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

Quite true. I forget where I got those pics but I think it's a restored museum bird in Scandanavia somewhere.

Good point, Terry and thanks, Andy. Might be safer to give it a coat of RLM 02?

Looking good Gerry!

Gerry said:

Good point, Terry and thanks, Andy. Might be safer to give it a coat of RLM 02?

Click to expand...

Don't think it would be wrong.

Agreed.

Some nice detail in that pit Gerry, going to be fun working on that and good pics of the wheel bays from Andy. I have a feeling you're going to turn this into a corker build.

Agree with Vic!

Thanks for your latest responses Guys. Sorry it's taken so long to post but I've been working on assembly and painting of the cockpit and what I thought would take 2-3 days has actually taken all week! It's only now I feel things have progressed far enough to post some photos. As usual, I had my love/hate relationship with the PE parts but managed to get all of them on without too much damage or swearing.

Photo 1. The Aries instrument panel comes in three parts: the back shape in resin, which has the top overhang and left side black unit pre-moulded. This has to be painted white to take the pre-printed film of the dials, as a sandwich. The final piece is the PE panel face, which is basically one piece. This was then hand painted, with a PE lever added and two small panels added to the bottom. The gunsight reflectors won't be added until the canopy is about to be put on.

The radio stack was sprayed black/grey then hand painted and dry-brushed with boltgun metal for highlights.

Photo 2. The PE seatbelts were painted and added to the Radio Operator's seat. The other object is the rear cockpit bulkhead and fittings.

Photo 3. This was fun! The Aries guns come as nine separate parts, if you include the ammo belts. The elevation bracket, gunsights and ammo belts are PE parts. The resin parts were sprayed Engine Black, the PE parts added, then everything got a dry-brush of Boltgun Metal. I painted the ammo belts in Revell Brass but wasn't happy with the result. Then inspiration struck! I remembered that the PE parts are made from brass, which is coated in metallic grey at the factory. So I just sanded the metal coat away, to the brass base, with the result you see. Much cleaner than the painted solution, I think. There was more swearing during this sub-assembly than the rest of the build, so far.

Photo 4. The sub-assembly of the cockpit floor. The seatbelts have been added to the pilot's seat and the stick and rudder pedals installed. The lower partition has been added behind the pilot's seat. I have a decision to make here. The kit instructions are for a solid upper panel of armour, behind the pilot's head to the canopy roof. The Aries set comes with a set of bars which attach to the pillars of the lower partition and form an arch. From photos I've seen, this seems the more correct solution and which I intend to follow, unless someone knows better.

Everything was 'dirtied-up' with thin washes of Dark Grey/Black. The cannon breeches were painted Engine Black and everything was given a dry-brush of Boltgun Metal. The two vertical poles are are supports for the rear seat, but will have to be trimmed by about 1mm, as they are too high when the seat is test-fitted.

Picture 5. The sidewalls painted and test-fitted and the PE levers added. I can see from the blow-ups that I've missed one or two yellow wires in spots. I'll correct those tomorrow. The weathering and highlighting are as the cockpit floor. I had some good references for the front cabin but not much for the rear section, so a lot of what I've done is an educated guess. If anyone spots anything that's really wrong and it's not too difficult to fix, I'll try to do it.

Picture 6. Still testing the fit, so nothing has been cemented into place yet. You can begin to see how it's going to shape up. I should have taken a shot of the front of the radio stack in position - but I forgot. The rear seat is just resting on the too-high supports and since the photo was taken, the control panel has been positioned. I'm very relieved to report that it fits perfectly under the nose section of the fuselage. The only fit problem I'm aware of so far, is that the rear machine guns will have to be adjusted lower, to allow the canopy to close over them.

I'll make these few small corrections in the next day or two and if I don't hear of any major corrections from the Forum, I'll button up the fuselage shortly after.

I have enough to be getting on with, fixing the flaps and slats and making adjustments to the wheelwells. So more photos when I make some progress on those.

wow that looks very nice Gerry

Brilliant Gerry! I haven't forgotten your decals - posties just got back to work this week but send me a PM once you're 100% settled on what you need.

Well done sir!

Nice detail painting Gerry this will look great.

Brilliant stuff Gerry, one could almost take it for the real thing and you are most certainly raising the bar on 1/48 scale detail.

Thanks fellas. Being familiar with the standards of your own work, both on this build and generally throughout the Forum, I really appreciate your comments. I'm still aiming for M8+EM, but I probably need to do some form of test to see if it'll work before I get too far advanced. I think my big problem will be the small M8 but I haven't dismissed dry transfer lettering (Letraset), if I can still get my hands on some.

That is great stuff, excellent examples of the model maker's art.

Really beautiful work Gerry. For the small 'M8', have you considered making your own decals? It's dead easy on the PC, and black normally holds enough density on clear decal sheet. Instead of paying the high prices at model outlets, you can obtain exactly the same stuff from Crafty Computer Papers, at about a third of the price, and can buy individual sheets if needed, rather than a large pack. Just print as normal, cut the area of sheet required, and spray with an acrylic clear varnish.

Fantastic work Gerry. Love the level of detail, ah well - shows up how far I have to go I guess

Great stuff!

Thanks for the thumbs-up, Wurger, and also for your comments, Chris - much appreciated. Cory and Paul, I appreciate your comments, as well - and Paul, judging from your efforts on this build, you don't have any catching up to do. Remember, most of my detail was bought in. After that, it was just slow, careful assembly and painting.

Terry, I am very taken by your suggestion. As I mentioned in a previous reply to Andy, whilst I'd seen the technique referred to before, I hadn't any knowledge of decal printing and, in fact, thought it may have involved buying a special decal printer. If it means just shelling out for paper, then it's very much a possibility.

I'm of a generation that doesn't automatically think of purchasing on-line and would have first tried the local hobby/craft/art shops for something like that. However, I followed your link to Crafty Computer Papers and what they're offering seems perfect and could save a lot of time searching. In fact, if they don't require a large minimum order, I reckon I'll place an order, as I'm sure it will also be very useful on future builds. So thanks for posting that info.

I've been doing a bit of work on the wheelwells and wings/flaps, since my last post. Mainly drilling and sanding to get the nacelle-back to fit into the main nacelle.

Pictures 12. Using Andy's (Crimea_River) references from post 94, I've tried to add a bit of realism by drilling out the bracing struts and well walls. To the left are the parts as they come, and to the right, after drilling. I used mini drill bits, rolled between thumb and forefinger, in increments from 0.5mm to 3.5 for the large single hole in the flap nacelle. On the brace struts 0.8, 1.0 1.2 sizes were used. No real problems, except having to come in at an angle, because the struts prevent a straight approach. I broke my 0.5 bit at too steep an angle. These parts still need to be tidied up and some pin marks removed.

That's it to date, more when I've got some progress.