**** DONE: 1/48 Bf109F-4 J.Steinhoff - Your Favorite Aircraft of All Time GB

Went OK and will now move on, although there's still a slight mismatch in sheen. As Terry suggested, I'll do a bit of scuffing done around the walkways anyway and should finish her off this weekend.

Here we go with update pics. First is a close-up of the final repair. The overall area was given a very quick wet sanding with very fine paper to even out the sheen. Did this on both wings and went a bit more heavily in the walk zone to polish it up. The cowl and support strut have now been fixed to the model as can be seen in the second and final pic. Note that the white mark over the JG 52 shield and to its 10 o'clock is just some sanding residue that I failed to whipe away. It's gone now.

Very little left to do now:

Attach canopy and its cable stop
Antenna wire
Mass balances on the ailerons which need to be reduced in size somehow and attached
Minor touchups and paint chipping.

Thanks again for checking up on this.

Fantastic work Andy!!!

Great work Andy, particularly like that hanging harness strap, very personnel touch.

Cheers guys.

Well done Andy. I like it very much.

Great stuff Andy, and I like that hanging harness strap too. Missed one small area though, if you want to add them - the diagonal hand-holds/bracing at the top corners of the windscreen, and the small UV lamps at the bottom of the vertical frames. Shame to leave these off, with all that other detail.

another great result Andy

Looking good Andy!

Airframes said:

Great stuff Andy, and I like that hanging harness strap too. Missed one small area though, if you want to add them - the diagonal hand-holds/bracing at the top corners of the windscreen, and the small UV lamps at the bottom of the vertical frames. Shame to leave these off, with all that other detail.

Click to expand...

Do I detect somebody baiting!!

damn fine effort Andy...

Thanks guys.

Terry, thanks for the reminder on the hand holds. I fully intended to add those but forgot to add to the punch list. As for the lamps, that was a miss and I'll need to look into that.

Very nice!

Sorry Andy - I know it's irritating when something has been missed, then pointed out by someone else!
But it really would be a shame to see it getting the Silver instead of the Gold, for such a small omission. Add those bits, and it's sure to be a winner.

Please Terry, it's not irritating at all! On the contrary, I welcome the feedback and hope that no-one holds back on anything they notice that could be made better. So please pipe up if you see anything!

The windscreen before and after installing the handholds and the small lights on the vertical posts:




Next it was on to the antenna wire. I made two small cones from plastic card that was punched with an awl and cut on the flat. After putting a small hole in the apex with a needle the cones were carefully threaded onto a length of nylon thread and the end on the mast was glued down with CA. Once that was secure, I set up this rig to stretch and attach the "wire" to the small post on the fin with CA. I find this technique the most effective in getting a tight wire with minimal fiddling. It just takes a bit of patience to find an object of sufficient mass and the right height to allow the thread to drape over the post whilst holding it tight for gluing. The post had a small trough cut into it with an x-acto blade to make sure the thread stayed in position.



Here's the finished detail on the fin. A couple blobs of glue painted in a steel colour finishes this area off.



The wire entering the fuselage was then attached after first gluing a piece of Evergreen rod to the fuselage to represent the insulator.



The next two shots show the canopy fixed in the open position. The restraining cable was made of stretched sprue as was the little spring on the fixed end. I did note and install the two samll braces from the armour plate to the rear edge of the canopy as well, these having also been made of stretched sprue. Also seen in these two pics is the forward end of the antenna wire with the small cone.




Here's a shot of the finished engine compartment with the cowl support strut finished and painted 02. Oil stains have been added along the panel lines in the yellow area as you can see.



The last bit to go on will be the aileron mass balances which, as I mentioned earlier, are a bit on the large side. Shown below are both the kit parts with the one on the left seen as supplied and the one on the right having received a haircut from me. Once bother are done, these will be glued on when I'm convinced that there will be a minimum of further handling.



Thanks again everyone and, please, all constructive criticism and suggestions are most welcome. That's part of why I'm here!

no criticism from me Andy, just applause

Ditto!

Beautiful work Wayno ........ I mean Andy

Beaut job Andy, a real gem! I love the way you make those insulating cones - something beyond me these days, with my knackered hands!
I see a Gold on the horizon, maybe even 'Best in Show'.

Excellent work Andy!