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

[Crimea_River]

Well it's not quite 100% ready for the close-up but it'll survive an eyeball inspection. Here's the finished cowl with everything rescribed and primed. The little scoop just behind the hole for the starter crank has had the opening drilled out. Next, the wings will go on and I'll eventually need to repaint the exhaust stacks.

 

[Wurger]

Looking good though.

 

[JKim]

Cowling looks spot on!

 

[mikewint]

Looks darn good from here as well

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Good stage to be at Andy, all the innards and fiddlies done and out of the way

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks everyone. Vic there's a bit more fiddley work to do yet as will be seen.

Started welding the wings on at lunch, front and back seams only. The wing roots will be glued when I can take more time to set the dihedral properly.

 

[rochie]

Nice job Andy

 

[Wayne Little]

Good stuff Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

As few things bug me more than a wrong dihedral, I usually don't hurry this aspect and make sure that I set the model up securely before gluing the wings to the fuselage. Below shows how I clamped the model down and adjusted the dihedral by rolling pencils in and out. First I made sure the fuselage center was perfectly perpendicular by checking with a cabinet maker's square Once that was checked, the dihedral was checked at the wing tips against some scale drawings I have as well as my Mk1 eyeball. As it turned out, had I closed the gape in the wing root, the diherdal would have been too much so I inserted some plastic card in the joint before running some Tamiya Extra Thin Cement along it.

Before I let go the clamp and pencils, I'll also add the horizontal stabilizers to make sure they are nice and square.

 

[fubar57]

Like the looks of that dihedral squaring method

Geo

 

[Slam]

Hear, hear. Good approach. One sees a lot of flat Messerschmitt models. I agree the proper dihedral is important.

Ever build the ICM/Revell Germany 109F? I did once, set up the dihedral so it looked good and the soft plastic has been sagging ever since. Those wings need some Viagra.

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[Lucky13]

Hear, hear. Good approach. One sees a lot of flat Messerschmitt models. I agree the proper dihedral is important.

Ever build the ICM/Revell Germany 109F? I did once, set up the dihedral so it looked good and the soft plastic has been sagging ever since. Those wings need some Viagra.

Whip it into the glue?

Looking smart mate!

 

[mikewint]

Those are great clamps. Got a set a few months and love them. Can't say I pay much attention to that except that one wing not be higher than the other.
Great technique

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks everyone. Simon, I built the ICM kit (but not aware of a Revell connection though) and thoroughly enjoyed it. Plastic is soft but no issues with sagging so far. http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/-13-your-favorite-aircraft-of-all-time/1-48-bf109f-4-steinhoff-favorite-aircraft-time-gb-31793.html

 

[Gnomey]

Looking good so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Hugh.

The wing roots got my attention today. Two bouts of sanding and priming followed by a rescribe got me to this point. The starboard root at the leading edge just needs a bit more work.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Like the way you attack that dihedral Andy, I really mist get me a couple of those clamps.

 

[javlin]

You have the intricacies of these 109's worked out Andy

 

[Slam]

Nice to know you're not sagging.

You sure got the measure of that ICM kit - that build looks great. And your preamble to the thread certainly stuck a chord with me. I don't know what it is about 109s, but I love them.