Good work so far Andy!
**** DONE: 1/48 Bf109G-6 "Yellow 17" - Night War of WWII
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Vic Balshaw
Major General
Going good Andy.
- Thread starter
- #23
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks everyone. I spent some quality time yesterday and today finishing off the wings and other odds and sods so here's a step by step.
The next thing to do on the flaps is to create the rounded leading edges. For this, I split some styrene tube in half along the length and then CA glued them to the flap. It's important to keep them flush to the top surface as the bottom surface will tuck into the wing and will not be seen.
Next, the edges of the wing cut-out need to be filed and scraped down to a knife edge so that the flaps, when inserted, come to an almost flush edge.
The wings are then installed onto the fuselage before the flaps are put on. The reason for that is that I wanted to allow easy adjustment of the upper wing surface at the wing root. Had I glued the flaps in first, it would have stiffened the wing too much. Once the wings were glued on and set, the flaps were then installed.
The other thing I had to do before gluing the wings on was to fix the non-existent oil cooler exit duct.
Sheet styrene to the rescue...
Another thing this kit got wrong was the engine cowl panel detailing. The long piano hinge stops too short and needed to be extended. A piece of stretched sprue did the trick and this will be filed down and serrated with a knife to simulate the hinge extension.
While in the mood, I got on with cutting out the leading edge slats. My photo-etched saws are essential for this. After digging a groove with an x-acto blade, the saws are used to deepen the cut until through, and then the cut is continued to the intersecting cuts.
Thin styrene card is CA glued into the opening and small, thick bits of card glued on to support the slats.
The trailing edge of the slats are scraped and filed to a knife edge before CA gluing them to the supports.
And this is how she looks now. The seams have been painted with left over dark grey cockpit colour.
I'm beginning to wonder what the colour of the top surface camo should be and am open to suggestions from our LW experts.
The next thing to do on the flaps is to create the rounded leading edges. For this, I split some styrene tube in half along the length and then CA glued them to the flap. It's important to keep them flush to the top surface as the bottom surface will tuck into the wing and will not be seen.
Next, the edges of the wing cut-out need to be filed and scraped down to a knife edge so that the flaps, when inserted, come to an almost flush edge.
The wings are then installed onto the fuselage before the flaps are put on. The reason for that is that I wanted to allow easy adjustment of the upper wing surface at the wing root. Had I glued the flaps in first, it would have stiffened the wing too much. Once the wings were glued on and set, the flaps were then installed.
The other thing I had to do before gluing the wings on was to fix the non-existent oil cooler exit duct.
Sheet styrene to the rescue...
Another thing this kit got wrong was the engine cowl panel detailing. The long piano hinge stops too short and needed to be extended. A piece of stretched sprue did the trick and this will be filed down and serrated with a knife to simulate the hinge extension.
While in the mood, I got on with cutting out the leading edge slats. My photo-etched saws are essential for this. After digging a groove with an x-acto blade, the saws are used to deepen the cut until through, and then the cut is continued to the intersecting cuts.
Thin styrene card is CA glued into the opening and small, thick bits of card glued on to support the slats.
The trailing edge of the slats are scraped and filed to a knife edge before CA gluing them to the supports.
And this is how she looks now. The seams have been painted with left over dark grey cockpit colour.
I'm beginning to wonder what the colour of the top surface camo should be and am open to suggestions from our LW experts.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Well done Andy.
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Great scalpel work, Dr Andy! What does the EagleCal instructions say about the camo of Yellow 17? They usually include good documentation on their Luftwaffe subjects.
nicely done Andy, as per the profile the upper surfaces have a heavy overspray of Grey(s), hard to tell just what,Original photo's are a little indistinct though most likely an extension of the 74/75 original pattern with Black lower surface.
- Thread starter
- #27
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks for the input guys. John, the Eaglecals just say a very dark grey overspray and they are most likely just referring to the few pics in the reference I posted at the beginning which, as Wayne says, are pretty indistinct.
Nicely done so far Andy!
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Very nicely done.
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
I would echo Wayne's rec of 74/75 on the top.
- Thread starter
- #32
Crimea_River
Marshal
Close study of the few available pics show no evidence of different shades on the upper surfaces so I'm going to go with RLM 75 over the entire topi side.
When I got to installing the tailplanes, I noticed that the Academy stabs look really odd. The leading edges aren't swept enough. Luckily, the two Hasegawa kits in my stash have extras so I removed the Academy ones and replaced them with Hasegawa one. Below is the before (top) and after.
Maybe we'll see a coat of 75 get squirted on tomorrow, depending on how the canopy goes.
When I got to installing the tailplanes, I noticed that the Academy stabs look really odd. The leading edges aren't swept enough. Luckily, the two Hasegawa kits in my stash have extras so I removed the Academy ones and replaced them with Hasegawa one. Below is the before (top) and after.
Maybe we'll see a coat of 75 get squirted on tomorrow, depending on how the canopy goes.
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Good move Andy.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Good stuff Andy, and thanks for the warning re the tail-planes. I'll have to re-profile them in my Academy kit when I get to it - and I'll also check those in the Hobbycraft '109E kits too, as I believe they're from the same moulds used by Academy.
- Thread starter
- #36
Crimea_River
Marshal
Yep, had the same issue on my Hobbycraft 109G but I guess I let it go on that one.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
I would never have noticed if you hadn't mentioned it.
According to FalkeEins' site aircraft of of III./JG 300 never used the vertical III. Gruppe Balken. And the trim tabs seem to be like those used for G-10 and later types. But it might have depended on a factory of course.
Unless thats's the shot of Bf 109 G6/R6 used by Gerhard Stamp ,Staffelkapitän of 8./JG 300 in November 1943.
Unless thats's the shot of Bf 109 G6/R6 used by Gerhard Stamp ,Staffelkapitän of 8./JG 300 in November 1943.
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Looking good so far Andy!
- Thread starter
- #40
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks guys. Wojtek, yes there is just one pic of Stamp's rig with the yellow vertical bar and that's the one. Lorant and Goyat say the yellow bar and band is inherited from III/JG11 with whom, I believe, 8/JG300 shared it's aircraft in the early days. When Stamp moved to I/JG300, he kept the aircraft but the bar and band were removed. And yes, I was going to shorten the trim tabs to more resemble those in the pic you posted. Good eye.
I didn't get the 75 on today as I'm wrestling with the canopy, which does not fit that great and I need to wait for the putty to dry.
I didn't get the 75 on today as I'm wrestling with the canopy, which does not fit that great and I need to wait for the putty to dry.
