**** DONE: 1/48 Messerschmitt Bf 110 G-2 - Me/ Fw Group Build.

[Crimea_River]

Awesome Gerry! The landing light looks excellent, perhaps better than the kit pices might have turned out.

 

[Wayne Little]

Agree with that!

 

[Airframes]

Me too - looks great Gerry. I seem to recall that Guttorm said that all Luftwaffe landing lamps had an amber lens - might be worth checking. Can easily be done with a coat of clear yellow, or yellow acrylic mixed with 'Future'.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Awesome work Gerry, just awesome.

 

[Gerry]

Me too - looks great Gerry. I seem to recall that Guttorm said that all Luftwaffe landing lamps had an amber lens - might be worth checking. Can easily be done with a coat of clear yellow, or yellow acrylic mixed with 'Future'.

Thanks Terry. Whilst I was aware that the G4 at Hendon has a very obvious Amber tint to its lens. I thought that this was because it was a nightfighter and wouldn't want to advertise its location with a bright white beam, when landing. I'll have a look at how easy/diffcult it is to change it. I don't want it to cause me to miss the deadline, but if it's possible to do in the time frame, I'll have a go at it. And thank you Andy and Vic for your reaction - I'm hoping to post some more pics, this weekend.

 

[Gerry]

And thank you Wayne. Sorry, missed you out on the last post.

 

[Wayne Little]

And thank you Wayne. Sorry, missed you out on the last post.

Ah, no worries mate.....are you gonna be done by Wednesday or will you need a little extra time?

 

[Airframes]

Don't worry about the lamp Gerry, it can always be done at a later date if required.

 

[woody]

Great work Gerry.

 

[Gerry]

Ah, no worries mate.....are you gonna be done by Wednesday or will you need a little extra time?

Well Wayne, I never thought at the beginning of the build that I would be still working on it this close to the deadline! However I'm hoping that I'll have the final shots posted before Wednesday, but i'll be a close thing. I'm assuming I won't have any last minute disasters or my camera won't pack up. And Terry, I even managed to change the colour of the lens. Thanks also to Jerry and here's my latest update.

Photo 1. I got the canopy unmasked. It's OK but I've never been totally happy with my canopy painting to date. I had one panel break on a frame line when I was taking off the masking tape but I think it's a fairly easy fix. I added some grip bars to the front canopy section and some instruments, from the kit, to the middle section, under the radio antenna.

Photos 2 3. I eventually attached the fuel tanks, after repainting. This was fiddly because it was done out of sequence, and with the tubes in position it was very difficult to accurately locate the tank struts. I broke a couple forcing them in but managed to repair them. As you can see I managed to tint the lens of the landing light. I did this the lazy way, tinting the Sellotape with a Sienna pentel that works on shiny surfaces and then putting a new layer of tape over, to protect the tint. The panel around the aperture still needs to be matt-coated.

Photos 4 5. The entire aircraft had already been given a matt coat, then the underside was weathered, mainly using black brown pastels, brushed on, for the exhaust and gunsmoke stains. And that, I think, is the underside completed. The topside got the same treatment for the exhaust stains and the navigation lights have been added to the wing tips. (Forgot to take a c/u of those, wiil do that for next post).


Photos 6 7. The cockpit has been uncovered and finalised before the canopy is attached. This entailed fitting the machine guns and ammo belts to the rear, and the gun sights at the front. In the end, I opted for the tubular roll bars, rather than the head armour behind the pilot, as it looks better and I think is more accurate for the Bf 110G-2, at this period. Some wear needs to be added to the roll bars and to the sills. The little gunsights are a b*gger, as they are so flimsy. I've already knocked one off twice, by just brushing against it, but fortunately recovered it on both occasions. I notice on the second shot that the starboard ammo belt has come away from the gun, which will be fixed before the canopy goes on.

Photo 8. I've started to fit the canopy but can already see the need to close some joins to the fuselage with PVA. At this point the natural light was beginning to go, so I just grabbed this shot against the setting sun, before finishing for the day.

That's where I am Sunday evening. As far as I can see, all that's left to be done is to finish the canopy, add the spinners/props (already painted), the pitot head and the aerial wires, unless I've totally overlooked something. That's apart for some final touching-up of the paintwork and some metal wear around the sills etc. So I'm still hopeful I'll get it submitted in time.

 

[Crimea_River]

Superb work Gerry! The canopy looks fine to me - think you're being a bit hard on yourself as it's a tough subject in 1/48.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Really looking forward to the finished shots.

 

[Wayne Little]

Not bad at all mate!

 

[rochie]

very, very nice Gerry

 

[Gerry]

Superb work Gerry! The canopy looks fine to me - think you're being a bit hard on yourself as it's a tough subject in 1/48.

Thanks Andy for the reassuring comment. I just feel there's some things I've got to improve on if I'm going to be really happy with my builds. And thanks also to Wayne, Vic and Karl. Much appreciated.

Photo 1. So I picked up where I left off yesterday, with the canopy. To be fair when I finished installing it, it wasn't as gappy as I initially thought. Most of the filling was at the rear section, at the gun window. This was filled with PVA, left to dry and touched up.

Photos 2 3. The props, spinners and backplates were then added. They just clipped into position and are turnable. Spots of Superglue are holding the spinners to the backplates and some wear marks were added to the blades.

Photo 4. The rear wheel was added when the main gear was installed - I had just forgotten to photograph it. It just clipped into the pre-moulded bracket, which comes attached to the fuselage in this kit.

Photos 5 6. The navigation lights I forgot to photograph earlier and the pitot head installed on the starboard wing tip. For the lights I nicked Terry's clever idea of painting the positioning recesses in the clear perspex in the appropriate colour, (from his Hurricane build, I think). I was very pleased with the result.

Photo 7. Finally, the wire antennae were strung. Blobs of Superglue were painted white for the insulators, and a tiny notch at the tip of the canopy antenna, over which the wire is looped. The other end is attached to a small notch in the tail fin, with a dot of Superglue. I used 1 lb. fishing line, coloured with a metallic marker.

That's this build finished, I believe. Hope you enjoyed it, as much as I enjoyed all your comments and contributions.

My next post should be the set of required shots in a new finished thread.

 

[woody]

Fantastic work Gerry.

 

[Gnomey]

Looks great Gerry!

 

[Crimea_River]

Well done mate. Turned out quite nice!

Thanks Andy for the reassuring comment. I just feel there's some things I've got to improve on if I'm going to be really happy with my builds.

Isn't that always true though? It's the same with me. There are still many things I want to do better and that's part of what makes me look forward to the next project.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Very neat build Gerry and like you I'm kind of intrigued with Terry's nav light idea and now use it werever I can.

 

[Airframes]

Great build Gerry, it looks the biz, and well worth all the effort.