. I've done mottled before but only one color and the "squiggy" cammo was a real PIA. Not even sure where I'd start this cammo scheme

 

[Crimea_River]

I don't think it'll be as bad as it seems. I'll start with the base 74/75/76 scheme, which is pretty straight forward, and then apply random splotches of 02, 70, and 79 over top, taking care to keep the patches small and random while taking care that I don't do too much to obliterate the underlying factory scheme. Famous last words.....

 

[Wurger]

 

[mikewint]

Sounds like a workable plan...Fingers crossed

 

[chris brown]

Sweet kit and impressive choice of markings!

 

[vikingBerserker]

Very nice choice!

 

[Lucky13]

Looking forward to this one Andy....

 

[Wayne Little]

Go for it Andy, the Zvezda kit is a nice bird...

 

[Crimea_River]

The build has commenced with the engine and firewall. Seen here are both assembled and unpainted.

The engine is fairly straight forward and nicely detailed but it does have a few bits missing that I'll need to scratch build (lifting eyes, ignition harnesses, spark plug leads, oil hoses, etc.) The bits you see above amount to forty-three individual parts, including the twelve separate exhaust stubs which are, somewhat disappointingly, not hollowed out. I'm debating whether I'll spend the time and effort to do this. The firewall also includes excellent detail, including individual ammo boxes for the MG17s as well as all the major parts for the MG151 cannon. For anyone who has ever wondered how the "engine-mounted" cannon worked, this is a great kit to see the setup.

Below are the two above assemblies dry-fitted together and with the basic colours applied. Before painting, I had to add my first piece of scratch build, and that was the extension of the turbocharger scroll outlet piece toward the area between the engine cylinder banks, a noticeable omission. After painting the engine a lightened black (Tamiya flat black with a drop or two of white), I sprayed a light coat of Future over it to give it a more realistic appearance.

At this point, I need to check whether the ammo boxes for the MG17s were bare aluminum or painted. If anyone knows, please share!

 

[mikewint]

Very nice Andy, the Future gives it a nice metallic cast. Looks like Tamiya's Metallic Grey to a degree